[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 117 (Thursday, June 18, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33445-33446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16179]


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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY


College and University Partnerships Program for Armenia, 
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova

ACTION: Request for proposals.

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SUMMARY: 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. 
Accredited, post-secondary educational institutions meeting the 
provisions described in IRS regulation 26 CFR 1.501(c) may apply to 
develop a partnership with (a) foreign institution(s) of higher 
education from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Moldova in specified 
fields.
    Proposed projects must be eligible in terms of countries/localities 
and disciplines as described in the section entitled ``Eligibility'' 
below.
    Participating institutions exchange faculty and administrators for 
a combination of teaching, lecturing, faculty and curriculum 
development, collaborative research, and outreach, for periods ranging 
from one week (for planning visits) to an academic year. The FY 98 
program will also support the establishment and maintenance of Internet 
and/or e-mail communication facilities as well as interactive distance 
learning programs at foreign partner institutions. Applicants may 
propose other project activities not listed above that are consistent 
with the goals and activities of the College and University 
Partnerships Program (CUPP).
    The program awards up to $200,000 for a three-year period to defray 
the cost of travel and per diem with an allowance for educational 
materials and some aspects of project administration. Grants awarded to 
organizations with less than four years of experience in conducting 
international exchange programs will be limited to $60,000.
    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.'' The funding authority for the 
program cited above is provided through the Freedom for Russia and 
Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Support Act of 1992 
(Freedom Support Act). 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 RFP should refer to the College and University Partnerships 
Program for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova and reference 
number E/ASU-98-11.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: All copies must be received at the U.S. 
Information Agency by 5 p.m. Washington, DC time on Monday, August 10, 
1998. Faxed documents will not be accepted at any time. Documents 
postmarked by the due date but received at a later date will not be 
accepted.
    Approximate program dates: Grants should begin on or about 
September 30, 1998.
    Duration: September 30, 1998--August 31, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Office of Academic Programs; 
Advising, Teaching, and Specialized Programs Division; Specialized 
Programs Unit, (E/ASU) room 349, U.S. Information Agency, 301 4th 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20547, telephone: (202) 619-4126, fax: 
(202) 401-1433, internet: [email protected] to request a Solicitation 
Package containing more detailed award criteria; all application forms; 
and guidelines for preparing proposals, including specific criteria for 
preparation of the proposal budget.

TO DOWNLOAD A SOLICITATION PACKAGE VIA INTERNET: The entire 
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 TAX 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 the system.
    Please specify USIA Program Officer Jonathan Cebra on all inquiries 
and correspondences. Interested applicants should read the complete 
Federal Register announcement before sending inquiries or submitting 
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 and 10 copies of the application 
should be sent to: U.S. Information Agency, Ref.: E/ASU-98-11, Office 
of Grants Management, E/XE, Room 326, 301 4th Street, SW., Washington, 
DC, 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, 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.

[[Page 33446]]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Guidelines

    The College and University Partnership Program for Armenia, 
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova is limited to specific academic 
disciplines.
    For Georgia and Azerbaijan, eligible disciplines include:
    (1) Law;
    (2) Business/economics/trade;
    (3) Government/public policy/public administration; and
    (4) Journalism/communications.
    The eligible discipline for Armenia is journalism; please note that 
the Journalism Faculty of Yerevan State University is the only eligible 
NIS partner institution.
    The eligible discipline for Moldova is political science; please 
note that Moldovan State University is the only eligible partner 
institution.
    Proposals must focus on curriculum, faculty, and staff development 
in one or more of these eligible disciplines. Administrative reform at 
the foreign partner may also be a project component.
    Projects should involve the development of new academic programs or 
the building and/or restructuring of an existing program or programs, 
and should promote higher education's role in the transition to market 
economies and open democratic systems. Feasibility studies to plan 
partnerships will not be considered.
    Whenever feasible, participants should make their training and 
personnel resources, as well as results of their collaborative 
research, available to government, NGOs, and business.
    Participating institutions should exchange faculty and/or staff 
members for teaching/lecturing and consulting. At least once, one U.S. 
participant should be in residence at the foreign partner institution 
for one semester to serve in a coordinating role.
    U.S. institutions are responsible for the submission of proposals 
and should collaborate with their foreign partners in planning and 
preparing proposals. U.S. and foreign partner institutions are 
encouraged to consult about the proposed project with USIA E/ASU staff 
in Washington, DC. Preference will be given to proposals which 
demonstrate evidence of previous relations with the foreign partner 
institution(s).

U.S. Partner and Participant Eligibility

    In the U.S., participation in the program is open to accredited 
two- and four-year colleges and universities, including graduate 
schools. Applications from consortia of U.S. colleges and universities 
are eligible. Secondary U.S. partners may include relevant non-
governmental organizations, non-profit service or professional 
organizations. The lead U.S. institution in the consortium is 
responsible for submitting the application and each application from a 
consortium must document the lead school's started authority to 
represent the consortium. Participants representing the U.S. 
institution who are traveling under USIA grant funds must be faculty, 
staff, or advanced graduate students from the participating 
institution(s) and must be U.S. citizens.

Foreign Partner and Participant Eligibility

    Overseas, participation is open to recognized, degree-granting 
institutions of post-secondary education, which may include 
internationally recognized and established independent research 
institutes. Secondary foreign partners may include relevant 
governmental and non-governmental organizations, non-profit service or 
professional organizations. Participants representing the foreign 
institutions must be faculty, staff or advanced students of the partner 
institution, and the citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the 
country of the foreign partner, and be qualified to hold a valid 
passport and U.S. J-1 visa.
    Foreign partners from the following countries are eligible:
    Armenia--only the journalism faculty of Yerevan State University is 
eligible.
    Azerbaijan--any recognized, degree-granting post-secondary 
educational institution is eligible.
    Georgia--any recognized, degree-granting post-secondary educational 
institution is eligible.
    Moldova--only Moldovan State University is eligible.
    Partnerships including a secondary foreign partner from a non-NIS 
country are eligible; however, with the exception noted below, USIA 
will not cover overseas non-NIS partner institution costs.
    In order to promote regional cooperation, limited funds may be 
budgeted for the exchange, as part of this partnership agreement, of 
faculty between NIS institutions and institutions of higher learning in 
Central and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech 
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, 
Slovakia, Slovenia).

Ineligibility

    A proposal will be deemed technically ineligible if:
    (1) It does not fully adhere to the guidelines established herein 
and in the Solicitation Package;
    (2) It is not received by the deadline;
    (3) It is not submitted by the U.S. partner;
    (4) One of the partner institutions is ineligible;
    (5) The academic discipline(s) is/are not listed as eligible in the 
RFP, herein;
    (6) The amount requested of USIA exceeds $200,000 for the three-
year project.
    Please refer to program-specific guidelines (POGI) in the 
Solicitation Package for further details.

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: June 12, 1998.
John P. Loiello,
Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-16179 Filed 6-17-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8230-01-M