Applications for New Awards; Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals With Disabilities Program-Educational Materials in Accessible Formats for Eligible Children and Students With Disabilities, 7433-7441 [2022-02688]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 27 / Wednesday, February 9, 2022 / Notices
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[FR Doc. 2022–02641 Filed 2–8–22; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Charter Amendment of Department of
Defense Federal Advisory
Committees—U.S. Air Force Scientific
Advisory Board
Department of Defense (DoD).
Charter amendment and name
change of Federal Advisory Committee.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
DoD is publishing this notice
to announce that it is amending the
charter for the U.S. Air Force Scientific
Advisory Board and changing its name
to the Department of the Air Force
Scientific Advisory Board (DAF SAB).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim
Freeman, DoD Advisory Committee
Management Officer, 703–692–5952.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S.
Air Force Scientific Advisory Board will
now be known as the DAF SAB, and its
charter is being amended in accordance
with the Federal Advisory Committee
Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C., Appendix) and 41
CFR 102–3.50(d). The charter and
contact information for the DAF SAB’s
Designated Federal Officer (DFO) are
found at https://www.facadatabase.gov/
FACA/apex/FACAPublicAgency
Navigation.
The DAF SAB provides the Secretary
of Defense and Deputy Secretary of
Defense with independent advice and
recommendations on matters supporting
the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF)
scientific and technical enterprise and
specifically on matters pertaining to (a)
conducting studies on topics deemed
critical by the Secretary of the Air Force;
(b) recommending applications of
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and (c) providing independent reviews
of the quality and relevance of the DAF
science and technology (S&T) programs.
The DAF SAB is composed of no more
than 20 members who are eminent
authorities in the fields of defense and/
or S&T. These members come from
varied backgrounds such as science,
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SUMMARY:
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technology, manufacturing, acquisition,
logistics, public or private sector
business management, Federally
Funded Research and Development
Centers, National Laboratories, and
academia (universities and colleges).
Individual members are appointed
according to DoD policy and
procedures, and serve a term of service
of one-to-four years with annual
renewals. One member will be
appointed as Chair of the DAF SAB. No
member, unless approved according to
DoD policy and procedures, may serve
more than two consecutive terms of
service on the DAF SAB, or serve on
more than two DoD Federal advisory
committees at one time.
DAF SAB members who are not fulltime or permanent part-time Federal
civilian officers or employees, or active
duty members of the Uniformed
Services, are appointed as experts or
consultants, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 3109,
to serve as special government
employee members. DAF SAB members
who are full-time or permanent parttime Federal civilian officers or
employees, or active duty members of
the Uniformed Services are appointed
pursuant to 41 CFR 102–3.130(a), to
serve as regular government employee
members.
All DAF SAB members are appointed
to provide advice based on their best
judgment without representing any
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Except for reimbursement of official
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The public or interested organizations
may submit written statements about
the DAF SAB’s mission and functions.
Written statements may be submitted at
any time or in response to the stated
agenda of planned meeting of the DAF
SAB. All written statements shall be
submitted to the DFO for the DAF SAB,
and this individual will ensure that the
written statements are provided to the
membership for their consideration.
Dated: February 4, 2022.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison
Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2022–02735 Filed 2–8–22; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Applications for New Awards;
Educational Technology, Media, and
Materials for Individuals With
Disabilities Program—Educational
Materials in Accessible Formats for
Eligible Children and Students With
Disabilities
Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of Education
(Department) is issuing a notice inviting
applications for new awards for fiscal
year (FY) 2022 for Educational Materials
in Accessible Formats for Eligible
Children and Students with Disabilities,
Assistance Listing Number 84.327D.
This notice relates to the approved
information collection under OMB
control number 1820–0028.
DATES:
Applications Available: February 9,
2022.
Deadline for Transmittal of
Applications: April 11, 2022.
Deadline for Intergovernmental
Review: June 9, 2022.
Pre-Application Webinar Information:
No later than 5 DAYS AFTER DATE OF
PUBLICATION IN THE Federal
Register, the Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
will post details on pre-recorded
informational webinars designed to
provide technical assistance to
interested applicants. Links to the
webinars may be found at www2.ed.gov/
fund/grant/apply/osep/new-osepgrants.html.
SUMMARY:
For the addresses for
obtaining and submitting an
application, please refer to our Common
Instructions for Applicants to
Department of Education Discretionary
Grant Programs, published in the
Federal Register on December 27, 2021
(86 FR 73264) and available at
www.federalregister.gov/d/2021-27979.
Please note that these Common
Instructions supersede the version
published on February 13, 2019, and, in
part, describe the transition from the
requirement to register in SAM.gov a
Data Universal Numbering System
(DUNS) number to the implementation
of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
More information on the phase-out of
DUNS numbers is available at https://
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ofo/
docs/unique-entity-identifier-transitionfact-sheet.pdf.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Carlene Reid, U.S. Department of
ADDRESSES:
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Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW,
Room 5083A, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202–5076.
Telephone: (202) 245–6139. Email:
carlene.reid@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877–
8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Full Text of Announcement
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I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purposes of
the Educational Technology, Media, and
Materials for Individuals with
Disabilities (ETechM2) Program are to
improve results for children with
disabilities by (1) promoting the
development, demonstration, and use of
technology; (2) supporting educational
activities designed to be of educational
value in the classroom; (3) providing
support for captioning and video
description that is appropriate for use in
the classroom; and (4) providing
accessible educational materials (AEM)
to children with disabilities in a timely
manner.1
Priority: This competition includes
one absolute priority. In accordance
with 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(v), this
priority is from allowable activities
specified in the statute (see sections
674(c)(1)(D) and 681(d) of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA); 20 U.S.C. 1474(c)(1)(D) and
1481(d)).
Absolute Priority: For FY 2022 and
any subsequent year in which we make
awards from the list of unfunded
applications from this competition, this
priority is an absolute priority. Under 34
CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only
applications that meet this priority.
