[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56271-56272]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24794]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.116N]


Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Special 
Focus Competition (Institutional Cooperation and Student Mobility in 
Postsecondary Education Among the United States, Canada and Mexico); 
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004

    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 or 
combinations of institutions of higher education and other public and 
private nonprofit institutions and agencies.
    Applications Available: December 10, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 16, 2004.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 15, 2004.
    Estimated Available Funds: $300,000.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $30,000. $200,000--$215,000 for four-
year duration of grant.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $30,000 for FY 2004. $210,000 for 
four-year duration of grant.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 10.

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

    Project Period: Up to 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 your narrative to the equivalent of no more 
than twenty (20) double-spaced 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, as well as 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).
    The page limit does not apply to the title page, the budget 
section, including the narrative budget justification, the assurances 
and certifications, the resumes, the bibliography, or the letters of 
support.
    Our reviewers will not read any pages of your application narrative 
that--
    [sbull] Exceed the page limit if you apply these standards; or
    [sbull] Exceed the equivalent of the page limit if you apply other 
standards.
    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: This program is a Special Focus Competition 
to support projects addressing a particular problem area or improvement 
approach in postsecondary education. The competition also includes an 
invitational priority to encourage proposals designed to support the 
formation of educational consortia of American, Canadian, and Mexican 
institutions of higher education to encourage cooperation in the 
coordination of curricula, the exchange of students and the opening of 
educational opportunities throughout North America. The invitational 
priority is issued in cooperation with Canada and Mexico. Canadian and 
Mexican institutions of higher education participating in any 
consortium proposal responding to the invitational priority may apply, 
respectively, to Human Resources Development Canada and the Mexican 
Department of Public Education for additional funding under separate 
Canadian and Mexican competitions.

Priority

    We are particularly interested in applications that meet the 
following invitational priority.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an application that meets 
the invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over 
other applications.
    Invitational Priority: Projects that support consortia of 
institutions of higher education that promote institutional cooperation 
and student mobility among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Aligning Your Proposal to the Review Criteria

    The success of this Special Focus Competition depends upon (1) the 
extent to which funded projects are being replicated--i.e., adopted or 
adapted by others; and (2) the manner in which projects are being 
institutionalized and continued after grant funding. These two results 
constitute FIPSE's indicators of the success of our program.
    If funded, you will be asked to collect and report data from your 
project on steps taken toward these goals. Consequently, applicants are 
advised to include these two outcomes in conceptualizing the design, 
implementation, and evaluation of the proposed project. Consideration 
of FIPSE's two performance outcomes is an important part of many of the 
review criteria discussed below. Thus, it is important to the success 
of your application that you include these objectives. Their measure 
should be a part of the project evaluation plan, along with measures of 
objectives specific to your project.

Methods for Applying Selection Criteria

    We give equal weight to the listed criteria. Within each of the 
criteria, we give equal weight to each of the factors.

Selection Criteria

    In evaluating applications for grants under this program 
competition, we use selection criteria chosen from those listed in 34 
CFR 75.210 of EDGAR.

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 FY 2004, the Department is continuing to expand its pilot 
project for electronic submission of applications to include additional 
formula grant programs and additional discretionary grant competitions. 
The Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education [84.116N] 
is one of the programs included in the pilot project. If you are an 
applicant under the Program for North American Mobility in Higher 
Education, 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). 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

[[Page 56272]]

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 its 
improvement.
    If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
    [sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
    [sbull] When you enter the e-Application system, you will find 
information about its hours of operation. We strongly recommend that 
you do not wait until the application deadline date to initiate an e-
Application package.
    [sbull] You will not receive 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.
    [sbull] You may submit all documents electronically, including the 
Title Page which substitutes for ED 424 in the Program for North 
American Mobility in Higher Education, the Budget Summary Sheet which 
substitutes for ED 524 in the Program for North American Mobility in 
Higher Education, and all necessary assurances and certifications.
    [sbull] Your e-Application must comply with any page limit 
requirements described in this notice.
    [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 Title Page, which substitutes for 
ED 424 in the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education, 
to the Application Control Center after following these steps:
    1. Print the Title Page, which substitutes for ED 424, from e-
Application.
    2. The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign the Title 
Page, which substitutes for ED 424.
    3. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the 
hard copy signature page of the Title Page, which substitutes for ED 
424.
    4. Fax the signed Title Page, which substitutes for ED 424, to the 
Application Control Center at (202) 260-1349.
    [sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on 
other forms at a later date.
    [sbull] Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of System 
Unavailability: If you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot 
for the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education and you 
are prevented from submitting your application on the application 
deadline 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 application 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 application 
deadline date.
    The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of 
unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this 
extension or to confirm the Department's acknowledgement of any system 
unavailability, you may 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 Program for 
North American Mobility in Higher Education at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
    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 84.116N.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fund for the Improvement of 
Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street, NW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20006-8544. Telephone: (202) 
502-7500 or via Internet: http://www.ed.gov/FIPSE.
    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 contact number listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Individuals with disabilities also may obtain a copy of the 
application package in an alternative format by contacting that number. 
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: 
http://www.ed.gov/news/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: September 25, 2003.
Sally Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 03-24794 Filed 9-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P