[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 71 (Thursday, April 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16164-16167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-9005]



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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY


Academic Year Program NIS Administration Components

ACTION: Notice--Request for Proposals.

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SUMMARY: The Division for the NIS Secondary School Initiative, Office 
of Citizen Exchanges, of the United States Information Agency's Bureau 
of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces an open competition for 
an assistance award to conduct a package of administrative components 
for the Academic Year Program. Public and private non-profit 
organizations meeting the provisions described in IRS regulation 26 CFR 
1.501(c)(3)-1 may apply to develop a package of various components for 
the 1997-98 Academic Year Program (AYP), as spelled out below, for 
1,000 high school students from the 12 New Independent States (NIS) of 
the former Soviet Union. This RFP is only for this package of 
components; grants for the placement and supervision of the students in 
the United States on this program and other components will be competed 
separately. Final award of a grant or grants is subject to the 
availability of funding.
    Overall grant making authority for this program is contained in the 
Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, Public Law 87-
256, as amended, also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act. The purpose of 
the Act is ``to enable the Government of the United States to increase 
mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the 
people of other countries * * *; to strengthen the ties which unite us 
with other nations by demonstrating the educational and cultural 
interests, developments, and achievements of the people of the United 
States and other nations * * * and thus to assist in the development of 
friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States 
and the other countries of the world.'' The funding authority for the 
program cited above is provided in part through the Department of State 
from the Agency for International Development.
    Programs and projects must conform with Agency requirements and 
guidelines outlined in the Solicitation Package. USIA projects and 
programs are subject to the availability of funds.

ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE AND NUMBER: All communications with USIA concerning 
this announcement should refer to the above title and reference number 
E/P-96-33.


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DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: All copies must be received at the U.S. 
Information Agency by 5 p.m. Washington, D.C. time on May 31, 1996. 
Faxed documents will not be accepted, nor will documents postmarked May 
31 but received at a later date. It is the responsibility of each 
applicant to ensure that proposals are received by the above deadline. 
The grant period will begin on or about August 1,1996 and run for one 
year until July 31, 1997. The grant is subject to renewal if deemed 
successful by the Agency.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
The NIS Secondary School Initiative (E/PY), Room 320, U.S. Information 
Agency, 301 4th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20547, telephone 202-
619-6299, fax 202-619-5311 to request a Solicitation Package containing 
more detailed award criteria, required application forms, and standard 
guidelines for preparing proposals (called ``Project Goals, Objectives 
and Implementation'' or ``POGI''), including specific criteria for 
preparation of the proposal budget.

TO DOWNLOAD A SOLICITATION PACKAGE VIA INTERNET: The Solicitation 
Package may be downloaded from USIA's website at http://www.usia.gov/ or from the Internet Gopher at gopher://gopher.usia.gov. Select 
``Education and Cultural Exchanges'', then select ``Current Request for 
Proposals (RFPs).'' Please read ``About the Following RFPs'' before 
beginning to download.
    Please specify USIA Program Officer/Specialist Diana Aronson on all 
inquiries and correspondences. Interested applicants should read the 
complete Federal Register announcement before sending inquiries or 
submitted proposals. Once the RFP deadline has passed, Agency staff may 
not discuss this competition in any way with applicants until the 
Bureau proposal review process has been completed.

SUBMISSIONS: Applicants must follow all instructions given in the 
Solicitation Package. The original, two fully tabbed copies and ten 
copies with Tabs A-E of the application should be sent to: U.S. 
Information Agency, Ref.: E/P-96-33, Office of Grants Management, E/XE, 
Room 326, 301 4th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20547.
    Applicants must also submit the ``Executive Summary'' and 
``Proposal Narrative'' sections of the proposal on a 3.5 diskette, 
formatted for DOS. This material must be provided in ASCII text (DOS) 
format with a maximum line length of 65 characters. USIA will transmit 
these files electronically to USIS posts overseas for their review, 
with the goal of reducing the time it takes to get posts' comments for 
the Agency's grants review process.

DIVERSITY GUIDELINES: Puruant to the bureau's authorizing legislation, 
programs must maintain a non-political character and should be balanced 
and representative of the diversity of American political, social, and 
cultural life. ``Diversity'' should be interpreted in the broadest 
sense and encompass differences including, but not limited to 
ethnicity, race, gender, religion, geographic location, socio-economic 
status, and physical challenges. Applicants are strongly encouraged to 
adhere to the advancement of this principle both in program 
administration and in program content. Please refer to the review 
criteria under the ``Support for Diversity'' section for specific 
suggestions on incorporating diversity into the total proposal.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Overview

