[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 215 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60118-60121]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-29373]


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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY


Summer Institute for the Study of the United States for Foreign 
Secondary School Teachers and Teacher Trainers

ACTION: Notice--Request for Proposals.

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SUMMARY: The Branch for the Study of the U.S. of the Office of Academic 
Programs of the United States Information Agency's Bureau of 
Educational and Cultural Affairs announces an open competition for an 
assistance award program entitled ``Summer Institute for the Study of 
the United States for Foreign Secondary School Teachers and Teacher 
Trainers.'' Public and private non-profit organizations meeting the 
provisions described in IRS regulation 26 CFR 1.501(c) may apply to 
develop a six-week graduate-level program designed for a multinational 
group of up to 30 secondary school teachers and teacher trainers. The 
program is intended to provide participants with a deeper understanding 
of the United States so that textbooks, curricula and teaching about 
U.S. society, culture and institutions in foreign secondary schools and 
teacher training institutions will be improved. Tentative program dates 
are June 20 through July 31, 1998.
    USIA is seeking detailed proposals from colleges, universities, 
consortia of colleges and universities, and other not-for-profit 
academic organizations that have an established reputation in the 
disciplines and sub-disciplines that comprise American Studies, and 
that can demonstrate expertise in conducting graduate-level programs 
for foreign educators. Applicant institutions must have a minimum of 
four years' experience in conducting international exchange programs. 
The project director or one of the key program staff responsible for 
the academic program must have a doctoral degree in American studies or 
a related discipline. Staff escorts traveling under the USIA 
cooperative agreement support must be U.S. citizens with demonstrated 
qualifications for this service.
    Overall grant making authority for this program is contained in the 
Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, Pub. L. 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.''
    Programs and projects must conform with Agency requirements and

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guidelines outlined in the Solicitation Package. USIA projects and 
programs are subject to the availability of funds.
    Announcement Name and Number: All communications with USIA 
concerning this announcement should refer to the above title and 
reference number E/AAS-98-10.
    Deadline For Proposals: All copies must be received at the U.S. 
Information Agency by 5:00 p.m. Washington D.C. time on Friday, January 
16, 1998. Faxed documents will not be accepted, nor will documents 
postmarked January 16, 1998 but received at a later date. It is the 
responsibility of each applicant to ensure that proposal submissions 
arrive by the deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
U.S. Information Agency, Office of Academic Programs, Branch of the 
Study of the United States (E/AAS), 301 4th Street, S.W., Room 256, 
Washington, D.C. 20547, Attn: Program Officer Susan Zapotoczny, 
Telephone number (202) 619-4557, Fax number (202) 619-6790, Email 
address: [email protected].
    Please use the above information to request a Solicitation Package, 
which contains more detailed award criteria; required application 
forms; and standard guidelines for preparing proposals (including 
specific information on budget preparation).
    Please specify USIA Program Officer Susan Zapotoczny on all 
inquiries and correspondence. Interested applicants should read the 
complete Federal Register announcement before addressing inquiries to 
the office listed above or submitting their proposals. Once the RFP 
deadline has passed, USIA staff may not discuss this competition in any 
way with applicants until after the Bureau proposal review process has 
been completed.
    To Download a Solicitation Package Via Internet: The Solicitation 
Package may be downloaded from USIA's website at http://www.usia.gov/
education/rfps. Please read all information before downloading.
    To receive a solicitation Package Via Fax On Demand: The entire 
Solicitation Package may be received via the Bureau's ``Grants 
Information Fax on Demand System,'' which is accessed by calling 202/
401-7616. Please request a ``Catalog'' of available documents and order 
numbers when first entering system.
    Submissions: Applicants must follow all instructions given in the 
Solicitation Package. The original and 13 copies of the complete 
application should be sent to: U.S. Information Agency, Ref.: E/AAS-98-
10, 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'' section of the proposal on a 3.5 inch diskette 
formatted for DOS. This material must be provided in ascii text (DOS) 
format with a maximum line length of 65 characters.
    Diversity, Freedom and Democracy Guidelines: Pursuant 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. Pub. L. 104-319 provides that ``in carrying out 
programs of educational and cultural exchange in countries whose people 
do not fully enjoy freedom and democracy,'' USIA ``shall take 
appropriate steps to provide opportunities for participation in such 
programs to human rights and democracy leaders of such countries.'' 
Proposals should account for advancement of this goal in their program 
contents, to the full extent deemed feasible.

