Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 128 / Monday, July 3, 2000 / Notices 41061

Reporting and Recordkeeping Hour

Burden: Responses: 100,000—Burden

Hours: 50,600.

Abstract: Customer satisfaction

surveys and focus group discussions

will be conducted by the Principal

Offices of the Department of Education

to measure customer satisfaction and

establish and improve customer service

standards as required by Executive

Order 12862.

Requests for copies of the proposed

information collection request may be

accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, or

should be addressed to Vivian Reese,

Department of Education, 400 Maryland

Avenue, SW, Room 4050, Regional

Office Building 3, Washington, D.C.

20202–4651. Requests may also be

electronically mailed to the internet

address OCIO_IMG_Issues@ed.gov or

faxed to 202–708–9346. Please specify

the complete title of the information

collection when making your request.

Comments regarding burden and/or the

collection activity requirements should

be directed to Kathy Axt at her internet

address Kathy_Axt@ed.gov. Individuals

who use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–

800–877–8339.

[FR Doc. 00–16723 Filed 6–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–U

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Vocational and Adult

Education; Intent To Repay the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Department of Education Funds

Recovered as a Result of a Final Audit

Determination

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of intent to award

grantback funds.

SUMMARY: Under section 459 of the

General Education Provisions Act

(GEPA), 20 U.S.C. 1234h, the Secretary

of Education (Secretary) intends to

repay to the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts Department of Education

(Massachusetts), under a grantback

arrangement, an amount equal to 75

percent of the principal amount of funds

recovered by the U.S. Department of

Education (Department) as a result of

the final audit determination in this

matter (ACN: 01–33145G). The

Department’s recovery of funds

followed the settlement reached

between the parties under which

Massachusetts refunded $2,111,810 to

the Department in full resolution of the

Department’s final audit determination

for State fiscal year (FY) 1992. This

notice describes Massachusetts’ plan for

the use of the repaid funds and the

terms and conditions under which the

Secretary intends to make those funds

available. This notice invites comments

on the proposed grantback.

DATES: All comments must be received

on or before August 2, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All written comments

should be addressed to Ron Castaldi,

Chief, Division of Vocational-Technical

Education, Office of Vocational and

Adult Education, U.S. Department of

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW,

Mary E. Switzer Building, Room 4317,

MS 7323, Washington, DC 20202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron

Castaldi. Telephone: (202) 205–9444. If

you use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD), you may call the

Federal Information Relay Service

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

A. Background

Under the settlement agreement

between the Department and the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the

Department recovered $2,111,810 from

Massachusetts in full resolution of all

claims arising from an audit of

Massachusetts covering FY 1992 (ACN:

01–33145G).

The Department’s original claim of

$4,604,211 was contained in a program

determination letter (PDL) issued by the

Assistant Secretary for Vocational and

Adult Education on March 31, 1995.

This claim arose from findings related to

Massachusetts’ administration of its

vocational education program under the

provisions of the Carl D. Perkins

Vocational and Applied Technology

Education Act. 20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.

(1988) (Perkins II).

In the March 31, 1995 PDL, the

Assistant Secretary determined that

Massachusetts violated the Federal

requirements governing maintenance of

fiscal effort. Specifically, the Assistant

Secretary concluded that Massachusetts

failed to expend non-Federal funds at an

appropriate level to maintain fiscal

effort on either an aggregate or per pupil

basis, thus violating section 502(a) of

Perkins II (20 U.S.C. 2463(a)).

The settlement negotiations resulting

from Massachusetts’ appeal of the

Assistant Secretary’s March 31, 1995

PDL culminated in a settlement

agreement for a total repayment of a

principal amount of $2,111,810. The

settlement agreement was executed on

August 15, 1997. The Department

received full payment for this

determination in September 1997.

B. Authority for Awarding a Grantback

Section 459(a) of GEPA, 20 U.S.C.

1234h(a), provides that whenever the

Secretary has recovered funds following

a final audit determination with respect

to any applicable program, the Secretary

may consider those funds to be

additional funds available for the

program and may arrange to repay to the

State or local educational agency

affected by that determination an

amount not to exceed 75 percent of the

recovered funds. The Secretary may

enter into this grantback arrangement if

the Secretary determines that—

(1) The practices or procedures of the

recipient that resulted in the violation of

law have been corrected, and that the

recipient is in all other respects in

compliance with the requirements of

that program;

(2) The recipient has submitted to the

Secretary a plan for the use of those

funds pursuant to the requirements of

that program and, to the extent possible,

for the benefit of the population that

was affected by the failure to comply or

by the misuse of funds that resulted in

the recovery; and

(3) The use of the funds in accordance

with that plan would serve to achieve

the purposes of the program under

which the funds were originally paid.

C. Plan for Use of Funds Awarded

Under a Grantback Arrangement

Pursuant to section 459(a)(2) of GEPA,

Massachusetts has applied for a

grantback of $1,583,858, or 75 percent of

the $2,111,810 repaid to the Department

under the settlement agreement, and has

submitted a plan for use of the proposed

grantback funds, consistent with the

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and

Technical Education Act of 1998

(Perkins III), which is the successor

statute to Perkins II and is currently in

effect. Massachusetts plans to establish

new career and technical education

programs in high-wage, high-demand

emerging career fields where there is a

critical shortage of skilled workers, and

to assist existing career and technical

programs seeking national program

certification.

