53300 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 199 / Friday, October 16, 2009 / Notices 

manufacturing facility. The NAICS 

industry code for this enterprise is: 

326130 Laminated Plastics Plate, Sheet 

(except Packaging), and Shape 

Manufacturing. 

DATES: All interested parties may submit 

comments in writing no later than 

October 30, 2009. Copies of adverse 

comments received will be forwarded to 

the applicant noted above. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments 

concerning this notice to Anthony D. 

Dais, U.S. Department of Labor, 

Employment and Training 

Administration, 200 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Room S–4231, 

Washington, DC 20210; or e-mail 

Dais.Anthony@dol.gov; or transmit via 

fax (202)693–3015 (this is not a toll-free 

number). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony D. Dais, at telephone number 

(202)693–2784 (this is not a toll-free 

number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

188 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 

Development Act of 1972, as established 

under 29 CFR part 75, authorizes the 

United States Department of Agriculture 

to make or guarantee loans or grants to 

finance industrial and business 

activities in rural areas. The Secretary of 

Labor must review the application for 

financial assistance for the purpose of 

certifying to the Secretary of Agriculture 

that the assistance is not calculated, or 

likely, to result in: (a) A transfer of any 

employment or business activity from 

one area to another by the loan 

applicant’s business operation; or, (b) 

An increase in the production of goods, 

materials, services, or facilities in an 

area where there is not sufficient 

demand to employ the efficient capacity 

of existing competitive enterprises 

unless the financial assistance will not 

have an adverse impact on existing 

competitive enterprises in the area. The 

Employment and Training 

Administration within the Department 

of Labor is responsible for the review 

and certification process. Comments 

should address the two bases for 

certification and, if possible, provide 

data to assist in the analysis of these 

issues. 

Signed: at Washington, DC, this 1st day of 

October, 2009. 

Jane Oates, 

Assistant Secretary for Employment and 

Training. 

[FR Doc. E9–24884 Filed 10–15–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FN–P 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY 

Notice Inviting Proposals for 

Ownership and Operation of America’s 

Literacy Directory 

AGENCY: National Institute for Literacy. 

ACTION: Notice inviting proposals for 

ownership and operation of America’s 

Literacy Directory. 

SUMMARY: America’s Literacy Directory 

(ALD) provides information about adult 

literacy, preparation for General 

Educational Development (GED) tests 

and other testing, and English language 

learning programs for individuals in 

need of those services through an easyto-use, extensive nationwide database. 

As authorized by 20 U.S.C. 9252(c), 

the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) 

developed and created ALD and has 

been operating it since 2004. NIFL now 

plans to turn over ownership and 

operation of ALD to one or more entities 

outside of the Federal Government that 

would, with its or their own resources, 

continue the maintenance and upkeep 

of ALD, make improvements to it, and 

continue to make it readily available at 

no cost to the public. Through this 

notice, we are inviting proposals from 

an entity or entities interested in 

owning and operating ALD in this 

manner. NIFL believes that the 

effectiveness of ALD will be enhanced 

by being owned by a non-Federal entity 

or entities, which would take 

responsibility for its continued 

operation. 

ALD is currently supported in part 

through both an interagency agreement 

and a contract for data verification and 

technical support, respectively. To the 

extent possible, consistent with the 

terms of those agreements, NIFL plans 

to provide the entity or entities 

ultimately selected through the 

selection process outlined in this notice 

with non-proprietary information on the 

design, use, and maintenance of ALD in 

order to help the selected entity or 

entities maintain, operate, and enhance 

ALD. A text file providing the technical 

data to ALD is available to prospective 

bidders in ‘‘Structured Query Language’’ 

(SQL) format. This SQL data would 

assist the selected entity or entities in 

building a database containing all ALD 

tables and relationships of those tables. 

Prospective bidder(s) may request the 

text file by contacting NIFL at 

Daniel.Miller@ed.gov. 

NIFL believes that turning over 

ownership and operation of the 

Directory to a non-Federal entity or 

entities will provide long-lasting 

benefits to the intended audience and to 

the nation. 

DATES: To receive consideration, 

proposals must be submitted to NIFL no 

later than 5 p.m. (EST) on November 9, 

2009. NIFL’s goal is to turn over 

ownership and operation of ALD on or 

about December 30, 2009. 

Address for Submission of Proposals: 

Interested entities should submit a 

proposal for owning and operating ALD, 

addressing the factors and associated 

criteria outlined in this notice, by an 

express carrier or by e-mail to: Daniel J. 