    The Academic Year Program (AYP)--known also as the FREEDOM Support 
Act Program--has been sponsored by USIA since 1992. The 1997-98 AYP 
will be the fifth cycle of the program. It provides an opportunity for 
high school students aged 15-17 from the 12 NIS countries to live with 
an American host family for eleven months and attend one full year of a 
high school. The scholarship covers all aspects of their program--
recruitment and selection, travel, orientation, placement and 
supervision, maintenance, cultural and educational enhancements, and 
follow-up upon return to their home countries. Placement, supervision, 
maintenance and enhancements are not part of the package covered by 
this solicitation. For budgeting purposes, applicants should assume 
that the number of participants will be 1,000, with about 50% coming 
from Russia, 20% from Ukraine, and the remaining 30% from the other ten 
countries (details can be found in the ``Project Objectives, Goals and 
Implementation'' guidelines referred to above).
    Applicants must address the complete package of components outlined 
below and may bid on one or more of the following four regions of the 
NIS: (A) Russia and Belarus; (B) Ukraine and Moldova; (C) The Caucasus 
(Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan); (D) Central Asia (Kazakhstan, 
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).
    The objectives of the Academic Year Program are:
    1. To foster interaction between young people from the United 
States and the former Soviet Union and greater understanding of one 
another so as to contribute to our common future through our greatest 
resource, our youth.
    2. To provide high school students from the former Soviet Union an 
opportunity to live with American host families, attend school, and 
learn about American society, history, cultural, and the economic and 
political foundations of the United States.
    3. to integrate the people of the former Soviet Union into the 
global citizenry by assisting young people of the NIS countries in 
building a new and open society and by promoting democratic values and 
the development of democratic institutions from the grass roots level.
    4. To provide opportunities for youth from the NIS to acquire 
values and skills and enhance those personal qualities that will make 
them successful citizens and future leaders of their societies.

Eligibility

    Applicants may be public institutions or organizations that are 
legally incorporated and recognized by the IRS as not-for-profit. 
Applicants may be single organizations or one or more organizations 
working in consortium. For consortia, each organization should submit a 
separate proposal for its components and indicate clearly how these 
dovetail with the other consortium member(s).

Guidelines

    The package of components for this solicitation encompasses the 
following:
    1. Recruitment and selection of student finalists.
    2. Documentation--assistance with passports, visas; assistance to 
USIA with preparation of IAP66 forms on finalists and alternates.
    3. Medical screening and clearance to ensure that the students are 
healthy; immunizations as necessary.
    4. Orientation--Programming for all participants prior to departure 
from the NIS and/or upon arrival in the U.S.
    5. Travel--Ticketing and all arrangements from the students' homes 
to their host communities and return.
    6. Communications and liaison with the students' families during 
the program year.
    7. Information management--Tracking and database maintenance on all 
applicants through their selection as finalists, their placement, and 
travel.
    8. Tracking of, support for and follow-up programming with alumni 
upon their return home.
    The following considerations apply to these responsibilities:
    
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    1. The ongoing communications with natural parents, followup 
activities with alumni, and relations with foreign government officials 
all require that the grantee organization(s) maintain a year-round 
presence in the NIS countries. The grantee should seek to conduct these 
functions efficiently and cost-effectively but without necessarily 
having an American staff or permanent offices in every country or in 
all regions of the large countries.
    2. All on-the-ground operations in the NIS of this administrative 
machinery must be staffed by non-US Government personnel in such a way 
to ensure that USIA and American embassy personnel are not encumbered 
by the day-to-day functioning of the program.
    3. The aim of the program is to select students who have the 
personal qualities, motivation, and the academic language and social 
skills to be successful on the exchange. Recruitment and selection must 
be conducted on the basis of merit and be free of political influence 
and corruption; to accomplish this, the process must be under the 
overall direct control of Americans at all times. Selection of 
finalists should be conducted in the U.S.
    4. Selection must reflect the cultural, ethnic, national and 
geographic diversity of the NIS. The recruitment process must be open 
in allowing and making it possible for any student who meets the 
eligibility criteria to apply. A serious effort must be made to include 
students with physical disabilities. Intensive English training may be 
offered for a small percentage (no more than 5%) to ensure that the 
weaker language qualifications of students from more remote areas is 
not an excluding factor in their selection. [Such training is completed 
separately.] It is not necessary or even possible, given budget 
constraints, to cover every oblast. The grantee should focus its 
recruitment on major population areas, while keeping the process open 
to applicants from all areas.
    5. Uniform arrival orientation for all AYP students is essential, 
because it reinforces their identity as participants in a government 
scholarship program and enables the dissemination of information, 
policies and procedures critical to the students' success.
    6. What happens to participants once they return home is critically 
important to ensuring the program's success in fufilling its 
objectives. The grantee organizations are responsible for ensuring the 
tracking of alumni, data collection/reporting, and follow-on activities 
to reinforce the transfer of the American experience to the NIS.
    Please refer to program specific guidelines (POGI) in the 
Solicitation Package for further details.
    Participants travel on J-1 visas. As the sponsor is USIA, IAP66 
forms are prepared using the Government program designation number. As 
noted above, the grantee is responsible for assisting USIA in the 
preparation of these forms.

