Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 52 / Tuesday, March 18, 2014 / Proposed Rules 15081 

is available at www.reginfo.gov. Click on 

Information Collection Review. This 

proposed collection is identified as 

proposed collection 1840–0807 ED– 

2014–OPE–0038. 

We consider your comments on this 

proposed collection of information in— 

• Deciding whether the proposed 

collection is necessary for the proper 

performance of our functions, including 

whether the information will have 

practical use; 

• Evaluating the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

collection, including the validity of our 

methodology and assumptions; 

• Enhancing the quality, usefulness, 

and clarity of the Information we 

collect; and 

• Minimizing the burden on those 

who must respond. This includes 

exploring the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques. 

OMB is required to make a decision 

concerning the collection of information 

contained in these proposed regulations 

between 30 and 60 days after 

publication of this document in the 

Federal Register. Therefore, to ensure 

that OMB gives your comments full 

consideration, it is important that OMB 

receives your comments by April 17, 

2014. This does not affect the deadline 

for your comments to us on the 

proposed regulations. 

Intergovernmental Review: This 

program is subject to Executive Order 

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 

part 79. One of the objectives of the 

Executive order is to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism. The Executive 

order relies on processes developed by 

State and local governments for 

coordination and review of proposed 

Federal financial assistance. 

This document provides early 

notification of our specific plans and 

actions for this program. 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document in 

an accessible format (e.g., braille, large 

print, audiotape, or compact disc) on 

request to the program contact person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

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 via the Federal Digital System 

at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. 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 Adobe 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. 

Specifically, through the advanced 

search feature at this site, you can limit 

your search to documents published by 

the Department. 

Dated: March 13, 2014. 

Lynn B. Mahaffie, 

Senior Director, Policy Coordination, 

Development, and Accreditation Service, 

delegated the authority to perform the 

functions and duties of the Assistant 

Secretary for Postsecondary Education. 

[FR Doc. 2014–05927 Filed 3–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Chapter VI 

[Docket ID ED–2014–OPE–0035; CFDA 

Number: 84.015B.] 

Proposed Priority—Foreign Language 

and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS) 

Program 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Proposed priority. 

SUMMARY: The Acting Assistant 

Secretary for Postsecondary Education 

proposes a priority for the FLAS 

Program administered by the 

International and Foreign Language 

Education (IFLE) Office. The Acting 

Assistant Secretary may use this priority 

for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 

and later years. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before April 17, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

or via postal mail, commercial delivery, 

or hand delivery. We will not accept 

comments submitted by fax or by email 

or those submitted after the comment 

period. To ensure that we do not receive 

duplicate copies, please submit your 

comments only once. In addition, please 

include the Docket ID at the top of your 

comments. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov to submit your 

comments electronically. Information 

on using Regulations.gov, including 

instructions for accessing agency 

documents, submitting comments, and 

viewing the docket, is available on the 

site under ‘‘Are you new to the site?’’ 

• Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, 

or Hand Delivery: If you mail or deliver 

your comments about these proposed 

regulations, address them to Patricia 

Barrett, U.S. Department of Education, 

400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 5142, 

Potomac Center Plaza (PCP), 

Washington, DC 20202–2700. 

Privacy Note: The Department’s 

policy is to make all comments received 

from members of the public available for 

public viewing in their entirety on the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 

commenters should be careful to 

include in their comments only 

information that they wish to make 

publicly available. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate 

Maloney. Telephone: (202) 502–7509 or 

by email: Kate.Maloney@ed.gov. 

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: 

Invitation to Comment: We invite you 

to submit comments regarding this 

notice. To ensure that your comments 

have maximum effect in developing the 

final priority, we urge you to identify 

clearly the part of the priority your 

comment addresses. 

We invite you to assist us in 

complying with the specific 

requirements of Executive Order 12866 

and 13563 and their overall requirement 

of reducing regulatory burden that 

might result from this proposed priority. 

Please let us know of any further ways 

we could reduce potential costs or 

increase potential benefits while 

preserving the effective and efficient 

administration of the program. 

