Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 191 / Monday, October 2, 2000 / Notices 58755

Implementation of the proposed action

will result in a Finding of No Signficiant

Impact (FNSI).

Prior to initiating the above action,

the Army will consider the comments

received on this EA.

A copy of the final EA is available for

review at the Monterey County Library,

King City Branch, King City, CA.

Dated: September 26, 2000.

Richard E. Newsome,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the

Army (Environment, Safety and Occupational

Health) OASA (I&E).

[FR Doc. 00–25105 Filed 9–29–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3710–08–M

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Postsecondary Education

Notice Seeking Bonding Authority for

the Historically Black College and

University Capital Financing Program

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of

Education is seeking proposals from

businesses interested in applying to be

selected by the Secretary to serve as the

‘‘designated bonding authority’’ (DBA)

under the Historically Black College and

University Capital Financing Program.

This notice describes the duties of the

DBA, the selection criteria, and the

application process.

DATES: Notice of intent to submit

proposals must be received by October

16, 2000. Proposals must be received by

November 1, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Jesse Carter, U.S. Department of

Education, Institutional Development

and Undergraduate Education Service,

Institutional Receivables Team, L’Enfant

Plaza Station, P.O. Box 23471,

Washington, DC 20026–3471, (202) 502–

7777. If you use a telecommunications

device for the deaf (TDD), you may call

the Federal Information Relay Service

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339.

Individuals with disabilities may

obtain this document in an alternative

format (e.g., Braille, large print,

audiotape, or computer diskette) on

request to the contact person in the

preceding paragraph.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Historically Black College and

University (HBCU) Capital Financing

Program, authorized under title III, part

D of the Higher Education Act of 1965,

as amended (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 1066 et

seq.) facilitates low-cost capital

financing for HBCUs to enable them to

continue and expand their educational

mission and enhance their significant

role in American higher education.

Under this program, the U.S.

Department of Education provides

financial insurance to guarantee up to

$375,000,000 in loans and interest to

qualifying HBCUs for specified kinds of

capital projects. To date, all bonds

issued have been purchased by the

Federal Financing Bank of the U.S.

Treasury.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary

for Postsecondary Education is now

seeking proposals from any private forprofit organization or entity wishing to

serve as the DBA for this program. The

DBA issues taxable construction bonds,

and plays a central role in administering

and executing the program. The DBA

works with prospective borrowers to

develop loan applications. With the

approval of the Secretary, the DBA

makes loans after determining, based on

a credit review, that there is a

reasonable expectation the loans will be

repaid according to their terms. The

DBA charges a rate of interest adequate

to service the bond interest rate, as well

as pay various items including fees for

services of the DBA, a Trustee, and

other parties. Costs of issuance,

however, are not to exceed 2 percent of

the principal amount of the proceeds of

the bonds. The DBA monitors and

enforces the loan agreements, including

covenants and default provisions.

The DBA also has construction

oversight responsibilities (including

approval of construction plans,

oversight of construction progress, and

compliance with Federal and State

building codes), and generally is the

focal point of information for the HBCU

Capital Financing Program. The DBA

and other participants in the program

are paid only by the operation of the

program, and the Federal Government is

not responsible for any of their fees.

Security for the bonds issued by the

DBA includes investments, program

loans, an escrow account funded with 5

percent of loan proceeds, and an

insurance agreement executed by the

Secretary of Education or his delegate

which will, subject to section 343(c)(1)

of the HEA, 20 U.S.C. 1066b(c)(1),

provide the full faith and credit of the

United States to insure the payment of

interest and principal on the bonds.

Eligible borrowers under the program

are limited to historically black colleges

and universities as defined in section

322(2) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)).

The DBA selected by the Department

will generally take on the

responsibilities of the incumbent

designated bonding authority under the

Agreement to Insure executed by the

Department on November 29, 1994,

although the new agreement will be

amended to conform with statutory

changes made in 1998. Copies of the

Agreement to Insure, as well as of the

master trust indenture, program

financing agreement, and bond purchase

agreements currently used in the

program, will be provided to all who

timely submit a written notice of intent

to submit a proposal in accordance with

this notice. Also provided will be forms

for the loan application, credit criteria,

construction loan agreement, and

promotional literature as developed by

the incumbent DBA.