Miller, Acting Director, National 

Institute for Literacy, 1775 I Street, NW., 

7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006–2050, 

or at Daniel.Miller@ed.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Daniel Miller, (202) 245–7731, 

Daniel.Miller@ed.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

America’s Literacy Directory (ALD) is 

an effective, national online site for the 

referral of adults to local literacy 

programs. The site is currently housed 

on the NIFL Web site at http:// 

www.nifl.gov or at http:// 

literacydirectory.org. From the site, 

adults and young adults can find 

assistance with reading or writing, study 

for the GED or other high school 

equivalency program(s), find an official 

GED test center, learn English, and get 

help with mathematics. Adults can 

enter their zip code or city and State 

and find programs within a selected 

geographic range. Through the site, and 

a toll-free telephone number, providers 

of adult literacy services may add 

program information to the ALD 

database. 

NIFL intends, through an appropriate 

agreement or agreements signed by NIFL 

and the selected entity or entities, to set 

forth the rights and responsibilities of 

each party, and to transfer ownership 

and operation of ALD to a non-Federal 

entity or entities, which would support 

ALD with the entity’s or entities’ own 

resources. The agreement will include, 

among other things, a privacy policy 

that protects the privacy of the users of 

ALD, and limits the use of data about 

the users by the entity or entities 

selected. 

Responsibilities of the Selected Entity 

or Entities 

NIFL anticipates that the duties of the 

ALD owner will include: Maintaining 

and enhancing the ALD database of 

approximately 5,000 literacy programs 

as appropriate; providing technical 

assistance via email, phone, and online 

training sessions to States to assist them 

in integrating State and local program 

data into ALD (5–10 questions or 


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requests for inclusion on the site per 

month are anticipated); providing 

technical assistance in implementing 

the ALD administration features for the 

national, regional, and State end users 

through e-mail and telephone (3–5 such 

questions or requests are anticipated per 

month); providing technical assistance 

and training support to literacy 

programs on maintaining, updating, and 

adding records or additional fields 

through email or online forms; 

providing technical assistance for 

special features of the ALD 

infrastructure, such as the capability for 

State and national organizations to share 

data and to customize ALD to aggregate 

data; making ALD available to the 

public at no cost; solving any 

implementation problems; maintaining 

and enhancing the quality of the 

operation of ALD and the content made 

available through ALD; and making 

improvements, as appropriate, to make 

ALD more effective. 

Based on these general expectations, a 

non-Federal entity or entities interested 

in acquiring ownership of ALD should 

submit a proposal that addresses the 

following key factors, which will help 

demonstrate the organization’s or 

organizations’ commitment to adult 

literacy and to the effective management 

of ALD: 

Key Factors 

The entity demonstrates the 

following: 

• A commitment to helping improve 

adult literacy. 

• A substantive interest in the goals 

of ALD (the recruitment and referral of 

adult learners into high-quality literacy 

programs) and in assisting adults in 

need of basic skills acquisition, 

secondary preparation, and English 

language acquisition. 

• A demonstrated history of national 

involvement in the service delivery 

system, either as a direct provider of 

services to adult learners or as a 

provider of services to State and/or local 

providers of adult literacy programs. 

• The technological infrastructure 

and other resources to operate and 

maintain ALD and make it available to 

the public free of charge. 

• Staff expertise in Web site 

development, maintenance, and 

appropriate telephone support. 

• A plan to use an advisory 

committee with appropriate expertise to 

help the entity administer ALD. 

• A demonstrated history of fiscal 

and management responsibility over a 

sustained period of time. 

NIFL will use the following criteria to 

evaluate how well the proposals 

submitted in response to this notice 

address these factors: 

Note: The maximum total score any 

proposal can receive is 100 points. The 

maximum score for each criterion is 

indicated in parentheses below. 