During and after the comment period, 

you may inspect all comments about 

this notice in Room 6083, 1990 K St. 

NW., Washington, DC, between the 

hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., 

Washington, DC, time, Monday through 

Friday of each week except Federal 

holidays. 

Assistance to Individuals with 

Disabilities in Reviewing the 

Rulemaking Record: On request we will 

provide an appropriate accommodation 

or auxiliary aid to an individual with a 

disability who needs assistance to 

review the comments or other 

documents in the public rulemaking 

record for this notice. If you want to 

schedule an appointment for this type of 

accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 

contact the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Purpose of Program: The purpose of 

the FLAS Fellowships Program is to 

provide allocations of academic year 

and summer fellowships to institutions 

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15082 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 52 / Tuesday, March 18, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

of higher education or consortia of 

institutions of higher education to assist 

meritorious undergraduate students and 

graduate students undergoing training 

in modern foreign languages and related 

area or international studies. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1122. 

Applicable Program Regulations: 34 

CFR parts 655 and 657. 

Proposed Priorities: This notice 

contains one proposed priority. 

Background: The Department 

proposes a priority for FLAS 

institutional applications that would, 

when awarding fellowships, give 

competitive preference to students who 

demonstrate financial need determined 

in accordance with Part F of title IV of 

the Higher Education Act of 1965, as 

amended (HEA). This proposed priority 

would give FLAS institutions an 

incentive to award fellowships to those 

meritorious students who would most 

benefit from financial relief. By 

providing FLAS fellowships to qualified 

scholars who lack the financial means to 

pursue this rigorous training without 

incurring significant debt, the FLAS 

Program will contribute to lowering 

postsecondary education costs for 

worthy students seeking to become 

language and area studies experts in the 

United States. 

Applicant institutions addressing the 

priority would describe a two-tier 

selection process. From all of the 

student fellowship applications 

submitted, the institution would first 

select a pool of qualified applicants 

based strictly on merit, as defined in 

§ 657.3 of the FLAS Program 

regulations. From this pool of qualified 

applicants, the institution could then 

give competitive preference to students 

who demonstrate financial need as 

defined in Part F of title IV of the HEA. 

Proposed Priority: Applications that 

give preference to students who 

demonstrate financial need as defined 

in Part F of title IV of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965, as amended 

(HEA), when awarding fellowships. The 

applicant must describe how it will 

ensure that all FLAS fellows who 

receive such preference show potential 

for high academic achievement based on 

such indices as grade point average, 

class ranking, or similar measures that 

the institution may determine. 

Types of Priorities: When inviting 

applications for a competition using one 

or more priorities, we designate the type 

of each priority as absolute, competitive 

preference, or invitational through a 

notice in the Federal Register. The 

effect of each type of priority follows: 

Absolute priority: Under an absolute 

priority, we consider only applications 

that meet the priority (34 CFR 

75.105(c)(3)). 

Competitive preference priority: 

Under a competitive preference priority, 

we give competitive preference to an 

application by (1) awarding additional 

points, depending on the extent to 

which the application meets the priority 

(34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting 

an application that meets the priority 

over an application of comparable merit 

that does not meet the priority (34 CFR 

75.105(c)(2)(ii)). 

Invitational priority: Under an 

invitational priority, we are particularly 

interested in applications that meet the 

priority. However, we do not give an 

application that meets the priority a 

preference over other applications (34 

CFR 75.105(c)(1)). 

Final Priorities: We will announce the 

final priorities in a notice in the Federal 

Register. We will determine the final 

priority after considering responses to 

this notice and other information 

available to the Department. This notice 

does not preclude us from proposing 

additional priorities, requirements, 

definitions, or selection criteria, subject 

to meeting applicable rulemaking 

requirements. 

