[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19057-19059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-7306]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket No. 001215353-5080-05]


Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite 
(PEACESAT): Closing Date

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2005, the 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. 
Department of Commerce, announces the solicitation of applications for 
a grant for the Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by 
Satellite (PEACESAT) Program. Projects funded pursuant to this Notice 
are intended to support the PEACESAT Program's acquisition of satellite 
communications to service Pacific Basin communities and to manage the 
operations of this network. Applications for the PEACESAT Program grant 
will compete for funds from the Public Broadcasting, Facilities, 
Planning and Construction Funds account.

DATES: Applications must be received on or before 5 p.m. Eastern 
Daylight Saving Time, May 12, 2005. Applications submitted by facsimile 
or electronic means are not acceptable. If an application is received 
after the Closing Date due to (1) carrier error, when the carrier 
accepted the package with a guarantee for delivery by the Closing Date 
and Time, or (2) significant weather delays or natural disasters, NTIA 
will, upon receipt of proper documentation, consider the application as 
having been received by the deadline. NTIA will not accept applications 
posted on the Closing Date or later and received after the deadline.

ADDRESSES: To obtain a printed application package, submit completed 
applications, or send any other correspondence, write to: NTIA/PTFP, 
Room H-4625, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Cooperman, Director, Public 
Broadcasting Division, telephone: (202) 482-5802; fax: (202) 482-2156.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    The full funding opportunity announcement for the PEACESAT Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2005 grant cycle is available through http://www.Grants.gov 
or by contacting the PTFP office at the address noted above. 
Application materials may be obtained electronically via the Internet 
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/peacesat.html).

Funding Availability

    The Congress has appropriated $19.8 million for FY 2005 Public 
Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) and PEACESAT awards. Of 
this amount, NTIA anticipates making a single award for approximately 
$500,000 for the PEACESAT Program in FY 2005. For FY 2004, NTIA issued 
one award for the PEACESAT project in the amount of $493,130.

Statutory and Regulatory Authority

    Funding for the PEACESAT Program is provided pursuant to Public Law 
108-447, ``The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005'' and Public Law 
106-113, ``The Consolidated Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2000.'' 
Public Law 106-113 provides ``That, hereafter, notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the Pan-Pacific

[[Page 19058]]

Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) 
Program is eligible to compete for Public Broadcasting Facilities, 
Planning and Construction funds.'' The PEACESAT Program was authorized 
under Public Law 100-584 (102 Stat. 2970) and also Public Law 101-555 
(104 Stat. 2758) to acquire satellite communications services to 
provide educational, medical, and cultural needs of Pacific Basin 
communities. The PEACESAT Program has been operational since 1971 and 
has received funding from NTIA for support of the project since 1988.
    Public Law 108-447 appropriated $19.8 million for this account to 
be awarded for Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) 
grants and for PEACESAT Program grants. A solicitation notice for the 
PTFP Program was published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2005. 
Applications submitted in response to this solicitation for PEACESAT 
applications are not subject to the requirements of the January 26, 
2005 Notice and are exempt from the PTFP regulations at 15 CFR part 
2301.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: N/A.

Eligibility

    Eligible applicants will include any for-profit or non-profit 
organization, public or private entity, other than an agency or 
division of the Federal government. Individuals are not eligible to 
apply for the PEACESAT Program funds.

Evaluation and Selection Process

    Each eligible application is evaluated by three outside reviewers 
who have demonstrated expertise in the programmatic and technological 
aspects of the application. The reviewers will evaluate applications 
according to the criteria in the following section and provide 
individual written ratings of each application.
    State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) offices, per Executive Order 
12372, may provide recommendations on applications under consideration.
    PTFP places a summary of applications received on the Internet. 
Listing an application merely acknowledges receipt of an application to 
compete for funding with other applications. Listing does not preclude 
subsequent return of the application or disapproval of the application, 
nor does it assure that the application will be funded. The listing 
will also include a request for comments on the applications from any 
interested party.
    The reviewer's ratings are provided to the PTFP staff and a rank 
order is prepared according to score. The PTFP program staff prepares 
summary recommendations for the Director of the Public Broadcasting 
Division. These recommendations incorporate the outside reviewers' 
ratings and incorporate analysis based on the degree to which a 
proposed project meets the PEACESAT Program purposes and cost 
eligibility. Staff recommendations also consider (1) project impact, 
(2) the cost/benefit of a project, and (3) whether the reviewers 
consistently applied the evaluation criteria. The analysis by program 
staff is provided to the Director of the Public Broadcasting Division 
in writing.
    The Director considers the summary recommendations prepared by 
program staff in accord with the funding priorities and selection 
factors referenced in the next section and recommends the funding order 
of the applications for the PTFP and PEACESAT Programs in three 
categories: ``Recommended for Funding,'' ``Recommended for Funding If 
Funds Are Available,'' and ``Not Recommended for Funding.'' The 
Director presents recommendations to the Associate Administrator, 
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications (OTIA), for 
review and approval.
    Upon review and approval based on the funding priorities and 
selection factors referenced in the next section by the Associate 
Administrator of the Office of Telecommunications and Information 
Applications (OTIA), the Associate Administrator's and the Director's 
recommendations are presented to the Selecting Official, the Assistant 
Secretary for Communications and Information, who is the NTIA 
Administrator. The NTIA Administrator selects the applications to be 
negotiated for possible grant award, taking into consideration the 
outside reviewers' ratings, the Director's recommendations, and the 
degree to which the slate of applications, taken as a whole, satisfies 
the PTFP and PEACESAT Programs' stated purposes.
    The selected applications are negotiated between NTIA staff and the 
applicant. The negotiations are intended to resolve whatever 
differences might exist between the applicant's original request and 
what NTIA is considering funding. Negotiation does not ensure that an 
award will be made. When the negotiations are completed, the Director 
recommends final selections to the NTIA Administrator, applying the 
same selection factors described above. The Administrator then makes 
the final award selections from the negotiated applications taking into 
consideration the Director's recommendations and the degree to which 
the slate of applications, taken as a whole, satisfies the stated 
purposes for the PTFP Program in 15 CFR 2301.1(a) and (c) and for the 
PEACESAT Program.