Technical Approach (35 Points) 

• The extent to which the entity or 

entities that submit a proposal (the 

‘‘offeror’’) demonstrates a commitment 

to adult literacy through previous 

projects and thorough knowledge of the 

field. (15 points) 

• The extent to which the offeror 

demonstrates a thorough understanding 

of the target population that needs the 

services of ALD, and of how to provide 

appropriate resources to that target 

population. (10 points) 

• The extent to which the offeror 

describes a clear vision for ALD and 

plans for its enhancement and 

continued operation. (10 points) 

Organizational Capacity (30 Points) 

• The quality of the proposed project 

personnel, and the extent to which the 

personnel have the appropriate 

qualifications, competencies, and 

experience in the management of this 

type of project. (15 points) 

• The extent to which the offeror has 

the technological and financial 

resources to maintain and operate ALD 

and ensure that it is made available to 

the public free of charge and that it is 

improved, as appropriate. (15 points) 

Management Plan (35 Points) 

• The extent to which the offeror 

provides a description of its plan for 

managing the project in a clear and 

sequential fashion, and the extent to 

which that plan provides credible 

evidence that the management of 

personnel, physical resources, activities, 

and work production will result in a 

readily available and robust directory 

containing current program information 

with a 99.99 percent ‘‘uptime rate.’’ (20 

points) 

• The quality of the offeror’s plans to 

establish and work with an outside 

advisory committee that has appropriate 

expertise to advise the offeror on its 

implementation of the project. (5 points) 

• The extent to which the time 

commitments of the offeror’s staff are 

appropriate to operating, maintaining, 

and as appropriate, improving, ALD. (5 

points) 

• The extent to which the offeror 

submitted a summary of a plan to 

evaluate the use of ALD and the 

accuracy of its content. (5 points) 

Other Requirements for the Content of 

Proposals 

Proposals submitted in response to 

this notice also must include the 

following information: 

• The name, address, and contact 

information for the entity or entities 

submitting the proposal; 

• The names, addresses, and contact 

information for the persons within the 

entity or entities that would be 

primarily responsible for the operation 

of ALD within the entity or entities 

submitting the proposal; 

• Mission statement of the entity or 

entities; 

• Capability statement (must address 

the key factors and each component of 

the selection criteria); 

• Entity’s or entities’ Web site URL; 

• Annual report or similar report on 

the condition of the entity or entities; 

and, 

• A signed assurance by an 

appropriate officer(s) of the entity or 

entities indicating that the entity or 

entities agree to own and operate ALD 

consistent with their proposal and with 

the purposes and provisions of this 

notice, and understand that if they do 

not do so, the ownership of ALD, all 

content therein provided by NIFL, and 

all databases needed to operate ALD 

will revert to NIFL or to its surviving 

entity, which can award it to another 

entity or entities in accordance with a 

notice published in the Federal 

Register. If there is no surviving entity, 

then all content provided by the 

Institute, and all databases needed to 

operate ALD will revert to the U.S. 

Department of Education which can 

award it to another entity or entities in 

accordance with a notice published in 

the Federal Register. The assurance 

must indicate the entity’s or entities’ 

intent to enter into a signed agreement 

with NIFL for the transfer of the 

ownership and operation of ALD; this 

agreement shall acknowledge that NIFL 

shall transfer its specific rights and 

interest in data and content of ALD. In 

addition, the agreement shall 

acknowledge that, in the event of any 

reversion of ALD to NIFL or to its 

successor agency, NIFL or its successor 

agency shall possess the rights and 

interest in data and content of ALD 

provided by NIFL, including all 

databases needed to operate ALD. 

Finally, in the assurance the entity or 

entities must also agree to submit semiannual reports on the operation and use 

of ALD in such detail as NIFL or its 

successor specifies in the agreement that 

the parties will sign. If there is no 

successor to NIFL, these reports will be 

submitted to the U.S. Department of 

Education as specified above. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
53302 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 199 / Friday, October 16, 2009 / Notices 

Availability of Funds 

There are no Federal funds available 

to support ALD once ownership and 

operation have been transferred from 

the Federal Government. It will be the 

sole responsibility of the selected entity 

or entities to bear all costs associated 

with ownership and operation of ALD. 

Interests of the Federal Government 

NIFL will transfer ownership of ALD 

and its content to the entity or entities 

selected. NIFL will transfer the rights 

and interest it possesses in data and 

content transferred to the entity or 

entities. In addition, as noted above, if 

the entity or entities selected operate 

ALD in a manner that is not consistent 

with its proposal and with the purposes 

and provisions of this notice, or if the 

entity or entities cease to operate ALD 

or suffer a loss of funding or support for 

ALD such that the quality of the ALD 

data declines, the ownership of ALD, all 

content therein provided by NIFL, and 

all databases needed to operate ALD 

will revert to NIFL or to its successor 

agency, and the entity or entities will 

not be authorized to operate ALD. If 

there is no surviving entity, then all 

content provided by the Institute, and 

all databases needed to operate ALD 

will revert to the U.S. Department of 

Education, which can award it to 

another entity or entities in accordance 

with a notice published in the Federal 

Register. Upon such a reversion, the 

Federal Government shall possess the 

rights and interest in data and content 

of ALD originally provided by NIFL, 

including all databases needed to 

operate ALD. Under these 

circumstances, NIFL may award the 

ownership of the Directory to another 

entity or entities in accordance with a 

notice published in the Federal 

Register. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

You can view this document, as well as 

all other documents of NIFL published 

in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 

Portable Document Format (PDF) on the 

Internet at the following site: http:// 

www.nifl.gov. 

