[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 170 (Friday, September 1, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46004-46006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-21773]




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Part VI





Department of Education





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34 CFR Part 75



Direct Grant Programs; Proposed Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 170 / Friday, September 1, 1995 / 
Proposed Rules   

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 75

RIN 1880-AA69


Direct Grant Programs

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to amend the Education Department 
General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) that govern discretionary 
grant programs. These proposed amendments would reduce the need for 
specific regulations governing individual programs. The proposed 
amendments would authorize the Secretary to establish selection 
criteria for a discretionary grant program based on provisions in the 
statute authorizing that program and on existing selection criteria in 
EDGAR. The amendments also would clarify the Secretary's authority to 
establish annual funding priorities for grant competitions.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 2, 1995.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning these proposed regulations should be 
addressed to Jacinta Ma, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence 
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20202. Comments also may be sent through the 
Internet to Selection __ C[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Jacinta Ma, U.S. Department of 
Education, 600 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20202-2241. 
Telephone: (202) 401-8300. Individuals who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern 
time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These proposed amendments would allow the 
Secretary to establish selection criteria based on statutory 
provisions, clarify the Secretary's authority to establish one or more 
annual priorities, and allow the Secretary to establish the maximum 
score for each selection criterion on a competition-by-competition 
basis. The proposed amendments also would conform existing regulations 
in Secs. 75.1 and 75.200 to reflect the additional method for 
establishing selection criteria.
    In addition, the proposed amendments would eliminate requirements 
in Sec. 75.101(c) that are unnecessary. The inclusion of the 
information required by Sec. 75.101(c) in an application notice is 
already adequately provided for in Sec. 75.101(a).
    The following is a summary of the major provisions of the proposed 
amendments.

Section 75.105  Annual Priorities

    The Secretary proposes to amend Sec. 75.105 to clarify that if a 
statute authorizing a program includes one or more specific priorities, 
the Secretary may establish those priorities as annual funding 
priorities without first submitting them to public comment. Statutory 
priorities include provisions that require the Secretary to give 
preference or special consideration to certain applicants. Because 
these priorities are established by statute, public comment could 
affect only the way the Department implements the statutory priority, 
e.g., what weight to give to the priority or choosing among priorities. 
This amendment would codify the Department's long-standing 
interpretation of the current provisions in Sec. 75.105 regarding 
priorities. In addition, the proposed regulations would allow the 
Secretary to establish without public comment annual funding priorities 
selected from allowable activities specified in a program statute 
assuming that there is legal authority to establish this type of 
priority. Through these amendments, the Secretary would be able to 
assign an appropriate weight to the statutory priority or priority 
selected from allowable activities, and, in an application notice 
published in the Federal Register, indicate how the priority will apply 
to the particular competition.

Sections 75.200, 75.201, 75.209, and 75.210  Selection Criteria

    EDGAR provides selection criteria for choosing among competing 
grant applications (34 CFR 75.210) under programs that do not have 
implementing regulations or have implementing regulations that do not 
include selection criteria. However, the EDGAR selection criteria are 
necessarily very general, and for some programs the EDGAR criteria may 
not adequately enable reviewers to evaluate the extent to which grant 
applications respond to specific provisions contained in the program 
statutes that govern the competitions. Therefore, in an effort to 
create more targeted selection criteria in appropriate situations and 
to reduce the amount of rulemaking for discretionary grant programs, 
the Secretary proposes these amendments to Part 75 to authorize the 
Secretary to establish selection criteria for a grant competition based 
on the authorizing statute. The Secretary believes these amendments 
will reduce the amount of rulemaking for discretionary programs 
because, in the past, the Department regularly had to develop program-
specific regulations to meet the need for more specific selection 
criteria.
    The Secretary proposes a new provision (Sec. 75.209) that would 
allow the Secretary to establish selection criteria based on statutory 
provisions. For example, the Secretary could establish criteria based 
on provisions such as specified statutory selection criteria, allowable 
activities, application content requirements, or other pre-award or 
post-award conditions. The new selection criteria would mirror 
statutory language and the Secretary would evaluate each application to 
determine how well the applicant's proposed project meets each of the 
criteria. The Secretary has already published a notice in the Federal 
Register (March 7, 1995 at 60 FR 12648) authorizing this procedure for 
conducting certain FY 1995 grant competitions under the Improving 
America's Schools Act of 1994.
    If a program does not have implementing regulations establishing 
selection criteria or has implementing regulations that do not include 
selection criteria, these amendments would authorize the Secretary to 
evaluate applications by applying the general selection criteria in 
part 75, selection criteria based on provisions in the authorizing 
statute for the program, or a combination of these criteria. These 
amendments would also allow the Secretary the flexibility to weigh the 
criteria according to the needs of each individual competition.
    Rather than establishing in regulations the total number of points 
an application may receive and the maximum number of points that an 
application may receive for a particular selection criterion (either 
established from a statutory provision or found in EDGAR), the 
Secretary will notify applicants of the total possible score and the 
maximum points for each selection criterion in the application package. 
If no point allocation is specified, the Secretary would assign an 
equal maximum value to each selection criterion.
    Because the selection criteria would be included in an application 
package, the criteria would be subject to prior public comment in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. That statute 
requires the Department to publish in the Federal Register a notice of 
proposed information collection that solicits public comment. Anyone 
who wishes to comment may contact the 

