Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 117 /Thursday, June 18, 1998 / Notices 33445

Dated: June 12, 1998.

Rose Royal,

Federal Register Liaison.

[FR Doc. 98–16178 Filed 6–17–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8230–01–M

UNITED STATES INFORMATION

AGENCY

College and University Partnerships

Program for Armenia, Azerbaijan,

Georgia, and Moldova

ACTION: Request for proposals.

SUMMARY: The Office of Academic

Programs of the United States

Information Agency’s Bureau of

Educational and Cultural Affairs

announces an open competition for an

assistance award program. Accredited,

post-secondary educational institutions

meeting the provisions described in IRS

regulation 26 CFR 1.501(c) may apply to

develop a partnership with (a) foreign

institution(s) of higher education from

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, or

Moldova in specified fields.

Proposed projects must be eligible in

terms of countries/localities and

disciplines as described in the section

entitled ‘‘Eligibility’’ below.

Participating institutions exchange

faculty and administrators for a

combination of teaching, lecturing,

faculty and curriculum development,

collaborative research, and outreach, for

periods ranging from one week (for

planning visits) to an academic year.

The FY 98 program will also support the

establishment and maintenance of

Internet and/or e-mail communication

facilities as well as interactive distance

learning programs at foreign partner

institutions. Applicants may propose

other project activities not listed above

that are consistent with the goals and

activities of the College and University

Partnerships Program (CUPP).

The program awards up to $200,000

for a three-year period to defray the cost

of travel and per diem with an

allowance for educational materials and

some aspects of project administration.

Grants awarded to organizations with

less than four years of experience in

conducting international exchange

programs will be limited to $60,000.

Overall grant-making authority for

this program is contained in the Mutual

Educational and Cultural Exchange Act

of 1961, Pub. L. 87–256, as amended,

also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act.

The purpose of the Act is ‘‘to enable the

Government of the United States to

increase mutual understanding between

the people of the United States and the

people of other countries * * *; to

strengthen the ties which unite us with

other nations by demonstrating the

educational and cultural interests,

developments, and achievements of the

people of the United States and other

nations * * * and thus to assist in the

development of friendly, sympathetic

and peaceful relations between the

United States and the other countries of

the world.’’ The funding authority for

the program cited above is provided

through the Freedom for Russia and

Emerging Eurasian Democracies and

Open Markets Support Act of 1992

(Freedom Support Act). Programs and

projects must conform with Agency

requirements and guidelines outlined in

the Solicitation Package. USIA projects

and programs are subject to the

availability of funds.

ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE AND NUMBER: All

communications with USIA concerning

this RFP should refer to the College and

University Partnerships Program for

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and

Moldova and reference number E/ASU–

98–11.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: All copies

must be received at the U.S. Information

Agency by 5 p.m. Washington, DC time

on Monday, August 10, 1998. Faxed

documents will not be accepted at any

time. Documents postmarked by the due

date but received at a later date will not

be accepted.

Approximate program dates: Grants

should begin on or about September 30,

1998.

Duration: September 30, 1998—

August 31, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Office of Academic Programs; Advising,

Teaching, and Specialized Programs

Division; Specialized Programs Unit, (E/

ASU) room 349, U.S. Information

Agency, 301 4th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20547, telephone: (202)

619–4126, fax: (202) 401–1433, internet:

jcebra@usia.gov to request a Solicitation

Package containing more detailed award

criteria; all application forms; and

guidelines for preparing proposals,

including specific criteria for

preparation of the proposal budget.

TO DOWNLOAD A SOLICITATION PACKAGE

VIA INTERNET: The entire Solicitation

Package may be downloaded from

USIA’s website at http://www.usia.gov/

education/rfps. Please read all

information before downloading.

TO RECEIVE A SOLICITATION PACKAGE VIA

TAX ON DEMAND: The entire Solicitation

Package may be received via the

Bureau’s ‘‘Grants Information Fax on

Demand System’’, which is accessed by

calling 202/401–7616. Please request a

‘‘Catalog’’ of available documents and

order numbers when first entering the

system.

Please specify USIA Program Officer

Jonathan Cebra on all inquiries and

correspondences. Interested applicants

should read the complete Federal

Register announcement before sending

inquiries or submitting proposals. Once

the RFP deadline has passed, Agency

staff may not discuss this competition in

any way with applicants until the

Bureau proposal review process has

been completed.

SUBMISSIONS: Applicants must follow all

instructions given in the Solicitation

Package. The original and 10 copies of

the application should be sent to: U.S.

Information Agency, Ref.: E/ASU–98–

11, Office of Grants Management, E/XE,

Room 326, 301 4th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC, 20547.

Applicants must also submit the

‘‘Executive Summary’’ and ‘‘Proposal

Narrative’’ sections of the proposal on a

3.5′′ diskette, formatted for DOS. This

material must be provided in ASCII text

(DOS) format with a maximum line

length of 65 characters. USIA will

transmit these files electronically to

USIS posts overseas for their review,

with the goal of reducing the time it

takes to get posts’ comments for the

Agency’s grants review process.

