12096 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 42 / Friday, March 3, 1995 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 75

RIN 1880–AA61

Direct Grant Programs

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Final regulations.

SUMMARY: The Secretary amends the

Education Department General

Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) to

permit the Department to consider for

funding, under appropriate

discretionary grant programs

administered by the Department,

unsolicited grant applications. The

Secretary takes this action as part of the

Department’s overall effort at reinvention. The authority to consider

unsolicited applications allows the

Department to respond to truly

exceptional applications of national

significance that might not conform to

the Department’s announced annual

competitions.

EFFECTIVE DATE: These regulations take

effect April 3, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg

Vick, Grants Division, GCS, U.S.

Department of Education, (Room 3636,

ROB–3), 600 Independence Avenue,

S.W., Washington, D.C., 20202–4700.

Telephone: (202) 708–8199. 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 8

p.m., Eastern time Monday through

Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Secretary amends EDGAR to make a

change in the procedures for selecting

applications for new grants. The

Secretary continues to believe that the

vast majority of discretionary grant

funds should be awarded on the basis of

competition, and that for some of these

competitions the Department should

establish funding priorities in order to

focus limited resources on critical issues

and problems. However, the Secretary is

also concerned that the constraints of

the Department’s grant schedules and

funding priorities may preclude the

Department’s consideration of truly

exceptional applications representing

novel approaches to issues facing the

nation or other groundbreaking ideas or

methods appropriate to Department of

Education programs.

Under these amendments to EDGAR,

the Department will continue to use

existing procedures for announcing

grant competitions and selecting

applications for new grants. On what

the Secretary expects to be rare

occasions, the Secretary will also

consider unsolicited applications that

were not submitted in response to an

application notice published in the

Federal Register. However, the

Secretary does not consider unsolicited

applications under a program if the

program office has published a notice in

the Federal Register indicating that

unsolicited applications will not be

considered for that year.

Any unsolicited applications that

meet the requirements for existing or

upcoming competitions of the

Department will be considered under

those competitions. Applications that

could have been considered under

competitions for which deadlines have

passed will not be considered for

funding as unsolicited applications

unless the Secretary determines on an

individual basis that, because of an

exceptional circumstance, consideration

of an application is warranted. Inability

to meet a deadline for submitting an

application under a grant competition,

by itself, is not such a circumstance.

Analysis of Comments and Changes

The Secretary published a notice of

proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on

December 9, 1994 (59 FR 63878). Two

comments were received on the NPRM.

Except for minor editorial and technical

revisions, the Secretary has made no

changes in these regulations since

publication of the NPRM. A note has

been added following § 75.222

informing applicants of the address to

which unsolicited applications should

be sent to assure prompt consideration.

An analysis of the comments follows.

Comment: One commenter expressed

support for the amendments permitting

the Secretary to consider unsolicited

applications.

Discussion: None.

Changes: None.

Comment: One commenter questioned

the source of the money to fund

unsolicited applications and

recommended an annual competition

without priorities, format requirements,

or regulations, to fund unsolicited

applications.

Discussion: Funding for unsolicited

applications will come from available,

but unobligated, funds for the program

under which the application is

considered for selection. An unsolicited

application would be considered only if

it would not have an adverse impact on

the funds available for other awards

planned for the program. Since the

unsolicited applications would not be

competing against each other, but would

be considered on an individual basis to

determine if they are of exceptional

quality, the Secretary believes limiting

the consideration of unsolicited

applications to an annual competition

would be unnecessarily restrictive.

Changes: None.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980

These regulations have been

examined under the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1980 and have been

found to contain no information

collection requirements.

List of Subjects in 34 CFR Part 75

Education Department, Grant

programs—education, Grant

administration, Incorporation by

reference.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number does not apply)

Dated: February 27, 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 is

revised to read as follows:

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

unless otherwise noted.

2. Section 75.219 is amended by

removing the word ‘‘or’’ at the end of

paragraph (a), removing the period at

the end of paragraph (b)(3) and adding,

in its place, ‘‘; or’’ and adding a new

paragraph (c) to read as follows:

§ 75.219 Exceptions to the procedures

under § 75.217.

* * * * *

(c) The Secretary receives an

unsolicited application that meets the

requirements of § 75.222.

3. Section 75.222 is redesignated as

§ 75.221.

4. A new § 75.222 is added to read as

follows:

§ 75.222 Procedures the Department uses

under § 75.219(c).

If the Secretary receives an

unsolicited application, the Secretary

may consider the application under the

following procedures unless the

Secretary has published a notice in the

Federal Register stating that the

program that would fund the

application would not consider

unsolicited applications:

(a)(1) The Secretary determines

whether the application could be

funded under a competition planned or

conducted for the fiscal year under

which funds would be used to fund the

application.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 42 / Friday, March 3, 1995 / Rules and Regulations 12097

(2)(i) If the application could be

funded under a competition described

in paragraph (a)(1) of this section and

the deadline for submission of

applications has not passed, the

Secretary refers the application to the

appropriate competition for

consideration under the procedures in

§ 75.217.

(ii)(A) If the application could have

been funded under a competition

described in paragraph (a)(1) of this

section and the deadline for submission

of applications has passed, the Secretary

may consider the application only in

exceptional circumstances, as

determined by the Secretary.

(B) If the Secretary considers an

application under paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of

this section, the Secretary considers the

application under paragraphs (b)

through (e) of this section.

(iii) If the application could not be

funded under a competition described

in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the

Secretary considers the application

under paragraphs (b) through (e) of this

section.

(b) If an application may be

considered under paragraphs (a)(2)(ii) or

(iii) of this section, the Secretary

determines if—

(1) There is a substantial likelihood

that the application is of exceptional

quality and national significance for a

program administered by ED;

(2) The application meets the

requirements of all applicable statutes

and codified regulations that apply to

the program; and

(3) Selection of the project will not

have an adverse impact on the funds

available for other awards planned for

the program.

(c) If the Secretary determines that the

criteria in paragraph (b) of this section

have been met, the Secretary assembles

a panel of experts that does not include

any employees of the Department to

review the application.

(d) The experts—

(1) Evaluate the application based on

the selection criteria; and

(2) Determine whether the application

is of such exceptional quality and

national significance that it should be

funded as an unsolicited application.

(e) If the experts highly rate the

application and determine that the

application is of such exceptional

quality and national significance that it

should be funded as an unsolicited

application, the Secretary may fund the

application.

Note to § 75.222: To assure prompt

consideration, applicants submitting

unsolicited applications should send the

application, marked ‘‘Unsolicited

Application’’ on the outside, to the Chief,

Application Control Center, U.S. Department

of Education, Washington, DC 20202–4725.

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

[FR Doc. 95–5222 Filed 3–2–95; 8:45 am]

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