Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 12 / Thursday, January 18, 2001 / Notices 4799

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA NO. 84.334]

Office of Postsecondary Education;

Notice Inviting Applications for New

Awards for Fiscal Year 2001—Gaining

Early Awareness and Readiness for

Undergraduate Programs—GEAR UP

Purpose of Program: The purpose of

this program is to increase the number

of low-income students who are

prepared to enter and succeed in

college. Through improved academic

preparation and early awareness

activities, eligible students are provided

comprehensive mentoring, counseling,

outreach and supportive services,

including information to students and

their parents about the benefits of

postsecondary education and the

availability of Federal financial

assistance to attend college. Through the

scholarship component, which is

mandatory for State grants and

recommended for Partnership grants,

eligible students may receive

scholarships for higher education.

Eligible Applicants: 1. For Partnership

grants, eligible applicants include at

least—

• One institution of higher education.

This may be any degree-granting twoyear or four-year college or university;

• One local educational agency

(school district) on behalf of one or

more schools with a 7th grade and the

high school(s) that the students at these

middle schools would normally attend.

Generally, at least 50 percent of the

students attending the participating

school with a 7th grade must be eligible

for free or reduced-price lunches.

However, as an alternative, Partnerships

may choose to work with one or more

grade levels of students, beginning not

later than the 7th grade, who reside in

public housing; and

• Two additional organizations, such

as businesses, professional associations,

community-based organizations, State

Agencies, elementary schools,

philanthropic organizations, religious

groups, and other public or private

organizations.

2. For State grants, eligible applicants

are State Agencies as designated by the

State’s Governor, one per State.

Applications Available: January 19,

2001.

Deadline for Transmittal of

Applications: March 30, 2001.

Deadline for Intergovernmental

Review: May 29, 2001.

Available Funds: Approximately

$35,500,000 for Partnership grants and

$23,000,000 for State grants. Federal

funds shall provide not more than 50

percent of the total cost of any project

funded by a grant under this program,

except as provided for under 34 CFR

694.7. The non-Federal share of project

costs may be in-cash or in-kind, fairly

valued, including services, supplies or

equipment.

Estimated Average Awards: No

minimum, maximum or average award

has been established for Partnership

grants. The size of each Partnership

grant will depend on the number of

students served. However, there is a

maximum annual Federal contribution

of $800 per student for Partnership

grants.

State grants have a $2.5 million

maximum and no minimum award.

Estimated Number of Awards:

Approximately 9–12 State grant awards

and approximately 75–90 Partnership

grant awards, depending on the size and

configuration of each Partnership.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

Applicable Regulations: (a) The

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in

34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 86, 97,

98 and 99. (b) The regulations for this

program in 34 CFR part 694.

Authorized Activities: Section 404D,

404E, 404F, and 404G of the Higher

Education Act of 1965, as amended. [20

U.S.C. 1070a-24]

Selection Criteria: The Secretary uses

the selection criteria in accordance with

34 CFR 75.209 and 75.210 to evaluate

applications for Gaining Early

Awareness and Readiness for

Undergraduate Programs. The

application package includes the

selection criteria and the points

assigned to the criteria.

Page Limits: The application narrative

(Part 4 of the application) is limited to

the equivalent of no more than 40 pages

using the following standards:

• A ‘‘page’’ is 8.5′′ x 11′′, on one side

only, with 1′′ margins at the top, bottom,

and both sides.

• Double space (no more than three

lines per vertical inch) all text in the

application narrative, including titles,

headings, footnotes, quotations,

references, and captions, as well as all

text in charts, tables, figures, and

graphs.

• Use a font that is either 12-point or

larger or no smaller than 10 pitch

(characters per inch).

The page limit does not apply to Part

1, the cover sheet; Part 2, the Table of

Contents; Part 3 the Abstract; or Part 5,

the budget section, including the

narrative budget justification; the

assurances and certifications; or the

resumes, the bibliography, or the letters

of support. However, you must include

all of the application narrative (Part 4)

in the page limit. Reviewers will not

read any pages of your application that

exceed the page limit if you apply these

standards or exceed the equivalent of

the page limit.

Priorities

Competitive Priorities

Competitive Preference Priority 1

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i) and 34

CFR 694.15(b), the Secretary will give

preference to Partnership projects that

establish or maintain financial

assistance programs that award

scholarships to participating students,

either in accordance with section 404E

of the Higher Education Act of 1965, or

in accordance with GEAR UP

regulations 34 CFR 694.11. The

Secretary will award up to five (5)

points in addition to any points the

applicant earns under the selection

criteria, to applicants who meet this

priority, depending on how well the

application meets the priority.

Competitive Preference Priority 2

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii) and 34

CFR 694.15(a), the Secretary gives

competitive preference to an application

for a Partnership or State grant that

serves a substantial number or

percentage of students who reside in or

attend school in an Empowerment Zone,

Supplemental Empowerment Zone, or

Enterprise Community, under 34 CFR

75.105(2)(ii) and 34 CFR 694.15(a). This

preference means that an applicant

meeting this criterion would be placed

above another application of

comparable merit, and the preference

will be used in the selection process as

a tie-breaker.

For Applications Contact: Education

Publications Center (EDPUBS), P.O. Box

1398, Jessup, Maryland 20794–1398.