This priority is:
Educational Technology, Media, and
Materials for Individuals with
Disabilities—Educational Materials in
Accessible Formats for Eligible Children
and Students with Disabilities.
Background:
IDEA requires State educational
agencies (SEAs) and local educational
agencies (LEAs) to provide free
1 Applicants should note that other laws,
including the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101, et seq.; 28 CFR part 35) and
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended (29 U.S.C. 794; 34 CFR part 104), may
require that State educational agencies (SEAs) and
local educational agencies (LEAs) provide
captioning, video description, and other accessible
educational materials to students with disabilities
when these materials are necessary to provide
equally integrated and equally effective access to
the benefits of the educational program or activity,
or as part of a ‘‘free appropriate public education’’
as defined in 34 CFR 104.33.
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educational materials, including
textbooks and instructional materials, in
accessible formats 2 to eligible early
intervention, preschool, elementary, and
secondary children and students in a
timely manner (IDEA Part B, section
612(a)(23)(B) and section 613(a)(6)(B)).
Further, under section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended,
recipients of Federal financial assistance
that are institutions of higher education
(IHEs), SEAs, and LEAs must provide
educational materials in accessible
formats as a means to accommodate
students with disabilities, including
those who are blind, have a visual
impairment or perceptual or reading
disability, or have a physical disability.
The accessible formats are needed to
provide these students with an equal
educational opportunity. 34 CFR 104.4.
Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is also
applicable and requires, among other
things, that public entities, including
LEAs, SEAs, and public IHEs, ensure
that students with disabilities have an
equal opportunity to participate in a
school’s services, programs, or activities
and ensure that communication with
students with disabilities is as effective
as communication with students
without disabilities, through the
provision, in a timely manner, of
auxiliary aids and services. 28 CFR
35.130, 35.160.
To help ensure the free distribution of
educational materials in accessible
formats, Congress has granted
exceptions to copyright holders’
exclusive rights to replication and
distribution through 17 U.S.C. 121 (the
Chafee Amendment), which authorizes
entities to reproduce or distribute copies
of previously published works in
accessible formats exclusively for use by
eligible persons.3
In the 2019–2020 school year, States
reported that there were 28,132 enrolled
students, ages 3 through 21, receiving
services through IDEA whose primary
disability eligibility category was deafblindness or visual impairment
2 For the purposes of this priority, ‘‘accessible
format(s)’’ has the meaning given in 17 U.S.C.
121(d)(1).
3 For the purposes of this priority, ‘‘eligible
person’’ means an individual who meets the eligible
person definition in 17 U.S.C. 121(d)(3) regardless
of any other disability—(A) is blind; (B) has a visual
impairment or perceptual or reading disability that
cannot be improved to give visual function
substantially equivalent to that of a person who has
no such impairment or disability and so is unable
to read printed works to substantially the same
degree as a person without an impairment or
disability; or (C) is otherwise unable, through
physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book or
to focus or move the eyes to the extent that would
be normally acceptable for reading. Eligibility must
be certified in accordance with 36 CFR 701.6(b)(2).
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including blindness and 2,381,411
students had a specific learning
disability, many of whom would
typically qualify as having a reading or
perceptual disability that inhibits access
to printed educational materials (U.S.
Department of Education, 2020). For
more than 15 years, previous projects
supported by the Department have
provided equitable access to materials
that enable access to and progress in the
general education curriculum for more
than 800,000 individuals who have
downloaded more than 10,045,000 files.
These numbers continue to grow daily
(www.bookshare.org). In order to
provide access to educational content
that is otherwise denied to individuals
with disabilities when content is
inaccessible, the provision of AEM is
required. The provision of AEM enables
those individuals to access content and
experience equal opportunity and
benefit from their education.
Priority:
The purpose of this priority is to fund
a cooperative agreement to establish and
operate a Center that will provide free
educational materials,4 including
textbooks, in fully accessible media for
eligible children and students 5 enrolled
in early intervention, preschool,
elementary, and secondary schools, and
eligible students enrolled in
postsecondary schools. This Center will
provide high-quality AEM to eligible
children and students with disabilities,
including individuals from racially and
ethnically diverse backgrounds, at no
cost, in a timely manner including
dedicated outreach and collaboration
with stakeholders (including those in
high needs communities) to increase
awareness and use of AEM. As a
condition of this grant, the educational
materials and textbooks distributed by
the Center must be in accessible formats
that are of high quality and meet or
exceed industry standards for
accessibility (e.g., Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
Level AA Standard; EPUB 3.2
Accessibility Standards) and digital
rights management. Processes,
strategies, and models used in the
production, dissemination, and in
digital rights management must be userfriendly, efficient, and cost effective.
The AEM distributed by the Center must
exemplify accessibility features required
to receive third-party certification for
accessibility. The Center will improve
access to text, images, charts, graphics,
4 For the purposes of this priority, we are using
the term ‘‘educational materials’’ as it is used in
section 674(c)(1)(D) of IDEA.
5 For the purposes of this priority, ‘‘eligible
children and students’’ are eligible persons as
defined in 17 U.S.C. 121.
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equations, and other expressions,
notations, or numerical content
included in educational materials. To
facilitate continuous improvement and
promote equity in access to free, highquality products and services, the
Center will collect and analyze relevant
data on the needs of its’ users 6 and
barriers encountered by children and
students eligible to use, but not
currently using AEM.