Funding Priorities and Selection Factors

    The selection factors retained by the Director, OTIA Associate 
Administrator, and the Assistant Secretary for Communications and 
Information for the PTFP Program are described in 15 CFR 2301.18. These 
selection factors are also used, as applicable, for selection of 
applications for funding for the PEACESAT Program.

Evaluation Criteria

    Each eligible application that is timely received, is materially 
complete, and proposes an eligible project will be considered under the 
evaluation criteria described here. The first three criteria--1. 
Meeting the Purposes of the PEACESAT Program, 2. Extent of Need for the 
Project, and 3. Plan of Operation for the Project--are each worth 25 
points. Criterion 4, Budget and Cost Effectiveness, is worth 20 points. 
Criterion 5, Quality of Key Personnel, is worth 5 points.
    Criterion 1. Meeting the Purposes of the PEACESAT Program, 
including (i) how well the proposal meets the objectives of the 
PEACESAT Program and (ii) how the objectives of the proposal further 
the purposes of the PEACESAT Program.
    Criterion 2. Extent of Need for the Project. The extent to which 
the project meets the needs of the PEACESAT Program, including 
consideration of: (i) the needs addressed by the project; (ii) how the 
applicant identifies those needs; (iii) how those needs will be met by 
the project; and (iv) the benefits to be gained by meeting those needs.
    Criterion 3. Plan of Operation for the Project, including (i) the 
quality of the design of the project; (ii) the extent to which the plan 
of management is effective and ensures proper and efficient 
administration of the project; (iii) how well the objectives of the 
project relate to the purposes of the PEACESAT Program; (iv) the 
quality of the applicant's plan to use its resources and personnel to 
achieve each objective; and (v) how the applicant will ensure that 
project participants who are otherwise eligible to participate are 
selected without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age, 
or handicapped condition.

[[Page 19059]]

    Criterion 4. Budget and Cost Effectiveness. The extent to which (i) 
the budget is adequate to support the project; and (ii) costs are 
reasonable in relation to the objectives of the project.
    Criterion 5. Quality of Key Personnel the applicant plans to use on 
the project, including (i) the qualifications of the project director 
if one is to be used; (ii) the qualifications of each of the other key 
personnel to be used in the project; (iii) the time that each person 
will commit to the project; and (iv) how the applicant, as part of its 
nondiscriminatory employment practices, will ensure that its personnel 
are selected for employment without regard to race, color, national 
origin, gender, age, or handicapped condition. In this section, 
``qualifications'' refers to experience and training in fields related 
to the objectives of the project, and any other qualifications that 
pertain to the quality of the project.

Cost Sharing Requirements

    Grant recipients under this program will not be required to provide 
matching funds toward the total project cost.
    The costs allowable under this Notice are not subject to the 
limitation on costs contained in the January 26, 2005 Notice regarding 
the PTFP Program

Intergovernmental Review

    PEACESAT applications are subject to Executive Order 12372, 
``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs,'' if the state in which 
the applicant organization is located participates in the process. 
Usually submission to the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) needs to 
be only the first two pages of the Application Form, but applicants 
should contact their own SPOC offices to find out about and comply with 
its requirements. The names and addresses of the SPOC offices are 
listed on the PTFP Web site and at the Office of Management and 
Budget's home page at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.

Universal Identifier

    All applicants (nonprofit, State, local government, universities, 
and tribal organizations) will be required to provide a Dun and 
Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number during the 
application process. See the October 30, 2002 (67 FR 66177) and April 
8, 2003 (68 FR 17000) Federal Register notices for additional 
information. Organizations can receive a DUNS number at no cost by 
calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS Number request line 1-866-705-5711 
or via the Internet (http://www.dunandbradstreet.com).

The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for 
Grants and Cooperative Agreements

    The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification of Requirements 
for Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register 
notice of December 30, 2004 (69 FR 78389) is applicable to this 
solicitation.

Limitation of Liability

    In no event will the Department of Commerce be responsible for 
proposal preparation costs if this program fails to receive funding or 
is cancelled because of other agency priorities. Publication of this 
announcement does not oblige the agency to award any specific project 
or to obligate any available funds.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, nor shall any 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 displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) control number. The PTFP application form has been approved under 
OMB Control No. 0660-0003.

Executive Order 13132

    It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies 
with federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 
13132.

Administrative Procedure Act/Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Prior notice and opportunity for public comment are not required by 
the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for rules concerning 
grants, benefits, and contracts (5 U.S.C. 553(a)). Because notice and 
opportunity for comment are not required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or 
any other law, the analytical requirements of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are inapplicable. Therefore, a 
regulatory flexibility analysis has not been prepared.

Dr. Bernadette McGuire-Rivera,
Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information 
Applications.
[FR Doc. 05-7306 Filed 4-11-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-60-P