[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11406-11407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03732]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development Administration


Request for Information on Implementation of the Distressed Area 
Recompete Pilot Program

AGENCY: Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development 
Administration (EDA), is seeking information to inform the planning and 
design of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot (Recompete Pilot) 
Program. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform 
planning for the implementation of the Recompete Pilot Program.

DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 27, 
2023. Submissions received after that date may not be considered. 
Written comments in response to this RFI should be submitted in 
accordance with the instructions in the Addresses and Supplementary 
Information sections below.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
mail to [email protected]. Do not submit confidential business 
information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Mara Quintero Campbell, Senior 
Advisor, via email: [email protected] or via telephone: (202) 482-9055. 
Please reference ``Recompete RFI'' in the subject line of your 
correspondence.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Section 10621 of the Research and Development, Competition, and 
Innovation Act directs the Department of Commerce to establish a pilot 
program to award strategy development grants and strategy 
implementation grants to eligible recipients representing eligible 
local labor markets, tribes, or local communities to ``alleviate 
persistent economic distress and support long-term comprehensive 
economic development and job creation in eligible areas.'' (15 U.S.C. 
3722b; Pub. L. 117-167, Division B, Title VI, Subtitle C, Sec. 
10621(a)(2), 136 Stat. 1642). Of the $1 billion authorized for the 
Recompete Pilot Program from fiscal year 2022 through 2026, $200 
million has been made available for the program as of the publication 
of this RFI.
    The Recompete Pilot Program will invest in distressed communities 
across the country to create, and connect workers to, good jobs and 
support long-term comprehensive economic development. The Recompete 
Pilot Program specifically targets areas with lower than the U.S. 
average labor participation by prime-age (25 to 54 years of age) 
workers (i.e., high prime-age employment gap) and strives to make 
targeted interventions to spark economic activity in such areas.
    The program focuses on eligible geographic areas--Tribal lands, 
local labor markets, and local communities \1\--that are experiencing 
low labor force participation. Part of the goal of this RFI is to 
identify the different interventions and approaches capable of making a 
discernible impact on prime-age employment and related indicators of 
economic distress, such as low household or per capita income.
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    \1\ Eligible geographic areas are defined at 15 U.S.C. 
3722b(j)(1), (3), (4), and (8).
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    EDA intends to run a rigorous, fair, and evidence-driven 
competition informed by the experiences of all stakeholders, economic 
development practitioners, and relevant policy research to guide 
program design, structure, and evaluation, and to ensure program 
impacts are distributed inclusively and equitably. This RFI is meant to 
encourage the field of workforce and economic development to provide 
evidence-based guidance that will be used to plan the implementation of 
the $200 million Recompete Pilot Program.

Specific Request for Information: Recompete Characteristics

    1. For those who live or work in areas with high prime-age 
employment gaps, what barriers should be addressed to increase job 
placement/retention and/or job creation? What unique challenges and 
opportunities do you see in your community?
    2. How might EDA determine how large of an investment is necessary 
to meaningfully advance the economy of a

[[Page 11407]]

local labor market or community with a high prime-age employment gap? 
What data and information are important to that determination?
    a. If implementation awards were limited to the statutory minimum 
of $20 million, what types of initial investments would most 
significantly increase employment rates?
    3. What scale and types of economic development interventions would 
be most likely to advance the economy of a locality or region with a 
high prime-age employment gap? For example, should the program 
emphasize industry sectors or be sector agnostic?
    a. Are there limitations due to what's currently allowable with EDA 
funding?
    b. Given that each eligible community will bring its own unique set 
of challenges and opportunities, how should EDA evaluate whether any 
such investments, interventions, and/or policies would be most 
effective in an eligible community?
    c. What features of existing block grant programs should EDA adopt 
or avoid to increase the likelihood of alleviating persistent economic 
distress and increasing employment? What about these features makes 
them effective or ineffective?
    4. What economic development assets are most predictive of long-
term success from a Recompete intervention?
    5. What economic development assets does a local labor market and/
or community need to have to take advantage of the Recompete Pilot 
Program?
    6. What are best practices for building local public capacity that 
would prepare local labor markets and/or communities for Recompete 
implementation and other future funding?
    7. What are the most significant distinctions in the interventions 
needed in smaller versus larger geographic areas, or local communities 
versus local labor markets as defined by the statute?
    8. Please provide research and evidence of interventions that work 
in highly distressed labor markets and/or communities to create good 
jobs and/or connect un- or underemployed residents to good jobs.

Specific Request for Information: Recompete Pilot Program Design

    9. Are there measures in addition to prime-age employment gap (for 
local labor markets) and prime-age employment gap and median household 
income (for local communities) recommended to reach areas that are 
either (a) most persistently distressed, or (b) most likely to show 
sustained economic development progress after intervention?
    10. How can federal grants and cooperative agreements be structured 
to ensure the impacts of the Recompete Pilot Program are shared broadly 
and equitably?
    11. The statute permits implementation investments only in areas 
with an approved Recompete Plan. What elements should Recompete Plans 
include, and against what criteria should EDA evaluate them?
    12. How should EDA evaluate Tribal prime-age population given that 
data from the Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus State and Local 
Fiscal Recovery Fund programs under title VI of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 802 et seq.) are unlikely to be available?
    13. What should EDA consider in designing the program for its 
current funding level of $200 million given the $1 billion vision in 
the program's statutory authorization? How should those considerations 
affect EDA's design of the program now and potentially into future 
years?
    14. What else should EDA consider when building this program?

Specific Request for Information: Recompete Pilot Program 
Administration

    15. What types of administrative or technical assistance will help 
the recipients of Recompete funding to be more successful during 
implementation?
    16. How should EDA measure the success of the Recompete Pilot 
Program?
    a. What would be the indications of a successful implementation 
investment under the Recompete Pilot Program?
    17. How can the Recompete Pilot Program best complement and 
leverage other Federal, State, and local economic development 
investments (e.g., HUD's Community Development Block Grant program, 
American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation 
Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, etc.) so that persistent economic 
distress is alleviated successfully?
    18. What is a realistic time period (e.g., 5, 10, 15 years, other?) 
over which to evaluate the economic development impacts of the 
Recompete Pilot Program and why?

    Date: February 17, 2023.
Susan Brehm,
Regional Director, Economic Development Administration Chicago Regional 
Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-03732 Filed 2-22-23; 8:45 am]
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