The Center must achieve, at a
minimum, the following expected
outcomes:
(a) Improved access to text, images,
charts, graphics, equations, and other
expressions, notations, or numerical
content disseminated in AEM;
(b) An increase in the number of
children and students accessing highquality AEM, including those in
underserved communities (e.g., urban,
rural, and high-poverty areas);
(c) An increase in the number of early
intervention providers, LEAs, and
postsecondary schools enrolling eligible
children or students and accessing AEM
on behalf of eligible children and
students;
(d) An increase in the number of
eligible children and students enrolling
and accessing AEM directly from the
Center;
(e) An increase in the number of
publishers and producers who create
and disseminate student-ready
accessible files to the Center and
provide eligible children and students
direct access to student-ready accessible
files;
(f) An increase in the number and
quality of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
textbooks and educational materials,
including STEM images, graphics,
descriptions, charts, equations, and
other expressions, notations, or
numerical content distributed to eligible
children and students;
(g) Improved implementation of a
model or models for producing and
disseminating educational materials in
accessible formats for children served
under Part C of IDEA and section 619 of
IDEA;
(h) Expanded or enhanced models for
postsecondary schools to produce and
disseminate accessible educational
materials and textbooks that align with
the key recommendations from the
Advisory Commission on Accessible
Instructional Materials in Postsecondary
6 For
the purposes of this priority, ‘‘users’’
includes eligible children and students, families,
schools, SEAs, LEAs, postsecondary schools, and
vocational rehabilitation agencies requesting AEM
on behalf of eligible children or students.
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Education for Students with Disabilities
(2011); 7 and
(i) Increased provision of educational
materials in accessible formats,
including any specialized software
needed to use the materials, at no cost
to SEAs, LEAs, families, schools for use
by students who are eligible to receive
accessible materials through the
National Instructional Materials Access
Center (NIMAC).8
In addition to these programmatic
requirements, to be considered for
funding under this priority, applicants
must meet the application and
administrative requirements in this
priority, which are:
(a) Demonstrate, in the narrative
section of the application under
‘‘Quality of project services,’’ how the
proposed project will—
(1) Acquire materials from publishers
or authorized entities and make those
materials accessible and available as
high-quality, user-friendly AEM,
including digital text, braille-ready files,
and audio formats at no cost to eligible
children and students;
(2) Ensure equal access and treatment
for eligible children and students from
groups that have traditionally been
underrepresented based on race, color,
national origin, gender, age, or
disability. To meet this requirement, the
applicant must describe how it will—
(i) Apply knowledge of diverse
populations, inclusive with regard to
race, ethnicity, culture, language, and
disability status, to determine
preferences and respond to unmet needs
of eligible children and students in
selecting the materials and services
made available by the Center;
(ii) Use criteria to develop and
implement processes for selecting,
producing, and adding high-quality
products and services to meet the needs
of eligible children and students; and
(iii) Increase engagement in high-need
communities to ensure educators in
these communities are accessing
professional development and learning
to support the effective use of AEM in
their instructional practice.
(3) Achieve its goals, objectives, and
intended outcomes. To meet this
requirement, the applicant must
provide—
(i) Measurable intended project
outcomes; and
(ii) A plan to implement the services
and provide the products described in
paragraph one of this section including
7 For the recommendations from this report,
please see: https://aem.cast.org/get-started/
resources/2011/postsecondary-advisorycommission-report
8 For more information regarding the NIMAC,
please see: www.nimac.us.
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the provision of no cost, compatible
software for use with a variety of
electronic devices and operating
systems (e.g., e-readers, computers,
smart phones, and tablets);
(iii) A plan that focuses on improving
the quality, timeliness, ease of use, and
access to AEM for eligible children and
students, including anticipating and
responding to future needs and
technologies across the five years of the
project;
(iv) A plan to ensure that eligible
children and students will continue to
be able to access at no cost the
educational materials, including
textbooks, in accessible formats, when
the Center is no longer federally funded;
(v) A plan to ensure that resources
developed by the Center are, to the
maximum extent allowable under the
law, openly licensed 9 through an open
licensing authority;
(vi) A detailed digital rights
management plan that will be
implemented during the project and
will protect the interests of rights
holders while maintaining ease of
access to AEM for eligible children and
students;
(vii) A plan to consult with
publishers, software developers, other
manufacturers of AEM for eligible
children and students, and the NIMAC,
to ensure that the project uses the most
efficient, cost-effective technology
available to provide timely access to
AEM. This plan should also address
strategies to provide consistent features
across all interfaces and media formats;
(viii) A plan to encourage and support
the inclusion of accessibility features
that are embedded during the
development and production of the
AEM by publishers and producers,
where possible;
(ix) A plan for how the project will
proactively coordinate across authorized
entities to include IHEs, SEAs, and
LEAs to reduce costs of production and
duplication of materials, and to improve
the timeliness of distribution;
(x) Information on how the project
will collaborate with the National
Library Service (NLS), Described and
Captioned Media Program (DCMP),
NIMAC, the National AEM Center, and
other projects supporting accessibility to
ensure awareness of work, share
developed products to improve the
quality of AEM, and minimize
duplicative efforts;
(xi) Information on how the project
will collaborate with the National AEM
9 Openly licensed educational resources are
teaching, learning, and research resources that
reside in the public domain or have been released
under a license that permits their use, modification,
and sharing with others.
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Center and other projects supporting
accessibility to implement a plan for
improving IHE, SEA, and LEA systems
for providing educational material in
accessible formats to eligible children
and students; and
(xii) A description of how the project
will ensure that project activities are
conducted in compliance with 17 U.S.C.
121. (www.copyright.gov/title17/
92chap1.html#121).
(4) Provide direct support to eligible
children and students to address any
technical assistance (TA) needs;
(5) Implement outreach activities to
systematically distribute information,
products, and services to varied
audiences, including underserved
individuals and their families (e.g.,
individuals from racially, ethnically,
linguistically diverse backgrounds and
individuals living in poverty or
experiencing homelessness), using a
variety of engagement strategies, to
promote awareness and use of the
Center’s products and services; and
(6) Develop a professional learning
plan to increase awareness of AEM,
develop educator capacity, and create
support systems for current and future
educators. The plan must include
strategies to engage faculty from teacher
preparation programs responsible for
preparing future educators as well as
outreach to and engagement with
current educators to support the
effective use of AEM in their
instructional practice.
