[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 93 (Wednesday, May 14, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26168-26169]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-11953]



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Part III





Department of Commerce





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Economic Development Administration



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National Technical Assistance, Training, Research, and Evaluation--
Request for Grant Proposals; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 93 / Wednesday, May 14, 2003 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development Administration

[Docket No. 991215339-3104-06]
RIN: 0610-ZA14


National Technical Assistance, Training, Research, and 
Evaluation--Request for Grant Proposals

AGENCY: Economic Development Administration (EDA), Department of 
Commerce (DOC).

ACTION: Request for Grant Proposals (RFP) Upon Availability of Funds.

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SUMMARY: The role of government is to create the conditions in which 
jobs are created, and in which people can find work. EDA is soliciting 
proposals to develop and disseminate, on a monthly basis, information 
on the reuse of former military bases for practitioners engaged in base 
redevelopment and economic development.

DATES: Prospective applicants are advised that proposals for funding 
under this program will be accepted through June 13, 2003, at either of 
the addresses provided below. Proposals received after 4 p.m. EDT, on 
June 13, 2003, will not be considered for funding.
    By June 30, 2003, EDA will notify proposers whether they will be 
given further funding consideration. The successful proponent will be 
invited to submit an Application for Federal Assistance, OMB Control 
Number 0610-0094. The project will be funded as soon as possible, but 
no later than September 30, 2003.

ADDRESSES: 
    1. Proposals may be e-mailed to [email protected], or
    2. Proposals may be hand-delivered to: John J. McNamee, Director, 
Research and National Technical Assistance Division, Economic 
Development Administration, Room 1874, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230, or
    3. Proposals may be mailed to: John J. McNamee, Director, Research 
and National Technical Assistance Division, Economic Development 
Administration, Room 7019, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.
    Proponents are encouraged to submit proposals by email. Proponents 
are advised that, due to mail security measures, receipt of U.S.P.S. 
mail may be delayed for up to two weeks. EDA will not accept proposals 
submitted by FAX.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John J. McNamee, (202) 482-4085; 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a previous notice published on April 9, 
2003 (68 FR 17520), EDA stated that it would publish separate 
announcements for its National Technical Assistance, Training, 
Research, and Evaluation program. Pursuant to that notice, EDA 
publishes program requirements and solicits applications for this 
program.

I. Funding Availability

    Funds appropriated under Pub. L. 107-248 to the Department of 
Defense will be transferred to EDA under authority of 42 U.S.C. 3214(c) 
for this project. In FY 2002, EDA funded a one year information 
dissemination project on the reuse of military bases with a $35,000 
award. This project differs significantly in that the initial 
performance period is for two years and it involves substantial in-
depth analysis of aspects of base redevelopment. As a result, EDA 
anticipates this project will cost more.
    The award will be in the form of a cooperative agreement. In 
funding cooperative agreements, a common example of substantial 
involvement is collaboration between EDA program staff and the 
recipient of this information dissemination award to establish an 
editorial board to comment on stories and to suggest and select themes 
for future feature stories.

II. Authority

    The authority for the program listed above is the Public Works and 
Economic Development Act of 1965, as amended (Pub. L. 89-136, 42 U.S.C. 
3121 et seq.), and as further amended by Pub. L. 105-393.

III. Eligibility

    Eligible recipients of EDA financial assistance are defined at 13 
CFR 300.2 and eligible applicants are specified at 13 CFR 301.1. An 
``area'' is an eligible recipient and is defined at 13 CFR 301.2. One 
category of the areas eligible for financial assistance are those areas 
meeting the ``special needs'' criteria. The special needs criteria are 
published in Part XV of the Federal Register notice of April 9, 2003 
(68 FR 17524).

IV. Proposal Format

    Each proposal submitted must include:
    1. A description of how the proposer(s) intend(s) to carry out the 
scope of work (not to exceed 10 pages in length);
    2. A proposed budget and accompanying explanation;
    3. Resumes/qualifications of key staff (not to exceed two pages per 
individual, with an additional two pages allowed for a single summary 
description of all organizations/consultants named in the proposal); 
and
    4. A proposed schedule for completion of the project.

V. Evaluation and Selection Process

    To apply for an award under this request, an eligible recipient 
must submit a proposal to EDA during the specified timeframe, at one of 
the addresses specified above. Proposals that do not meet all items 
required or that exceed the page limitations of Section IV of this RFP, 
will be considered nonresponsive, and will not be considered. Proposals 
that meet all the requirements will be evaluated by a review panel 
comprised of at least three members all of whom will be full-time 
federal employees. The panel first evaluates the proposals using the 
general evaluation criteria set forth in 13 CFR 304.1 and 304.2 as 
further defined by the supplemental evaluation criteria set forth in 
Part VI of the Federal Register notice published on April 9, 2003 (68 
FR 17521). Proposals that meet these threshold criteria will then be 
evaluated by the panel using the following three criteria of 
approximate equal weight:
    (1) The quality of a proposal's response to the Scope of Work and 
other requirements described in Section VI below;
    (2) The ability of the prospective applicant to successfully carry 
out the proposed activities. This will include an evaluation of the 
qualifications of the proposed staff, the use and cost of travel, how 
applicant expertise will be supplemented through the use of contractors 
or consultants, how the potential applicant plans to work cooperatively 
with economic development organizations, how the target audience will 
be identified and reached, and both the quality of the potential 
applicant's suggestions for feature story topics and the methodology 
that will be used to identify future topics; and
    (3) Cost to the federal government.
    The Assistant Secretary for Economic Development is the Selecting 
Official. He may not make any selection, or he may substitute one of 
the lower rated proposals, if he determines that it better meets the 
overall objectives of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 
1965, as amended (Pub. L. 89-136, 42 U.S.C. 3121 et seq.), and as 
further amended by Pub. L. 105-393.

