[Federal Register: March 18, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 52)]
[Notices]
[Page 12899-12901]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18mr03-51]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No.: 84.264A]
Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs (RCEP); Notice
Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003
Purpose of Program: To support training centers that serve either a
Federal region or another geographical area and provide for a broad,
integrated sequence of training activities that focus on meeting
recurrent and common training needs of employed rehabilitation
personnel throughout a multi-State geographical area.
Eligible Applicants: States and public or nonprofit agencies and
organizations, including Indian tribes and institutions of higher
education. Applications under this notice are invited for the provision
of training for Department of Education Regions II, III, VI, VII, VIII,
IX, and X only.
Applications Available: March 17, 2003.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 16, 2003.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 15, 2003.
Estimated Available Funds: $3,194,025.
Estimated Range of Awards: $325,000-$578,490.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $375,000.
Maximum Awards by Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
Region: We will reject any application that proposes a budget exceeding
the following stated maximum award amount for a single budget period of
12 months.
Maximum Level of Awards by RSA Region:
Region II-$483,700.
Region III-$578,490.
Region VI-$555,830.
Region VII-$383,350.
Region VIII-$350,473.
Region IX-$471,350.
Region X-$370,832.
Estimated Number of Awards: 7. We expect to make one award per
eligible region.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
Page Limit: The application narrative (Part III of the application)
is where you, the applicant, address the selection criteria that
reviewers use to evaluate your application. You must limit Part III to
the equivalent of no more than 45 pages, using the following standards:
(1) A page is 8.5'' by 11'', on one side only, with 1'' margins at
the top, bottom, and both sides.
(2) Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) all
text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, references, and captions, as well as all text in
charts, tables, figures, and graphs.
(3) Use a font that is either 12-point or larger or no smaller than
10 pitch (characters per inch).
The page limit does not apply to Part I, the cover sheet; Part II,
the budget section, including the narrative budget justification; Part
IV, the assurances and certifications; or the one-page abstract, the
resumes, the bibliography, or the letters of support. However, you must
include all of the application narrative in Part III.
We will reject your application if--
[sbull] You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
[sbull] You apply other standards and exceed the equivalent of the
page limit.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 85, and 86. (b) The regulations for this program in 34 CFR
parts 385 and 389.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants
except federally recognized Indian tribes.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions of
higher education only.
Selection Criteria: In evaluating an application for a new grant
under this
[[Page 12900]]
competition, we use the selection criteria in 34 CFR 385.31 and 389.30.
The selection criteria to be used for this competition will be provided
in the application package for this competition.
Application Procedures:
Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for
transmitting applications differ from those in the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy.
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A), the Secretary has determined
that proposed rulemaking is not required.
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications
In FY 2003, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing to
expand its pilot project for electronic submission of applications to
include additional formula grant programs and additional discretionary
grant competitions. The Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs,
CFDA No. 84.264A, is one of the programs included in the pilot project.
If you are an applicant under the Rehabilitation Continuing Education
Programs, you may submit your application to us in either electronic or
paper format.
The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant
Application System (e-Application) portion of the Grant Administration
and Payment System (GAPS). Users of e-Application will be entering data
on-line while completing their applications. You may not e-mail a soft
copy of a grant application to us. If you participate in this voluntary
pilot project by submitting an application electronically, the data you
enter on-line will be saved into a database. We request your
participation in e-Application. We shall continue to evaluate its
success and solicit suggestions for improvement.
If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
[sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
[sbull] You will not receive any additional point value because you
submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will we penalize
you if you submit an application in paper format. When you enter the e-
Application system, you will find information about its hours of
operation.
[sbull] You may submit all documents electronically, including the
Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424), Budget
Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary
assurances and certifications.
[sbull] After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will include a PR/Award
number (an identifying number unique to your application).
[sbull] Within 3 working days after submitting your electronic
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal Education
Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following
these steps:
(1) Print ED 424 from the e-Application system.
(2) The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign this
form.
(3) Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
(4) Fax the signed ED 424 to the Application Control Center at
(202) 260-1349.
[sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on all
other forms at a later date.
[sbull] Closing Date Extension in Case of System Unavailability: If
you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot for the
Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs and you are prevented from
submitting your application on the closing date because the e-
Application system is unavailable, we will grant you an extension of 1
business day in order to transmit your application electronically, by
mail, or by hand delivery. For us to grant this extension--
(1) You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have
initiated an e-Application for this competition; and
(2)(a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes
or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC
time, on the deadline date; or
(b) The e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of
time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time
between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the deadline date.
The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of
unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this
extension you must contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in
this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or (2) the e-Grants
help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
You may access the electronic grant application for the
Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs at: http://e-
grants.ed.gov.
We have included additional information about the e-Application
pilot project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic
Applications) in the application package.
For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs),
PO Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-
7827. FAX: (301) 470-1244. If you use a telecommunications device for
the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free): 1-877-576-7734.
You may also contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/
pubs/edpubs.html.
Or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address:
edpubs@inet.ed.gov.
If you request an application from Ed Pubs, be sure to identify
this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.264A.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format by contacting the Grants and Contracts
Services Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
room 3317, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone:
(202) 205-8207. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-
800-877-8339. However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an
alternative format the standard forms included in the application
package.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Marschall, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3325 Switzer Building,
Washington, DC 20202-2649. Telephone: (202) 205-8926 or via Internet:
Christine.Marschall@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government
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Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the
Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 772.
Dated: March 12, 2003.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 03-6378 Filed 3-17-03; 8:45 am]
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