(b) In the narrative section of the
application under ‘‘Quality of the
project evaluation,’’ include an
evaluation plan for the project
developed in consultation with and
implemented by a third-party
evaluator.10 The evaluation plan must—
(1) Include the logic model 11 by
which the proposed project will achieve
its intended outcomes that depicts, at a
minimum, the goals and how they will
be measured, activities, outputs, and
intended outcomes of the proposed
project;
(2) Describe a formative and
summative evaluation plan, including
important process and outcome
10 A third-party evaluator is an independent and
impartial program evaluator who is contracted by
the grantee to conduct an objective evaluation of the
project. This evaluator must not have participated
in the development or implementation of any
project activities, except for the evaluation
activities, nor have any financial interest in the
outcome of the evaluation.
11 Logic model (34 CFR 77.1) (also referred to as
a theory of action) means a framework that
identifies key project components of the proposed
project (i.e., the active ‘‘ingredients’’ that are
hypothesized to be critical to achieving the relevant
outcomes) and describes the theoretical and
operational relationships among the key project
components and relevant outcomes.
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evaluation questions. The plan must
describe how the formative evaluation
will use clear performance objectives to
ensure continuous improvement in the
operation of the proposed project,
including objective measures of progress
in implementing the project and
ensuring quality of products and
services. This plan should be related to
the project’s proposed logic model
required in paragraph (b)(1) of the
application and administrative
requirements in this priority;
(3) Describe how progress in and
fidelity of implementation, as well as
project outcomes, will be measured to
answer the evaluation questions.
Specify the measures and associated
instruments to be used so that the
project can better meet the needs of
current users and identify the needs of
eligible, non-users. Identify and justify
the sources for data appropriate to the
evaluation questions. Include
information regarding procedures for
establishing reliability and validity of
measures and data quality, where
appropriate. Data sources must include,
at a minimum—
(i) Information on the numbers of free
educational materials requested by,
produced for, available to, distributed
to, and accessed by eligible children and
students;
(ii) Information on the characteristics
of the free educational materials (e.g.,
descriptive metadata, file types, types of
literary work, source of materials),
requested by, produced for, available to,
distributed to, and accessed by eligible
children and students;
(iii) Information on the characteristics
of the current users (e.g., qualifying
disability type (visual, learning,
physical), individualized education
program status, 504 plan status, age,
grade level, member type, National
Center for Education Statistics District
ID or Institution) who request and
access the free educational materials;
(4) Describe strategies for analyzing
data and how data collected as part of
this plan will be used to inform and
improve product development and
service delivery over the course of the
project and to refine the proposed logic
model and evaluation plan, including
subsequent data collection;
(5) Include cost and efficiency
measures, or a plan for cost and
efficiency measures, for the production
of AEM and using information from
those measures to incorporate the most
efficient, cost-effective technology
available to provide timely access to
AEM that can be used across alternative
media formats;
(6) Provide a timeline for conducting
the evaluation and include staff
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assignments for completing the plan.
The timeline must indicate that the data
will be available annually for the annual
performance report (APR) and at the end
of Year 2 for the review process
described under the heading, Fourth
and Fifth Years of the Project;
(7) Dedicate sufficient funds in each
budget year to cover the costs of
developing or refining the evaluation
plan in consultation with a third-party
evaluator, as well as the costs associated
with the implementation of the
evaluation plan by the third-party
evaluator.
(c) Demonstrate, in the narrative
section of the application under
‘‘Adequacy of resources and quality of
project personnel,’’ how—
(1) The proposed project will
encourage applications for employment
from persons who are members of
groups that have traditionally been
underrepresented based on race, color,
national origin, gender, age, or
disability, as appropriate;
(2) The proposed key project
personnel, consultants, and
subcontractors have the qualifications
and experience to carry out the
proposed activities and achieve the
project’s intended outcomes;
(3) The applicant and any key
partners have adequate resources to
carry out the proposed activities; and
(4) The proposed costs are reasonable
in relation to the anticipated results and
benefits.
(d) Demonstrate, in the narrative
section of the application under
‘‘Quality of the management plan,’’
how—
(1) The proposed management plan
will ensure that the project’s intended
outcomes will be achieved on time and
within budget. To address this
requirement, the applicant must
describe—
(i) Clearly defined responsibilities for
key project personnel, consultants, and
subcontractors, as applicable; and
(ii) Timelines and milestones for
accomplishing the project tasks;
(2) Key project personnel and any
consultants and subcontractors will be
allocated and how these allocations are
appropriate and adequate to achieve the
project’s intended outcomes;
(3) The proposed management plan
will ensure that the products and
services provided are of high quality,
relevant, and useful to recipients; and
(4) The proposed project will benefit
from a diversity of perspectives,
including those of eligible children or
students, families, educators, TA
providers, researchers, and policy
makers, among others, in its
development and operation.
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(5) The proposed project will
establish and maintain an advisory
committee consisting of representatives
from an SEA and an LEA;
representatives from community
colleges and four-year IHEs;
representatives from vocational
rehabilitation agencies; eligible children
and students, and/or parents or family
members of eligible children or
students; and representatives of schools
or other institutions where AEM are
used. The purpose of this advisory
committee is to provide the project with
input and ongoing advice on the
project’s goals, objectives, products, and
services. The project must submit the
proposed membership of the advisory
committee to the Office of Special
Education Programs (OSEP) for approval
within eight weeks after receipt of the
award;
(6) The project will communicate and
collaborate on an ongoing basis with
OSEP-funded projects (see
www.osepideasthatwork.org/find-centeror-grant/find-a-center), including
NIMAS-related projects. Activities
could include jointly developing
products, training sessions, and
materials; and improving the AEM
delivery system to ensure timely and
easy access; and
(7) The project will maintain ongoing
communication with the OSEP project
officer through phone conferences,
email communication, and face-to-face
meetings, as appropriate.