Note: This notice does not solicit 

applications. In any year in which we choose 

to use this priority, we invite applications 

through a notice in the Federal Register. 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

Regulatory Impact Analysis 

Under Executive Order 12866, the 

Secretary must determine whether this 

regulatory action is ‘‘significant’’ and, 

therefore, subject to the requirements of 

the Executive order and subject to 

review by the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB). Section 3(f) of Executive 

Order 12866 defines a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ as an action likely to 

result in a rule that may— 

(1) Have an annual effect on the 

economy of $100 million or more, or 

adversely affect a sector of the economy, 

productivity, competition, jobs, the 

environment, public health or safety, or 

State, local, or tribal governments or 

communities in a material way (also 

referred to as an ‘‘economically 

significant’’ rule); 

(2) Create serious inconsistency or 

otherwise interfere with an action taken 

or planned by another agency; 

(3) Materially alter the budgetary 

impacts of entitlement grants, user fees, 

or loan programs or the rights and 

obligations of recipients thereof; or 

(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues 

arising out of legal mandates, the 

President’s priorities, or the principles 

stated in the Executive order. 

This proposed regulatory action is not 

a significant regulatory action subject to 

review by OMB under section 3(f) of 

Executive Order 12866. 

We have also reviewed this regulatory 

action under Executive Order 13563, 

which supplements and explicitly 

reaffirms the principles, structures, and 

definitions governing regulatory review 

established in Executive Order 12866. 

To the extent permitted by law, 

Executive Order 13563 requires that an 

agency— 

(1) Propose or adopt regulations only 

upon a reasoned determination that 

their benefits justify their costs 

(recognizing that some benefits and 

costs are difficult to quantify); 

(2) Tailor its regulations to impose the 

least burden on society, consistent with 

obtaining regulatory objectives and 

taking into account—among other things 

and to the extent practicable—the costs 

of cumulative regulations; 

(3) In choosing among alternative 

regulatory approaches, select those 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety, 

and other advantages; distributive 

impacts; and equity); 

(4) To the extent feasible, specify 

performance objectives, rather than the 

behavior or manner of compliance a 

regulated entity must adopt; and 

(5) Identify and assess available 

alternatives to direct regulation, 

including economic incentives—such as 

user fees or marketable permits—to 

encourage the desired behavior, or 

provide information that enables the 

public to make choices. 

Executive Order 13563 also requires 

an agency ‘‘to use the best available 

techniques to quantify anticipated 

present and future benefits and costs as 

accurately as possible.’’ The Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs of 

OMB has emphasized that these 

techniques may include ‘‘identifying 

changing future compliance costs that 

might result from technological 

innovation or anticipated behavioral 

changes.’’ 

We are issuing this proposed priority 

only upon a reasoned determination 

that its benefits would justify its costs. 

In choosing among alternative 

regulatory approaches, we selected 

those approaches that would maximize 

net benefits. Based on the analysis that 

follows, the Department believes that 

this regulatory action is consistent with 

the principles in Executive Order 13563. 

We also have determined that this 

regulatory action would not unduly 

interfere with State, local, and tribal 

governments in the exercise of their 

governmental functions. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 52 / Tuesday, March 18, 2014 / Proposed Rules 15083 

In accordance with both Executive 

orders, the Department has assessed the 

potential costs and benefits, both 

quantitative and qualitative, of this 

regulatory action. The potential costs 

are those resulting from statutory 

requirements and those we have 

determined as necessary for 

administering the Department’s 

programs and activities. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

As part of its continuing effort to 

reduce paperwork and respondent 

burden, the Department provides the 

general public and Federal agencies 

with an opportunity to comment on 

proposed and continuing collections of 

information in accordance with the PRA 

(44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). 

The information collection for the 

FLAS Program will be revised to 

include an evaluation guide that 

provides applicants with more 

substantive guidance on how to 

respond, in a more compelling manner, 

to the Impact and Evaluation selection 

criterion found in section 657.21 of the 

FLAS Program regulations. The guide 

also includes instructions for 

completing the new performance 

measure forms (PMFs) that applicants 

are required to include in their 

submitted proposals. For each project 

element that applicants propose to 

evaluate during the project period, they 

must include a performance measure 

form indicating the project-specific 

measure for that element. 

The IFLE Office developed the PMF 

so that applicants can include 

measurable outcomes for their FLAS 

projects, based on the goals and 

objectives they intend to accomplish. 

