[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 19, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21057-21058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9801]



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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 3294]


Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Armenia Connectivity 
2000 Program; Request for Proposals

SUMMARY: The Office of Citizen Exchanges, Youth Programs Division, of 
the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces an open 
competition for the Armenia Connectivity 2000 Program. Public and 
private non-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in 
IRS regulation 26 CFR 1.501(c) may submit proposals to expand the 
educational opportunities available to secondary school students in 
Armenia by providing access to the Internet and a related curriculum to 
help promote civic education and economic reform. The maximum amount of 
the award will be $954,000.

Program Information

Overview

    The Armenia Connectivity 2000 program has been designed to respond 
to the important need to introduce the youth of Armenia to a broad 
range of ideas about civil society.
    Students and teachers at schools throughout the country need access 
to models of societal development through civic education. The Internet 
can provide a wealth of information about democratic societies and a 
vital forum for the exchange of views with U.S. students and teachers. 
Through this program Armenian schools will be able to incorporate 
civics into their curricula and improve general education with Internet 
resources and access to information under the guidance of specially 
trained teachers.
    The goals of this program are (1) To provide Armenian students with 
the opportunity to learn democratic values while developing technical 
computer-based skills, (2) to improve and broaden the civic education 
curriculum in Armenian schools, (3) to provide access for schools in 
isolated areas to information about the United States and other 
democratic societies and about related Internet resources, and (4) to 
develop and promote linkages to schools in the United States and other 
countries.
    The main components of this program are as follows:
     Selecting schools (Armenian and U.S.),
     Providing access to the Internet to the Armenian schools, 
including making sites suitable for a computer center, installing 
hardware and cabling, and ensuring connectivity,
     Connecting students and teachers at Armenian schools with 
their counterparts at U.S. schools in joint telecurriculum projects,
     Providing training for teacher-trainers who will in turn 
provide training to teachers and students in the selected schools and, 
later, to other community members,
     Developing an educational curriculum that utilizes the 
Internet and coordinating the use of curricula from other related 
programs.

Guidelines

    This grant should begin on or about July 15, 2000, subject to 
availability of funds. The grant period should be two years.
    The grant recipient will select schools in Armenia for the 
installation of a computer center, the provision of training, and the 
implementation of a civic education curriculum that emphasizes use of 
the Internet. The recommended minimum number of schools is 40. 
Proposals that can include up to or more than 70 schools through 
greater efficiencies and cost-sharing will be considered more 
competitive. These selected schools will be partnered, either one-to-
one or in small groups, with U.S. schools so that Armenian students and 
faculty may work on joint projects with their American peers over the 
Internet in order to practice their newly-developed knowledge of using 
this tool for educational purposes.
    The schools will be provided with computers, printers, and other 
items necessary to afford them Internet connectivity. This will be 
accompanied by improvements to the classrooms to ensure that the 
facilities are suitable and secure. Once established, a center will be 
staffed by a site monitor who will oversee its use.
    At an early stage of the project, the grant recipient will train 
Armenians in order to develop a core group of teacher-trainers in 
Internet education, American Studies, English, civic education, 
curriculum development, and teaching methodologies. In addition to 
training at sites in Yerevan and other regions of Armenia, a limited 
number of exchanges--Armenian trainers to the United States and U.S. 
trainers to Armenia--will facilitate these training efforts and bring 
the new trainers in contact with teachers who are skilled in using the 
Internet in the classroom.
    The regional teacher-trainers will be responsible for conducting 
local training at a certain number of schools in their region. Their 
training of teachers and students will focus on basic computer skills, 
use of electronic mail and bulletin boards, and use of the World Wide 
Web for research and for supplementing lesson plans. The regional 
trainers will also supervise the site monitors.
    Once schools have access to the Internet and the students and 
teachers have acquired basic computer and Internet skills, the program 
focus will turn to the development of the content of Internet 
activities, an essential component. The primary goal of this program is 
for students and teachers to use the Internet to learn about civil 
society, including the basics of democracy, volunteerism, conflict 
resolution, good citizenship, and civic responsibility, such as voting. 
A secondary goal is for students and teachers to use the Internet for 
English and American Studies topics, such as literature, history, 
government, and geography, and for the improvement of teaching of such 
subjects as economics and social studies researching the riches of the 
Internet and learning to use them in the normal curriculum. The 
development of a curriculum with these purposes will be a key 
responsibility of the grant recipient.
    Programs must comply with J-1 visa regulations. Please refer to 
Solicitation Package for further information.