(e) Address the following application
requirements. The applicant must—
(1) Include, in Appendix A,
personnel-loading charts and timelines,
as applicable, to illustrate the
management plan described in the
narrative;
(2) Use a conceptual framework (and
provide a copy in Appendix A) to
develop project plans and activities,
describing any underlying concepts,
assumptions, expectations, beliefs, or
theories, as well as the presumed
relationships or linkages among these
variables, and any empirical support for
this framework;
Note: The following websites provide
more information on logic models and
conceptual frameworks:
www.osepideasthatwork.org/logicModel
and www.osepideasthatwork.org/
resources-grantees/program-areas/ta-ta/
tad-project-logic-model-and-conceptualframework.
(3) Include, in the budget, attendance
at the following:
(i) A one and one-half day kick-off
meeting in Washington, DC, or virtually,
after receipt of the award, and an annual
planning meeting in Washington, DC, or
virtually, with the OSEP project officer
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and other relevant staff during each
subsequent year of the project period.
Note: Within 30 days of receipt of the
award, a post-award teleconference
must be held between the OSEP project
officer and the grantee’s project director
or other authorized representative;
(ii) A two and one-half day project
directors’ conference in Washington,
DC, or virtually, during each year of the
project period;
(iii) Two annual two-day trips, or
virtually, to attend Department
briefings, Department-sponsored
conferences, and other meetings, as
requested by OSEP; and
(iv) A one-day intensive 3+2 review
meeting in Washington, DC, or virtually,
during the last half of the second year
of the project period;
(4) Include, in the budget, a line item
for an annual set-aside of 5 percent of
the grant amount to support emerging
needs that are consistent with the
proposed project’s intended outcomes,
as those needs are identified in
consultation with, and approved by, the
OSEP project officer. With approval
from the OSEP project officer, the
project must reallocate any remaining
funds from this annual set-aside no later
than the end of the third quarter of each
budget period; and
(5) Maintain a high-quality website,
with an easy-to-navigate design, that
meets or exceeds government or
industry-recognized standards for
accessibility;
(6) Ensure that annual project
progress toward meeting project goals is
posted on the project website; and
(7) Include, in Appendix A, an
assurance to assist OSEP with the
transfer of pertinent resources and
products and to maintain the continuity
of services to eligible children and
students during the transition to this
new award period and at the end of this
award period, as appropriate.
Fourth and Fifth Years of the Project:
In deciding whether to continue
funding the project for the fourth and
fifth years, the Secretary will consider
the requirements of 34 CFR 75.253(a),
including—
(a) The recommendations of a 3+2
review team consisting of experts who
have experience and knowledge in
providing educational materials in
accessible formats for eligible children
and students with disabilities. This
review will be conducted during a oneday intensive meeting that will be held
during the last half of the second year
of the project period;
(b) The timeliness with which, and
how well, the requirements of the
negotiated cooperative agreement have
been or are being met by the project; and
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(c) The quality, relevance, and
usefulness of the project’s products and
services and the extent to which the
project’s products and services are
aligned with the project’s objectives and
likely to result in the project achieving
its intended outcomes.
Under 34 CFR 75.253, the Secretary
may reduce continuation awards or
discontinue awards in any year of the
project period for excessive carryover
balances or a failure to make substantial
progress. The Department intends to
closely monitor unobligated balances
and substantial progress under this
program and may reduce or discontinue
funding accordingly.
References:
Advisory Commission on Accessible
Instructional Materials in Postsecondary
Education. (December 6, 2011). Report of
the Advisory Commission on Accessible
Instructional Materials in Postsecondary
Education for Students with Disabilities.
Advisory Commission on AIM in
Postsecondary Education. https://
aem.cast.org/about/publications/2011/
postsecondary-advisory-commissionreport.html
U.S. Department of Education. 2020. IDEA
section 618 data products: Static tables
(2019–2020). https://www2.ed.gov/
programs/osepidea/618-data/statictables/#partb-cc.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking:
Under the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA) (5 U.S.C. 553) the Department
generally offers interested parties the
opportunity to comment on proposed
priorities. Section 681(d) of IDEA,
however, makes the public comment
requirements of the APA inapplicable to
the priority in this notice.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1474
and 1481.
Note: Projects will be awarded and
must be operated in a manner consistent
with the nondiscrimination
requirements contained in Federal civil
rights laws.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The
Education Department General
Administrative Regulations in 34 CFR
parts 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 84, 86, 97, 98,
and 99. (b) The Office of Management
and Budget Guidelines to Agencies on
Governmentwide Debarment and
Suspension (Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR
part 180, as adopted and amended as
regulations of the Department in 2 CFR
part 3485. (c) The Uniform
Administrative Requirements, Cost
Principles, and Audit Requirements for
Federal Awards in 2 CFR part 200, as
adopted and amended as regulations of
the Department in 2 CFR part 3474.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part
79 apply to all applicants except
federally recognized Indian Tribes.
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Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part
86 apply to IHEs only.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Cooperative
agreement.
Estimated Available Funds: The
Administration has requested
$29,547,000 for the Educational
Technology, Media, and Materials for
Individuals with Disabilities program
for FY 2022, of which we intend to use
an estimated $8,500,000 for this
competition. The actual level of
funding, if any, depends on final
congressional action. However, we are
inviting applications to allow enough
time to complete the grant process if
Congress appropriates funds for this
program.
Contingent upon the availability of
funds and the quality of applications,
we may make additional awards in FY
2023 from the list of unfunded
applications from this competition.
Maximum Award: We will not make
an award exceeding $8,500,000 for a
single budget period of 12 months.
Estimated Number of Awards: 1.
Note: The Department is not bound by
any estimates in this notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
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III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: SEAs; State
lead agencies under Part C of IDEA;
LEAs, including public charter schools
that are considered LEAs under State
law; IHEs; other public agencies; private
nonprofit organizations; freely
associated States and outlying areas;
Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations;
and for-profit organizations.