Supplementary Information:

Overview

    The Summer Institute for the Study of the U.S. for Foreign 
Secondary School Teachers and Teacher Trainers aims to provide a deeper 
understanding of U.S. civilization among foreign educators who are 
concerned professionally with teaching about the United States. It is 
further intended to encourage and support their efforts to improve the 
quality of teaching, textbooks, and curricular materials about the 
United States at secondary schools and teacher training institutions 
abroad.
    The program should offer participants a specially-designed series 
of lecutures, presentations, discussions, site visits, and curricular 
research opportunities. All activities should be related to a central 
theme in U.S. civilization, and the program as a whole should examine 
various aspects of U.S. society, culture, values and institutions, past 
and present, providing a good overview for participants.
    The program should be six weeks in length, including a residency 
segment at a U.S. college or university campus (a minimum of four weeks 
in length), and a study tour segment (a maximum of two weeks in length) 
to up to three additional regions of the U.S., including a visit to 
Washington, D.C. at the conclusion of the program.

Institute Objectives

--to present an intensive, academically stimulating program that 
presents a multi-dimensional view of the United States through an 
integrated series of lectures, readings, interactive discussions, 
individual research and study opportunities, and site visits.
--to draw from a variety of academic disciplines in order to deepen the 
participants' understanding of the unity, diversity, and complexity of 
U.S. society, culture, and institutions. Major issues, debates, and 
conflicts in U.S. society, past and present, including their origins 
and the role they have played in the development of U.S. civilization, 
should also be examined.
--to enhance teaching about the U.S. in foreign secondary schools and 
teacher training institutions by making appropriate scholarly 
resources, pedagogical materials and ideas available to participants. 
Participants should return home with an ability to communicate a deeper 
and more informed view of the U.S. to students and colleagues.

Program Dates

    Tentative program dates are June 20 through July 31, 1998. 
Participants would arrive on June 19 and depart August 1. USIA will 
make every effort to award the grant by March 1, 1998.

Participants

    The program should be designed for a total of 30 highly-motivated 
foreign secondary school teacher trainers, textbook writers, curriculum 
developers, education ministry officials and classroom teachers, whose 
professional assignments require significant knowledge of U.S. 
civilization, and who have broad responsibility for curriculum design 
and improvement. Participants will be involved in the teaching of 
English language, American literature, U.S. government, history, 
geography, social studies, or other courses that include U.S. studies 
content. Participants will be drawn from all regions of the world, and 
will be fluent in the English language.
    Participants will be nominated by Fulbright Commissions abroad, and

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selected by the staff of USIA's Branch of the Study of the United 
States in Washington, D.C. USIA and the Commissions will cover all 
international travel costs directly.

Guidelines

    The conception, design, structure, and, ultimately, the content of 
the institute program is entirely the responsibility of the organizers. 
However, given the many possible approaches to a program on U.S. 
civilization, organizers are expected to submit proposals that 
articulate in concrete detail how they intend to organize and implement 
the institute.
    Consistent with the institute's overall thematic organization, the 
program should engage the constituent disciplines that make up American 
studies (e.g., literature, history, political science, economics, 
geography, sociology, etc.) as vehicles for helping foreign educators 
understand, teach, and write about the United States.
    The selected grant organizations will be responsible for most 
arrangements associated with this program. This includes the 
organization and implementation of all presentations and program 
activities, arrangement of all domestic travel, provision of 
appropriate lodging, subsistence, and ground transportation for 
participants, orientation and briefing of participants, preparation of 
any necessary support materials (including a pre-program mailing to 
participants), and working with program presenters to achieve maximum 
program coordination and effectiveness.

