63872 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 238 / Tuesday, December 12, 1995 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 75

RIN 1880–AA69

Direct Grant Programs

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Final regulations.

SUMMARY: The Secretary amends the

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)

that govern discretionary grant

programs. These amendments reduce

the need for specific regulations

governing individual programs. The

amendments authorize the Secretary to

establish selection criteria for a

discretionary grant program based on

statutory provisions that apply to a

program and on existing selection

criteria in EDGAR. The amendments

also clarify the Secretary’s authority to

establish annual funding priorities for

grant competitions.

EFFECTIVE DATE: These regulations take

effect January 11, 1996. These

regulations will affect only those

competitions announced in the Federal

Register after this effective date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Jacinta Ma, U.S. Department of

Education, 600 Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC 20202–2241.

Telephone: (202) 401–8300. Individuals

who use a telecommunications device

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–

800–877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 5

p.m., Eastern time, Monday through

Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These

amendments allow the Secretary to

establish selection criteria based on

certain statutory provisions, clarify the

Secretary’s authority to establish one or

more annual priorities, and allow the

Secretary to establish the maximum

score for each selection criterion on a

competition-by-competition basis. The

amendments also conform existing

regulations in §§ 75.1 and 75.200 to

reflect the additional method for

establishing selection criteria.

On September 1, 1995, the Secretary

published a notice of proposed

rulemaking (NPRM) for these

amendments in the Federal Register (60

FR 46004).

Except for minor technical and

editorial revisions, there are no

differences between the NPRM and

these final regulations.

Analysis of Comments and Changes

In response to the Secretary’s

invitation in the NPRM two parties

submitted comments on the proposed

regulations. An analysis of the

comments follows.

Technical and other minor changes—

and suggested changes the Secretary is

not legally authorized to make under the

applicable statutory authority—are not

addressed.

Comment: One commenter suggested

that the Secretary add a selection

criterion that would give additional

consideration to small entities, such as

small vocational rehabilitation agencies,

because these entities have fewer

resources than large entities for

developing grant proposals, and thus are

at a disadvantage in competing for

awards.

Discussion: These amendments to

EDGAR are not intended to change the

substance of the EDGAR selection

criteria. These amendments allow the

Secretary to establish selection criteria

based on statutory provisions and allow

the Secretary to establish the maximum

value of each criterion on a competitionby-competition basis. The Secretary

expects to amend the EDGAR selection

criteria in the future and will consider

this comment in developing the new

selection criteria.

Changes: None.

Comment: One commenter expressed

opposition to the provision that would

allow the Secretary to establish without

public comment annual funding

priorities that are specified in a program

statute or selected from allowable

activities specified in a program statute.

The commenter believed that it would

be important for the public to be able to

comment on the establishment of

annual priorities to alert the Secretary to

important issues within States that

might require changing a proposed

priority.

Discussion: The Secretary believes

that creating the option for the

Department to establish certain annual

funding priorities without public

comment will allow the Department to

award grants more quickly and at a time

more convenient and useful to potential

grantees. The Secretary believes that

public comment on these types of

priorities would be minimal. For those

priorities specified in the authorizing

statute, public comment would be

limited to the way the Department

implements the statutory priority, e.g.,

what weight to give to the priority or

how to choose among priorities.

Statutory priorities, moreover, are

established through the legislative

process, which provides for

participation and comment from the

public. In establishing priorities, the

Department will continue to be guided

by information generated during the

legislative process, the Department’s

experience in administering its

programs, and feedback from customers,

grantees and others. The Secretary has

balanced the benefits to all grant

recipients of a speedier and more

efficient grant making process against

the loss of the public’s opportunity to

provide formal comment in these

limited circumstances and has

determined that the benefits outweigh

the disadvantages.

Changes: None.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

These amendments have been

examined under the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 and have been

found to contain no information

collection requirements.

Intergovernmental Review

Some of the programs that would be

affected by these regulations are subject

to the requirements of Executive Order

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR

part 79. The objective of the Executive

order is to foster an intergovernmental

partnership and a strengthened

federalism by relying on processes

developed by State and local

governments for coordination and

review of proposed Federal financial

assistance.

In accordance with the order, this

document is intended to provide early

notification of the Department’s specific

plans and actions for these programs.

Assessment of Educational Impact

In the notice of proposed rulemaking,

the Secretary requested comments on

whether the proposed regulations would

require transmission of information that

is being gathered by or is available from

any other agency or authority of the

United States.

Based on the response to the proposed

rules and on its own review, the

Department has determined that the

regulations in this document do not

require transmission of information that

is being gathered by or is available from

any other agency or authority of the

United States.

List of Subjects in 34 CFR Part 75

Administrative practice and

procedure, Continuation funding,

Education, Grant programs—education,

Grants administration, Incorporation by

reference, Performance reports,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Unobligated funds.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number does not apply.)
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 238 / Tuesday, December 12, 1995 / Rules and Regulations 63873

Dated: December 5, 1995.

Richard W. Riley,

Secretary of Education.

The Secretary amends part 75 of Title

34 of the Code of Federal Regulations as

follows:

PART 75—DIRECT GRANT

PROGRAMS

1. The authority citation for part 75

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e–3 and 3474,

unless otherwise noted.

