The Department of Education uses a two-phase system to select recipients for Early Reading First that includes a pre-application and a full application. All applicants must submit a pre-application that briefly addresses certain key concepts. Applicants invited to submit full applications will be expected to respond to more specific selection criteria. In accordance with the Early Reading First statute, peer review panels will be convened under section 1222(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (the Early Reading First statute) and section 1203(c)(2)(A) of the ESEA (the Reading First statute), and will include three experts in early reading development and early childhood development as required by the statute.

FY 2008 EARLY READING FIRST DISCRETIONARY GRANT COMPETITION

PRE-APPLICATION

We are reopening the pre-application phase of the Early Reading First FY 2008 competition for an additional 30 days for all eligible applicants, including non-LEAs, because the originally posted State lists of eligible LEAs did not include LEAs that were eligible as of December 28, 2007, the date of publication of the original ERF notice inviting applications for this FY 2008 competition, and included some LEAs that were ineligible as of that date. The deadline for applicants to submit pre-applications was April 7, 2008.

ATTENTION FY 2008 EARLY READING FIRST APPLICANTS

The pre-applications were reviewed by experienced peer reviewers using the selection criteria published in the FY 2008 Early Reading First application. A select group of applicants have been invited to submit full applications. FY 2008 Invited Applicants.

Following notification to the pre-applicants invited to submit full applications, unsuccessful pre-applicants will be sent a letter addressed to the certifying representative and the project director thanking them for participating in the review process. All original unfunded applications and related documents and related documents will be retained for 90 days. Unfunded applications and related documents will then be forwarded to the Federal Records Center for an additional three-year retention period.

Full applications for the grants under this competition must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov. For information about how to submit full applications electronically, or by mail or hand delivery if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, please refer to the original application notice published in the Federal Register.

If an applicant wishes to exercise the Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement, applicants must submit no later than two weeks before the full application deadline (May 27, 2008) a statement to the Department requesting an exception to these requirements and explaining the grounds that prevent the applicant from using the Internet to submit your full application. If an applicant decides to mail the request for the Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement to the Department, it must be postmarked no later than two weeks before the full application deadline date (May 27, 2008).

Please note:
Applicants who were invited to submit a full application must download, complete, and submit an entirely new application package from Grants.gov. Complete details are available in the original ERF notice inviting applications (72 FR 2667).

CLOSING DATE FOR FULL APPLICATION Deadline for Transmittal of Full Applications under the Early Reading First competition: June 10, 2008 (by 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time).

• Deadline for Transmittal of Phase 1 Pre-Applications: February 1, 2008 (by 4:30 p.m., Washington DC, time)
• Deadline for Transmittal of Reopened Competition: April 7, 2008 (by 4:30 p.m., Washington DC, time)
• Deadline for Transmittal of Phase 2 Full Applications: June 10, 2008. (Date was affected by the reopening of the pre-application phase of the competition.)

If an applicant wishes to exercise the Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement, applicants must submit no later than two weeks before the pre- application deadline a statement to the Department requesting an exception to these requirements and explaining the grounds that prevent the applicant from using the Internet to submit your pre-application. If an applicant decides to mail the request for the Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement to the Department, it must be postmarked no later than two weeks before the pre-application deadline date.

Applicants for this program competition must use the government-wide website, grants.gov, to apply. This will replace the previous requirement that applicants use the U.S. Department of Education's e-Grants system. Please note that the Grants.gov site works differently than the U.S. Department of Education's e-Application System. We strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with Grants.gov and strongly recommend that you register early and submit early.

Register Early: Grants.gov registration may take five or more days to complete. You must be fully registered to submit an application. Please follow the detailed Step-by-Step instructions on the Grants.gov Get Started page (http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp) or in the Grants.gov Registration brochure to:

• Register Your Organization

  • Obtain your organization's Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number
  • Register your organization with Central Contractor Registry (CCR)
  • Identify your organization's E-Business POC (Point of Contact)
  • Confirm your organization's CCR "Marketing Partner ID Number (M-PIN)" password

• Register Yourself as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR)

  • Obtain your username and password
  • Register your username and password with Grants.gov

• Get Yourself Authorized as an AOR

  • Contact your E-Business POC to ensure your AOR status
  • Log in to Grants.gov to check your AOR status

You are encouraged to register before the competition is announced in the Federal Register.

Download the Pure Edge Viewer: To download and complete the application, you will need to have the Pure Edge Viewer software on your computer. It is free and easy to download from Grants.gov. You may need to allow time for approval from your organization to download this software. This step should be completed before the competition is announced in the Federal Register.

Submit Early: Do not wait until the last day to submit your application! To submit successfully, you must enter the DUNS number in the application that your organization used when it registered with the CCR.

For more information to help you with Grants.gov, please see the brochure titled, "Grants.gov is as Easy as 1, 2, 3."

You will want to ensure your application is submitted (i.e. has a date/time stamp from Grants.gov before 4:30 pm on the deadline date) AND that the application is processed and validated successfully. Grants.gov processing times may vary, so you need to allow at least 3 days for any unanticipated problems with your submission. If Grants.gov rejects your application, you will need to resubmit before the deadline date and time.

Important Information for Microsoft Vista and Word Users:
Please note that Grants.gov does not currently support the new Microsoft Vista Operating system. The PureEdge software used by Grants.gov for forms is not compatible with Vista.

In addition, the new version of Microsoft Word saves documents with the extension .DOCX. The Grants.gov system does not process Microsoft Word documents with the extension .DOCX. When submitting Microsoft Word attachments to Grants.gov, please use the version of Microsoft Word that ends in .DOC. If you have any questions regarding this matter please email the Grants.gov Contact Center at support@grants.gov or call 1-800-518-4726.

Grants.gov Support: For help with Grants.gov, please call 1-800-518-4726 or use the customer support available on the website.

• Federal Register Notice Reopening the Deadline for Transmittal of Pre-Applications for Fiscal Year FY 2008 (March 7, 2008)

• Federal Register Notice Inviting Applications for FY 2008 (December 28, 2007)

The FY 2008 Early Reading First Grant Application (CFDA No. 84.359A - Full application) is available to download.

• Application PDF (1M)

• List of Applicants Invited to Submit a Full Application
  MS WORD (475K)

For printed applications contact:
ED Pubs
P.O. Box 1398
Jessup, MD 20794-1398
Telephone: (877) 433-7827
(TDD) (877) 576-7734
ED Pubs Web site
E-mail: edpubs@inet.ed.gov

• For automatic e-mail notification when events, publications, or resources relating to ERF become available, we invite you to join the ERF Infoline Listserv!

• ED-Pubs information (application package)