[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 5, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5270-5272]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-2702]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.031S]


Office Of Postsecondary Education; Developing Hispanic-Serving 
Institutions Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2002

    Purpose of Program: Assists eligible Hispanic-Serving Institutions 
(HSI) of higher education to expand their capacity to serve Hispanic 
and low-income students by enabling them to improve their academic 
quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability and to increase 
their self-sufficiency. Five-year individual development grants and 
cooperative arrangement grants will be awarded in FY 2002. Planning 
grants will not be awarded in FY 2002. For FY 2002 the competition for 
new awards focuses on projects designed to meet the priorities we 
describe in the PRIORITIES section of this application notice.
    Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education that have 
been designated to receive funding under Parts A or B of Title III or 
under Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), 
are eligible to apply for individual development grants and cooperative 
arrangement grants. In addition, at the time of application, the 
institution must provide assurances that it has an enrollment of 
undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) students that is at least 25 
percent Hispanic students, and that not less than 50 percent of the 
enrolled Hispanic students are low-income individuals.

    Notes: 1. A grantee under the Developing Hispanic-Serving 
Institutions (HSI) Program, authorized under Title V of the HEA, may 
not receive a grant under any Title III, Part A Program. Further, an 
HSI Program grantee may not give up that grant in order to receive a 
grant under any Title III, Part A Program. Therefore, a current HSI 
Program grantee may not apply for a grant under any Title III, Part 
A Program in FY 2002.


    Note: 2. An institution that does not fall within the limitation 
described in Note 1 may apply for a FY 2002 grant under all Title 
III, Part A Programs for which it is eligible, as well as under the 
HSI Program. An applicant may receive only one grant.

    Applications Available: February 6, 2002.

[[Page 5271]]

    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: March 22, 2002.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: May 21, 2002.
    Estimated Available Funds: Congress has appropriated $86 million 
for this program. Approximately, $70.5 million will support continuing 
grants. Therefore, approximately $15.5 million will be available for 
the new grant competition.
    Estimated Range of Awards: Development Grants: $400,000-$450,000 
per year. Cooperative Arrangement Grants: $550,000--$600,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: Individual Development Grant: 
$425,000 per year. Cooperative Arrangement Grant: $600,000 per year.
    Estimated Number of Awards: Individual Development Awards: 26. 
Cooperative Arrangement Awards: 6.

    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this 
notice.

    Project Period: 60 months for individual development and 
cooperative grants.
    Page Limit: We have established mandatory page limits for both the 
individual development grant and the cooperative arrangement 
development grant applications. You must limit the application to the 
equivalent of no more than 100 pages for the individual development and 
140 pages for the cooperative arrangement development grant, using the 
following standards:
     A ``page'' is 8.5" x 11", on one side only, with 1" 
margins top, bottom, right and left.
     Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) 
all text in the application narrative, including titles and headings. 
However, you may single space footnotes, quotations, references, 
captions, charts, forms, tables, figures and graphs.
     Use a font that is either 12-point or larger or no smaller 
than 10 pitch (characters per inch).
    The page limit does not apply to the application cover sheet (ED 
424), the Certification Regarding Collaborative Arrangement (ED 851S-
8), Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assurance Form (ED 851S-7) and the 
Cooperative Arrangement Form (ED 851S-1). The page limit does, however, 
apply to all remaining parts of the application.
    We will reject your application if--
     You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
     You apply other standards and exceed the equivalent of the 
page limit.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 81, 
82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99; and (b) The regulations for this program in 
34 CFR part 606.
    Applicability of Executive Order 13202: Applicants that apply for 
construction funds under these programs must comply with the Executive 
Order 13202 signed by President Bush on February 17, 2001 and amended 
on April 26, 2001. This Executive order provides that recipients of 
Federal construction funds may not ``require or prohibit bidders, 
offerors, contractors, or subcontractors to enter into or adhere to 
agreements with one or more labor organizations, on the same or other 
construction project(s)'' or ``otherwise discriminate against bidders, 
offerors, contractors, or subcontractors for becoming or refusing to 
become or remain signatories or otherwise adhere to agreements with one 
or more labor organizations, on the same or other construction 
project(s).'' However, the Executive order does not prohibit 
contractors or subcontractors from voluntarily entering into these 
agreements.
    Projects funded under this program that include construction 
activity will be provided a copy of this Executive order and will be 
asked to certify that they will adhere to it.

