32858 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 115 /Tuesday, June 16, 1998 / Notices

awards. However, the decrease in cost

sharing will not be applied

retroactively.

Finally, based on prior experience

with community-based organizations,

MBDA has determined that it is in the

interest of the MBDC program to

encourage the participation of such

organizations in the competition to

operate MBDCs. Therefore, MBDA has

determined that it is an agency priority

to extend the policy of allowing 10

bonus points during the evaluation

process to community-based

organizations, which was limited to

certain designated locations in the

Federal Register notice of May 31, 1996,

to all future MBDC solicitations. The

MBDC evaluation scoring system will

add 10 bonus points to the applications

of community-based organizations

which receive a programmatically

acceptable and responsive score. Each

qualifying application will receive the

full 10 points. Community-based

applicant organizations are those

organizations currently located within

the geographic service area designated

in the solicitation for the award, and

whose headquarters and/or principal

place of business have been located

within the geographic service area

during the last five years. Where an

applicant organization has been in

existence for fewer than five years or

has been present in the geographic

service area for fewer than five years,

the individual years of experience of the

applicant organization’s principals may

be applied toward the requirement of

five years of organization experience.

The individual years of experience must

have been acquired in the geographic

service area which is the subject of the

solicitation.

Statement of Policy

In order to implement its revised

program in support of the minority

business sector, MBDA hereby revises

its policy of requiring a 40% cost-share

requirement for MBDC awards in certain

locations and establishes a cost-share

requirement for all prospective MBDC

awards of at least 15% of total project

cost for financial assistance recipients.

In addition, the cost-share requirement

of existing MBDC operators will be

decreased from 40% to 15% at the time

of renewal and/or extension of awards.

However, this decrease in cost sharing

will not be applied retroactively. MBDA

will also extend the policy of allowing

10 bonus points during the evaluation

process to community-based

organizations, which was limited to

certain designated locations in the

Federal Register notice of May 31, 1996,

to all future MBDC solicitations.

Executive Order 12866

This policy revision was determined

to be not significant for purposes of E.O.

12866.

Administrative Procedure Act

Since this notice of policy revision is

a matter relating to public property,

loans, grants, benefits, or contracts

under 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2), the

requirements of section 553 do not

apply.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Regulatory Flexibility Act does

not apply to this notice of policy change

because the notice was not required to

be promulgated as a proposed rule

before issuance in final form by 5 U.S.C.

§ 553 or by any other law, As a result,

neither an initial nor final Regulatory

Analysis was required, and none has

been prepared.

Executive Order 12612

This policy statement does not

contain policies with Federalism

implications sufficient to warrant

preparation of a Federalism assessment

under Executive Order 12612.

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 1512 and Executive

Order 11625.

Dated: June 4, 1998.

Juanita E. Berry,

Federal Register Liaison Officer, Minority

Business Development Agency.

Courtland Cox,

Director, Minority Business Development

Agency.

[FR Doc. 98–15869 Filed 6–15–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–21–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and

Technology

Notice of Government Owned

Invention Available for Licensing and

Prospective Grant of Exclusive Patent

License

SUMMARY: The invention listed below is

owned by the United States

Government, as represented by the

Department of Commerce. The

Government’s ownership interest in the

invention is available for licensing in

accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 and 37

CFR part 404 to achieve expeditious

commercialization of results of

Federally funded research and

development.

This Notice is also in accordance with

35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 CFR

404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institute

of Standards and Technology (‘‘NIST’’),

U.S. Department of Commerce, is

contemplating the grant of an exclusive

license to practice the invention

embodied in the invention listed below,

U.S. Patent Number 5,620,857, titled,

‘‘Optical Trap for Detection and

Quantitation of Subzeptomolar

Quantities of Analytes,’’ in the field of

use of diagnostic, analytical and

research applications for the detection,

measurement and/or monitoring of

analytes, and in the licensed territory of

the United States of America, its

territories, possessions and

commonwealths and all other countries

in which NIST obtains patent protection

at the request and expense of Bayer

Corporation, to Bayer Corporation,

having a place of business in Tarrytown,

NY.

DATES: Comments must be received in

writing no later than September 14,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the

Prospective Grant must be submitted to:

Terry Lynch, National Institute of

Standards and Technology, Industrial

Partnerships Program, Building 820,

Room 213, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Terry Lynch, National Institute of

Standards and Technology, Industrial

Partnership Program, Building 820,

Room 213, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

invention available for licensing is:

NIST Docket Number: 94–042.

Title: Optical Trap for the Detection

and Quantitation of Subzeptomolar

Quantities of Analytes.

Abstract: Tightly focused beams of

laser light are used as ‘‘optical

tweezers’’ to trap and manipulate

polarizable objects such as microspheres

of glass or latex with diameters on the

order of 4.5 micrometers. When analytes

are allowed to adhere to the

microspheres, small quantities of these

analytes can be manipulated, thus

allowing their detection and

quantitation even when amounts and

concentrations of the analytes are

extremely small. Illustrative examples

include measuring the strength needed

to break antibody-antigen bonds and the

detection of DNA sequences.

The prospective exclusive license will

be royalty-bearing and will comply with

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C.

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective

exclusive license may be granted unless,

within ninety days from the date of this

published Notice, NIST receives written

evidence and argument which establish

that the grant of the license would not

be consistent with the requirements of

35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 115 /Tuesday, June 16, 1998 / Notices 32859

Dated: July 9, 1998.

Robert E. Hebner,

Acting Deputy Director.