Specific duties imposed on the DBA

by statute generally include, but are not

limited to, the following:

• Use the proceeds of the qualified

bonds, less costs of issuance not to

exceed 2 percent of the principal

amount thereof, to make loans to

eligible institutions or for deposit into

an escrow account for repayment of the

bonds;

• Provide in each loan agreement that

not less than 95 percent of the loan

proceeds will be used to finance the

repair, renovation, construction or

acquisition of a capital project, or to

refinance an obligation the proceeds of

which were used for such a capital

project;

• Charge such interest on loans, and

provide for such a repayment schedule,

as will, upon the timely repayment of

the loans, provide adequate and timely

funds for the payment of principal and

interest on the bonds; and require that

any payment on a loan expected to be

necessary to make a payment of

principal and interest on the bonds be

due not less than 60 days prior to the

date of the payment on the bonds;

• Provide for a prior credit review of

the institution receiving the loan and

assure the Department that, on the basis

of such credit review, it is reasonable to

anticipate that the institution will be

able to repay the loan in a timely

manner;

• Provide in each loan agreement

that, if a delinquency results in a

funding under the insurance agreement,

the institution shall repay the

Department, upon terms determined by

the Secretary for such funding;

• Assign any loans to the Department,

upon demand of the Secretary, if a

delinquency has required a funding

under the insurance agreement;

• In the event of a delinquency,

engage in such collection efforts as the

Secretary shall require for a period of

not less than 45 days prior to requesting

a funding under the insurance

agreement;

• Establish an escrow account into

which each institution shall deposit 5

percent of the proceeds of any loan

made, with each institution required to

58756 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 191 / Monday, October 2, 2000 / Notices

maintain in escrow an amount equal to

5 percent of the outstanding principal of

all loans made to that institution under

the program. The escrow’s balance shall

be available first to the Secretary for the

payment of principal and interest on the

bonds in the case of a delinquency in

loan repayment. Following scheduled

repayment of an institution’s loan, the

balance shall be used to return to the

institution an amount equal to any

remaining portion of that institution’s 5

percent deposit of loan proceeds; and

• Provide in each loan agreement that

if a delinquency results in a withdrawal

from the escrow account to pay

principal and interest on bonds,

subsequent payments on such loan shall

be available to replenish the escrow

account.

Criteria for Selection

The Secretary will select the DBA

upon consideration of the following

criteria:

1. Support of Minority Participation.

In accordance with section 348 of the

HEA (20 U.S.C. 1066g), the extent to

which the proposer, in its employment,

subcontracting and partnering activities,

encourages applications from members

of groups that have been traditionally

underrepresented based on race, color,

national origin, gender, age, or

disability, will be a positive factor.

2. Existence of trained staff to perform

the various duties of the DBA. It will be

a positive factor if the proposer will use

existing trained resources, as opposed to

having to hire and train new personnel

and obtain new systems. Staff

knowledge in the areas of bond

financing, higher education credit,

evaluation of security and collateral,

program management, construction

oversight (including knowledge of State

and Federal building codes and

standards), and loan servicing will be

positive factors.

3. Capacity to manage the issuance of

a large offering of debt securities to the

Federal Financing Bank pursuant to a

direct placement. It will be a positive

factor if the proposer is a regular

participant in the capital markets, using

similar financing structures as described

in the Agreement to Insure between the

Department and the existing DBA.

4. Financial position and stability

relative to industry norms. It will be a

positive factor if the proposer is a

mature, stable corporation with

favorable trends in key financial

strength indicators like net worth and

stable earnings.

5. Approach in performing the

requirements of the program. It will be

a positive factor if the proposer presents

a well thought out approach to the

program, and thorough familiarity with

the documentation used in the program.

Suggestions for change in program

documentation and administration will

be entertained. Extra credit will be

applied where positive innovation is

displayed over and above the proposal

requirements.

6. Experience and resources available

and commitment to providing business

development services. It will be a

positive factor if the proposer currently

undertakes similar business

development functions as those

required under the DBA agreement.