2. a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This
competition does not require cost
sharing or matching.
b. Indirect Cost Rate Information: This
program uses an unrestricted indirect
cost rate. For more information
regarding indirect costs, or to obtain a
negotiated indirect cost rate, please see
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/
intro.html.
c. Administrative Cost Limitation:
This program does not include any
program-specific limitation on
administrative expenses. All
administrative expenses must be
reasonable and necessary and conform
to Cost Principles described in 2 CFR
part 200 subpart E of the Uniform
Guidance.
3. Subgrantees: A grantee under this
competition may not award subgrants to
entities to directly carry out project
activities described in its application.
Under 34 CFR 75.708(e), a grantee may
contract for supplies, equipment, and
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other services in accordance with 2 CFR
part 200.
4. Other General Requirements:
a. Recipients of funding under this
competition must make positive efforts
to employ and advance in employment
qualified individuals with disabilities
(see section 606 of IDEA).
b. Applicants for, and recipients of,
funding must, with respect to the
aspects of their proposed project
relating to the absolute priority, involve
individuals with disabilities, or parents
of individuals with disabilities ages
birth through 26, in planning,
implementing, and evaluating the
project (see section 682(a)(1)(A) of
IDEA).
IV. Application and Submission
Information
1. Application Submission
Instructions: Applicants are required to
follow the Common Instructions for
Applicants to Department of Education
Discretionary Grant Programs,
published in the Federal Register on
December 27, 2021 (86 FR 73264) and
available at www.federalregister.gov/d/
2021–27979. Please note that these
Common Instructions supersede the
version published on February 13, 2019,
and, in part, describe the transition from
the requirement to register in SAM.gov
a Data Universal Numbering System
(DUNS) number to the implementation
of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
More information on the phase-out of
DUNS numbers is available at https://
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ofo/
docs/unique-entity-identifier-transitionfact-sheet.pdf.
2. 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.
3. Funding Restrictions: We reference
regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable
Regulations section of this notice.
4. Recommended Page Limit: The
application narrative is where you, the
applicant, address the selection criteria
that reviewers use to evaluate your
application. We recommend that you (1)
limit the application narrative to no
more than 70 pages and (2) use the
following standards:
• A ‘‘page’’ is 8.5″ x 11″, on one side
only, with 1″ margins at the top, bottom,
and both sides.
• Double-space (no more than three
lines per vertical inch) all text in the
application narrative, including titles,
headings, footnotes, quotations,
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reference citations, and captions, as well
as all text in charts, tables, figures,
graphs, and screen shots.
• Use a font that is 12 point or larger.
• Use one of the following fonts:
Times New Roman, Courier, Courier
New, or Arial.
The recommended page limit does not
apply to the cover sheet; the budget
section, including the narrative budget
justification; the assurances and
certifications; or the abstract (follow the
guidance provided in the application
package for completing the abstract), the
table of contents, the list of priority
requirements, the resumes, the reference
list, the letters of support, or the
appendices. However, the
recommended page limit does apply to
all of the application narrative,
including all text in charts, tables,
figures, graphs, and screen shots.
V. Application Review Information
1. Selection Criteria: The selection
criteria for this competition are from 34
CFR 75.210 and are listed below:
(a) Quality of project services (30
points).
(1) The Secretary considers the
quality of the services to be provided by
the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the
services to be provided by the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the
quality and sufficiency of strategies for
ensuring equal access and treatment for
eligible project participants who are
members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented
based on race, color, national origin,
gender, age, or disability.
(3) In addition, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(i) The extent to which the goals,
objectives, and outcomes to be achieved
by the proposed project are clearly
specified and measurable.
(ii) The likely impact of the services
to be provided by the proposed project
on the intended recipients of those
services.
(iii) The extent to which the services
to be provided by the proposed project
reflect up-to-date knowledge from
research and effective practice.
(iv) The extent to which the training
or professional development services to
be provided by the proposed project are
of sufficient quality, intensity, and
duration to lead to improvements in
practice among the recipients of those
services.
(v) The extent to which the technical
assistance services to be provided by the
proposed project involve the use of
efficient strategies, including the use of
technology, as appropriate, and the
leveraging of non-project resources.
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(b) Quality of the project evaluation
(30 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the
quality of the evaluation to be
conducted of the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the
evaluation, the Secretary considers the
following factors:
(i) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation are thorough, feasible, and
appropriate to the goals, objectives, and
outcomes of the proposed project.
(ii) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation provide for examining the
effectiveness of project implementation
strategies.
(iii) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation will provide timely
guidance for quality assurance.
(iv) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation will provide performance
feedback and permit periodic
assessment of progress toward achieving
intended outcomes.
(v) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation will provide valid and
reliable performance data on relevant
outcomes.
(c) Adequacy of resources and quality
of project personnel (20 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the
adequacy of resources for the proposed
project and the quality of the personnel
who will carry out the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of
project personnel, the Secretary
considers the extent to which the
applicant encourages applications for
employment from persons who are
members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented
based on race, color, national origin,
gender, age, or disability.
(3) In addition, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(i) The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of the
project director or principal
investigator.
(ii) The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of key
project personnel.
(iii) The qualifications, including
relevant training and experience, of
project consultants or subcontractors.
(iv) The qualifications, including
relevant training, experience, and
independence, of the evaluator.
(v) The adequacy of support,
including facilities, equipment,
supplies, and other resources, from the
applicant organization or the lead
applicant organization.
(vi) The relevance and demonstrated
commitment of each partner in the
proposed project to the implementation
and success of the project.
(vii) The extent to which the budget
is adequate to support the proposed
project.
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(viii) The extent to which the costs are
reasonable in relation to the objectives,
design, and potential significance of the
proposed project.
(d) Quality of the management plan
(20 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the
quality of the management plan for the
proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the
management plan for the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the
following factors:
(i) The adequacy of the management
plan to achieve the objectives of the
proposed project on time and within
budget, including clearly defined
responsibilities, timelines, and
milestones for accomplishing project
tasks.
(ii) The extent to which the time
commitments of the project director and
principal investigator and other key
project personnel are appropriate and
adequate to meet the objectives of the
proposed project.
