[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 56 (Monday, March 23, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16307-16309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-05741]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapter III

[Docket No. ED-2020-OPE-0044]


Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period for the 
Predominantly Black Institutions Competitive Grant Program

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of project period.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the 
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally 
prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period 
extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. The 
proposed waiver and extension would enable 23 projects under CFDA 
number 84.382A to receive funding for an additional period, not to 
exceed September 30, 2021.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 22, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted 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 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 Adobe 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 format. Using a print-to-PDF 
format allows the Department to electronically search and copy certain 
portions of your submissions.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``Help.''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: The 
Department strongly encourages commenters to submit their comments 
electronically. However, if you mail or deliver your comments about the 
proposed waiver and extension, address them to: The Predominantly Black 
Institutions Competitive Grant Program, CFDA number 84.382A, Attention: 
Bernadette Miles, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 
Room 250-22, Washington, DC 20202.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bernadette Miles, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 250-22, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: 202-453-7892. Email: [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: 
    Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding 
this proposed waiver and extension.
    We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific 
requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 13771 and their 
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result 
from this proposed waiver and extension. Please let us know of any 
further ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential 
benefits while preserving the effective and efficient administration of 
the program.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this proposed waiver and extension of the project period 
in Room 5059, 550 12th Street SW, Washington, DC, between the hours of 
8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each 
week, except Federal holidays.
    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate 
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who 
needs assistance to review the comments or other

[[Page 16308]]

documents in the public rulemaking record for this proposed waiver and 
extension. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, 
please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Background

    On May 18, 2015, the Department of Education (Department) published 
in the Federal Register (80 FR 28248) a notice inviting applications 
for projects for fiscal year (FY) 2015 under the Predominantly Black 
Institutions (PBI) Competitive Grant program authorized under Title 
III, Part F, Section 371 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as 
amended (HEA). The purpose of the PBI program is to strengthen PBIs to 
carry out programs in the following areas: Science, technology, 
engineering, or mathematics; health education; internationalization or 
globalization; teacher preparation; or improving educational outcomes 
of African-American males.
    In September 2015, the Department made 23 60-month awards to 
eligible institutions funded by the PBI Program as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Institution                             State
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University of West Alabama...................  AL.
Arkansas State University....................  AR.
Pulaski Technical College....................  AR.
South Georgia Technical College..............  GA.
Albany Technical College.....................  GA.
Oconee Fall Line Technical College...........  GA.
Augusta Technical College....................  GA.
Central Georgia Technical College............  GA.
Georgia State University.....................  GA.
Malcolm X College............................  IL.
Olive Harvey College.........................  IL.
Chicago State University.....................  IL.
Mississippi Delta Community College..........  MS.
Halifax Community College....................  NC.
Bloomfield College...........................  NJ.
Medgar Evers College.........................  NY.
York College.................................  NY.
Community College of Philadelphia............  PA.
Northeastern Technical College...............  SC.
Florence-Darlington Technical College........  SC.
Central Carolina Technical College...........  SC.
Southwest Tennessee Community College........  TN.
Cedar Valley College.........................  TX.
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    All current project periods for these grantees end on September 30, 
2020.

Waivers and Extensions

    We are proposing to extend the 23 PBI projects in order to align 
and coordinate the funding cycles of all discretionary grant programs 
authorized under Title III, Part F, Section 371 of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (HEA). With the proposed extension, the PBI Program would 
align with (1) the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving 
Institutions program; (2) the Asian American and Native American 
Pacific Islander-serving program; (3) the Native American-serving Non-
Tribal Institutions program; and (4) the Hispanic-Serving Institutions 
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and Articulation 
Program (HSI-STEM). The waivers and extensions would allow the 
Department to align and coordinate the award cycles of the Title III, 
Part F programs, and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of 
direct training and technical assistance services focused on the 
competitive strengthening institutions programs. In addition, the 
Department will consider approaches for improving coordination among 
programs that provide these services to more efficiently and 
effectively meet the needs of these institutions and to allow for 
efficient use of the funding available to support these activities.
    We do not believe that it would be in the public interest to run a 
competition for this program in FY 2020. The program has remaining FY 
2019 appropriated funds to be carried over to the current FY 2020 grant 
cycle and would continue on an award cycle that would not coordinate 
with the Department's existing part F discretionary grant programs.
    The Department has also concluded that it would not be in the 
public interest to run two consecutive program competitions with the 
first using the appropriated 2019 carry over funds and the second using 
the funds appropriated by H.R. 2486, the Fostering Undergraduate Talent 
by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, because doing so 
would increase the burden on the potential applicants.
    For these reasons, the Secretary proposes to waive the requirements 
in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods exceeding five years, 
and the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2), which allow the 
extension of a project period only if the extension does not involve 
the obligation of additional Federal funds. The waiver would allow the 
Department to issue one-time FY 2020 continuation awards to the current 
PBI Program grantees estimated as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Institution                       State            Award
------------------------------------------------------------------------
University of West Alabama.............  AL                     $414,672
Arkansas State University..............  AR                      599,996
Pulaski Technical College..............  AR                      599,856
South Georgia Technical College........  GA                      600,000
Albany Technical College...............  GA                      600,000
Oconee Fall Line Technical College.....  GA                      545,459
Augusta Technical College..............  GA                      591,493
Central Georgia Technical College......  GA                      596,148
Georgia State University...............  GA                      600,000
Malcolm X College......................  IL                      590,500
Olive Harvey College...................  IL                      543,246
Chicago State University...............  IL                      600,000
Mississippi Delta Community College....  MS                      600,000
Halifax Community College..............  NC                      600,000
Bloomfield College.....................  NJ                      600,000
Medgar Evers College...................  NY                      600,000
York College...........................  NY                      600,000
Community College of Philadelphia......  PA                      600,000
Northeastern Technical College.........  SC                      599,252
Florence-Darlington Technical College..  SC                      599,993
Central Carolina Technical College.....  SC                      599,921
Southwest Tennessee Community College..  TN                      600,000
Cedar Valley College...................  TX                      467,126
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Any activities carried out during the year of this continuation 
award must be consistent with the scope, goals, and objectives of the 
grantees' applications as approved in the 2015 competition. The 
requirements for continuation awards are set forth in 34 CFR 75.253.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of 
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. The only entities that would be 
affected by the proposed waiver and extension of the project period are 
the current grantees and any other potential applicants.
    The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension 
would not have a significant economic impact on these entities because 
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance 
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of 
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require 
unnecessary Federal supervision.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period 
does not contain any information collection requirements.

[[Page 16309]]

Intergovernmental Review

    These programs are subject to Executive Order 12372 and the 
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive 
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened 
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State 
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal 
financial assistance. This document provides early notification of our 
specific plans and actions for this program.
    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 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. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or 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 Department 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 Department.

Robert L. King,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2020-05741 Filed 3-20-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P