[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 249 (Friday, December 27, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79064-79065]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32713]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.116J]


Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Special 
Focus Competition: European Community-United States of America 
Cooperation Program in Higher Education and Vocational Education and 
Training; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year 
(FY) 2003

    Purpose of Program: To provide grants or enter into cooperative 
agreements to improve postsecondary education opportunities by focusing 
on problem areas or improvement approaches in postsecondary education.
    Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education and 
vocational education and training or combinations of institutions and 
other public and private nonprofit educational institutions and 
agencies.
    Applications Available: December 20, 2002.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: March 28, 2003.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: May 30, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: $700,000 in fiscal year 2003; $2,370,000 
over three years. The estimated amount of funds available for awards is 
based on the Administration's request 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: $25,000[n<dash]$200,000 total 
for up to three years.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $25,000 for one-year preparatory 
projects; $35,000 for one-year complementary activities projects; 
$75,000 for two-year complementary activities projects; $50,000 for 
year one of a three-year consortia implementation project with a 
$200,000 three-year total.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 13.

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

    Project Period: Up to 36 months.
    Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 
82, 85, 86,97, 98, and 99.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Special Focus Competition, we will 
award grants or enter into cooperative agreements that focus on problem 
areas or improvement approaches in postsecondary education. We have 
included an invitational priority to encourage proposals designed to 
support the formation of educational consortia of institutions and 
organizations in the United States and the European Union to encourage 
cooperation in the coordination of curricula, the exchange of students 
and the opening of educational opportunities between the United States 
and the European Union. The invitational priority is issued in 
cooperation with the European Union. European institutions 
participating in any consortium proposal responding to the invitational 
priority may apply to the European Commission's Directorate General for 
Education and Culture for additional funding under a separate European 
competition.
    Priority: The Secretary is particularly interested in applications 
that meet the following invitational priority. However, an application 
that meets this invitational priority does not receive competitive or 
absolute preference over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
    Invitational Priority: Projects that support consortia of 
institutions of higher education that promote institutional cooperation 
and student mobility between the United States and the Member States of 
the European Union.

Methods for Applying Selection Criteria

    The Secretary gives equal weight to the listed criteria. Within 
each of the criteria, the Secretary gives equal weight to each of the 
factors.
    Selection Criteria: In evaluating applications for grants under 
this program competition, the Secretary uses selection criteria chosen 
from those listed in 34 CFR 75.210.
    For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), 
PO Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398, Telephone (toll free) 1-877-433-
7827, fax (301) 470-1244. If you use a telecommunications device for 
the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free) 1-877-576-7734. You may also 
contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html. Or 
you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: [email protected].
    If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify 
this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.116J. You may also request 
application forms by calling (732) 544-2504 (fax on demand), or 
application guidelines by calling (202) 358-3041 (voice mail) or 
submitting the name of the competition and your name and postal address 
to [email protected] (e-mail).
    Applications are also listed on the FIPSE Web site: http://
www.ed.gov/

[[Page 79065]]

FIPSE. e-APPLICATIONS are available at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-
8339. For additional program information call the FIPSE office (202-
502-7500) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday 
through Friday.
    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 Contact.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package in an alternative format by contacting ED Pubs. However, the 
Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the 
standard forms included in the application package.
    Application Procedures:

    Note: 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 Fiscal Year 2003, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing 
to expand its pilot project for electronic submission of applications 
to include additional formula grant programs and additional 
discretionary grant competitions. The European Community/United States 
of America Cooperation Program in Higher Education and Vocational 
Education and Training--84.116J is one of the programs included in the 
pilot project. If you are an applicant under the European Community/
United States of America Cooperation Program in Higher Education and 
Vocational Education and Training, you may submit your application to 
us in either electronic or paper format.
    The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant 
Application System (e-Application) portion of the Grant Administration 
and Payment System (GAPS). Users of e-Application will be entering data 
on-line while completing their applications. You may not e-mail a soft 
copy of a grant application to us. If you participate in this voluntary 
pilot project by submitting an application electronically, the data you 
enter on-line will be saved into a database. We request your 
participation in e-Application. We shall continue to evaluate its 
success and solicit suggestions for improvement.
    If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
    [sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
    [sbull] You will not receive any additional point value because you 
submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will we penalize 
you if you submit an application in paper format. When you enter the e-
Application system, you will find information about its hours of 
operation.
    [sbull] You may submit all documents electronically, including the 
Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information--Non-
Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and 
certifications.
    [sbull] After you electronically submit your application, you will 
receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will include a PR/Award 
number (an identifying number unique to your application).
    [sbull] Within three working days after 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 from the e-Application system.
    (2) The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign this 
form.
    (3) Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the 
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
    (4) Fax the signed 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.
    [sbull] Closing Date Extension in Case of System Unavailability: If 
you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot for the European 
Community/United States of America Cooperation Program in Higher 
Education and Vocational Education and Training and you are prevented 
from submitting your application on the closing date because the e-
Application system is unavailable, we will grant you an extension of 
one business day in order to transmit your application electronically, 
by mail, or by hand delivery. For us to grant this extension--
    (1) You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have 
initiated an e-Application for this competition; and
    (2)(a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes 
or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC 
time, on the deadline date; or
    (b) The e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of 
time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time 
between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the deadline date. 
The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of 
unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this 
extension you must contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in 
this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or (2) the e-GRANTS 
help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
    You may access the electronic grant application for the European 
Community/United States of America Cooperation Program in Higher 
Education and Vocational Education and Training 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.

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 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. 1138-1138d.

    Dated: December 20, 2002.
Sally L. Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 02-32713 Filed 12-26-02; 8:45 am]
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