Specifically, Massachusetts plans to

utilize the requested grantback funds,

totaling $1,583,858, to offer a

competitive Request for Proposal for

Perkins-eligible secondary schools with

career and technical programs. Funds

will be used either to begin a career and

technical education program in a new

and emerging field, or to update an

existing program using the National

Program Standards as a framework. The

award of grants will be weighed in favor

of schools with a higher concentration

41062 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 128 / Monday, July 3, 2000 / Notices

of special populations. Massachusetts

expects to award 20–25 grants ranging

from $50,000 to $100,000 each. Grant

recipients will be required to match on

a dollar for dollar basis the total grant

request from State, local, business and

industry, or other non-Perkins Federal

funding source. The Request for

Proposal will include a stipulation that

schools include enrollment figures for

new proposed programs or grantimpacted programs, and also include

the number of students who are

members of special populations. Grant

funds awarded under this Request for

Proposal cannot be used to supplant

activities that are currently being

funded.

D. The Secretary’s Determination

The Secretary has carefully reviewed

the plan submitted by Massachusetts

and other relevant documentation.

Based upon that review, the Secretary

has determined that the conditions

under section 459 of GEPA have been

met.

This determination is based upon the

best information available to the

Secretary at the present time. If this

information is not accurate or complete,

the Secretary is not precluded from

taking appropriate administrative action

at a later date. In finding that the

conditions of section 459 of GEPA have

been met, the Secretary makes no

determination concerning any pending

audit recommendations or final audit

determinations.

E. Notice of the Secretary’s Intent To

Enter Into a Grantback Arrangement

Section 459(d) of GEPA requires that,

at least 30 days before entering into an

arrangement to award funds under a

grantback, the Secretary must publish in

the Federal Register a notice of intent

to do so, and the terms and conditions

under which the payment will be made.

In accordance with section 459(d) of

GEPA, notice is hereby given that the

Secretary intends to make funds

available to the Massachusetts

Department of Education under a

grantback arrangement. The grantback

award would be in the amount of

$1,583,858, which is 75 percent—the

maximum percentage authorized by the

statute—of the principal recovered by

the Department as a result of the final

audit determination and the settlement

in this matter.

F. Terms and Conditions Under Which

Payments Under a Grantback

Arrangement Would Be Made

Massachusetts agrees to comply with

the following terms and conditions

under which payment under a grantback

arrangement would be made:

(1) Massachusetts will expend the

funds awarded under the grantback in

accordance with—

(a) All applicable statutory and

regulatory requirements;

(b) The plan that was submitted and

any amendments to the plan that are

approved in advance by the Secretary;

and

(c) The budget that was submitted

with the plan and any amendments to

the budget that are approved in advance

by the Secretary.

(2) All funds received under the

grantback arrangement must be

obligated by September 30, 2000, for

ACN: 01–33145G, in accordance with

section 459(c) of GEPA and

Massachusetts’ plan.

(3) Massachusetts will, no later than

January 1, 2002, submit a report to the

Secretary which—

(a) Indicates that the funds awarded

under the grantback have been

expended in accordance with the

proposed plan and approved budget;

and

(b) Describes the results and

effectiveness of the project for which the

funds were spent.

(4) Separate accounting records must

be maintained documenting the

expenditures of funds awarded under

the grantback arrangement.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may view this document, as well

as all other Department of Education

documents published in the Federal

Register, in text or Adobe Portable

Document Format (PDF) on the Internet

at either of the following sites:

http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm

http://www.ed.gov/news.html

To use the PDF, you must have Adobe

Acrobat Reader, which is available free

at either of the previous sites. If you

have questions about using the PDF, call

the U.S. Government Printing Office toll

free at 1–888–293–6498; or in the

Washington, DC area at (202) 512–1530.

Note: The official version of a 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.access.gpo.gov/nara/

index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number 84.048, Basic State Grants for

Vocational Education)

Dated: June 28, 2000.

Patricia W. McNeil,

Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult

Education.

[FR Doc. 00–16750 Filed 6–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–U

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket Nos. RM98–10–000, RM98–12–000

and RP00–335–000]

Regulation of Short-Term Natural Gas

Transportation Services; Regulation of

Interstate Natural Gas Transportation

Services; and Black Marlin Pipeline

Company; Notice of Compliance Filing

June 27, 2000.

Take notice that on June 15, 2000,

Black Marlin Pipeline Company

tendered for filing its pro forma tariff

sheets, in compliance with Order Nos.

637 and 637–A.

On February 9 and May 19, 2000, the

Commission issued Order Nos. 637 and

637–A, respectively, which prescribed

new regulations, implemented new

policies and revised certain existing

regulations respecting natural gas

transportation in interstate commerce.

The Commission directed pipelines to

file pro forma tariff sheets to comply

with the new regulatory requirements

regarding scheduling procedures,

capacity segmentation, imbalance

management services and penalty

credits, or in the alternative, to explain

why no changes to existing tariff

provisions are necessary.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest said filing should file a motion

to intervene or a protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with Sections

385.214 or 385.211 of the Commission’s

Rules and Regulations. All such motions

or protests must be filed on or before

July 17, 2000. Protests will be

considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceedings.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection in the Public Reference

Room. This filing may be viewed on the

web at http:www.ferc.fed.us/online/

rims.htm. (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance).

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–16697 Filed 6–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M