[Federal Register: May 10, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 90)]
[Notices]
[Page 25883-25885]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10my04-41]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
[Docket No. 001215353-4139-04]
Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite
(PEACESAT): Closing Date
AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Funds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S.
Department of Commerce, announces the solicitation of applications for
a grant for the Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by
Satellite (PEACESAT) Program. Projects funded pursuant to this Notice
are intended to support the PEACESAT Program's acquisition of satellite
communications to service Pacific Basin communities and to manage the
operations of this network. Applications for the PEACESAT Program grant
will compete for funds from the Public Broadcasting, Facilities,
Planning and Construction Funds account.
DATES: Applications must be received on or before 5 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Saving Time, June 9, 2004. Applications submitted by facsimile
or electronic means are not acceptable. If an application is received
after the Closing Date due to (1) carrier error, when the carrier
accepted the package with a guarantee for delivery by the Closing Date
and Time, (2) significant weather delays or natural disasters, or (3)
delays due to national security issues, NTIA will, upon receipt of
proper documentation, consider the application as having been received
by the deadline. NTIA will not accept applications posted on the
Closing Date or later and received after the deadline.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a printed application package, submit completed
applications, or send any other correspondence, write to: NTIA/PTFP,
Room H-4625, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20230. Application materials may be obtained
electronically via the Internet (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ptfp)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Cooperman, Director, Public
Broadcasting Division, telephone: (202) 482-5802; fax: (202) 482-2156.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
The full funding opportunity announcement for the PEACESAT Fiscal
Year (FY) 2004 grant cycle is available on the NTIA Web site:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/peacesat/FederalRegister.html or by
contacting NTIA at the address noted above. The full announcement is
also available through http://www.Grants.gov.
Funding Availability
The Congress has appropriated $19.75 million for FY 2004 Public
Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) and PEACESAT awards. For
FY 2003, NTIA issued one award for the PEACESAT project in the amount
of $484,977.
Statutory and Regulatory Authority
Funding for the PEACESAT Program is provided pursuant to Public Law
108-199, ``The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004'' and Public Law
106-113, ``The Consolidated Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2000.''
Public Law 106-113 provides ``That, hereafter, notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the Pan-Pacific Education and Communications
Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) Program is eligible to compete for
Public Broadcasting Facilities, Planning and Construction funds.'' The
PEACESAT Program was authorized under P.L. 100-584 (102 Stat. 2970) and
also P. L. 101-555 (104 Stat. 2758) to acquire satellite communications
services to provide educational, medical, and cultural needs of Pacific
Basin communities. The PEACESAT Program has been operational since 1971
and has received funding from NTIA for support of the project since
1988.
Public Law 108-199 appropriated $19.75 million for this account to
be awarded for Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP)
grants and for PEACESAT Program grants. A solicitation notice for the
PTFP Program was published in the Federal Register on February 11,
2004. Applications submitted in response to this solicitation for
PEACESAT applications are not subject to the requirements of the
February 11, 2004 Notice and are exempt from the PTFP regulations at 15
CFR Part 2301. NTIA anticipates making a single award for approximately
$500,000 for the PEACESAT Program in FY 2004.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: N/A.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants will include any for-profit or non-profit
organization, public or private entity, other than an agency or
division of the Federal government. Individuals are not eligible to
apply for the PEACESAT Program funds.
Evaluation and Selection Process
Each eligible application is evaluated by a panel of outside
reviewers who have demonstrated expertise in the programmatic and
technological aspects of the application. The review panel members will
evaluate applications according to the criteria in the preceding
section and provide individual written ratings of each application.
[[Page 25884]]
State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) offices, per Executive Order
12372, may provide recommendations on applications under consideration.
PTFP places a summary of applications received on the Internet.
Listing an application merely acknowledges receipt of an application to
compete for funding with other applications. Listing does not preclude
subsequent return of the application or disapproval of the application,
nor does it assure that the application will be funded. The listing
will also include a request for comments on the applications from any
interested party. Applicants must make a copy of their application
available for public inspection during normal business hours. Any
opposing public comments must contain a certification that a copy of
the comments has been delivered to the applicant. Public comment and
replies from the applicant are considered during the evaluation of the
application.
The PTFP program staff prepares summary recommendations for the
Director of the Public Broadcasting Division. These recommendations
incorporate the outside reviewers' ratings and incorporate analysis
based on the degree to which a proposed project meets the PEACESAT
Program purposes and cost eligibility as described in Sections IV and V
of this announcement. Staff recommendations also consider (1) project
impact, (2) the cost/benefit of a project, and (3) whether the
reviewers consistently applied the evaluation criteria. The analysis by
program staff is provided to the Director of the Public Broadcasting
Division in writing.
The Director considers the summary recommendations prepared by
program staff, recommends the funding order of the applications for the
PTFP and PEACESAT Programs in three categories: ``Recommended for
Funding,'' ``Recommended for Funding If Funds Are Available,'' and
``Not Recommended for Funding.'' The Director presents recommendations
to the Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and
Information Applications (OTIA), for review and approval.
Upon review and approval by the Associate Administrator of the
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications (OTIA), the
Director's recommendations are presented to the Selecting Official, the
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, who is the NTIA
Administrator. The NTIA Administrator selects the applications to be
negotiated for possible grant award, taking into consideration the
outside reviewers' ratings, the Director's recommendations, and the
degree to which the slate of applications, taken as a whole, satisfies
the PTFP and PEACESAT Programs' stated purposes.