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Department and obtain a copy of the proposed application package.
    The Secretary proposes to preserve Sec. 75.210 of EDGAR, which 
establishes general selection criteria, except that the maximum point 
value assigned to each selection criterion would be removed to allow 
for the proposed process of assigning a maximum possible point value to 
each criterion according to the needs of the competition. In addition, 
because the Secretary would be able to weigh each criterion by 
establishing the total number of points and assigning a maximum 
possible point value to each selection criterion, there would no longer 
be a need to retain Sec. 75.210(c), which allows for the distribution 
of an unassigned 15 points among the criteria in Sec. 75.210(b).

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    The Secretary certifies that these proposed regulations would not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities.
    These regulations could affect States, State agencies, and 
individuals. States, State agencies, and individuals, however, are not 
defined as ``small entities'' in the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
    The small entities that could be affected by these regulations are 
institutions of higher education, local educational agencies, 
community-based organizations, and nonprofit organizations receiving 
Federal funds under a direct grant program. The proposed regulations, 
however, would not have a significant economic impact on these 
entities, if affected, because the regulations would not impose 
excessive regulatory burdens or require unnecessary Federal 
supervision. The proposed regulations would impose minimal requirements 
for the Secretary to select grantees.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980

    The proposed amendments have been examined under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1980 and have been found to contain no information 
collection requirements.

Intergovernmental Review

    Some of the programs that would be affected by these regulations 
are subject to the requirements of Executive Order 12372 and the 
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. The objective of the Executive order is 
to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened 
federalism by relying on processes developed by State and local 
governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal financial 
assistance.
    In accordance with the order, this document is intended to provide 
early notification of the Department's specific plans and actions for 
these programs.

Invitation to comment

    Interested persons are invited to submit comments and 
recommendations regarding these proposed regulations.
    All comments submitted in response to these proposed regulations 
will be available for public inspection, during and after the comment 
period, in Room 5100, 600 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC, 
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday of 
each week except Federal holidays.

Assessment of Educational Impact

    The Secretary particularly requests comments on whether the 
proposed regulations in this document would require transmission of 
information that is being gathered by or is available from any other 
agency or authority of the United States.

List of Subjects in 34 CFR Part 75

    Administrative practice and procedure, Continuation funding, 
Education, Grant programs--education, Grants administration, 
Incorporation by reference, Performance reports, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Unobligated funds.

    Dated: August 28, 1995.
Richard W. Riley,
Secretary of Education.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number does not apply)

    The Secretary proposes to amend part 75 of Title 34 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 75--DIRECT GRANT PROGRAMS

    1. The authority citation for part 75 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474, unless otherwise noted.

    2. Section 75.1 is amended by revising the Note to read as follows:


Sec. 75.1  Programs to which part 75 applies.