(iii) The adequacy of mechanisms for
ensuring high-quality products and
services from the proposed project.
(iv) How the applicant will ensure
that a diversity of perspectives are
brought to bear in the operation of the
proposed project, including those of
parents, teachers, the business
community, a variety of disciplinary
and professional fields, recipients or
beneficiaries of services, or others, as
appropriate.
2. Review and Selection Process: We
remind potential applicants that in
reviewing applications in any
discretionary grant competition, the
Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR
75.217(d)(3), the past performance of the
applicant in carrying out a previous
award, such as the applicant’s use of
funds, achievement of project
objectives, and compliance with grant
conditions. The Secretary may also
consider whether the applicant failed to
submit a timely performance report or
submitted a report of unacceptable
quality.
In addition, in making a competitive
grant award, the Secretary requires
various assurances, including those
applicable to Federal civil rights laws
that prohibit discrimination in programs
or activities receiving Federal financial
assistance from the Department (34 CFR
100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
3. Additional Review and Selection
Process Factors: In the past, the
Department has had difficulty finding
peer reviewers for certain competitions
because so many individuals who are
eligible to serve as peer reviewers have
conflicts of interest. The standing panel
requirements under section 682(b) of
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IDEA also have placed additional
constraints on the availability of
reviewers. Therefore, the Department
has determined that for some
discretionary grant competitions,
applications may be separated into two
or more groups and ranked and selected
for funding within specific groups. This
procedure will make it easier for the
Department to find peer reviewers by
ensuring that greater numbers of
individuals who are eligible to serve as
reviewers for any particular group of
applicants will not have conflicts of
interest. It also will increase the quality,
independence, and fairness of the
review process, while permitting panel
members to review applications under
discretionary grant competitions for
which they also have submitted
applications.
4. Risk Assessment and Specific
Conditions: Consistent with 2 CFR
200.206, before awarding grants under
this competition the Department
conducts a review of the risks posed by
applicants. Under 2 CFR 200.208, the
Secretary may impose specific
conditions, and under 2 CFR 3474.10, in
appropriate circumstances, high-risk
conditions on a grant if the applicant or
grantee is not financially stable; has a
history of unsatisfactory performance;
has a financial or other management
system that does not meet the standards
in 2 CFR part 200, subpart D; has not
fulfilled the conditions of a prior grant;
or is otherwise not responsible.
5. Integrity and Performance System:
If you are selected under this
competition to receive an award that
over the course of the project period
may exceed the simplified acquisition
threshold (currently $250,000), under 2
CFR 200.206(a)(2) we must make a
judgment about your integrity, business
ethics, and record of performance under
Federal awards—that is, the risk posed
by you as an applicant—before we make
an award. In doing so, we must consider
any information about you that is in the
integrity and performance system
(currently referred to as the Federal
Awardee Performance and Integrity
Information System (FAPIIS)),
accessible through the System for
Award Management. You may review
and comment on any information about
yourself that a Federal agency
previously entered and that is currently
in FAPIIS.
Please note that, if the total value of
your currently active grants, cooperative
agreements, and procurement contracts
from the Federal Government exceeds
$10,000,000, the reporting requirements
in 2 CFR part 200, Appendix XII,
require you to report certain integrity
information to FAPIIS semiannually.
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Please review the requirements in 2 CFR
part 200, Appendix XII, if this grant
plus all the other Federal funds you
receive exceed $10,000,000.
6. In General: In accordance with the
Office of Management and Budget’s
guidance located at 2 CFR part 200, all
applicable Federal laws, and relevant
Executive guidance, the Department
will review and consider applications
for funding pursuant to this notice
inviting applications in accordance
with—
(a) Selecting recipients most likely to
be successful in delivering results based
on the program objectives through an
objective process of evaluating Federal
award applications (2 CFR 200.205);
(b) Prohibiting the purchase of certain
telecommunication and video
surveillance services or equipment in
alignment with section 889 of the
National Defense Authorization Act of
2019 (Pub. L. 115—232) (2 CFR
200.216);
(c) Providing a preference, to the
extent permitted by law, to maximize
use of goods, products, and materials
produced in the United States (2 CFR
200.322); and
(d) Terminating agreements in whole
or in part to the greatest extent
authorized by law if an award no longer
effectuates the program goals or agency
priorities (2 CFR 200.340).
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 Notification
(GAN); or we may send you an email
containing a link to access an electronic
version of your GAN. We may notify
you informally, also.
If your application is not evaluated or
not selected for funding, we 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. Open Licensing Requirements:
Unless an exception applies, if you are
awarded a grant under this competition,
you will be required to openly license
to the public grant deliverables created
in whole, or in part, with Department
grant funds. When the deliverable
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consists of modifications to pre-existing
works, the license extends only to those
modifications that can be separately
identified and only to the extent that
open licensing is permitted under the
terms of any licenses or other legal
restrictions on the use of pre-existing
works. Additionally, a grantee that is
awarded competitive grant funds must
have a plan to disseminate these public
grant deliverables. This dissemination
plan can be developed and submitted
after your application has been
reviewed and selected for funding. For
additional information on the open
licensing requirements please refer to 2
CFR 3474.20.
4. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a
grant under this competition, you must
ensure that you have in place the
necessary processes and systems to
comply with the reporting requirements
in 2 CFR part 170 should you receive
funding under the competition. This
does not apply if you have an exception
under 2 CFR 170.110(b).
(b) 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 multiyear award, you must
submit an annual performance report
that provides the most current
performance and financial expenditure
information as directed by the Secretary
under 34 CFR 75.118. The Secretary
may also require more frequent
performance reports under 34 CFR
75.720(c). For specific requirements on
reporting, please go to www.ed.gov/
fund/grant/apply/appforms/
appforms.html.
5. Performance Measures: For the
purposes of Department reporting under
34 CFR 75.110, we have established a
set of performance measures, including
long-term measures, that are designed to
yield information on various aspects of
the effectiveness and quality of the
ETechM2 Program. These measures are:
• Program Performance Measure #1:
The percentage of ETechM2 Program
products and services judged to be of
high quality by an independent review
panel of experts qualified to review the
substantial content of the products and
services.
