03-4548. Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003

Purpose of Program: To provide grants for vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities who are migrant or seasonal farmworkers, (individuals who have been determined in accordance with rules prescribed by the Secretary of Labor), and to the family members who are residing with those individuals (whether or not those family members are individuals with disabilities).

Eligible Applicants: State designated agencies; nonprofit agencies working in collaboration with a State agency; and local agencies working in collaboration with a State agency.

Applications Available: February 27, 2003.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 15, 2003.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 14, 2003.

Estimated Available Funds: The Administration's budget request for FY 2003 does not include funds for this program. However, we are inviting applications to allow enough time to complete the grant process, if Congress appropriates funds for this program.

Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000-$150,000.

Estimated Average size of Awards: $127,000.

Estimated Number of Awards: 2.

Note:

The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, and 86.

Note:

The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants except federally recognized Indian tribes.

Note:

The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions of higher education only.

Priority

Invitational Priority

We are particularly interested in applications that meet the following priority:

Projects that provide vocational rehabilitation services including, but not limited to, vocational skills development, job placement, job training, occupational skills training programs, cultural awareness, language skills development, life skills (e.g., health, education, socialization), English as a Second Language, dissemination of employment information, and training workshops.

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1), we do not give an application that meets the priority a competitive or absolute preference over other applications.

Application Procedures

Note:

Some of the procedures in these instructions for transmitting applications differ from those in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR 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.

Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications

In FY 2003, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing to expand its pilot project for electronic submission of applications to include additional formula grant programs and additional discretionary grant competitions. The Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program—CFDA: 84.128G is one of the programs included in the pilot project. If you are an applicant under the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program, you may submit your application to us in either electronic or paper format.

The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant Application System (e-Application) portion of the Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS). Users of e-Application will be entering data on-line while completing their applications. You may not e-mail a soft copy of a grant application to us. If you participate in this voluntary pilot project by submitting an application electronically, the data you enter on-line will be saved into a database. We request your participation in e-Application. We shall continue to evaluate its success and solicit suggestions for improvement.

If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:

• Your participation is voluntary.
• You will not receive any additional point value because you submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will we penalize you if you submit an application in paper format. When you enter the e-Application system, you will find information about its hours of operation.
• You may submit all documents electronically, including the Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information—Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and certifications.
• 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 3 working days after submitting your electronic application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following these steps:

(1) Print ED 424 from the e-Application system.

(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 [phone].

• We may request that you give us original signatures on all other forms at a later date.
• Closing Date Extension in Case of System Unavailability: If you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot for the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program and you are prevented from submitting your application on the closing date because the e-Application system is unavailable, we will grant you an extension of 1 business day in order to transmit your application electronically, by mail, or by hand delivery. For us to grant this extension—

(1) You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have initiated an e-Application for this competition; and

(2)(a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the deadline date; or

(b) The e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the deadline date. The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this extension you must contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or (2) the e-Grants help desk at 1-888-336-8930.

You may access the electronic grant application for the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Program at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.

We have included additional information about the e-Application pilot project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic Applications) in the application package.

For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), PO Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-7827. FAX: [phone]. 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: [e-mail].

If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.128G.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application package in an alternative format by contacting the Grants and Contracts Services Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3317, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: [phone]. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the standard forms included in the application package.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary E. Chambers, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3322, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2647. Telephone: [phone]. 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 contact person listed in the preceding paragraph.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may view this document, as well as all other Department of Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/​legislation/​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 [phone].

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.access.gpo.gov/​nara/​index.html.

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 774.

Dated: February 20, 2003.

Robert H. Pasternack,

Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.