Telephone (toll free) 1–877–433–7827.

Fax: (301) 470–1244. If you use a

telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) you may call toll free 1–877–576–

7734. You may also contact EDPUBS at

its web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/

edpubs.html.

Or you may contact EDPUBS at its email address: edpubs@inet.ed.gov.

If you request an application from

EDPUBS, be sure to identify this

competition as follows: CFDA number

84.334.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S.

Department of Education, Office of

Postsecondary Education, Gaining Early

Awareness and Readiness for

Undergraduate Programs, 1990 K Street,

NW., Room 6252, Washington, DC

4800 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 12 / Thursday, January 18, 2001 / Notices

20006–8524, telephone 202–502–7676,

fax (202) 502–7675, or e-mail

gearup@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 or a copy of the

GEAR UP application package in an

alternative format (e.g., Braille, large

print, audiotape, or computer diskette)

upon request to the contact number

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 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/new.html

To use PDF you must have Adobe

Acrobat Reader, which is available free

at either of the previous sites. If you

have any questions about using PDF,

call the U.S. Government Printing Office

(GPO) at (202) 512–1530 or, toll free, at

1–888–293–6498.

Note: The official version of this document

is the document published in the Federal

Register. Free Internet access to the offical

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.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1070a–21—

20 U.S.C. 1070a–28.

Dated: January 12, 2001.

A. Lee Fritschler,

Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary

Education.

[FR Doc. 01–1529 Filed 1–17–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.128G]

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers

Program; Notice Inviting Applications

for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY)

2001

Purpose of Program: To provide

grants for vocational rehabilitation

services to individuals with disabilities

who are migrant or seasonal

farmworkers, as determined in

accordance with rules prescribed by the

Secretary of Labor, and to the family

members who are residing with those

individuals (whether or not those family

members are individuals with

disabilities).

Eligible Applicants: A State

designated agency; nonprofit agencies

working in collaboration with a State

agency; and a local agency working in

collaboration with a State agency.

Applications Available: January 30,

2001.

Deadline for Transmittal of

Applications: March 30, 2001.

Deadline for Intergovernmental

Review: May 30, 2001.

Estimated Available Funds: $528,000.

Estimated Range of Awards:

$150,000–$170,000.

Estimated Average Size of Awards:

$165,000.

Estimated Number of Awards: 3.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

Reasonable Accommodations: We

will consider, and may fund, requests

for additional funding as an addendum

to an application to reflect the costs of

reasonable accommodations necessary

to allow individuals with disabilities to

be employed on the project as personnel

on project activities.

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

Applicable Regulations: The

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in

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

85, and 86.

Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79

apply to applicants except federally

recognized Indian tribes.

Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86

apply to institutions of higher education

only.

Priority: This competition focuses on

projects designed to meet the priority in

the notice of final competitive

preference for this program, published

in the Federal Register on November 22,

2000 (65 FR 70408). Under 34 CFR

75.105 (c)(2)(i) the Assistant Secretary

adds a competitive preference to

applications that are otherwise eligible

for funding under this program.

The maximum score under the

selection criteria for this program is 100

points; however, we will also use the

following competitive preference so that

up to an additional 10 points may be

earned by an applicant for a total

possible score of 110 points.

Up to 10 points may be earned based

on the extent to which an application

includes effective strategies for

employing and advancing in

employment qualified individuals with

disabilities as project employees in

projects awarded under this program. In

determining the effectiveness of those

strategies, we will consider the

applicant’s prior success, as described

in the application, in employing and

advancing in employment qualified

individuals with disabilities.

Therefore, within this competitive

preference, applicants can be awarded

up to a total of 10 points in addition to

those awarded under the published

selection criteria for this program (The

selection criteria to be used for this

competition will be provided in the

application package for this

competition). That is, an applicant

meeting this competitive preference

could earn a maximum total of 110

points.

Application Procedures:

Note: Some of the procedures in these

instructions for transmitting applications

differ from those in the Education

Department General Administrative

Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR 75.102). Under

the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.

553) the Department generally offers

interested parties the opportunity to

comment on proposed regulations. However,

these amendments make procedural changes

only and do not establish new substantive

policy. Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A),

the Secretary has determined that proposed

rulemaking is not required.

Pilot Project for Electronic Submission

of Applications

The U.S. Department of Education is

expanding its pilot project of electronic

submission of applications to include

certain formula grant programs, as well

as additional discretionary grant

competitions. The Migrant and Seasonal

Farmworkers Program (CFDA 84.128G)

is one of the programs included in the

pilot project. If you are an applicant

under the Migrant and Seasonal

Farmworkers Program, you may submit

your application to us in either

electronic or paper format.

The pilot project involves the use of

the Electronic Grant Application System

(e-APPLICATION, formerly e-GAPS)

portion of the Grant Administration and

Payment System (GAPS). We request

your participation in this pilot project.

We shall continue to evaluate its

success and solicit suggestions for

improvement.

If you participate in this eAPPLICATION pilot, please note the

following:

• Your participation is voluntary.

• You will not receive any additional

point value or penalty because you

submit a grant application in electronic

or paper format.

• You can submit all documents

electronically, including the

Application for Federal Assistance (ED

424), Budget Information—NonConstruction Programs (ED 524), and all

necessary assurances and certifications.