[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13085-13087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5890]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket No. 100305127-0127-01]


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

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Funds.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Public 
Law No. 111-117, the 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 5:00 p.m. Eastern 
Daylight Time, May 3, 2010. Applications submitted by facsimile are not 
acceptable. NTIA will not accept applications received after the 
deadline. However, 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.

ADDRESSES: To obtain a printed application package, submit completed 
applications, or send any other correspondence, write to: NTIA/PTFP, 
Room H-4812, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20230. Application materials may be obtained 
electronically via the Internet at www.grants.gov.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    The full federal funding opportunity announcement for the PEACESAT 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 grant cycle is available through www.grants.gov 
or by contacting NTIA at the address noted above. Application materials 
may be obtained electronically via the Internet at www.grants.gov.

Program Description

    Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Public Law 
No. 111-117, the U.S. Department of Commerce announces the solicitation 
of applications for a grant for the 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.

Funding Availability

    Funding for the PEACESAT Program is provided pursuant to the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Public Law No. 111-117 and 
Public Law No. 106-113, ``The Consolidated Appropriations Act, Fiscal 
Year 2000.'' Public Law No. 106-113 provides ``That, hereafter, 
notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Pan-Pacific Education 
and Communications Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) Program is 
eligible to compete for Public Broadcasting Facilities, Planning and 
Construction funds.''
    The Congress has appropriated $18 million for FY 2010 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 2010. For FY 2009, NTIA issued 
one award for the PEACESAT project in the amount of $499,641.

Statutory and Regulatory Authority

    The PEACESAT Program was authorized under Public Law No. 100-584 
(102 Stat. 2970) and also Public Law

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No. 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.
    Applications submitted in response to this solicitation for 
PEACESAT applications are exempt from the PTFP regulations at 15 CFR 
Part 2301.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    Not Applicable.

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

    The Public Broadcasting Division (PBD) administers the PEACESAT 
Program and places a summary of applications received on the Internet 
at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/peacesat/peacesat.html. 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 for failure to meet application 
requirements and does not assure that the application will be funded. 
The listing will also include a request for comments on the 
applications from any interested party.
    Each eligible application is evaluated by three independent 
reviewers who have demonstrated expertise in the programmatic and 
technological aspects of the application. The reviewers will evaluate 
applications according to the evaluation criteria in the following 
section and provide individual written ratings of each application. No 
consensus advice will be provided by the reviewers. State Single Point 
of Contact (SPOC) offices, per Executive Order 12372, may provide 
recommendations on applications under consideration.
    The PBD program staff prepares a rank order of all applications 
according to the scores submitted by the independent reviewers. The PBD 
program staff then prepares written summary recommendations for the 
Director of the Public Broadcasting Division (PBD Director). These 
recommendations incorporate the independent reviewers' ratings and 
analysis of the degree to which a proposed project meets the PEACESAT 
Program purposes, as described above in the Program Description, and 
applicable cost principles. 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 PBD Director considers the program staff's summary 
recommendations in accordance with the funding priorities and selection 
factors referenced in the next section and recommends the funding order 
of the applications for the PEACESAT Programs in three categories: 
``Recommended for Funding,'' ``Recommended for Funding If Funds Are 
Available,'' and ``Not Recommended for Funding.'' The PBD Director 
presents recommendations to the Associate Administrator, Office of 
Telecommunications and Information Applications (OTIA Associate 
Administrator), for review and approval.
    Upon review and approval based on the funding priorities and 
selection factors referenced in the next section by the OTIA Associate 
Administrator, the OTIA Associate Administrator's and the PBD 
Director's recommendations are presented to the Selecting Official, the 
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, who is the NTIA 
Administrator. The Selecting Official then makes the final award 
selections taking into consideration these recommendations and the 
degree to which the slate of applications, taken as a whole, satisfies 
the stated purposes for the PEACESAT Program.
    Prior to award, applications may be negotiated between NTIA and the 
applicant to resolve any differences between the original request and 
what NTIA is willing to consider funding. Some applications may be 
dropped from the slate due to lack of Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC) authorization, an applicant's inability to make adequate 
assurances or certifications, or other reasons. Negotiation of an 
application does not ensure that a final award will be made.
    The Program will not award a grant until it has received 
confirmation that the FCC will issue any necessary authorization.
    After final award selections have been made, the Agency will notify 
the applicant of one of the following actions:
    (1) Selection of the application for funding, in whole or in part;
    (2) Deferral of the application for subsequent consideration; or
    (3) Rejection of the application with an explanation and the 
reason, e.g., if an applicant is not eligible or if the proposed 
project does not fall within the purposes of the PEACESAT program.

Funding Priorities and Selection Factors

    The PBD Director will consider the summary evaluations prepared by 
program staff, rank the applications, and present recommendations to 
the OTIA Associate Administrator for review and approval. The PBD 
Director's recommendations and the OTIA Associate Administrator's 
review and approval will take into account the following selection 
factors:
    (1) The program staff evaluations, including the outside reviewers;
    (2) Whether the applicant has any current NTIA grants;
    (3) The geographic distribution of the proposed grant awards; and
    (4) The availability of funds.
    The Selection Official considers these recommendations and whether 
the proposed awards satisfy the PEACESAT program purposes.

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.

    The extent to which the project meets the purposes of the PEACESAT 
Program including consideration of: (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.

    The extent to which the project meets the plan of operation for the 
project, including consideration of: (i) the quality of the design of 
the project; (ii)

[[Page 13087]]

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 disability.

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 extent to which 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 disability. As used 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 December 2, 2009, Notice regarding 
the PTFP Program, see 74 FR 163120 (2009).

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, the submission to the SPOC needs to be only the first two 
pages of the Application Form, but applicants should contact their own 
SPOC offices to ensure compliance with its requirements. The names and 
addresses of the SPOC offices are listed on the PTFP website and at the 
Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) home page at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_spoc.

Universal Identifier

    All applicants (nonprofits, state and local governments, 
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 at www.fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

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 February 11, 2008 (73 FR 7696) 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 OMB control number. The PEACESAT 
application package requires the use of the following forms: SF-424, 
SF-424A, SF-424B, SF-LLL. These forms have been approved under the 
respective OMB Control Nos. 4040-0004, 4040-0006, and 4040-0007.

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. Sec.  553(a)). Because notice 
and opportunity for comment are not required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Sec.  
553 or any other law, the analytical requirements of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. Sec.  601 et seq.) are inapplicable. 
Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not been prepared.

    Dated: March 12, 2010.
Dr. Bernadette McGuire-Rivera,
Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information 
Applications.
[FR Doc. 2010-5890 Filed 3-18-10; 8:45 am]
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