* * * * *
    Note: See part 76 for the general regulations that apply to 
programs that allocate funds among eligible States. For a 
description of the two kinds of direct grant programs see 
Sec. 75.200(b) for a description of a discretionary grant program 
and Sec. 75.200(c) for a description of a formula grant program. 
Also see Secs. 75.201, 75.209, and 75.210 for the selection criteria 
for discretionary grant programs that do not have implementing 
regulations or whose implementing regulations do not include 
selection criteria.


Sec. 75.101  [Amended]

    3. Section 75.101 is amended by removing paragraph (c).
    4. Section 75.105 is amended by removing the word ``or'' following 
paragraph (b)(2)(ii), replacing the period at the end of paragraph 
(b)(2)(iii) with a semicolon, adding new paragraphs (b)(2)(iv) and 
(b)(2)(v), and revising the first sentence in paragraph (c)(2)(i) to 
read as follows:


Sec. 75.105  Annual priorities.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (iv) The program statute requires or authorizes the Secretary to 
establish specified priorities; or
    (v) The annual priorities are chosen from allowable activities 
specified in the program statute.
    (c) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (i) The Secretary may award some or all bonus points to an 
application depending on the extent to which the application meets the 
priority. * * *
    5. Section 75.200 is amended by revising paragraph (b)(3) to read 
as follows:


Sec. 75.200  How applications for new grants and cooperative agreements 
are selected for funding; standards for use of cooperative agreements.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (3) If a discretionary grant program does not have implementing 
regulations or has implementing regulations that do not include 
selection criteria, the Secretary uses one of the following to evaluate 
applications for new grants under the program:
    (i) Selection criteria established under Sec. 75.209.
    (ii) Selection criteria in Sec. 75.210.
    (iii) A combination of selection criteria established under 
Sec. 75.209 and selection criteria in Sec. 75.210.
 * * * * *
    6. Section 75.201 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 75.201  How to use the selection criteria.

    (a) If points are assigned to the selection criteria, the Secretary 
informs applicants of--
    (1) The total possible score for all of the criteria for a program; 
and
    (2) The maximum possible score for each criterion.
    (b) If no points are assigned to the selection criteria, the 
Secretary evaluates each criterion equally.
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474)

    7. A new Sec. 75.209 is added to read as follows: 

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Sec. 75.209  Selection criteria based on statutory provisions.

    (a) If a discretionary grant program does not have implementing 
regulations or has implementing regulations that do not include 
selection criteria, the Secretary may evaluate applications by--
    (1) Establishing selection criteria based on particular statutory 
provisions that may include but are not limited to--
    (i) Specific statutory selection criteria;
    (ii) Allowable activities;
    (iii) Application content requirements; or
    (iv) Other pre-award and post-award conditions; and
    (2) Assigning the maximum possible score for each of the criteria 
established under paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
    (b) The Secretary reviews each application to determine how well 
the applicant's proposed project meets each of the criteria established 
under paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

    Example: If a program statute requires that each application 
address how the applicant will serve the needs of limited English 
proficient children, under Sec. 75.209 the Secretary could establish 
a criterion and evaluate applications based on how well the 
applicant's proposed project meets that statutory provision. The 
Secretary might decide to award up to 10 points for this criterion. 
Applicants who have the best proposals to serve the needs of limited 
English proficient children would score the highest under the 
criterion in this example.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474)

    8. Section 75.210 is amended by revising the heading, removing 
paragraphs (a) and (c), removing the point designations following the 
italicized headings in paragraphs (b) (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and 
(7), adding undesignated introductory text, removing ``The criteria--'' 
in paragraph (b), and redesignating paragraphs (b) (1), (2), (3), (4), 
(5), (6), and (7) as paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g), 
respectively, to read as follows:


Sec. 75.210  General selection criteria.

    The Secretary may use one or more of the following selection 
criteria, together with one or more criteria established under 
Sec. 75.209, if any, to evaluate applications for new grants under a 
discretionary grant program:
    (a) Meeting the purposes of the authorizing statute. * * *
    (b) Extent of need for the project. * * *
    (c) Plan of operation. * * *
    (d) Quality of key personnel. * * *
    (e) Budget and cost effectiveness. * * *
    (f) Evaluation plan. * * *
    (g) Adequacy of resources. * *  *

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474)

[FR Doc. 95-21773 Filed 8-31-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P