    Please refer to the Solicitation Package for further details on 
program design and implementation, as well as additional information 
on all other requirements.

Proposed Budget

    Unless special circumstances warrant, based on a group of 30 
participants, the total USIA-funded budget (program and administrative) 
should not exceed $236,000, and USIA-funded administrative costs as 
defined in the budget details section of the solicitation package 
should not exceed $56,000. Justification for any costs above these 
amounts must be clearly indicated in the proposal submission. Any 
grants awarded to eligible organizations will less than four years of 
experience in conducting international exchange programs will be 
limited to $60,000. Applicant proposals should try to maximize cost-
sharing in all facets of the program and to stimulate U.S. private 
sector, including foundation and corporate, support. Applicants must 
submit a comprehensive line item budget for the entire program, based 
on the specific guidance provided in the Solicitation Package. The 
Agency reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal 
budgets in accordance with the needs of the program, and availability 
of U.S. Government funding.

    Please refer to the ``POGI'' in the Solicitation Package for 
complete budget guidelines and formatting instructions for the 
institute program.

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 also be 
reviewed by the program office, as well as the USIA Georgraphic Area 
Offices. Proposals may also 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. Overall Quality: Proposals should exhibit originality and 
substance, consonant with the highest standards of American teaching 
and scholarship. Program should reflect an overall design whose various 
elements are coherently and thoughtfully integrated. Lectures, panels, 
field visits and readings, taken as a whole, should offer a balanced 
presentation of issues, reflecting both the continuity of the American 
experience as well as the diversity and dynamism inherent in it.
    2. Program Planning: Proposals should demonstrate careful and 
detailed planning. The organization and structure of the Institute 
should be clearly delineated and be fully responsive to all program 
objectives. The travel component should not simply be a tour, but 
should be an integral and substantive part of the program, reinforcing 
and complementing the academic segment.
    3. Institutional Capacity: Proposed personnel, including faculty 
and administrative staff as well as outside presenters, should be fully 
qualified to achieve the project's goals. Library and media resources 
should be accessible to participants; housing, transportation and other 
logistical arrangements should be fully adequate to the needs of 
participants and should be conducive to a collegial atmosphere.
    4. Diversity: Proposals should demonstrate the recipient's 
commitment to promoting the awareness and understanding of diversity 
throughout the program. This can be accomplished through documentation, 
such as a written statement, summarizing past and/or on-going 
activities and efforts that further the principle of diversity within 
the organization and its activities. Program activities that address 
this issue should be highlighted.
    5. Experience: The proposal should demonstrate an institutional 
record of successful exchange program activity, indicating the 
experience that the organization and its professional staff have had in 
working with foreign educators.
    6. Evaluation and Follow-up: The proposal should include a plan for 
evaluating activities during the Institute and at its conclusion. 
Proposals should detail the provisions made for follow-up with returned 
grantees as a means of establishing longer-term individual and 
institutional linkages.
    7. Administration and Management: The proposals should indicate 
evidence of continuous on-site administrative and managerial capacity 
as well as the means by which program activities will be implemented.
    8. Cost Effectiveness: The proposals should maximize cost-sharing 
through direct institutional contributions, in-kind support, and other 
private sector support. Overhead and administrative components of the 
proposal, including salaries and honoraria, should be kept as low as 
possible.

Notice

    The terms and conditions published in this RFP are binding and may 
not be modified by an 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 funding. Final awards cannot be 
made until funds have been appropriated by Congress, allocated and 
committed through internal USIA procedures.

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Notification

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

    Dated: October 31, 1997.
Robert L. Earle,
Deputy Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-29373 Filed 11-5-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8230-01-M