[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 91 (Monday, May 12, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25468-25469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-11899]



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Part III





Department of Education





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Tech-Prep Demonstration Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New 
Awards in Fiscal Year 2003; Notices

  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 91 / Monday, May 12, 2003 / Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No: 84.353]


Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Tech-Prep Demonstration 
Program (TPDP); Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards in Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2003

    Purpose of Program: The Tech-Prep Demonstration Program (TPDP) 
provides grants to enable consortia described in section 204(a) of the 
Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins 
III) to carry out tech-prep education projects authorized by section 
207 of Perkins III that involve the location of a secondary school on 
the site of a community college, a business as a member of the 
consortium, and the voluntary participation of secondary school 
students. Following an initial recruitment period, funded projects 
would enroll a new student cohort in each year of the project, in 
addition to continuing support for each previous TPDP student cohort.
    Eligible Applicants: To be eligible for funding under the TPDP, a 
consortium must include at least one member in each of the following 
three categories:
    (1) A local educational agency, an intermediate educational agency, 
an area vocational and technical education school serving secondary 
school students, or a secondary school funded by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs;
    (2)(a) A nonprofit institution of higher education that offers a 
two-year associate degree, two-year certificate, or two-year 
postsecondary apprenticeship program, or (b) a proprietary institution 
of higher education that offers a two-year associate degree program; 
and
    (3) A business. Under the provisions of section 204(a)(1) of 
Perkins III, to be eligible for consortium membership both nonprofit 
and proprietary institutions of higher education must be qualified as 
institutions of higher education pursuant to section 102 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (HEA), including institutions receiving 
assistance under the Tribally Controlled College or University 
Assistance Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) and tribally controlled 
postsecondary vocational and technical institutions.
    In addition, nonprofit institutions of higher education are 
eligible only if they are not prohibited from receiving assistance 
under HEA, title IV, part B (20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.), pursuant to the 
provisions of HEA section 435(a)(3) (20 U.S.C. 1083(a)). Proprietary 
institutions of higher education are eligible only if they are not 
subject to a default management plan required by the Secretary.
    Applicants must submit a signed consortium agreement, to provide 
evidence that each of the required categories of membership has been 
satisfied. Under the provisions of section 204(a)(2), consortia also 
may include one or more: (1) institutions of higher education that 
award baccalaureate degrees; (2) employer organizations; or (3) labor 
organizations.

    Note: Eligible consortia seeking to apply for funds should read 
and follow the regulations in 34 CFR 75.127-75.129, which apply to 
group applications.

    Applications Available: May 12, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 26, 2003.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 25, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: $9,968,000.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $600,000 to $700,000 for the 60-month 
project period.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $650,000.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 14.

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

    Project Period: 60 months. Applicants under this competition are 
required to provide detailed budget information for each year of the 
proposed project and for the total grant. The Department will negotiate 
funding levels for each 12-month period of the grant at the time of the 
award.

    Note: The Secretary has concluded that entire, multi-year 
projects funded by five-year awards will be necessary for TPDP 
grantees to fully meet the statutory purposes of section 207 and the 
requirements of this notice. By definition, tech-prep programs 
combine at least two years of secondary education with a minimum of 
two years of postsecondary education in a nonduplicative, sequential 
course of study, and result in the attainment of a postsecondary 
degree or certificate. As outlined in this notice, five-year funding 
will: (a) Allow funded projects to engage in a lengthy recruitment 
effort and meet their enrollment goals; (b) enable the first cohort 
of students to complete the full four years of the tech-prep program 
and attain the necessary postsecondary degree or certificate; and 
(c) enable subsequent cohorts of students to complete a significant 
portion of the tech-prep program, thus increasing the likelihood 
that they will persist in their efforts to attain the necessary 
postsecondary degree or certificate. In addition, by enabling funded 
projects to conduct the full four-year tech-prep program, five-year 
funding will allow grantees and the Department to evaluate the 
effectiveness of the funded programs more thoroughly.

    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 80, 81, 
82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99; and (b) the regulations in the Notice of 
Final Requirements, Priorities, and Selection Criteria published 
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
    Priorities: This competition gives competitive priority to 
applicants that meet the conditions outlined in the Notice of Final 
Requirements, Priorities, and Selection Criteria for this program, 
which is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
    Instructions for Transmittal of Applications:

    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 FY 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 TPDP (CFDA 84.353) is one of the 
programs included in the pilot project. If you are an applicant under 
the TPDP, 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

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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 TPDP 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 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 TPDP 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 TPDP application package.

For Further Information Contact: For information on the program and to 
download a TPDP application package, you may access the Department's 
Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/.
    If you need further assistance and need to speak with someone 
regarding TPDP, or to request a paper application package, you may 
contact Karen Stratman Clark, by phone at (202) 205-3779, or by mail at 
330 C Street, SW., Room 5523, Washington, DC 20202. Requests for 
applications may also be sent by fax to (202) 401-4079.
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-
8339. Individuals with disabilities may obtain this notice in an 
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding 
paragraph.

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 
portable document format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF you must have the 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. 2376.

    Dated: May 7, 2003.
Carol D'Amico,
Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education.
[FR Doc. 03-11899 Filed 5-9-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P