The PMF is designed to help applicants 

to develop a more cohesive evaluation 

plan focusing the applicant’s attention 

on specific benchmarks and indicators 

that will better demonstrate their 

progress toward achieving their goals 

and objectives. The PMF should assist 

applicants in proposing high-quality 

implementation plans at the outset for 

reporting progress and performance 

results. Additionally, the information 

and data collected via the forms will 

enable the Department to provide 

Congress and other stakeholders with 

more concrete evidence to demonstrate 

the impact of FLAS projects. And 

finally, the PMF is designed to provide 

a universal format that applicants can 

use to present the performance 

information in their applications. The 

PMF requests the following: (a) Project 

goal statement; (b) Performance 

measure; (c) Project activity; (d) Data/ 

Indices; (e) Frequency of collection; (f) 

Data source; and, (g) Baseline and 

targets. 

In order to mitigate against increasing 

respondent burden, applicants will be 

required to complete only items (a), (b), 

and (c) on the PMF when they submit 

their FY14 grant applications. If the 

application is recommended for 

funding, we will require the submission 

of fully completed forms. The 

Department estimates that the 

application, expanded evaluation 

criterion guidance, and the PMF will 

require an estimated 500 hours to 

complete. This represents an additional 

time burden of 100 hours over the 2010 

application. 

If you want to comment on the 

proposed information collection 

requirements, please send your 

comments to the Office of Information 

and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: 

Desk Officer for U.S. Department of 

Education. Send these comments by 

email to OIRA DOCKET@omb.eop.gov 

or by fax to (202) 395–6974. You may 

also send a copy of these comments to 

the Department contact named in the 

ADDRESSES section of this preamble or 

submit electronically through the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov by selecting 

Docket ID ED–2014–OPE–0035. 

Please be advised that the public 

comment period for submitting 

comments on the notice of proposed 

priorities (NPP) is the same for 

submitting comments on the 

information collection (IC); therefore, 

use the NPP Docket number as the 

identifier for both sets of comments. 

You may, however, submit the NPP 

comments and the IC comments 

separately in the regulations.gov site. 

We have prepared an ICR for this 

collection. In preparing your comments 

you may want to review the ICR, which 

is available at www.reginfo.gov. Click on 

Information Collection Review. This 

proposed collection is identified as 

proposed collection 1840–0807 ED– 

2014–OPE–0035. 

We consider your comments on this 

proposed collection of information in— 

• Deciding whether the proposed 

collection is necessary for the proper 

performance of our functions, including 

whether the information will have 

practical use; 

• Evaluating the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

collection, including the validity of our 

methodology and assumptions; 

• Enhancing the quality, usefulness, 

and clarity of the information we 

collect; and 

• Minimizing the burden on those 

who must respond. 

This includes exploring the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques. 

OMB is required to make a decision 

concerning the collection of information 

contained in these proposed regulations 

between 30 and 60 days after 

publication of this document in the 

Federal Register. Therefore, to ensure 

that OMB gives your comments full 

consideration, it is important that OMB 

receives your comments by April 17, 

2014. This does not affect the deadline 

for your comments to us on the 

proposed regulations. 

Intergovernmental Review: This 

program is subject to Executive Order 

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 

part 79. One of the objectives of the 

Executive order is to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism. The Executive 

order relies on processes developed by 

State and local governments for 

coordination and review of proposed 

Federal financial assistance. 

This document provides early 

notification of our specific plans and 

actions for this program. 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document in 

an accessible format (e.g., braille, large 

print, audiotape, or compact disc) on 

request to the program contact person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

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 via the Federal Digital System 

at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. 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 Adobe 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. 

Specifically, through the advanced 

search feature at this site, you can limit 

your search to documents published by 

the Department. 

Dated: March 12, 2014. 

Lynn B. Mahaffie, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, 

Planning, and Innovation, delegated the 

authority to perform the functions and duties 

of the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary 

Education. 

[FR Doc. 2014–05863 Filed 3–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

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