2. Section 75.1 is amended by revising

the Note to read as follows:

§ 75.1 Programs to which part 75 applies.

* * * * *

Note: See part 76 for the general

regulations that apply to programs that

allocate funds among eligible States. For a

description of the two kinds of direct grant

programs see § 75.200. Paragraph (b) of that

section describes discretionary grant

programs. Paragraph (c) of that section

describes formula grant programs. Also see

§§ 75.201, 75.209, and 75.210 for the

selection criteria for discretionary grant

programs that do not have implementing

regulations or whose implementing

regulations do not include selection criteria.

§ 75.101 [Amended]

3. Section 75.101 is amended by

removing paragraph (c).

4. Section 75.105 is amended by

removing the word ‘‘or’’ following

paragraph (b)(2)(ii), replacing the period

at the end of paragraph (b)(2)(iii) with

a semicolon, adding new paragraphs

(b)(2)(iv) and (b)(2)(v), and revising the

first sentence in paragraph (c)(2)(i) to

read as follows:

§ 75.105 Annual priorities.

* * * * *

(b) * * *

(2) * * *

(iv) The program statute requires or

authorizes the Secretary to establish

specified priorities; or

(v) The annual priorities are chosen

from allowable activities specified in

the program statute.

(c) * * *

(2) * * *

(i) The Secretary may award some or

all bonus points to an application

depending on the extent to which the

application meets the priority. * * *

5. Section 75.200 is amended by

revising paragraph (b)(3) to read as

follows:

§ 75.200 How applications for new grants

and cooperative agreements are selected

for funding; standards for use of

cooperative agreements.

* * * * *

(b) * * *

(3) If a discretionary grant program

does not have implementing regulations

or has implementing regulations that do

not include selection criteria, the

Secretary uses one of the following to

evaluate applications for new grants

under the program:

(i) Selection criteria established under

§ 75.209.

(ii) Selection criteria in § 75.210.

(iii) A combination of selection

criteria established under § 75.209 and

selection criteria in § 75.210.

* * * * *

6. Section 75.201 is revised to read as

follows:

§ 75.201 How to use the selection criteria.

(a) If points are assigned to the

selection criteria, the Secretary informs

applicants of—

(1) The total possible score for all of

the criteria for a program; and

(2) The maximum possible score for

each criterion.

(b) If no points are assigned to the

selection criteria, the Secretary

evaluates each criterion equally.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e–3 and 3474)

7. A new § 75.209 is added to read as

follows:

§ 75.209 Selection criteria based on

statutory provisions.

(a) If a discretionary grant program

does not have implementing regulations

or has implementing regulations that do

not include selection criteria, the

Secretary may evaluate applications

by—

(1) Establishing selection criteria

based on statutory provisions that apply

to the authorized program, which may

include, but are not limited to—

(i) Specific statutory selection criteria;

(ii) Allowable activities;

(iii) Application content

requirements; or

(iv) Other pre-award and post-award

conditions; and

(2) Assigning the maximum possible

score for each of the criteria established

under paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

(b) The Secretary evaluates an

application by determining how well

the project proposed by the applicant

meets each statutory provision selected

under paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

Example: If a program statute requires that

each application address how the applicant

will serve the needs of limited English

proficient children, under § 75.209 the

Secretary could establish a criterion and

evaluate applications based on how well the

applicant’s proposed project meets that

statutory provision. The Secretary might

decide to award up to 10 points for this

criterion. Applicants who have the best

proposals to serve the needs of limited

English proficient children would score

highest under the criterion in this example.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e–3 and 3474)

8. Section 75.210 is amended by

revising the heading, removing

paragraphs (a) and (c), removing the

point designations following the

italicized headings in paragraphs (b) (1),

(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7), adding

undesignated introductory text,

removing ‘‘The criteria—’’ in paragraph

(b), and redesignating paragraphs (b)(1),

(b)(1) (i) and (ii), (b)(2), (b)(2)(i)–(iv),

(b)(3), (b)(3)(i)–(vi), (b)(4), (b)(4)(i)(A)–

(D), (b)(4)(ii) (A) and (B), (b)(5), (b)(5) (i)

and (ii), (b)(6), (b)(6) (i) and (ii), and

(b)(7) as paragraphs (a), (a) (1) and (2),

(b), (b)(1)–(4), (c), (c)(1)–(6), (d),

(d)(1)(i)–(iv), (d)(2) (i) and (ii), (e), (e) (1)

and (2), (f), (f) (1) and (2), and (g),

respectively, to read as follows:

§ 75.210 General selection criteria.

The Secretary may use one or more of

the following selection criteria, together

with one or more criteria established

under § 75.209, if any, to evaluate

applications for new grants under a

discretionary grant program:

(a) Meeting the purposes of the

authorizing statute. * * *

(b) Extent of need for the project.

* * *

(c) Plan of operation. * * *

(d) Quality of key personnel. * * *

(e) Budget and cost effectiveness.

* * *

(f) Evaluation plan. * * *

(g) Adequacy of resources. * * *

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e–3 and 3474)

[FR Doc. 95–30127 Filed 12–11–95; 8:45 am]

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