Budget Guidelines

    The grant award may not exceed $954,000. Organizations with less 
than four years of experience in conducting international exchange 
programs are not eligible for this grant.
    Applicants must submit a comprehensive budget for the entire 
program. There must be a summary budget as well as breakdowns 
reflecting both administrative and program budgets. Applicants should 
provide separate sub-budgets for each program component, phase, 
location, or activity to provide clarification. Administrative costs, 
including indirect rates, should be kept to a minimum and cost-shared 
as possible.
    Please refer to the Solicitation Package for complete budget 
guidelines and formatting instructions.
    Announcement Title and Number: All correspondence with the Bureau 
concerning this RFP should reference the above title and number ECA/PE/
C-00-49.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Youth Programs Division, Office of 
Citizen Exchanges, ECA/PE/C/PY, Room 568, U.S. Department of State, 301 
4th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20547, (202) 619-6299; Fax: (202) 619-
5311; E-mail: [email protected] to request a Solicitation Package. 
The Solicitation Package contains detailed award criteria, required 
application forms,

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specific budget instructions, and standard guidelines for proposal 
preparation. Please specify Bureau Program Officer Carolyn Lantz on all 
other inquiries and correspondence.
    Please read the complete Federal Register announcement before 
sending inquiries or submitting proposals. Once the RFP deadline has 
passed, Bureau staff may not discuss this competition with applicants 
until the proposal review process has been completed.

To Download a Solicitation Package Via Internet

    The entire Solicitation Package may be downloaded from the Bureau's 
website at http://exchanges.state.gov/education/rfps. Please read all 
information before downloading.

Deadline for Proposals

    All proposal copies must be received at the Bureau of Educational 
and Cultural Affairs by 5 p.m. Washington, DC, time on Friday, June 2, 
2000. Faxed documents will not be accepted at any time. Documents 
postmarked the due date but received on a later date will not be 
accepted. Each applicant must ensure that the proposals are received by 
the above deadline.
    Applicants must follow all instructions in the Solicitation 
Package. The original and eight copies of the application should be 
sent to: U.S. Department of State, SA-44, Bureau of Educational and 
Cultural Affairs, Ref.: ECA/PE/C-00-49, Program Management, ECA/EX/PM, 
Room 336, 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. These documents must be provided in ASCII text (DOS) 
format with a maximum line length of 65 characters. The Bureau will 
transmit these files electronically to the Public Affairs section at 
the U.S. Embassy for its review, with the goal of reducing the time it 
takes to get embassy comments for the Bureau'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. Public 
Law 104-319 provides that ``in carrying out programs of educational and 
cultural exchange in countries whose people do not fully enjoy freedom 
and democracy,'' the Bureau ``shall take appropriate steps to provide 
opportunities for participation in such programs to human rights and 
democracy leaders of such countries.'' Proposals should reflect 
advancement of this goal in their program contents, to the full extent 
deemed feasible.

Year 2000 Compliance Requirement (Y2K Requirement)

    The Year 2000 (Y2K) issue is a broad operational and accounting 
problem that could potentially prohibit organizations from processing 
information in accordance with Federal management and program specific 
requirements including data exchange with the Bureau. The inability to 
process information in accordance with Federal requirements could 
result in grantees' being required to return funds that have not been 
accounted for properly.
    The Bureau therefore requires all organizations use Y2K compliant 
systems including hardware, software, and firmware. Systems must 
accurately process data and dates (calculating, comparing and 
sequencing) both before and after the beginning of the year 2000 and 
correctly adjust for leap years.
    Additional information addressing the Y2K issue may be found at the 
General Services Administration's Office of Information Technology 
website at http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov.

Authority

    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 above is provided through the FREEDOM Support Act of 1992.

Notice

    The terms and conditions published in this RFP are binding and may 
not be modified by any Bureau representative. Explanatory information 
provided by the Bureau 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 Bureau 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 Bureau procedures.

    Dated: April 10, 2000.
Evelyn S. Lieberman,
Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. 
Department of State.
[FR Doc. 00-9801 Filed 4-18-00; 8:45 am]
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