[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 147 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44436-44438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18077]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2014-OCTAE-0106]


Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth

AGENCY: Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Secretary invites written comments on the implementation 
of Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth, which will 
offer a unique opportunity for States, localities, and tribes to test 
innovative, cost-effective, and outcome-focused strategies for 
improving results for disconnected youth. Working with other Federal 
agencies, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) will solicit 
applications for these pilots. Through this notice, the Department 
seeks input on the application process that we intend to use.

DATES: We must receive your comments by August 7, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via U.S. mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments by fax or by email or those submitted after the comment 
period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, please 
submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket 
ID and the term ``Performance Partnership Pilots'' at the top of your 
comments.
    If you are submitting comments electronically, we strongly 
encourage you to submit any comments or attachments in Microsoft Word 
format. If you must submit a comment in Portable Document Format (PDF), 
we strongly encourage you to convert the PDF to print-to-PDF format or 
to use some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not 
submit the PDF in a scanned or read-only format. Using a print-to-PDF 
format allows the Department of Education (Department) to 
electronically search and copy certain portions of your submissions.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: To submit your comments 
electronically, go to www.regulations.gov. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency

[[Page 44437]]

documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on 
the site under ``Are you new to the site?''
     U.S. Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments, address them to Braden Goetz, U.S. 
Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW., Room 11141, Potomac 
Center Plaza (PCP), Washington, DC 20202. Please note that mail sent 
through the U.S. Mail is subject to X-ray or heat treatment, which 
typically results in delays and may damage paper products.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy for comments received from 
members of the public (including comments submitted by mail, commercial 
delivery, or hand delivery) is to make these submissions available for 
public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available on the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Braden Goetz, U.S. Department of 
Education, 550 12th Street SW., Room 11141, PCP, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 245-7405 or by email at: [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Performance Partnership Pilots for 
Disconnected Youth (P3) offer a unique opportunity to test innovative, 
cost-effective, and outcome-focused strategies for improving results 
for disconnected youth. Through these pilots, we hope to learn more 
about whether providing additional flexibility for States, localities, 
and Indian tribes to pool funds and waive programmatic requirements 
will help them overcome some of the significant hurdles they may face 
in improving outcomes for disconnected youth.
    The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Pub. L. 113-76) (the 
Act), under Section 526 of Division H, authorizes the Departments of 
Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, along with the 
Corporation for National and Community Service and the Institute of 
Museum and Library Services (collectively, the Agencies), to enter into 
a total of up to ten Performance Partnership Agreements with States, 
localities, or tribal governments receiving funds under multiple 
Federal programs that give grantees additional flexibility in using 
these funds to achieve significant improvement in outcomes for 
disconnected youth. In the Act, `` `to improve outcomes for 
disconnected youth' means to increase the rate at which individuals 
between the ages of 14 and 24 (who are low-income and either homeless, 
in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, unemployed, or 
not enrolled in or at-risk of dropping out of an educational 
institution) achieve success in meeting educational, employment, or 
other key goals.'' (Section 526(a)(2) of Division H of the Act). We 
describe significant elements of these pilots in the following 
paragraphs.

Blending Funds

    The P3 pilots are designed to facilitate flexible use of existing 
Federal funding streams that were made available under the Act. The 
theory of action behind P3 is that blending funds should reduce 
administrative burdens, and thereby enhance pilot sites' capability to 
effectively use resources from multiple Federal, State, tribal, local, 
and philanthropic funding streams, such as by enabling pilot sites to 
better align project objectives, delivery of services, measurement 
strategies, and reporting.
    The pilots must involve Federal programs focused on serving 
disconnected youth or designed to prevent youth from disconnecting from 
school or work, and that provide education, training, employment, and 
other related services. Thus, under the Act, States, localities, and 
tribes that enter into a P3 agreement may blend fiscal year (FY) 2014 
discretionary funds, including both formula and competitive grant 
funds, from the Agencies in order to implement outcome-focused 
strategies for serving disconnected youth. This blending of funds, 
including individual funding streams, or portions of them, will be 
accomplished under a partnership agreement that will provide for a 
single set of reporting and other requirements to govern the pilot. 
This single set of requirements may differ from the various 
requirements associated with each of the original, individual funding 
streams.
    Before any of the Agencies can participate in a Performance 
Partnership Pilot, the agency head must determine, in writing, that the 
agency's participation in the pilot (1) will not result in denying or 
restricting the eligibility of any individual for any of the services 
that (in whole or in part) are supported by the agency's programs and 
Federal discretionary funds that are involved in the Pilot, and (2) 
based on the best available information, will not otherwise adversely 
affect vulnerable populations that receive those services.
    The Agencies have identified flexible FY 2014 funds under existing 
authorities that the Department will award as start-up grants. These 
grants, which will likely be several hundred thousand dollars each, 
will help to support each pilot's start-up costs, such as activities 
related to planning, governance, and coordination. Applicants will 
describe in their proposals how they will use these funds, along with 
the funds the applicants propose to blend under the Performance 
Partnerships authority, to develop and implement high-quality 
Performance Partnership Pilots to improve outcomes for disconnected 
youth.

