[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 187 (Thursday, September 26, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60643-60645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24434]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.274A]


Office of Postsecondary Education; American Overseas Research 
Centers Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2003

    Purpose of Program: The American Overseas Research Centers (AORC) 
Program makes awards to any American overseas research center that is a 
consortium of United States institutions of higher education to enable 
the center to promote postgraduate research, exchanges, and area 
studies. AORC awards may be used to pay all or a portion of the cost of 
establishing or operating a center or program, including the cost of 
operation and maintenance of overseas facilities; the cost of 
organizing and managing conferences; the cost of teaching and research 
materials; the cost of acquisition, maintenance, and preservation of 
library collections; the cost of bringing visiting scholars and faculty 
to the center to teach or to conduct research; the cost of faculty and 
staff stipends and salaries; the cost of faculty, staff, and student 
travel; and, the cost of publication and dissemination of material for 
the scholarly and general public.
    For FY 2003 the competition for new awards focuses on projects 
designed to meet the priorities described in the Priorities section of 
this application notice.
    Eligible Applicants: Centers that (1) receive more than 50 percent 
of their funding from public or private United States sources; (2) have 
a permanent presence in the country in which the center is located; and 
(3) are organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986, which are exempt from taxation under section 
501(a) of the Code.
    Applications Available: October 11, 2002.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: November 15, 2002.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: January 14, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested 
$1,000,000 for this program for FY 2003. The actual level of funding, 
if any, depends on final congressional action. However, we are inviting 
applications to allow enough time to complete the grant process, if 
Congress appropriates funds for this program.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $38,378--$126,509.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $76,923 per year.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 13.



[[Page 60644]]


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

    Project Period: 48 months.
    Page Limit: The application narrative is where you, the applicant, 
address the selection criteria that reviewers use to evaluate your 
application. You must limit the narrative to the equivalent of no more 
than 25 pages, using the following standards:
    [sbull] A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1'' 
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
    [sbull] Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) 
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings, 
footnotes, quotations, references, and captions. However, you may 
single space all text in charts, tables, figures and graphs.
    [sbull] Use a font that is either 12-point or larger or no smaller 
than 10 pitch (characters per inch). However you may use a 10-point 
font in charts, tables, figures, and graphs.
    The page limit does not apply to the cover sheet; the budget 
section, including the narrative budget justification; the assurances 
and certifications; or the one-page abstract or the appendices. 
However, you must include all of the application narrative in 
responding to the selection criteria.
    We will reject your application if--
    [sbull] You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
    [sbull] 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, 80, 
81, 82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.

    Note: The AORC Program does not have program specific 
regulations; therefore, applicants are directed to the authorizing 
statute, section 609 of part A, title VI of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965, as amended.

Priorities

Invitational Priority

    We are particularly interested in applications that meet the 
following priority.
    Activities and programs designed to promote information sharing 
among U.S. researchers using the overseas centers.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an application that meets 
the priority a competitive or absolute preference over other 
applications.

Application Procedures

    The Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) of 1998, (Pub. L. 
105-277) and the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement 
Act of 1999, (Pub. L. 106-107) encourage us to undertake initiatives to 
improve our grant processes. Enhancing the ability of individuals and 
entities to conduct business with us electronically is a major part of 
our response to these Acts. Therefore, we are taking steps to adopt the 
Internet as our chief means of conducting transactions in order to 
improve services to our customers and to simplify and expedite our 
business processes.
    We are requiring that applications for the FY 2003 AORC Program 
competition for new awards be submitted electronically using e-
APPLICATION available through the Education Department's e-GRANTS 
system. The e-GRANTS system is accessible through its portal page at: 
http://e-grants.ed.gov.
    Applicants who are unable to submit an application through the e-
GRANTS system may apply for a waiver to the electronic submission 
requirement. To apply for a waiver, applicants must explain the 
reason(s) that prevent them from using the Internet to submit their 
applications. The reason(s) must be outlined in a letter addressed to 
Cheryl E. Gibbs, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., 
Suite 6000, Washington, DC 20006-8521. Please submit your letter no 
later than two weeks before the deadline for transmittal of 
applications.
    Any application that receives a waiver to the electronic submission 
requirement will be given the same consideration in the review process 
as an electronic application.

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking

    Some of the procedures in these instructions for transmitting 
applications differ from those in the Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (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 FY 2003, 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 AORC Program (CFDA 84.274A) is one of the 
programs included in the pilot project. If you are an applicant under 
the AORC Program, you must submit your application to us in electronic 
format or receive a waiver.
    The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant 
Application System (e-APPLICATION, formerly e-GAPS) portion of the 
Grant Administrative and Payment System (GAPS). We shall continue to 
evaluate its success and solicit suggestions for improvement.
    Please note the following:
    [sbull] Do not wait until the deadline date for the transmittal of 
applications to submit your application electronically. If you wait 
until the deadline date to submit your application electronically and 
you are unable to access the e-APPLICATION system, you must contact the 
Help Desk by 4:30 p.m. Washington, DC time on the deadline date.
    [sbull] Keep in mind that e-APPLICATION is not operational 24 hours 
a day 7 days a week. Click on Hours of Web Site Operation for specific 
hours of access during the week.
    [sbull] You will have access to the e-APPLICATION Help Desk for 
technical support: 1-888-336-8930 (TTY: 1-866-697-2696, local 202-401-
8363). The Help Desk hours of operation are limited to: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. 
Washington DC time Monday-Friday.
    [sbull] You can submit all documents electronically, including the 
Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424 Standard Face Sheet), Budget 
Information-Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary 
assurances and certifications.
    [sbull] Within three working days of submitting your electronic 
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal 
Assistance (ED 424 Standard Face Sheet) to the Application Control 
Center after following these steps:
    1. Print ED 424 from the e-APPLICATION system.
    2. Make sure that the applicant's Authorized 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 of ED 
424.
    5. Fax ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202) 260-1349.
    [sbull] 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 AORC 
Program at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.

[[Page 60645]]

    We have included additional information about the e-APPLICATION 
pilot project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic 
Applications) in the application package.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cheryl E. Gibbs, International 
Education and Graduate Programs Service, U.S. Department of Education, 
1990 K Street, NW., Suite 6000, Washington, DC 20006-8521. Telephone: 
(202) 502-7634 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 
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.
    You may also view this document in PDF at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/HEP/iegps/.

    Note: The official version of this 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. 1128a.

    Dated: September 23, 2002.
Sally L. Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-24434 Filed 9-25-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P