[FR Doc. 98–15867 Filed 6–15–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[Docket No. 980413092–8092–1]

RIN 0648–ZA39

NOAA Climate and Global Change

Program, Program Announcement

AGENCY: Office of Global Programs,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Climate and Global

Change Program represents a National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) contribution to

evolving national and international

programs designed to improve our

ability to observe, understand, predict,

and respond to changes in the global

environment. This program builds on

NOAA’s mission requirements and

longstanding capabilities in global

change research and prediction. The

NOAA Program is a key contributing

element of the U.S. Global Change

Research Program (USGCRP), which is

coordinated by the interagency

Committee on Environmental and

Natural Resources. NOAA’s program is

designed to complement other agency

contributions to that national effort.

DATES: Strict deadlines for submission

to the FY 1999 process are: Letters of

intent must be received at OGP no later

than July 16, 1998. Full proposals must

be received at OGP no later than

September 30, 1998. Applicants who

have not received a response to their

letter of intent by August 21, 1998,

should contact the program office. The

time from target date to grant award

varies with program area. We anticipate

that review of full proposals will occur

during late 1998 and funding should

begin during the spring of 1999 for most

approved projects. May 1, 1999, should

be used as the proposed start date on

proposals, unless otherwise directed by

the appropriate Program Officer.

Applicants should be notified of their

status within 6 months. All proposals

must be submitted in accordance with

the guidelines below. Failure to heed

these guidelines may result in proposals

being returned without review.

ADDRESSES: Proposals may be submitted

to: Office of Global Programs, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, 1100 Wayne Avenue,

Suite 1225, Silver Spring, MD 20910–

5603.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irma

duPree at the above address, or at

phone: (301) 427–2089 ext. 17, fax: (301)

427–2073, Internet:

duPree@ogp.noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Funding Availability

NOAA believes that the Climate and

Global Change Program will benefit

significantly from a strong partnership

with outside investigators. Current

Program plans assume that over 50% of

the total resources provided through

this announcement will support

extramural efforts, particularly those

involving the broad academic

community. Because of ongoing debates

on the Federal budget, it is uncertain

how much money will be available

through this announcement. Actual

funding levels will depend upon the

final FY 1999 budget appropriations.

This Program Announcement is for

projects to be conducted by

investigators both inside and outside of

NOAA, primarily over a one, two or

three year period. The funding

instrument for extramural awards will

be a grant unless it is anticipated that

NOAA will be substantially involved in

the implementation of the project, in

which case the funding instrument

should be a cooperative agreement.

Examples of substantial involvement

may include but are not limited to

proposals for collaboration between

NOAA or NOAA scientists and a

recipient scientist or technician and/or

contemplation by NOAA of detailing

Federal personnel to work on proposed

projects. NOAA will make decisions

regarding the use of a cooperative

agreement on a case-by-case basis.

Funding for non-U.S. institutions and

contractual arrangements for services

and products for delivery to NOAA are

not available under this announcement.

Matching share is not required by this

program.

Program Authority

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 44720 (b); 33 U.S.C.

883d, 883e; 15 U.S.C. 2904; 15 U.S.C. 2931

et seq.

(CFDA No. 11.431)—Climate and

Atmospheric Research: Program

Objectives

The long term objective of the Climate

and Global Change Program is to

provide reliable predictions of climate

change and associated regional

implications on time scales ranging

from seasons to a century or more.

NOAA believes that climate variability

across these time scales can be modelled

with an acceptable probability of

success and are the most relevant for

fundamental social concerns. Predicting

the behavior of the coupled oceanatmosphere-land surface system will be

NOAA’s primary contribution to a

successful national effort to deal with

observed or anticipate changes in the

global environment. NOAA has a range

of unique facilities and capabilities that

can be applied to Climate and Global

Change Investigations. Proposals that

seek to exploit these resources in

collaborative efforts between NOAA and

extramural investigators are encouraged.

Program Priorities

In FY 1999, NOAA will give priority

attention to individual proposals in the

areas listed below. Investigators are

asked to specify clearly which of these

areas is being pursed. The names,

affiliations and phone numbers of

relevant Climate and Global Change

Program Officers are provided. Funding

for some programs may be limited to

ongoing projects or may be used to fund

projects proposed in FY 1998 that were

unable to be funded due to budgetary

circumstances. Prospective applicants

should communicate with Program

Officers for information on priorities

within program elements and prospects

for funding. Applicants should sent

letters of intent and proposals to the

NOAA Office of Global Program rather

than to individual Program Officers.

• Aerosols—The Aerosols Project

focuses on research to improve the

predictive understanding of the role of

anthropogenic aerosols in climate

forcing. Due to limited funds

anticipated in FY 1999, all funding is

expected to be used to maintain support

for ongoing research activities.

Unfortunately, therefore, we are unable

to seek applications to fund new starts.

For further information contact: Joel M.

Levy, NOAA/Office of Global Programs,

301–427–2089 ext. 21, Internet:

levy@ogp.noaa.gov.

• Atlantic Climate Change Program

(ACCP)—NOAA/OGP is currently

developing a refocused, follow-on

program to ACCP that will address

modes of climate variability in the

Atlantic sector. This new program is

being developed in close collaboration

with the International Climate

Variability and Predictability Program

(CLIVAR). A science plan for the

emerging Atlantic program is in

preparation and it is anticipated that a

program announcement will be issued

later in FY 1999.

• Atmospheric Chemistry—The

Atmospheric Chemistry Project focuses