9232 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 3, 2009 / Notices 

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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Delegation of Authority: The Secretary 

of Education has delegated authority to 

Joseph C. Conaty, Director, Academic 

Improvement and Teacher Quality 

Programs for the Office of Elementary 

and Secondary Education to perform the 

functions of the Assistant Secretary for 

Elementary and Secondary Education. 

Dated: February 26, 2009. 

Joseph C. Conaty, 

Director, Academic Improvement and 

Teacher Quality Programs. 

[FR Doc. E9–4497 Filed 3–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Office of Postsecondary Education; 

Title IV, Part I, Section 499 of the 

Higher Education Act of 1965, as 

Amended—Competitive Loan Auction 

Pilot Program 

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary 

Education, U.S. Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Notice inviting eligible lenders 

to participate in the Competitive Loan 

Auction Pilot Program for the right to 

originate PLUS loans to parent 

borrowers under the Federal Family 

Education Loan (FFEL) Program. 

SUMMARY: Through this notice, the 

Secretary of Education (the Secretary) 

invites eligible lenders to participate in 

the Competitive Loan Auction Pilot 

Program (Auction Program) for the 

rights to originate PLUS loans to parent 

borrowers under the FFEL Program. 

Through the Competitive Loan Auction 

(Auction), the Secretary will award the 

rights to originate PLUS loans to new 

parent borrowers under the Federal 

PLUS Program authorized by section 

428B of Title IV of the Higher Education 

Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), for loan 

periods beginning on or after July 1, 

2009 and ending June 30, 2011. This 

notice establishes the dates for 

submission of information to participate 

in the Auction, describes the 

information that lenders must submit 

and the auction process, and describes 

the statutory requirements a lender must 

meet if it is selected as a winning bidder 

in the Auction. 

DATES: Deadline for Submission of PreQualification Information: FFEL 

Program eligible lenders that wish to bid 

in the Auction must submit the required 

prequalification information to the 

Secretary at the address provided in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice by 

April 1, 2009. 

Deadline for Submission of PLUS 

Lender of Last Resort Applications: 

FFEL Program eligible lenders 

interested in serving as a PLUS lender 

of last resort must submit their 

applications to the Secretary at the 

address provided in the ADDRESSES

section of this notice by April 1, 2009. 

Date of Auction: The Auction will be 

conducted on April 15, 2009. Bids for 

origination rights must be submitted on 

the date of the Auction to the Secretary 

at the address provided in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice. Bids 

will only be accepted during the time 

period the Auction is open on that date, 

as designated by the Secretary. The time 

period the Auction will be open will be 

included in an Auction Information 

Sheet that will be sent to those eligible 

lenders meeting the prequalification 

requirements to participate in the 

Auction. The Auction Information Sheet 

will: (1) Describe the procedures for 

submitting bids, (2) provide the Web 

address of the on-line Auction, and (3) 

assign eligible bidders a password to 

submit a bid during the period the 

Auction is open. When the Auction is 

complete, the Secretary will notify 

winning bidders and announce the 

winning bidders for each State no later 

than April 24, 2009. Further information 

on the Auction procedures is in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this notice. 

ADDRESSES: Pre-qualification 

information, PLUS Lender of Last Resort 

applications, and bids should be sent by 

e-mail to: plus-auction@ed.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information about the Auction Program 

go to http://www.ed.gov/ope/plusauction or contact: Donald Conner, U.S. 

Department of Education, 1990 K Street, 

NW., room 8030, Washington, DC 

20006. Telephone (202) 502–7818, or by 

fax to (202) 502–7873. You may also email your questions about the Auction 

to: donald.conner@ed.gov. 

If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD), call the 

Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 

1–800–877–8339. 

Individuals with disabilities can 

obtain this document in an accessible 

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

audiotape, or computer diskette) by 

contacting the program contact person 

listed in this section. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Secretary announces his intention to 

conduct and invites eligible FFEL 

lenders to participate in the Auction for 

the rights to originate PLUS loans to 

parent borrowers under the FFEL 

Program. Through the Auction, the 

Secretary will award the rights to 

originate PLUS loans to new parent 

borrowers under the Federal PLUS 

Program authorized by section 428B of 

Title IV of the HEA, for loan periods 

beginning on or after July 1, 2009 and 

ending June 30, 2011. The right to 

originate PLUS loans to parent 

borrowers under the Federal PLUS 

Program will be determined through a 

competitive, sealed bid, one-round 

auction to be conducted for each State, 

the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. 

Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 

the Northern Mariana Islands, and 

Puerto Rico (State). Loans to borrowers 

attending schools outside of these areas 

are not included in the Auction Program 

and may be made by any eligible FFEL 

Program lender. 