Timetable

    The recruitment and selection process must be concluded by March 1, 
1997, so that finalist applications can be disseminated to the 
organizations responsible for placing the students in host families and 
schools. Travel to the US is expected to take place in July/August, 
1997, in conjunction with the needs of the placement organizations. 
Return travel should be similarly undertaken in June/July, 1998. All 
components should be planned in accordance with the dates and deadlines 
set by the needs of the program (e.g., the date by which students need 
to apply for passports, the timing of arrival in the host families, the 
conclusion of the school year).

Proposed Budget

    The per capita cost of this whole package of components excluding 
Travel and Orientation must not exceed $2,500 per finalist. Travel must 
be arranged in compliance with laws on the use of American flag 
carriers.
    Applicants must submit a comprehensive line-item budget for the 
entire package of components. There must be a summary budget as well as 
a break-down reflecting both the administrative and program costs. 
Cost-sharing is encouraged, cash contributions and in-kind. Please 
refer to the solicitation package and POGI for complete budget and 
formatting instructions and for allowable costs.
    Grants awarded to eligible organizations with less than four years 
of experience in conducting international exchange programs will be 
limited to $60,000.

Review Process

    USIA will acknowledge receipt of all proposals and will review them 
for technical eligibility. Proposals will be deemed ineligible if they 
do not fully adhere to the guidelines stated herein and in the 
Solicitation Package. Eligible proposals will be forwarded to panels of 
USIA officers for advisory review. All eligible proposals will be 
reviewed by the program office, as well as the USIA Office of East 
European and NIS Affairs and the USIS posts in the NIS countries. 
Proposals may be reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel or by 
other Agency elements. Funding decisions are at the discretion of the 
USIA Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs. Final 
technical authority for assistance awards (grants or cooperative 
agreements) resides with the USIA grants officer.

Review Criteria

    Technically eligible applications will be competitively reviewed 
according to the criteria stated below. These criteria are not rank 
ordered and all carry equal weight in the proposal evaluation:
    1. Quality of the program idea: Proposals should exhibit 
originality, substance, precision, and relevance to Agency mission and 
design outlined above.
    2. Program planning: Detailed agenda and relevant work plan should 
demonstrate substantive undertakings and logistical capacity. Agenda 
and plan should adhere to the program overview, timetable and 
guidelines described above.
    3. Ability to achieve program objectives: Proposals should clearly 
demonstrate an understanding of the program's objectives stated above 
and how the organization will achieve them.
    4. Support of Diversity: Proposals should demonstrate substantive 
support of the Bureau's policy on diversity. Achievable and relevant 
features should be cited in both program administration (e.g., 
staffing, program venue) and program content (especially selection of 
participants and orientation).
    5. Institutional Capacity: Proposed personnel and institutional 
resources should be adequate and appropriate to achieve the program or 
project's goals. The proposal should clearly explain how the 
organization will make use of and coordinate with other related NIS and 
US operations it may be conducting. Proposals should reflect 
substantial area expertise, a grasp of cross-cultural issues, the needs 
of the hosting community (including the American host schools and the 
placement organizations), and a thorough understanding of how to work 
effectively with NIS authorities and complexities of the environment.
    6. Institution's Record/Ability: Proposals should demonstrate an 
institutional record of successful activities that are relevant to this 
program; also responsible fiscal management and full compliance with 
all reporting requirements for past Agency grants as determined by 
USIA's Office of Contracts. The Agency will consider the past 
performance of prior recipients and the demonstrated potential of new 
applicants.

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    7. Project Evaluation: The proposal should include a plan to 
evaluate the success of the organization in achieving the stated 
objectives. The grantee will also be expected to cooperate with USIA in 
evaluating the program under the requirements of the Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Proposals should reflect an 
understanding and grasp of these responsibilities.
    8. Cost-effectiveness: The overhead and administrative components 
of the proposal, including salaries and honoraria, should be kept as 
low as possible. All other items should be necessary and appropriate.
    9. Cost-sharing: Proposals should maximize cost-sharing through 
other private sector support as well as institutional direct funding 
and in-kind contributions.
    10. Value to U.S.-Partner Country Relations: Proposed projects 
should receive positive assessments by USIA's geographic area desk and 
overseas officers of potential impact and significance in the partner 
countries.

Notice

    The terms and conditions published in this RFP are binding and may 
not be modified by any USIA representative. Explanatory information 
provided by the Agency that contradicts published language will not be 
binding. Issuance of the RFP does not constitute an award commitment on 
the part of the Government. The Agency reserves the right to reduce, 
revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance with the needs of 
the program and the availability of funds. Awards made will be subject 
to periodic reporting and evaluation requirements.

Notification

    Final awards cannot be made until funds have been appropriated by 
Congress, allocated and committed through internal USIA procedures.

    Dated: April 5, 1996.
Dell Pendergrast,
Deputy Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-9005 Filed 4-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8230-01-M