DIVERSITY, FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY

GUIDELINES: Pursuant to the Bureau’s

authorizing legislation, programs must

maintain a non-political character and

should be balanced and representative

of the diversity of American political,

social, and cultural life. ‘‘Diversity’’

should be interpreted in the broadest

sense and encompass differences

including, but not limited to ethnicity,

race, gender, religion, geographic

location, socio-economic status, and

physical challenges. Applicants are

strongly encouraged to adhere to the

advancement of this principle both in

program administration and in program

content. Please refer to the review

criteria under the ‘Support for Diversity’

section for specific suggestions on

incorporating diversity into the total

proposal. Pub. L. 104–319 provides that

‘‘in carrying out programs of

educational and cultural exchange in

countries whose people do not fully

enjoy freedom and democracy’’, USIA

‘‘shall take appropriate steps to provide

opportunities for participation in such

programs to human rights and

democracy leaders of such countries.’’

Proposals should account for

advancement of this goal in their

program contents, to the full extent

deemed feasible.
33446 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 117 /Thursday, June 18, 1998 / Notices

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Guidelines

The College and University

Partnership Program for Armenia,

Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova is

limited to specific academic disciplines.

For Georgia and Azerbaijan, eligible

disciplines include:

(1) Law;

(2) Business/economics/trade;

(3) Government/public policy/public

administration; and

(4) Journalism/communications.

The eligible discipline for Armenia is

journalism; please note that the

Journalism Faculty of Yerevan State

University is the only eligible NIS

partner institution.

The eligible discipline for Moldova is

political science; please note that

Moldovan State University is the only

eligible partner institution.

Proposals must focus on curriculum,

faculty, and staff development in one or

more of these eligible disciplines.

Administrative reform at the foreign

partner may also be a project

component.

Projects should involve the

development of new academic programs

or the building and/or restructuring of

an existing program or programs, and

should promote higher education’s role

in the transition to market economies

and open democratic systems.

Feasibility studies to plan partnerships

will not be considered.

Whenever feasible, participants

should make their training and

personnel resources, as well as results of

their collaborative research, available to

government, NGOs, and business.

Participating institutions should

exchange faculty and/or staff members

for teaching/lecturing and consulting.

At least once, one U.S. participant

should be in residence at the foreign

partner institution for one semester to

serve in a coordinating role.

U.S. institutions are responsible for

the submission of proposals and should

collaborate with their foreign partners in

planning and preparing proposals. U.S.

and foreign partner institutions are

encouraged to consult about the

proposed project with USIA E/ASU staff

in Washington, DC. Preference will be

given to proposals which demonstrate

evidence of previous relations with the

foreign partner institution(s).

U.S. Partner and Participant Eligibility

In the U.S., participation in the

program is open to accredited two- and

four-year colleges and universities,

including graduate schools.

Applications from consortia of U.S.

colleges and universities are eligible.

Secondary U.S. partners may include

relevant non-governmental

organizations, non-profit service or

professional organizations. The lead

U.S. institution in the consortium is

responsible for submitting the

application and each application from a

consortium must document the lead

school’s started authority to represent

the consortium. Participants

representing the U.S. institution who

are traveling under USIA grant funds

must be faculty, staff, or advanced

graduate students from the participating

institution(s) and must be U.S. citizens.

Foreign Partner and Participant

Eligibility

Overseas, participation is open to

recognized, degree-granting institutions

of post-secondary education, which may

include internationally recognized and

established independent research

institutes. Secondary foreign partners

may include relevant governmental and

non-governmental organizations, nonprofit service or professional

organizations. Participants representing

the foreign institutions must be faculty,

staff or advanced students of the partner

institution, and the citizens, nationals,

or permanent residents of the country of

the foreign partner, and be qualified to

hold a valid passport and U.S. J–1 visa.

Foreign partners from the following

countries are eligible:

Armenia—only the journalism faculty

of Yerevan State University is eligible.

Azerbaijan—any recognized, degreegranting post-secondary educational

institution is eligible.

Georgia—any recognized, degreegranting post-secondary educational

institution is eligible.

Moldova—only Moldovan State

University is eligible.

Partnerships including a secondary

foreign partner from a non-NIS country

are eligible; however, with the

exception noted below, USIA will not

cover overseas non-NIS partner

institution costs.

In order to promote regional

cooperation, limited funds may be

budgeted for the exchange, as part of

this partnership agreement, of faculty

between NIS institutions and

institutions of higher learning in Central

and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia,

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic,

Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the

Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania,

Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia,

Slovenia).

Ineligibility

A proposal will be deemed

technically ineligible if:

(1) It does not fully adhere to the

guidelines established herein and in the

Solicitation Package;

(2) It is not received by the deadline;

(3) It is not submitted by the U.S.

partner;

(4) One of the partner institutions is

ineligible;

(5) The academic discipline(s) is/are

not listed as eligible in the RFP, herein;

(6) The amount requested of USIA

exceeds $200,000 for the three-year

project.

Please refer to program-specific

guidelines (POGI) in the Solicitation

Package for further details.

Notice

The terms and conditions published

in this RFP are binding and may not be

modified by any USIA representative.

Explanatory information provided by

the Agency that contradicts published

language will not be binding. Issuance

of the RFP does not constitute an award

commitment on the part of the

Government. The Agency reserves the

right to reduce, revise, or increase

proposal budgets in accordance with the

needs of the program and the

availability of funds. Awards made will

be subject to periodic reporting and

evaluation requirements.

Notification

Final awards cannot be made until

funds have been appropriated by

Congress, allocated and committed

through internal USIA procedures.

Dated: June 12, 1998.

John P. Loiello,

Associate Director for Educational and

Cultural Affairs.

[FR Doc. 98–16179 Filed 6–17–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8230–01–M