Two winning bidders will be 

identified for each State and will be the 

only eligible lenders authorized to 

originate Federal PLUS loans to parent 

borrowers who are borrowing on behalf 

of a dependent student who will be 

enrolled in an eligible postsecondary 

educational institution in that State and 

who are new borrowers on or after July 

1, 2009. Parents currently borrowing on 

behalf of a dependent student enrolled 

prior to July 1, 2009 may continue with 

their current lender or secure a loan 

from another eligible FFEL Program 

lender. Loans to graduate and 

professional student borrowers under 

the PLUS Program are not included in 

the Auction process. 

All eligible Federal PLUS Program 

loans originated under the Auction will 

be insured by a guaranty agency against 

losses. The insurance rate shall be in an 

amount equal to 99 percent of the 

unpaid principal and interest due on the 

loan. The Secretary will not collect a 

loan fee with respect to eligible Federal 

PLUS Program loans originated under 

this program. 

To see a listing of the PLUS loan 

volume by State for Award Years 2006– 

07 and 2007–08, go to: http:// 

www.ed.gov/ope/plus-auction/. 

Auction Requirements 

Prequalification Requirements 

All eligible FFEL Program lenders that 

want to participate in the Auction for 

PLUS loans to parent borrowers in a 

State under the Federal PLUS Program 

must meet the following 

prequalification requirements: 

Required Agreement: A lender with a 

winning bid is obligated to enter into an 

agreement with the Secretary in 

accordance with section 499(b)(3)(G)(i) 

of the HEA, to make PLUS loans to all 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 3, 2009 / Notices 9233 

eligible new parent borrowers in the 

State(s) for which it has the winning 

bid. 

Borrower Benefits: The statute 

requires the Secretary to establish the 

borrower benefits lenders must provide 

to participate in the Auction Program. 

The only permitted borrower benefit for 

PLUS loans to parents made under the 

Auction Program is a reduction in 

interest rate of 0.25 percent that is 

contingent on the borrower’s use of an 

automatic payment process for any 

payments due. This benefit is required 

to be offered to all parent PLUS 

borrowers whose loans are made under 

the Auction Program in all States for 

which the lender is the winning bidder. 

States in which a bid will be made: 

An eligible lender participating in the 

FFEL Program must identify the State(s) 

in which the lender intends to bid. The 

listing of a particular State(s) does not 

limit the lender’s ability to bid in an 

additional State(s) and it does not bind 

the lender to bid in the State(s) 

indicated. The listing will provide the 

Secretary with information necessary to 

assess the ability of the lender to 

originate, service and raise the capital 

necessary to make PLUS Loans in the 

State(s) in which the lender has 

indicated an interest in bidding. 

Origination of PLUS Loans: The 

lender must describe its capacity to 

originate loans in compliance with 

existing FFEL Program requirements in 

the State(s) for which it intends to bid. 

A lender must explain and provide any 

supporting documentation that 

demonstrates its ability to originate the 

number and dollar volume of loans in 

each State based on the number and 

volume of new PLUS loans to parents 

made in that State in the last complete 

award year for which data is available. 

Note: As the winning bidder, a lender will 

be one of only two lenders originating all 

new PLUS loans to parents in each State. The 

lender should provide any relevant 

information to assist the Department in 

determining its capacity to originate loans 

timely and efficiently in the State(s) for 

which it intends to bid, including the 

technological compatibility with the 

institutions in the State(s) and, the Statedesignated or other guaranty agency with 

which the lender may not have previously 

participated. 

Servicing of PLUS Loans: The lender 

must describe its loan servicing 

capability for the PLUS loans to parents 

to be originated in the State(s) for which 

the lender intends to bid. The lender 

may provide any supporting 

documentation that demonstrates that 

capability. The lender should advise the 

Department of any outstanding adverse 

audit findings, or other compliance or 

performance issues that may negatively 

affect the lender’s ability to originate or 

service PLUS loans to parents originated 

in the State(s) for which it intends to 

bid. If the lender uses a third-party 

servicer to originate and/or to provide 

ongoing servicing of loans, please also 

provide this information for that 

servicer(s) and include the 

organization’s name, address, and 

contact information. 

Capital to Make PLUS Loans: The 

lender must provide any supporting 

documentation necessary to 

demonstrate that the lender will have or 

be able to raise, as necessary, the capital 

required to provide for the origination 

and full disbursement of the anticipated 

new volume of PLUS Loans to parents 

for the period covered by the Auction 

Program in the State(s) for which the 

lender intends to bid. 

Auction Procedures 

Eligible lenders that meet the 

prequalification requirements will be 

permitted to submit a sealed and 

confidential bid in a one-round auction. 

A bid must consist of the amount of the 

special allowance payment (SAP), as 

defined in section 438 of the HEA, that 

a lender proposes to accept from the 

Secretary for the eligible Federal PLUS 

Program loans that the lender will make 

pursuant to this program. 