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    If a proposal is selected, EDA will provide the proponent with an 
Application for Federal Assistance (OMB Control Number 0610-0094).

VI. Areas of Special Interest

    EDA is inviting proposals for National Technical Assistance, 
Training, Research, and Evaluation as described below.

Program: National Technical Assistance--(Pub. L. 89-136, as Amended by 
Pub. L. 105-393, 42 U.S.C. 3147)

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: 11.303 Economic Development 
Technical Assistance)

    Background: As part of its ongoing mission to assist communities in 
reusing former military bases, EDA supports the dissemination of 
information to economic development practitioners engaged in base 
reuse. The intent of disseminating this information is to broadly 
convey how reuse works successfully, to increase the knowledge of 
practitioners, and to attract innovative practitioners into the field 
of redeveloping former military bases.
    Scope of Work:
    The successful applicant will:
    (1) Develop and disseminate, on alternate months,
    (a) Three to five ``news'' stories reporting on activities at 
former military bases. The 300-1,000 word news stories will answer, for 
example, why particular end-users chose a particular base, rather than 
just announcing that they did; and
    (b) ``Feature'' stories on major base-reuse topics. The 2,000-5,000 
word (with a few appropriate charts or diagrams) feature stories will 
show how practitioners engaged in base redevelopment solved specific 
challenges in reusing the former military bases that closed in the 
1990s. They will not be ``policy studies'' that address the strengths 
or weaknesses of federal base closure programs and legislation. Rather, 
feature stories will analyze in-depth one particular aspect of base 
redevelopment at one to three former bases; for example, how did 
redevelopers structure environmental service cooperative agreements to 
facilitate redevelopment, and reduce the cost of site preparation and 
regulatory burden. Issues with news and feature stories will alternate 
each month, six each per year.
    (2) Disseminate news and feature stories widely, using existing 
electronic networks for economic development practitioners engaged in 
the reuse of both military bases and non-military facilities.
    (3) Establish with the grantor a 3-5 member editorial board to 
comment on stories and to suggest and select themes for future feature 
stories. Topics for initial feature stories on base redevelopment will 
include: how to blend grant, municipal debt, asset sales, and private 
equity to finance infrastructure; how environmental service cooperative 
agreements can become a redevelopment tool; when planning and zoning 
alone are sufficient to direct redevelopment. Other topics may be 
proposed in the application, but must then be adopted by the editorial 
board.
    Timing: The initial award and funding periods will be for two years 
from the date of approval. However, those periods may be amended to 
cover an additional two-year period resulting in four-year award and 
funding periods, subject to funding availability, satisfactory 
performance under the initial award, and at the sole discretion of EDA.
    Additional Requirement: The proposed information dissemination 
should not be primarily for the benefit of the grantee or the grantee's 
members, or a localized geographic area.

VII. Other Information and Requirements

    EDA regulations at 13 CFR Chapter III are available on the EDA Web 
site at http://www.doc.gov/eda. The Department of Commerce Pre-Award 
Notification Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements 
contained in the Federal Register notice of October 1, 2001 (66 FR 
49917), as amended by the Federal Register notice published on October 
30, 2002 (67 FR 66109), are applicable to this solicitation and can be 
found on EDA's Web site http://www.doc.gov/eda.
    A. Ordinarily, the applicant is expected to provide a 50% non-
federal share of project costs. However, EDA may reduce or waive the 
required 50% matching share of the total project costs, provided the 
applicant demonstrates: (1) The project is not feasible without a 
reduction or waiver and the project merits a reduction or waiver, or 
(2) the requirements of 13 CFR 301.4(b) are satisfied.
    B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is 
required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for 
failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) unless that 
collection of information displays a currently valid Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) control number. This notice involves a 
collection of information requirement subject to the provisions of the 
PRA and has been approved by OMB under Control Number 0610-0094. The 
EDA application (ED-900A), which incorporates the SF-424, are the forms 
in the EDA application kit, approved under the aforementioned OMB 
control number.
    C. If an application is selected for funding, EDA has no obligation 
to provide any additional future funding in connection with an award. 
Renewal of an award to increase funding or extend the period of 
performance is at the sole discretion of EDA.
    D. EDA is committed to a policy of non-discrimination in the 
administration of all its programs.
    E. EDA will notify unsuccessful proposers in writing and 
unsuccessful proposals will be maintained for not more than three years 
from the date of receipt.
    F. This Notice has been determined to be ``not significant'' for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    G. It has been determined that this notice does not contain 
policies with Federalism implications as that term is defined in 
Executive Order 13132.
    H. The rulemaking requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553 are not applicable 
to this notice relating to public property, loans, grants, benefits or 
contracts (5 U.S.C. 5553(a)(2)). Because notice and comment are not 
required under 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other law for this rule, the 
analytical requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 
601) are not applicable. Thus, a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not 
required and has not been prepared for this rule.

    Dated: May 6, 2003.
David A. Sampson,
Assistant Secretary for Economic Development.
[FR Doc. 03-11953 Filed 5-13-03; 8:45 am]
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