The selected applications are negotiated between NTIA staff and the
applicant. The negotiations are intended to resolve whatever
differences might exist between the applicant's original request and
what NTIA is considering funding. Negotiation does not ensure that an
award will be made. When the negotiations are completed, the Director
recommends final selections to the NTIA Administrator, applying the
same selection factors described above. The Administrator then makes
the final award selections from the negotiated applications taking into
consideration the Director's recommendations and the degree to which
the slate of applications, taken as a whole, satisfies the stated
purposes for the PTFP Program in 15 CFR 2301.1(a) and (c) and for the
PEACESAT Program.
Evaluation Criteria
Each eligible application that is timely received, is materially
complete, and proposes an eligible project will be considered under the
evaluation criteria described here. The first three criteria--1.
Meeting the Purposes of the PEACESAT Program, 2. Extent of Need for the
Project, and 3. Plan of Operation for the Project--are each worth 25
points. Criterion 4, Budget and Cost Effectiveness, is worth 20 points.
Criterion 5, Quality of Key Personnel, is worth 5 points.
Criterion 1. Meeting the Purposes of the PEACESAT Program,
including (i) how well the proposal meets the objectives of the
PEACESAT Program and (ii) how the objectives of the proposal further
the purposes of the PEACESAT Program.
Criterion 2. Extent of Need for the Project. The extent to which
the project meets the needs of the PEACESAT Program, including
consideration of: (i) The needs addressed by the project; (ii) how the
applicant identifies those needs; (iii) how those needs will be met by
the project; and (iv) the benefits to be gained by meeting those needs.
Criterion 3. Plan of Operation for the Project, including (i) the
quality of the design of the project; (ii) the extent to which the plan
of management is effective and ensures proper and efficient
administration of the project; (iii) how well the objectives of the
project relate to the purposes of the PEACESAT Program; (iv) the
quality of the applicant's plan to use its resources and personnel to
achieve each objective; and (v) how the applicant will ensure that
project participants who are otherwise eligible to participate are
selected without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age,
or handicapped condition.
Criterion 4. Budget and Cost Effectiveness. The extent to which (i)
the budget is adequate to support the project; and (ii) costs are
reasonable in relation to the objectives of the project.
Criterion 5. Quality of Key Personnel the applicant plans to use on
the project, including (i) the qualifications of the project director
if one is to be used; (ii) the qualifications of each of the other key
personnel to be used in the project; (iii) the time that each person
will commit to the project; and (iv) how the applicant, as part of its
nondiscriminatory employment practices, will ensure that its personnel
are selected for employment without regard to race, color, national
origin, gender, age, or handicapped condition. In this section,
``qualifications'' refers to experience and training in fields related
to the objectives of the project, and any other qualifications that
pertain to the quality of the project.
Funding Priorities and Selection Factors
The selection factors retained by the Director, OTIA Associate
Administrator, and the Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information for the PTFP Program are described in 15 CFR 2301.18. These
selection factors are also used, as applicable, for selection of
applications for funding for the PEACESAT Program.
Cost Sharing Requirements
Grant recipients under this program will not be required to provide
matching funds toward the total project cost.
The costs allowable under this Notice are not subject to the
limitation on costs contained in the February 11, 2004 Notice regarding
the PTFP Program.
Intergovernmental Review
PEACESAT applications are subject to Executive Order 12372,
``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs,'' if the state in which
the applicant organization is located participates in the process.
Usually submission to the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) needs to
be only the first two pages of the Application Form, but applicants
should contact their own SPOC offices to find out about and comply with
its requirements. The names and addresses of the SPOC offices are
listed on the PTFP website and at the Office of Management and Budget's
[[Page 25885]]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.
Universal Identifier
All applicants (nonprofit, state, local government, universities,
and tribal organizations) will be required to provide a Dun and
Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number during the
application process. See the October 30, 2002 (67 FR 66177) and April
8, 2003 (68 FR 17000) Federal Register notices for additional
information. Organizations can receive a DUNS number at no cost by
calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS Number request line 1-866-705-5711
or via the Internet (http://www.dunandbradstreet.com).
The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for
Grants and Cooperative Agreements
The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification of Requirements
for Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register
notice of October 1, 2001 (66 FR 49917), as amended by the Federal
Register notice published on October 30, 2002 (67 FR 66109), are
applicable to this solicitation.
Limitation of Liability
In no event will the Department of Commerce be responsible for
proposal preparation costs if this program fails to receive funding or
is cancelled because of other agency priorities. Publication of this
announcement does not oblige the agency to award any specific project
or to obligate any available funds.
Paperwork Reduction Act
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is
required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty
for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), unless that
collection displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) control number. The PTFP application form has been approved under
OMB Control No. 0660-0003.
Executive Order 12866
It has been determined that this notice is a ``not significant''
rule under Executive Order 12866.
Executive Order 13132
It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies
with Federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order
13132.
Administrative Procedure Act/ Regulatory Flexibility Act
Prior notice and opportunity for public comment are not required by
the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for this notice
concerning grants, benefits, and contracts (5 U.S.C. 553(a)). Because
notice and opportunity for comment are not required pursuant to 5
U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical requirements of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are inapplicable.
Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not been prepared.
Bernadette McGuire-Rivera,
Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information
Applications.
[FR Doc. 04-10538 Filed 5-7-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P