Bids must be submitted on the 

Auction Date during the time period the 

Auction will be open as designated by 

the Secretary. The Secretary will 

announce the time period during which 

the Auction will be open in an Auction 

Information Sheet that will be sent to 

eligible lenders after their 

prequalification information has been 

reviewed and approved. The Auction 

Information Sheet will (1) describe the 

procedures for submitting bids, (2) 

provide the address to which the bid 

must be submitted, and (3) assign 

eligible bidders a password to use to 

submit the bid during the period the 

Auction is open. When the Auction is 

complete, the Secretary will post the 

results of the Auction, including the 

winning bidders for each State, at 

http://www.ed.gov/ope/plus-auction/ no 

later than April 24, 2009. The winning 

bidders will be the two eligible lenders 

that submit bids that offer to accept the 

lowest and second lowest SAP from the 

Secretary on the Federal PLUS loans 

made pursuant to the Auction. The 

winning bidders within each State will 

be the only FFEL Program lenders 

permitted to originate loans under the 

Federal PLUS Program for first time 

borrower parents of dependent students 

at institutions within that State until 

those students are no longer enrolled at 

an institution in that State or they 

graduate from those institutions. 

Eligible lender bids will remain 

confidential even after the 

announcement of the winning bidders. 

Winning Bidder Requirements 

Each winning bidder in the Auction 

must enter into an agreement with the 

Secretary under which the eligible 

lender agrees to originate eligible 

Federal PLUS Program loans to each 

eligible parent borrower that: (1) Seeks 

an eligible Federal PLUS Program loan 

to enable a dependent student to attend 

an institution of higher education 

within that State, (2) is eligible for a 

Federal PLUS Program loan, and (3) 

elects to borrow from the eligible lender. 

Each winning bidder for a State also 

must agree to accept a SAP from the 

Secretary for eligible loans originated in 

the amount proposed in the second 

lowest winning bid. 

If a winning bidder fails to enter into 

the agreement with the Secretary as 

required, or fails to comply with the 

terms of such agreement, the Secretary 

may sanction the eligible lender in one 

or more of the following ways: 

(1) The Secretary may assess a penalty 

for any eligible Federal PLUS Program 

loan that such eligible lender fails to 

originate in accordance with the 

agreement with the Secretary; 

(2) The Secretary may prohibit that 

lender from bidding in other auctions 

under section 499 of the HEA; 

(3) The Secretary may limit, suspend, 

or terminate the lender’s participation 

in the FFEL Programs; or 

(4) The Secretary may take any other 

enforcement action authorized under 

Title IV, Part B, of the HEA. Should the 

Secretary decide to levy a penalty on a 

lender, the collection of those penalties 

may be sought by reducing the amount 

of any payments otherwise due to the 

eligible lender from the Secretary by the 

amount of the penalty or by requesting 

that any other Federal agency reduce the 

amount of any payments due to the 

eligible lender from that agency by the 

amount of the penalty. 

Plus Lender of Last Resort 

In the event that there are not two 

winning bids in a given State, borrowers 

and institutions of higher education in 

that State will be served by a PLUS Loan 

Lender of Last Resort (PLUS–LLR), as 

determined by the Secretary, in 

accordance with section 499 of the HEA. 

Eligible lenders that wish to be 

considered as the PLUS–LLR for a given 

State(s) must (1) prequalify by 

submitting the prequalification material 

described in this notice, (2) submit a 

letter not less than 14 days prior to the 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

9234 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 3, 2009 / Notices 

start of the Auction indicating that they 

want to be considered as a PLUS–LLR 

and list the State(s) they will service, 

and (3) commit to making PLUS loans 

to all eligible new parent borrowers in 

the State(s) they have indicated until the 

dependent student graduates or is no 

longer attending an institution in that 

State. The Secretary will not identify the 

PLUS–LLR for a State until after the 

Auction is completed and only if 

needed. A prequalified lender that 

requests to be a PLUS–LLR may still 

participate as a regular eligible lender in 

the Auction. 

The Secretary is authorized to set a 

SAP payable to a PLUS–LLR for a State. 

That SAP will be kept confidential, both 

before and after the announcement of 

the winning bidders. To determine the 

SAP payment to a PLUS–LLR the 

Secretary will take into account the 

lowest bid that was submitted in the 

auction for the State and the lowest bid 

that was submitted in a similar State in 

terms of PLUS dollar volume and 

number of loans. 

Additional Auction Program 

Information 

All eligible Federal PLUS Program 

loans originated under the Auction 

Program will be insured by a guaranty 

agency with which the lender currently 

has an agreement against losses. The 

insurance on default claims on these 

loans will be in an amount equal to 99 

percent of the unpaid principal and 

interest due on the loan. 

The Secretary will not collect a loan 

fee with respect to eligible Federal 

PLUS Program loans originated under 

this program. 

