[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 173 (Friday, September 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55266-55268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19791]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice Reopening the Application Period; Applications for Funding 
under Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), Sections 
18004(a)(1), 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3); Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
Economic Security (CARES) Act

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary is reopening the application period for 
institutions of higher education (IHEs) intending to apply for HEERF, 
CARES Act funds. The Secretary takes this action to allow eligible 
applicants additional time to submit their Certifications and 
Agreements (applications), and associated data submissions for approved 
information collections under OMB control numbers 1801-0005, 1840-0842, 
and 1840-0843.

DATES: The application period for the notice published at 85 FR 37923 
on June 24, 2020, is reopened. Deadline for Transmittal of 
Applications: September 30, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beatriz Ceja, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 260-04, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: The Department of Education HEERF Call Center at (202) 377-
3711 or by email at [email protected]. Please also visit our HEERF website 
here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/caresact.html.
    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: On June 24, 2020, we published in the 
Federal Register a notice establishing an August 1, 2020 deadline date 
for IHEs that did not initially apply to receive allocations to 
transmit their Certification and Agreements (applications) for funds 
from the HEERF under sections 18004(a)(1), 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3) 
of the CARES Act (85 FR 37923) (June 24, 2020 notice).
    The June 24, 2020 notice applied to applications under the 
following Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers:
     84.425E--Student Aid portion of section 18004(a)(1).
     84.425F--Institutional portion of section 18004(a)(1).
     84.425J--Historically Black College and Universities under 
section 18004(a)(2).
     84.425K--Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities 
under section 18004(a)(2).
     84.425L--Minority Serving Institutions under section 
18004(a)(2).
     84.425M--Strengthening Institutions Program under section 
18004(a)(2).
     84.425N--Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary 
Education (FIPSE) under section 18004(a)(3).
    This notice reopens the period for transmittal of applications for 
all eligible applicants until September 30, 2020.


[[Page 55267]]


    Note:  This notice also reopens the period for transmittal of 
applications until September 30, 2020 for:
     18004(a)(1) reserve applications for the IHEs that did 
not initially apply for the (a)(1) reserve funds (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/reserveappfinal7202020.pdf);
     18004(a)(2) applications for eligible branch campuses 
whose main campuses did not receive an award and who did not 
initially apply for the (a)(2) reserve funds; and
     18004(a)(3) applications for grantees with identified 
risk factors that are required to submit Budget and Expenditure 
Reporting in order to demonstrate their proposed use of funds 
(https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/budgetandexpenditurereportingsec18004a3.pdf).


    Note:  This notice does not modify the deadline for the 
Department's recently-announced Institutional Resilience and 
Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (IREPO) competitive grant program 
under CFDA number 84.425P offered under section 18004(a)(3) of the 
CARES Act and FIPSE. More information about that program, and 
application submission timelines, can be found at the IREPO grant 
competition website: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerfirepo.html.


    Note:  All information in the Certification and Agreements and 
in the June 24, 2020 notice establishing a deadline date for each of 
these funding opportunities remains the same, except for the 
deadline for the transmittal of applications.

    Electronic Submission of Applications:
    We are participating as a partner in the Government-wide Grants.gov 
site. Submit applications electronically using Grants.gov and do not 
email them unless explicitly allowed.
    A Grants.gov applicant must apply online using Workspace, a shared 
environment where members of a grant team may simultaneously access and 
edit different web forms within an application. An applicant can create 
an individual Workspace for each application and establish for that 
application a collaborative application package that allows more than 
one person in the applicant's organization to work concurrently on an 
application. The Grants.gov system also enables the applicant to reuse 
forms from previous submissions, check them in and out to complete 
them, and submit the application package. For access to further 
instructions on how to apply using Grants.gov, refer to: 
www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/apply-for-grants.html.
    You may access the electronic grant applications at www.Grants.gov. 
You must search for the downloadable application package for this 
program by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number's alpha 
suffix in your search (e.g., search for 84.184, not 84.184D).
    Please note the following:
    Applicants needing assistance with Grants.gov may contact the 
Grants.gov Support Center either by calling 1-800-518-4726 or by 
sending an email to [email protected]. The Grants.gov Support Center 
is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for Federal 
holidays. Applicants needing assistance from Principal Office staff 
with their applications should contact the Department as directed under 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section specified in this notice during 
normal business hours and no later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the 
application deadline date.
    The amount of time it can take to upload an application will vary 
depending on a variety of factors, including the size of the 
application and the speed of your internet connection. Therefore, we 
recommend that you leave yourself plenty of time to complete your 
submission.
    Applications received by Grants.gov are date- and time-stamped upon 
submission. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted and 
must be date- and time-stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 
11:59:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on September 30, 2020. Except as specified 
in the Department's Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of 
Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal 
Register on February 13, 2019 (84 FR 3768) and available at https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-02206, we will not accept your 
application if it is received_that is, date- and time-stamped by the 
Grants.gov system--after 11:59:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on the 
application deadline date. We do not consider an application that does 
not comply with the deadline requirements. When we retrieve your 
application from Grants.gov, we will notify you if we are rejecting 
your application because it was late. Receipt of a date- and time-stamp 
does not mean that your application meets program eligibility 
requirements described in the application package.
    You can find the Education Submission Procedures pertaining to 
Grants.gov under News and Events on the Department's G5 system home 
page at www.G5.gov. In addition, for specific guidance and procedures 
for submitting an application through Grants.gov, please refer to the 
Grants.gov website at: www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/apply-for-grants.html.
    After you electronically submit your application, you will receive 
from Grants.gov an automatic notification of receipt that contains a 
Grants.gov tracking number. Grants.gov also will notify you 
automatically by email if your application met all of the Grants.gov 
validation requirements or if there were any errors (such as submission 
of your application by someone other than a registered Authorized 
Organization Representative (AOR), issues with your Data Universal 
Numbering System (DUNS) number, or inclusion of an attachment with a 
file name that contains special characters). You will be given an 
opportunity to correct any errors and resubmit, but you must still meet 
the deadline for submission of your application.
    Once your application is successfully validated by Grants.gov, the 
Department will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send you 
an email with a unique PR/Award number for your application.
    Email confirmations and receipts from Grants.gov do not indicate 
receipt by the Department, nor do they mean that your application is 
complete or has met all application requirements. While your 
application may have been successfully validated by Grants.gov, it also 
must be reviewed in accordance with the Department's application 
requirements as specified in the Certification and Agreement and in 
these application instructions. It is your responsibility to ensure 
that your submitted application has met all of the Department's 
requirements. Additionally, we may request that you provide us original 
signatures on forms at a later date.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format 
(e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to 
the Department as directed 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.

[[Page 55268]]

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 the Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2020-19791 Filed 9-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P