Waivers

    In order to provide applicants with the flexibility required to 
implement a pilot through the effective blending of Federal and non-
Federal funds, the Act provides that the Agencies may waive 
requirements associated with individual programs contributing funds. P3 
authority states that heads of the Agencies may not only exercise any 
existing waiver authority, but also waive any statutory, regulatory, or 
administrative requirement that they are otherwise not authorized to 
waive, so long as the waiver is in keeping with important safeguards. 
Specifically, waivers must be consistent with the statutory purposes of 
the respective Federal programs contributing funds to the pilot and 
necessary to achieve the pilot's outcomes. In addition, the Agencies 
may not waive requirements related to nondiscrimination, wage and labor 
standards, and allocation of funds to State and substate levels.
    In practice, P3 waiver authority should enable applicants to take a 
more outcome-focused approach to providing services by: First, 
identifying the population to be served; second, determining the most 
effective strategies for serving that population; third, selecting 
funding streams appropriate to support those strategies; and, lastly, 
clarifying which program rules and requirements would need to be waived 
in order to implement the strategies. The waiver authority will allow 
communities and the Federal government to identify eligible youth and 
design the allowable activities and reporting requirements so that they 
support the locally determined goals and objectives of the pilot.

Performance Partnership Agreements

    Each pilot will be governed by a performance agreement between a 
lead

[[Page 44438]]

Federal agency, which will be designated by the Office of Management 
and Budget and will act on behalf of the Agencies, and the respective 
representatives of all of the State, local, or tribal governments 
participating in the pilot.

Limitations

    The Act does not provide authority for pilots to blend funding or 
waive provisions of Federal programs funded with mandatory 
appropriations (such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or 
Medicaid). However, the performance agreements must identify any 
statutory, regulatory, or administrative requirements related to 
programs funded with mandatory appropriations that pilot sites 
determine would be barriers to achieving the pilot's outcomes. Pilots 
also do not extend to programs funded outside of the Act, such as those 
administered by the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development. However, pilot jurisdictions may seek waivers or 
administrative flexibility already authorized under programs 
administered by these other agencies in order to improve their 
coordination and alignment with the pilot project.

Request for Public Comment

    The Agencies consider public input critical to the effective 
implementation of the P3 authority. In June 2012, the Department 
published a Request for Information on Disconnected Youth in the 
Federal Register (77 FR 32959) (RFI) seeking public input regarding the 
implementation of the authority, which was first proposed by the 
Administration in the FY 2013 budget request.\1\ The 171 comments the 
Department received in response to the RFI emphasized the need for 
greater flexibility, highlighted promising initiatives, and offered 
recommendations for effectively serving disconnected youth and 
administering P3. The responses helped inform our thinking about how 
best to implement this new authority.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The Request for Information on Disconnected Youth can be 
found at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/FR-2012-06-04/2012-13473.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On April 28, 2014, the Agencies issued a consultation paper, 
Changing the Odds for Disconnected Youth: Initial Design Considerations 
for Performance Partnership Pilots, that provides background 
information about the pilot authority and describes the Agencies' 
initial thinking about the implementation of the authority.\2\ The 
paper also encouraged stakeholders to respond by email to key questions 
about implementing P3 pilots. The Agencies also used their research and 
analysis for the paper to guide two national webinars on April 21 and 
30, 2014 that provided information to the field and solicited feedback 
about the implementation of the authority.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ This consultation paper, Answers to Frequently Asked 
Questions, and other information about the Performance Partnership 
Pilots authority can be found at www.findyouthinfo.gov/youth-topics/reconnecting-youth/performance-partnership-pilots.
    \3\ Recordings of the webinars can be found at http://www.findyouthinfo.gov/youth-topics/reconnecting-youth/performance-partnership-pilots/webcast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The consultation paper indicated that the Agencies were considering 
a two-step application process that would first seek brief preliminary 
applications and then invite full proposals from the strongest 
candidates. Since the publication of the consultation paper, the 
Agencies have decided instead to require applicants to submit one full 
proposal through a single-step process. This change will enable 
applicants to have more time to prepare their proposals.
    Later this summer, the Department, acting on behalf of the 
Agencies, expects to publish a notice inviting applications. While 
under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the Department 
generally offers interested parties the opportunity to comment on 
proposed priorities, definitions, and other requirements for a grant 
competition, the Department plans to waive rulemaking requirements for 
this new program, pursuant to its authority in section 437(d)(1) of the 
General Education Provisions Act (GEPA). Section 437(d)(1) of GEPA 
allows the Secretary to exempt from rulemaking requirements and 
regulations governing the first grant competition under a new or 
substantially revised program authority. Because this is the first 
grant competition for the Performance Partnership Pilots, it qualifies 
for this exemption. Therefore, in order to expedite the selection of 
the entities that will be awarded P3 authority and start-up grant 
funding, the Department plans to forego public comment on the 
priorities, definitions, and requirements that will apply to the P3 
competition.
    However, through this notice, we are seeking additional public 
input on the application process for P3. The Agencies will consider all 
relevant comments when finalizing the P3 application process and 
competition design.

    Note:  This request for public comment is for information and 
planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation 
for applications or as an obligation on the part of the Agencies.

    We are particularly interested in responses to the following 
questions:
    1. What information, in addition to the information required by the 
Act, should entities be required to submit in their applications?
    2. What criteria should the Agencies use to evaluate applications?
    3. What technical assistance would be helpful to entities in 
preparing their applications?

    Note:  The consultation paper includes additional background 
information about P3 and the Agencies' initial thinking about its 
implementation that may be helpful in considering these questions.

    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: 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 via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site, you can view this document, as 
well as all other documents of the Departments published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access documents of the Departments published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Departments.

    Authority:  Section 526, Division H of P.L. 113-76.

    Dated: July 28, 2014.
Johan E. Uvin,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education.
[FR Doc. 2014-18077 Filed 7-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P