If the parent borrower with FFEL 

PLUS loans made under the Auction 

Program requests to consolidate those 

loans, the FFEL Program eligible lender 

who made those loans may consolidate 

the borrower’s Federal PLUS Program 

loans made under this program into one 

loan under certain conditions, as 

described in section 499(L)(i)–(iii) of the 

HEA. Similarly, an eligible lender with 

a winning bid may consolidate a Federal 

Direct PLUS Program loan or a loan 

made to the parent borrower under 

section 428B of the HEA under 

conditions described in section 

499(L)(iv)(I) and (II) of the HEA. For 

Federal Direct PLUS Program loans, the 

Auction Program eligible lender must 

agree within 10 days to match the terms 

and conditions available under the 

Federal Direct Consolidation Loan 

Program. 

The SAP paid to Auction Program 

eligible lenders on FFEL Program 

Consolidation loans is the lesser of the 

weighted average of the SAP on the 

loans consolidated (excluding Federal 

Direct PLUS Program loans) or the 

average of the bond equivalent rates of 

the quotes of the 3-month average 

commercial paper rate plus 1.59 

percent. 

An Auction Program lender who 

consolidates a PLUS Program loan 

under this program is not required to 

pay the interest payment rebate fee on 

the Consolidation loan under Section 

428C(f) of the HEA. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

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), on the Internet at the 

following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/ 

fedregister. To use PDF, you must have 

Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 

available free at this site. 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, DC 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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Delegation of Authority: The Secretary 

of Education has delegated authority to 

Daniel T. Madzelan, Director, 

Forecasting and Policy Analysis for the 

Office of Postsecondary Education to 

perform the functions of the Assistant 

Secretary for Postsecondary Education. 

Dated: February 25, 2009. 

Daniel T. Madzelan, 

Director, Forecasting and Policy Analysis. 

[FR Doc. E9–4447 Filed 3–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket Nos. CP09–66–000; CP09–67–000] 

Northwest Pipeline GP, Parachute 

Pipeline LLC; Notice of Application 

February 24, 2009. 

Take notice that on February 12, 2009, 

Northwest Pipeline GP (Northwest), 295 

Chipeta Way, Salt Lake City, Utah 

84108, filed an application in Docket 

No. CP09–66–000, pursuant to section 

7(b) of the Natural Gas Act and Part 157 

of the Commission’s regulations, 

requesting permission and approval to 

abandon its certificate authority to 

operate the Parachute Lateral and 

associated facilities. Take further notice 

that on this same date, Parachute 

Pipeline LLC, One Williams Center, 

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74172, filed an 

application in Docket No. CP09–67–000, 

pursuant to Rule 207 of the 

Commission’s regulations, requesting a 

declaratory order disclaiming 

jurisdiction and declaring certain 

facilities (The facilities Northwest 

proposes to abandon in Docket No. 

CP09–66–000) and services to be 

exempt from regulation under the 

Natural Gas Act, all as more fully set 

forth in the application which is on file 

with the Commission and open to 

public inspection. The filing may also 

be viewed on the Web at http:// 

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link. 

Enter the docket number excluding the 

last three digits in the docket number 

field to access the document. For 

assistance, please contact FERC Online 

Support at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll 

free at (866) 208–3676, or TTY, contact 

(202) 502–8659. 

Any questions regarding this 

application, Docket No. CP09–66–000, 

should be directed to Lynn Dahlberg, 

Manager, Certificates and Tariffs, 

Northwest Pipeline GP, PO Box 58900 

Salt Lake City, Utah 84158, telephone: 

(801) 584–6851, Fax: (801) 584–7764, email: lynn.dahlberg@williams.com. 

Any questions regarding this 

application, Docket No. CP09–67–000, 

should be directed to Mari Ramsey, 

Senior Counsel, The Williams 

Companies, Inc., One Williams Center 

47th floor, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74172, 

telephone: (918) 573–2611, Fax: (918) 

573–4503. 

Pursuant to section 157.9 of the 

Commission’s rules, 18 CFR 157.9, 

within 90 days of this Notice the 

Commission staff will either: Complete 

its environmental assessment (EA) and 

place it into the Commission’s public 

record (eLibrary) for this proceeding; or 

issue a Notice of Schedule for 

Environmental Review. If a Notice of 

Schedule for Environmental Review is 

issued, it will indicate, among other 

milestones, the anticipated date for the 

Commission staff’s issuance of the final 

environmental impact statement (FEIS) 

or EA for this proposal. The filing of the 

EA in the Commission’s public record 

for this proceeding or the issuance of a 

Notice of Schedule for Environmental 

Review will serve to notify federal and 

state agencies of the timing for the 

completion of all necessary reviews, and 

the subsequent need to complete all 

federal authorizations within 90 days of 

the date of issuance of the Commission 

staff’s FEIS or EA. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES