FR Doc 04-3988
[Federal Register: February 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 36)]
[Notices]
[Page 8389-8392]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24fe04-54]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools; Overview Information;
Grants To Reduce Alcohol Abuse; Notice Inviting Applications for New
Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.184A
DATES: Applications Available: February 24, 2004.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 9, 2004.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: April 26, 2004.
Eligible Applicants: Local educational agencies (LEAs).
Estimated Available Funds: $5,500,000. The Secretary may reserve up
to 25 percent of funds to award grants to low-income and rural LEAs.
Contingent upon the availability of funds, we may make additional
awards in FY 2005 from the rank-ordered list of non-funded applications
from this competition.
Estimated Range of Awards: $250,000-$750,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 11.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: This program provides grants to LEAs to develop
and implement innovative and effective programs to reduce alcohol abuse
in secondary schools.
Priority: In accordance with 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(iv), this priority
is from section 4129 of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
Act, 20 U.S.C. 7139.
Absolute Priority: For FY 2004 this priority is an absolute
priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only applications that
meet this priority.
This priority is: Alcohol Abuse Reduction.
A project must develop and implement innovative and effective
programs to reduce alcohol abuse in secondary schools.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7139.
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 80, 81,
82, 84, 85, 97, 98, 99, and 299.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds: $5,500,000. The Secretary may reserve
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up to 25 percent of funds for grants to low-income and rural LEAs.
Contingent upon the availability of funds, we may make additional
awards in FY 2005 from the rank-ordered list of non-funded applications
from this competition.
Estimated Range of Awards: $250,000-$750,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $500,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 11.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: LEAs.
2. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not involve cost
sharing or matching.
3. Other: To be eligible to receive a grant under this competition,
an LEA's application must include--
i. A description of the activities to be carried out under the
grant;
ii. An assurance that such activities will include one or more of
the proven strategies for reducing underage alcohol abuse as determined
by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMSA);
iii. An explanation of how other activities to be carried out under
the grant that are not a SAMSA model program will be effective in
reducing underage alcohol abuse, including references to the past
effectiveness of such activities;
iv. An assurance that the applicant will submit to the Secretary an
annual report concerning the effectiveness of the programs and
activities funded under the grant.
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Address to Request Application Package: Education
Publications Center (ED Pubs), P.O Box 1398, Jessup, MD 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 ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html
or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address:
edpubs@inet.ed.gov
If you request an application from ED Pubs be sure to identify this
competition as follows: CFDA number 84.184A.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed under For
Further Information Contact elsewhere in this notice.
2. Content and Form of Application Submission:
Requirements concerning the content of an application, together
with the forms you must submit, are in the application package for this
competition. You may access the electronic version of the application
at the following Web site: http://www.ed.gov/programs/dvpalcoholabuse/index.html
3. Submission Dates and Times:
Applications Available: February 24, 2004.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 9, 2004.
The dates and times for the transmittal of applications by mail or
by hand (including a courier service or commercial carrier) are in the
application package for this competition. The application package also
specifies the hours of operation of the e-Application Web site.
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the
deadline requirements.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: April 26, 2004.
Intergovernmental Review: This competition is subject to Executive
Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. Information about
Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs under Executive Order
12372 is in the application package for this competition.
4. Funding Restrictions: We reference regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.
5. Other Submission Requirements: Instructions and requirements for
the transmittal of applications by mail or by hand (including a courier
service or commercial carrier) are in the application package for this
competition. Application Procedures: The Government Paperwork
Elimination Act (GPEA) of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-277) and the Federal
Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-
107) encourage us to undertake initiatives to improve our grant
processes. Enhancing the ability of individuals and entities to conduct
business with us electronically is a major part of our response to
these Acts. Therefore, we are taking steps to adopt the Internet as our
chief means of conducting transactions in order to improve services to
our customers and to simplify and expedite our business processes.
Some of the procedures in these instructions for transmitting
applications differ from those in the Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 DCR 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.
We are requiring that applications for grants under the Grants to
Reduce Alcohol Abuse competition-CFDA Number 84.184A-be submitted
electronically using the Electronic Grant Application System (e-
Application) available through the Department's e-GRANTS system. The e-
GRANTS system is accessible through its portal page at: http://e-grants.ed.gov
.
If you are unable to submit an application through the e-GRANTS
system, you may submit a written request for a waiver of the electronic
submission requirement. In your request, you should explain the reason
or reasons that prevent you from using the Internet to submit your
application. Address your request to: Ethel F. Jackson, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, room 3E308, FOB6,
Washington, DC 20202-6450. Please submit your request no later than two
weeks before the application deadline date.
If, within two weeks of the application deadline date, you are
unable to submit an application electronically, you must submit a paper
application by the application deadline date in accordance with the
transmittal instructions in the application package. The paper
application must include a written request for a waiver documenting the
reasons that prevented you from using the Internet to submit your
application.