Ideas for business development which

are included in the proposal will be

positive factors.

7. Past performance on previous

Federal Government contracts. Good

prior performance on Federal

Government contracts, and familiarity

with the particular requirements of the

Federal Government, will be a positive

factor.

8. Demonstrated history and ability in

addressing the special needs of HBCUs.

It will be a positive factor if the

proposer can demonstrate that it has

extensive experience working closely

and successfully with HBCUs.

Particularly helpful will be activities

related to the HBCUs’ educational

mission; or to improvement of HBCUs’

facilities; or to HBCUs’ financial

planning.

9. Detailed cost proposal, including

the approach of the cost proposal.

Separation of fees, including separate

pricing for promotion, financing, loan

review, construction oversight, ongoing

servicing, program monitoring and

program administration, will connote an

understanding of the various tasks, and

will be a positive factor. Statements

indicating the proposer’s willingness to

promote the program, realizing that

payment of fees is contingent on making

the loans to HBCUs, will be a positive

factor.

10. Corporate authority and ability to

comply with for-profit requirement. The

proposer must have full corporate

authority to perform the functions of the

DBA. If the proposer will be a special,

for-profit subsidiary of a not-for-profit

entity and proposes to enter into a longterm contract with the not-for-profit,

under which the not-for-profit will

perform all or some of the actual tasks,

we will assess the relationship proposed

to make sure it is workable over the

long-term. Agreements that are

unconditional will be positive, and

agreements with extensive conditions

will be negative.

11. Cohesiveness with any

subcontractors. It is possible that a

proposer may seek to use subcontractors

in performing the duties under the DBA

agreement. Such arrangements will be

reviewed in light of how extensive the

subcontractor’s role would be, and the

ability of the contractor to replace a

subcontractor for cause. An arrangement

in which a subcontractor performs a

discrete function, and receives specific

identifiable compensation, will receive

a more positive rating than an

arrangement with a subcontractor in

which tasks and compensation are

shared between the contractor and the

sub-contractor.

12. No conflict of interest. We will not

consider any proposal that indicates an

actual or apparent conflict of interest.

13. Senior management stability: It

will be a positive factor if the senior

management of the proposer is

experienced and stable.

Selection Process

Firms interested in submitting

proposals must send a written notice of

their intent, postmarked on or before

October 16, 2000, to Mr. Jesse Carter,

U.S. Department of Education,

Institutional Development and

Undergraduate Education Service,

Institutional Receivables Team, L’Enfant

Plaza Station, P.O. Box 23471,

Washington, D.C. 20026–3471, or the

notice of intent may be faxed on or

before 3:00 p.m. on October 16, 2000 to

Mr. Carter at (202) 502–7861. Telephone

requests are not acceptable. All requests

must include the company name,

address, telephone number, e-mail

address, fax number, and point of

contact. The Department will then

supply the firm with copies of the

current DBA agreements, forms and

documentation described above.

The proposer must deliver, by mail

postmarked on or before November 1,

2000, eight (8) copies of its written

proposal to Mr. Carter at the above

address.

Consideration of all proposals

submitted will be based on the 13

criteria listed. Department staff will

rank the proposers quantitatively after

giving each criterion a score of 1 to 10,

with 1 being generally unfavorable and

10 being generally favorable. Highest

ranking proposers will be contacted for

an oral interview, currently scheduled

for the third week after the closing date

for submission of written proposals.

Final selection will be made by the

Secretary, upon consideration of the

highest ranking proposals in light of the

13 criteria and of staff

recommendations. Selection is expected

to be completed within approximately

ten weeks of the date of this notice.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 191 / Monday, October 2, 2000 / Notices 58757

Proposal Content

The proposal must state that the

proposer has the legal corporate

authority to perform all of the services

covered by the DBA agreement.

The proposal must contain assurances

that no conflicts of interest or apparent

conflicts of interest exist. The proposal

must describe the review and analysis

that led the proposer to this conclusion.

The proposer must include in its

proposal resumes of owners and

proposed program managers.

