Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/04/2019-11624/applications-for-new-awards-alaska-native-and-native-hawaiian-serving-institutions-program
Timestamp: 2019-07-17 02:24:52
Document Index: 589249639

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 607', 'arts 75', 'art 180', 'art 3485', 'art 200', 'art 3474']

Federal Register :: Applications for New Awards; Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program
Applications Available: June 4, 2019.
84 FR 25781
25781-25785 (5 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-11624 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-11624
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 5, 2019.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 3, 2019.
Robyn Wood, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 268-42, Washington, DC 20202-4260. Telephone: (202) 453-7744. Email: Robyn.Wood@ed.gov.
Purpose of Program: The ANNH Program provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs) to enable them to improve and expand their capacity to serve Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Institutions may use these grants to plan, develop, or implement activities that strengthen the institution.
Priorities: This notice contains one competitive preference priority. This priority is from the Secretary's Final Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grant Programs (83 FR 9096) (Supplemental Priorities), which were published in the Federal Register on March 2, 2018.
Competitive Preference Priority: For FY 2019 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, this priority is a competitive preference priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we award up to an additional three points to an application, depending on how well the application meets this priority.
Fostering Knowledge and Promoting the Development of Skills that Prepare Students to be Informed, Thoughtful, and Productive Individuals and Citizens (up to 3 points).
Note: In 2008, the HEA was amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA), Public Law 110-315. Please note that the regulations for ANNH in 34 CFR part 607 have not been updated to reflect these statutory changes. The statute supersedes all other regulations.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General Administrative Regulations in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 82, 84, 86, 97, 98, and 99. (b) The Office of Management and Budget Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as adopted and amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3485. (c) The Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards in 2 CFR part 200, as adopted and amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3474. (d) The regulations for this program in 34 CFR 607. (e) The Supplemental Priorities.Start Printed Page 25782
Type of Award: Discretionary grants. Five-year Individual Development Grants and Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants will be awarded in FY 2019.
Note: A cooperative arrangement is an arrangement to carry out allowable grant activities between an institution eligible to receive a grant under this part and another eligible or ineligible IHE, under which the resources of the cooperating institutions are combined and shared to better achieve the purposes of this part and avoid costly duplication of effort.
Estimated Available Funds: $6,510,398.
Estimated Range of Awards: $350,000-$400,000 per year.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $375,000 per year.
Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $450,000 for a single budget period of 12 months.
1.a. Eligible Applicants:
This program is authorized by title III, part A, of the HEA. At the time of submission of their applications, applicants must certify their total undergraduate headcount enrollment and that either 20 percent of the IHE's enrollment is Alaska Native or 10 percent is Native Hawaiian. An assurance form, which is included in the application materials for this competition, must be signed by an official for the applicant and submitted.
To qualify as an eligible institution under the ANNH Program, an institution must—
(ii) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's degree;
Note: The notice announcing the FY 2019 process for designation of eligible institutions, and inviting applications for waiver of eligibility requirements, was published in the Federal Register on January 29, 2019 (84 FR 451). Only institutions that the Department determines are eligible, or which are granted a waiver under the process described in that notice, may apply for a grant in this program.
A grantee under the HSI Program, which is authorized under title V of the HEA, may not receive a grant under any HEA, title III, part A program. The title III, part A programs are: The Strengthening Institutions Program; the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities program; the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions program; the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions program; and the Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions program. Furthermore, a current HSI program grantee may not give up its HSI grant in order to be eligible to receive a grant under ANNH or any title III, part A program as described in 34 CFR 607.2(g)(1).
An eligible HSI that is not a current grantee under the HSI program may apply for a FY 2019 grant under all title III, part A programs for which it is eligible, as well as receive consideration for a grant under the HSI program. However, a successful applicant may receive only one grant as described in 34 CFR 607.2(g)(1).
An eligible IHE that submits applications for an Individual Development Grant and a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant in this competition may be awarded both in the same fiscal year. However, we will not award a second Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant to an otherwise eligible IHE for an award year for which the IHE already has a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant award under the ANNH Program. A grantee with an Individual Development Grant or a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant may be a subgrantee in one or more Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants. The lead institution in a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant must be an eligible institution. Partners or subgrantees are not required to be eligible institutions.
b. Supplement-Not-Supplant: This program involves supplement-not-supplant funding requirements. Grant funds must be used so that they supplement and, to the extent practical, increase the funds that would otherwise be available for the activities to be carried out under the grant and in no case supplant those funds (34 CFR 607.30 (b)).
3. Funding Restrictions: We specify unallowable costs in 34 CFR 607.10(c). We reference additional regulations outlining funding restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.
4. Recommended Page Limit: The application narrative (Part III of the application) is where you, the applicant, address the selection criteria that reviewers use to evaluate your application. We recommend that you (1) limit the application narrative to no more than 50 pages for Individual Development Grants and no more than 65 pages for Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants and (2) use the following standards:Start Printed Page 25783
1. Selection Criteria: The following selection criteria for this competition are from 34 CFR 607.22(a) through (g) and 34 CFR 75.210. Applicants should address each of the following selection criteria separately for each proposed activity. The selection criteria are worth a total of 100 points; the maximum score for each criterion is noted in parentheses.
(a) Quality of the applicant's comprehensive development plan. (20 points). The extent to which—
(b) Quality of activity objectives. (15 points). The extent to which the objectives for each activity are—
(c) Quality of the project design. (10 points).
(2) In determining the quality of the design of the proposed project, the Secretary considers the extent to which the proposed project demonstrates a rationale (as defined in this notice).
(d) Quality of implementation strategy. (18 points). The extent to which—
(e) Quality of key personnel. (8 points). The extent to which—
(f) Quality of project management plan. (10 points). The extent to which—
(g) Quality of evaluation plan. (12 points). The extent to which—
(h) Budget. (7 points). The extent to which the proposed costs are necessary and reasonable in relation to the project's objectives and scope.
A panel of three non-Federal reviewers will review and score each application in accordance with the selection criteria. A rank order funding slate will be made from this review. Awards will be made in rank order according to the average score received from the peer review and from the competitive preference priority.
In tie-breaking situations for development grants, 34 CFR 607.23(b) requires that we award one additional point to an application from an IHE that has an endowment fund of which the current market value, per FTE enrolled student, is less than the average current market value of the endowment funds, per FTE enrolled student, at comparable type institutions that offer similar instruction. We award one additional point to an application from an IHE that has expenditures for library materials per FTE enrolled student that are less than the average expenditure for library materials per FTE enrolled student at similar type institutions. We also add one additional point to an application from an IHE that proposes to carry out one or more of the following activities—
For the purpose of these funding considerations, we use 2017-2018 data.
If a tie remains after applying the tie-breaker mechanism above, priority will be given to applicants that have the Start Printed Page 25784lowest endowment values per FTE enrolled student.
5. Performance Measures: The Secretary has established the following key performance measures for assessing the effectiveness of the ANNH Program:
(a) The percentage change, over the five-year period, of the number of full-time degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled at Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (Note: This is a long-term measure, which will be used to periodically gauge performance);
(b) The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at four-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution;
(c) The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at two-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution;
(d) The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at four-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who graduate within six years of enrollment; and
(e) The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at two-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who graduate within three years of enrollment.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.Start Printed Page 25785
[FR Doc. 2019-11624 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]