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Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program – Fiscal Year 2015 Competition

Summary of Public Comments with Responses

Introduction

On February 13, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) published a notice for the 

Application Package for Grants Under the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement 

Program (MSEIP) (1894-0001) inviting interested persons to submit comments by March 16, 

2015. Two comments from the public were received regarding the Minority Science and

Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) Notice Inviting Applications (Notice) and the 

application package for new awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. One comment was substantive 

and the other comment was identified as uncivil behavior and inflammatory. Therefore, the 

latter comment will not be addressed in the response summary. 

The response summary below includes the public comment and the Department’s response to the 

comment, including whether any subsequent changes have been made to the Notice and the 

application package for new awards for FY 2015.

Public Comment

The page limit for the project narrative might be extended to accommodate responses to the 

competitive and invitational priorities. Since, on pages 64-67 or 103 -104, there is no indication 

of a separate attachment for priorities, one must assume that responses are to be integrated into 

the project narrative. The 40 page limit might be extended by four pages per priority response. 

Additionally, a Table of Contents page might be added to the beginning of the project narrative 

but not counted towards the total page limit.

Department Response

The Project Narrative is where applicants provide responses to the selection criteria for the 

Competitive Preference Priority (CPP) and/or Invitational Priority (IP). Within the maximum 

allotted page limit, the Department expects the applicant to address the CPP and/or IP in an 

integrated response to the selection criteria. Although the Department recognizes the potential 

constraint with the page limit, the Department thinks that having the applicant to submit an 

additional four page justification related to the CPP and/or the IP would be a burden to the 

applicant. For these reasons, the Department did not increase the page limit.

A page limit does not apply to the Table of Contents as stated in the Content and Form of 

Application Submission section of the Notice. Although it is optional to include a Table of 

Contents, the Department will add a section in the Instructions for Completing the Application 

Package for submitting a Table of Contents with the Project Narrative that will not go towards 

the page count. 
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Change

In the Competition Highlights, as well as the Instructions for Project Narrative, the Department 

will add the sentence “Within the maximum allotted page limit, the Department expects the 

applicant to address the CPP and/or IP in an integrated response to the selection criteria.” 

In Part III of the Instructions for Completing the Application Package, the Department will add a 

section for the optional Table of Contents. Within this section, the Department will add the 

instructions “Applicants may include the optional Table of Contents at the beginning of the 

Project Narrative Attachment Form.” The Table of Contents will not go towards the page count

in the Project Narrative.