The proposal must describe the

proposer’s experience with respect to

each of the DBA’s tasks as described in

this notice, including in particular any

current relevant experience the proposer

may have. The proposal must discuss

existing resources available to perform

these duties, and the need (if any) to

hire and train additional staff. Since the

DBA is expected to perform these duties

for an extended period, the proposal

must discuss similar programs and tasks

which the proposer currently expects to

perform for an extended period.

The proposal must include the

proposer’s approach to performing each

of the DBA’s tasks, and must reflect the

proposer’s review and understanding of

the current program documents and

processes. Innovative presentations will

convey the proposer’s understanding of

the proposed duties and will be

favorably received.

The proposal must also include

information with respect to the

proposer’s financial strength and copies

of the proposer’s last five annual

audited financial statements. The

proposal must contain factors that

assure the proposer’s existence for an

extended period, including, for

example, issuance of other long-term

non-callable debt, or other long-term

ventures which will require the longterm existence of the company.

The proposal must discuss the

proposer’s history in working with

HBCUs, particularly with respect to

experience relating to HBCU physical

facilities, financial planning, and the

HBCUs’ educational mission. It must

also describe actions the proposer has

taken and plans the proposer has made

for recruiting and outreach programs to

insure a diverse applicant pool in the

proposer’s employment, subcontracting,

and partnering activities, as well as the

success the proposer has achieved in

attracting diverse applicants.

Since the Department desires that the

HBCU Capital Financing Program not

experience any lapse in its outreach

efforts, the proposer’s demonstrated

ability to become fully operational as

the DBA immediately upon

appointment will be important. The

appointment will become effective as of

the date of expiration of the incumbent

DBA’s appointment, which will occur in

mid-December, 2000.

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 PDF you must have the Adobe

Acrobat Reader, which is available free

at either of the previous sites. 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, D.C., 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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html

Dated: September 27, 2000.

Claudio R. Prieto,

Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of

Postsecondary Education.

[FR Doc. 00–25280 Filed 9–28–00; 11:57 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.316A]

Office of Postsecondary Education,

Native Hawaiian Higher Education

Program; Notice Inviting Applications

for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY)

2001

Purpose of Program: To provide

grants for programs of baccalaureate and

post-baccalaureate fellowship assistance

to Native Hawaiian students.

Eligible Applicants: Eligible

applicants are Native Hawaiian

educational organizations or

educational entities with experience in

developing or operating Native

Hawaiian programs or programs of

instruction conducted in the Native

Hawaiian language, as defined in

section 9212 of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act.

Deadline for Transmittal of

Applications: December 15, 2000.

Deadline for Intergovernmental

Review: February 13, 2001.

Applications Available: November 1,

2000.

Available Funds: $2,700,000. The

estimated amount of funds available for

new awards under this competition is

based on the Administration’s request

for this program for FY 2001. The actual

level of funding, if any, is contingent on

final congressional action.

Estimated Range of Awards:

$700,000–$1,400,000.

Estimated Average Size of Awards:

$900,000 per year.

Estimated Number of Awards: 3.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 48 months.

Applicable Regulations: (a) The

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in

34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82,

85, 86, and 99; and (b) Because there are

no program-specific regulations,

applicants are encouraged to read the

authorizing statute for the Native

Hawaiian Higher Education Program in

sections 9206 and 9212 of the

Elementary and Secondary Education

Act.

For Applications or Information

Contact: Susanna Easton or Gale

Holdren, Native Hawaiian Higher

Education Program, U.S. Department of

Education, International Education and

Graduate Programs Service, 1990 K

Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC

20006–8521. Ms. Easton’s telephone

number is (202) 502–7628. Ms.

Holdren’s telephone number is (202)

502–7691. Ms. Easton and Ms. Holdren

may be reached by email at:

susanna_easton@ed.gov

gale_holdren@ed.gov

If you use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD), you may call the

Federal Information Relay Service

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339.

Individuals with disabilities may

obtain this document in an alternative

format (e.g., Braille, large print,

audiotape, or computer diskette) on

request to the appropriate contact

persons listed in the preceding

paragraph. However, the Department is

not able to reproduce in an alternative

format the standard forms included in

the application package.

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 PDF you must have Adobe

Acrobat Reader, which is available free

at either of the previous sites. If you