To use PDF, you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1– 

888–293–6498; or in the Washington, 

DC, area at (202) 512–1530. 

Note: 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 on GPO 

Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Daniel J. Miller, 

Acting Director, National Institute for 

Literacy. 

[FR Doc. E9–24841 Filed 10–15–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6055–01–P 

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS 

ADMINISTRATION 

Records Schedules; Availability and 

Request for Comments 

AGENCY: National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability of 

proposed records schedules; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The National Archives and 

Records Administration (NARA) 

publishes notice at least once monthly 

of certain Federal agency requests for 

records disposition authority (records 

schedules). Once approved by NARA, 

records schedules provide mandatory 

instructions on what happens to records 

when no longer needed for current 

Government business. They authorize 

the preservation of records of 

continuing value in the National 

Archives of the United States and the 

destruction, after a specified period, of 

records lacking administrative, legal, 

research, or other value. Notice is 

published for records schedules in 

which agencies propose to destroy 

records not previously authorized for 

disposal or reduce the retention period 

of records already authorized for 

disposal. NARA invites public 

comments on such records schedules, as 

required by 44 U.S.C. 3303a(a). 

DATES: Requests for copies must be 

received in writing on or before 

November 16, 2009. Once the appraisal 

of the records is completed, NARA will 

send a copy of the schedule. NARA staff 

usually prepare appraisal 

memorandums that contain additional 

information concerning the records 

covered by a proposed schedule. These, 

too, may be requested and will be 

provided once the appraisal is 

completed. Requesters will be given 30 

days to submit comments. 

ADDRESSES: You may request a copy of 

any records schedule identified in this 

notice by contacting the Life Cycle 

Management Division (NWML) using 

one of the following means: 

Mail: NARA (NWML), 8601 Adelphi 

Road, College Park, MD 20740–6001. 

E-mail: request.schedule@nara.gov. 

FAX: 301–837–3698. 

Requesters must cite the control 

number, which appears in parentheses 

after the name of the agency which 

submitted the schedule, and must 

provide a mailing address. Those who 

desire appraisal reports should so 

indicate in their request. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laurence Brewer, Director, Life Cycle 

Management Division (NWML), 

National Archives and Records 

Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, 

College Park, MD 20740–6001. 

Telephone: 301–837–1539. E-mail: 

records.mgt@nara.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Each year 

Federal agencies create billions of 

records on paper, film, magnetic tape, 

and other media. To control this 

accumulation, agency records managers 

prepare schedules proposing retention 

periods for records and submit these 

schedules for NARA’s approval, using 

the Standard Form (SF) 115, Request for 

Records Disposition Authority. These 

schedules provide for the timely transfer 

into the National Archives of 

historically valuable records and 

authorize the disposal of all other 

records after the agency no longer needs 

them to conduct its business. Some 

schedules are comprehensive and cover 

all the records of an agency or one of its 

major subdivisions. Most schedules, 

however, cover records of only one 

office or program or a few series of 

records. Many of these update 

previously approved schedules, and 

some include records proposed as 

permanent. 

The schedules listed in this notice are 

media neutral unless specified 

otherwise. An item in a schedule is 

media neutral when the disposition 

instructions may be applied to records 

regardless of the medium in which the 

records are created and maintained. 

Items included in schedules submitted 

to NARA on or after December 17, 2007, 

are media neutral unless the item is 

limited to a specific medium. (See 36 

CFR 1228.24(b)(3).) 

No Federal records are authorized for 

destruction without the approval of the 

Archivist of the United States. This 

approval is granted only after a 

thorough consideration of their 

administrative use by the agency of 

origin, the rights of the Government and 

of private persons directly affected by 

the Government’s activities, and 

whether or not they have historical or 

other value. 

Besides identifying the Federal 

agencies and any subdivisions 

requesting disposition authority, this 

public notice lists the organizational 

unit(s) accumulating the records or 


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