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications: We are
continuing to expand our pilot project for electronic submission of
applications to include additional formula grant programs and
additional discretionary grant competitions. The Grants to Reduce
Alcohol Abuse competition--CFDA Number 84.184A--is one of the programs
included in the pilot project. If you are an applicant under the Grants
to Reduce Alcohol Abuse competition, you must submit your application
to us in electronic format or receive a waiver.
The pilot project involves the use of e-Application. If you use e-
Application, you will be entering data online while completing your
application. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant
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application to us. The data you enter online will be saved into a
database. We shall continue to evaluate the success of e-Application
and solicit suggestions for its improvement.
If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
When you enter the e-Application system, you
will find information about its hours of operation. We strongly
recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline date to
initiate an e-Application package.
You will not receive additional point value
because you do not submit a grant application in electronic format, nor
will we penalize you if you submit an application in paper format.
You must submit all documents electronically,
including the Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424),
Budget Information-Non-Construction Programs (ED 524) and all necessary
assurances and certifications.
Your e-Application must comply with any page
limit requirements described in this notice.
After you electronically submit your
application, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will
include a PR/Award number (an identifying number unique to your
application).
Within three working days after submitting your
electronic application, fax a signed copy of the Application for
Federal Education Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center
after following these steps:
1. Print ED 424 from e-Application.
2. The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign this
form.
3. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
4. Fax the signed ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202)
260-1349.
We may request that you give us original
signatures on other forms at a later date.
Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of System
Unavailability: If you are prevented from submitting your application
on the application deadline date because the e-Application system is
unavailable, we will grant you an extension of one business day in
order to transmit your application electronically, by mail, or by hand
delivery. We will grant this extension if--
1. You are a registered user of e-Application and you have
initiated an e-Application for this competition; and
2. (a) The e-Application system is unavailable for 60 minutes or
more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC time,
on the application deadline date; or
(b) The e-Application system is unavailable for any period of time
during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time
between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the
application deadline date.
We must acknowledge and confirm these periods of unavailability
before granting you an extension. To request this extension or to
confirm our acknowledgement of any system unavailability, you may
contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in this notice under For
Further Information Contact (see VII. Agency Contact) or (2) the e-
GRANTS help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
You may access the electronic grant application for the Grants to
Reduce Alcohol Abuse competition at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
V. Application Review Information
1. Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this program are
in 34 CFR 75.210 and in the application package for this competition.
2. Review and Selection Process: An additional factor we consider
in selecting an application for an award is rural and low-income
status.
Applications from rural and low-income applicants will be read and
scored separately and up to 25 percent of the available funds will be
reserved for awards to these LEAs. The following is a suggested
definition of rural and low-income that has been used by this program
in a previous competition; however, LEAs that want to be considered as
rural and low-income applicants may provide other supporting evidence
of their status as rural and low-income.
A rural and low-income LEA is one (a) that is designated with a
locale code of 6, 7, or 8, as determined by the Department's National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES); and (b) in which 20 percent or
more of the children ages 5 through 17 years served by the LEA are from
families below the poverty line. Note: Applicants wishing to be
considered under this factor must be both rural and low-income.
VI. Award Administration Information
1. Award Notices: If your application is successful, we notify your
U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators and send you a Grant Award Notice
(GAN). We may also notify you informally.
If your application is not evaluated or not selected for funding,
we will notify you.
2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements: We identify
administrative and national policy requirements in the application
package and reference these and other requirements in the Applicable
Regulations section of this notice.
We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of
an award in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice and
include these and other specific conditions in the GAN. The GAN also
incorporates your approved application as part of your binding
commitments under the grant.
3. Reporting: At the end of your project period, you must submit a
final performance report, including financial information, as directed
by the Secretary. If you receive a multi-year award, you must submit an
annual performance report that provides the most current performance
and financial expenditure information as specified by the Secretary in
34 CFR 75.718.
4. Performance Measures: Under the Government Performance and
Results Act (GPRA), three measures have been developed for evaluating
the overall effectiveness of the Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse
competition: (1) The percentage of grantees whose target students show
a measurable decrease in binge drinking; (2) the percentage of grantees
that show a measurable increase in the percentage of target students
who believe that alcohol abuse is harmful to their health; and (3) the
percentage of grantees that show a measurable increase in the
percentage of target students who disapprove of alcohol abuse. These
three measures constitute the Department's indicators of success for
this program. Consequently, applicants for a grant under this program
are advised to give careful consideration to these three outcomes in
conceptualizing the design, implementation, and evaluation of their
proposed project. If funded, applicants will be asked to collect and
report data in their annual performance reports about progress toward
these goals.
VII. Agency Contact
For Further Information Contact: Ethel F. Jackson, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW., room 3E308, Washington, DC 20202-
6450. Telephone: (202) 260-2812 or by e-mail: ethel.jackson@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 in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed in this
section.
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VIII. Other Information
Electronic Access to This Document: You may 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
.
Dated: February 18, 2004.
Deborah A. Price,
Deputy Under Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
[FR Doc. 04-3988 Filed 2-23-04; 8:45 am]
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