National Institute of Food and Agriculture 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This joint interim final rule implements for all Federal award-making agencies the final guidance Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 26, 2013. This rule is necessary in order to incorporate into regulation and thus bring into effect the Uniform Guidance as required by OMB. Implementation of this guidance will reduce administrative burden and risk of waste, fraud, and abuse for the approximately $600 billion per year awarded in Federal financial assistance. The result will be more Federal dollars reprogrammed to support the mission, new entities able to compete and win awards, and ultimately a stronger framework to provide key services to American citizens and support the basic research that underpins the United States economy.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is soliciting nominations of veterinary service shortage situations for the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) for fiscal year (FY) 2015, as authorized under the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA), 7 U.S.C. 3151a. This notice initiates a 60-day nomination period and prescribes the procedures and criteria to be used by State, Insular Area, DC and Federal Lands to nominate veterinary shortage situations. Each year all eligible nominating entities may submit nominations, up to the maximum indicated for each entity in this notice. NIFA is conducting this solicitation of veterinary shortage situation nominations under a previously approved information collection (OMB Control Number 0524-0046).

As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) strategy to successfully implement Section 7404 of Public Law 113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting stakeholder input on how it will establish procedures, including timelines, under which an entity established under a commodity promotion law (as such term is defined under section 7401(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014) or a State commodity board (or other equivalent State entity) may submit proposals for Requests for Applications (RFA)to be competed as part of the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grant programs. If proposals are accepted for funding, the proposed RFA will be competed as part of the AFRI competitive grants program RFAs and entities eligible for AFRI awards will be able to compete for award. In addition, as a condition of funding the grant proposed by a commodity board, NIFA shall require a contribution of funds equal to the amount of the grant. NIFA will be holding Web-based listening sessions in order to solicit stakeholder input on this new challenge area. The focus of the Web-based listening sessions will be to gather stakeholder input that will be used in developing a process for soliciting, evaluating, and prioritizing AFRI Request for Applications (RFA) submissions from the previously stated commodity board entities or their equivalent. All comments must be received by close of business on October 16, 2014, to be considered in the initial planning of the FY 2015 cycle.

As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) strategy to successfully implement Section 7214 of Public Law 113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting stakeholder input on how it will provide priority to Centers of Excellence in the receipt of funding from its competitive research or extension programs. NIFA will be holding web-based listening sessions in order to solicit stakeholder input on this new challenge area. The focus of the web-based listening sessions will be to gather stakeholder input that will be used in developing a process for consistently providing priority consideration to these Centers of Excellence. NIFA is particularly interested in input on how best to define the scope of a Center of Excellence, whether there are models being used by other federal agencies that might be useful to examine, and at what point in the review/selection process ``priority'' should be given to applications submitted by Centers of Excellence. All comments must be received by close of business on July 31, 2014, to be considered in the initial drafting of the FY 2015 process for priority consideration of the Centers of Excellence.

Section 7101 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 requires the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to establish a process through which institutions may apply for designation as a NLGCA. Designation as a NLGCA is one way an institution may qualify to receive an exemption from the new matching fund requirement described in Section 7128 of the Agricultural Act of 2014. NLGCA designation also satisfies the eligibility requirement for the Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture program, which is authorized under 7 U.S.C. 3319i. This notice outlines the criteria to qualify for NLGCA designation and the steps to obtain such designation. Additionally, McIntire- Stennis and Hispanic-serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities may opt out of their current designation and request NLGCA designation.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is announcing the release of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) Request for Applications (RFA) at www.nifa.usda.gov/ vmlrp.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is soliciting nominations of veterinary service shortage situations for the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) for fiscal year (FY) 2014, as authorized under the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA), 7 U.S.C. 3151a. This notice initiates a 60-day nomination period and prescribes the procedures and criteria to be used by State, Insular Area, DC and Federal Lands to nominate veterinary shortage situations. Each year all eligible nominating entities may submit nominations, up to the maximum indicated for each entity in this notice. NIFA is conducting this solicitation of veterinary shortage situation nominations under a previously approved information collection (OMB Control Number 0524-0046).