Priorities

    This competition focuses on projects designed to meet the priority 
in section 511(d) of the HEA (29 U.S.C. 1103) (see 34 CFR 
75.105(b)(2)(iv)).
    The Secretary gives priority to an application that contains 
satisfactory evidence that the HSI has entered into, or will enter 
into, a collaborative arrangement with at least one local educational 
agency or community-based organization to provide that agency or 
organization with assistance (from funds other than funds provided 
under Title V of the HEA) in reducing dropout rates for Hispanic 
students, improving rates of academic achievement for Hispanic 
students, and increasing the rates at which Hispanic secondary school 
graduates enroll in higher education.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet 
this priority.
    This competition also focuses on projects designed to meet the 
priority in section 514(b) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1103c) (see 34 CFR 
75.105(b)(2)(iv)).
    The Secretary gives priority to grants for cooperative arrangements 
that are geographically and economically sound or will benefit the 
applicant HSI.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that meet 
this priority.

Invitational Priorities

    Within the absolute priorities specified in this notice, we are 
particularly interested in applications that meet one or more of the 
following invitational priorities.
Invitational Priority 1
    Cooperative arrangements between two-year and four-year 
institutions of higher education aiming to increase transfer and 
retention of Hispanic students.
Invitational Priority 2
    Cooperative arrangements between institutions of higher education 
that develop and share technological resources in order to enhance each 
institution's ability to serve the needs of low-income communities or 
minority populations.
Invitational Priority 3
    Cooperative arrangements between institutions of higher education, 
at least one of which does not currently have funding under the HSI 
Program.
Invitational Priority 4
    Cooperative arrangements that involve institutional partners from 
more than one university or college system.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an application that meets 
one or more of the invitational priorities a competitive or absolute 
preference over other applications.
    Special Funding Consideration: In tie-breaking situations described 
in 34 CFR 606.23 of the HSI Program regulations, we award one 
additional point to an application from an institution that has an 
endowment fund for which the 1998-1999 market value per full-time 
equivalent (FTE) student was less than the comparable average per FTE 
student at similar type institutions. We also award one additional 
point to an application from an institution that had expenditures for 
library materials in 1998-1999, per FTE student, that were less than 
the comparable average per FTE student at similar type institutions.
    For the purpose of these funding considerations, an applicant must 
be able to demonstrate that the market value of its endowment fund per 
FTE student, and library expenditures per FTE student, were less than 
the national averages for the year 1998-1999.
    If a tie still remains after applying the additional point or 
points, we will determine the ranking of applicants based on the lowest 
combined library expenditures per FTE student and endowment values per 
FTE student.

[[Page 5272]]

Application Procedures

    Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for 
transmitting applications differ from those in the EDGAR (34 CFR 
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the 
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to 
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make 
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy. 
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C 553(b)(A), the Secretary has determined 
that proposed rulemaking is not required.

Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications

    In Fiscal Year 2002, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing 
to expand its pilot project of electronic submission of applications to 
include additional formula grant programs and additional discretionary 
grant competitions. The Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions 
program `` 84.031S is one of the programs included in the pilot 
project. If you are an applicant under the HSI, you may submit your 
application to us in electronic or paper format.
    The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant 
Application System (e-APPLICATION, formerly e-GAPS) portion of the 
Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS). We request your 
participation in this pilot project. We shall continue to evaluate its 
success and solicit suggestions for improvement.
    If you participate in this e-APPLICATION pilot, please note the 
following:
     Your participation is strictly voluntary.
     You will not receive any additional point value or penalty 
because you submit a grant application in electronic or paper format.
     You can submit all grant documents electronically 
including the Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424), Budget 
Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary 
assurances and certifications.
     Within three working days of submitting your electronic 
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal 
Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following 
these steps:
    1. Print ED 424 form from the e-APPLICATION system.
    2. Make sure that the institution's Authorizing Representative 
signs this form.
    3. Before faxing this form, submit your electronic application via 
the 
e-APPLICATION system. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement, 
which will include a PR/Award number (an identifying number unique to 
your application).
    4. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner ofED 
424.
    5. Fax ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202) 260-1349.
     We may request that you give us original signatures on all 
other forms at a later date.
     You may access the electronic grant application for the 
Title V, HSI program at http://e-grants.ed.gov.
    We have included additional information about the e-APPLICATION 
pilot project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic 
Applications) in the application package.
    For Applications and Further Information Contact: Sophia McArdle, 
Title V-Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, U.S. 
Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Higher 
Education Programs, 1990 K Street NW., 6th floor, Washington, DC 20006-
8501. Telephone: (202)219-7078 or via Internet [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed under FOR 
APPLICATIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package in an alternative format by contacting that person. However, 
the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the 
standard forms included in the application package.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site, 
www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 
1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of a document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.


    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1101-1101d, 1103-1103g.

    Dated: January 30, 2002.
Kenneth W. Tolo,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Innovation, 
Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-2702 Filed 2-4-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P