• Program Performance Measure #2:
The percentage of ETechM2 Program
products and services judged to be of
high relevance to improving outcomes
for infants, toddlers, children, and
youth with disabilities.
• Program Performance Measure #3:
The percentage of ETechM2 Program
products and services judged to be
useful in improving results for infants,
toddlers, children, and youth with
disabilities.
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• Program Performance Measure
#4.1: The Federal cost per unit of
accessible educational materials funded
by the ETechM2 Program.
• Program Performance Measure
#4.2: The Federal cost per unit of
accessible educational materials from
the National Instructional Materials
Access Center funded by the ETechM2
Program.
• Program Performance Measure
#4.3: The Federal cost per unit of video
description funded by the ETechM2
Program.
The measures apply to projects
funded under this competition, and
grantees are required to submit data on
these measures as directed by OSEP.
Grantees will be required to report
information on their project’s
performance in annual and final
performance reports to the Department
(34 CFR 75.590 and 75.591).
The Department will also closely
monitor the extent to which the
products and services provided by the
Center meet needs identified by
stakeholders and may require the Center
to report on such alignment in their
quarterly, annual, and final performance
reports.
6. Continuation Awards: In making a
continuation award under 34 CFR
75.253, the Secretary considers, among
other things: Whether a grantee has
made substantial progress in achieving
the goals and objectives of the project;
whether the grantee has expended funds
in a manner that is consistent with its
approved application and budget; and,
if the Secretary has established
performance measurement
requirements, the performance targets in
the grantee’s approved application.
In making a continuation award, the
Secretary also considers whether the
grantee is operating in compliance with
the assurances in its approved
application, including those applicable
to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit
discrimination in programs or activities
receiving Federal financial assistance
from the Department (34 CFR 100.4,
104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
VII. Other Information
Accessible Format: On request to the
program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT,
individuals with disabilities can obtain
this document and a copy of the
application package in an accessible
format. The Department will provide the
requestor with an accessible format that
may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or
text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3
file, braille, large print, audiotape, or
compact disc, or other accessible format.
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Electronic Access to This Document:
The official version of this document is
the document published in the Federal
Register. You may access the official
edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations at
www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can
view this document, as well as all other
documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or Portable Document Format
(PDF). To use PDF you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
Katherine Neas,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, delegated the
authority to perform the functions and duties
of the Assistant Secretary for the Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services.
[FR Doc. 2022–02688 Filed 2–8–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Project 2879–000]
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Green Mountain Power Corporation;
Notice of Authorization for Continued
Project Operation
On January 30, 2020, Green Mountain
Power Corporation, licensee for the
Bolton Falls Hydroelectric Project No.
2879, filed an Application for a New
Major License for Bolton Falls
Hydroelectric Project pursuant to the
Federal Power Act (FPA) and the
Commission’s regulations thereunder.
The Bolton Falls Hydroelectric Project is
located on the Winooski River in
Washington County, Vermont.
The license for Project No. 2879 was
issued for a period ending January 31,
2022. Section 15(a)(1) of the FPA, 16
U.S.C. 808(a)(1), requires the
Commission, at the expiration of a
license term, to issue from year-to-year
an annual license to the then licensee(s)
under the terms and conditions of the
prior license until a new license is
issued, or the project is otherwise
disposed of as provided in section 15 or
any other applicable section of the FPA.
If the project’s prior license waived the
applicability of section 15 of the FPA,
then, based on section 9(b) of the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:29 Feb 08, 2022
Jkt 256001
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.
558(c), and as set forth at 18 CFR
16.21(a), if the licensee of such project
has filed an application for a subsequent
license, the licensee may continue to
operate the project in accordance with
the terms and conditions of the license
after the minor or minor part license
expires, until the Commission acts on
its application. If the licensee of such a
project has not filed an application for
a subsequent license, then it may be
required, pursuant to 18 CFR 16.21(b),
to continue project operations until the
Commission issues someone else a
license for the project or otherwise
orders disposition of the project.
If the project is subject to section 15
of the FPA, notice is hereby given that
an annual license for Project No. 2879
is issued to Green Mountain Power
Corporation, for a period effective
February 1, 2022 through January 30,
2023 or until the issuance of a new
license for the project or other
disposition under the FPA, whichever
comes first. If issuance of a new license
(or other disposition) does not take
place on or before January 30, 2023,
notice is hereby given that, pursuant to
18 CFR 16.18(c), an annual license
under section 15(a)(1) of the FPA is
renewed automatically without further
order or notice by the Commission,
unless the Commission orders
otherwise.
If the project is not subject to section
15 of the FPA, notice is hereby given
that Green Mountain Power
Corporation, is authorized to continue
operation of the Bolton Falls
Hydroelectric Project, until such time as
the Commission acts on its application
for a new major license.
Dated: February 3, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022–02704 Filed 2–8–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Project No. 15230–001]
Pike Island Hydropower Corporation;
Notice of Intent To File License
Application, Filing of Pre-Application
Document, Approving Use of the
Traditional Licensing Process
a. Type of Filing: Notice of Intent to
File License Application and Request to
Use the Traditional Licensing Process.
b. Project No.: 15230–001.
c. Date Filed: August 2, 2021.
PO 00000
Frm 00020
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
7441
d. Submitted By: Pike Island
Hydropower Corporation.
e. Name of Project: Pike Island Locks
and Dam Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: At the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers’ (Corps) Pike Island Locks
and Dam on the Ohio River near the
Village of Yorkville in Belmont and
Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and Ohio
County, West Virginia. The project
would occupy federal land administered
by the Corps.
g. Filed Pursuant to: 18 CFR 5.3 of the
Commission’s regulations.
h. Potential Applicant Contact(s): Mr.
Joel Herm, P.O. Box 224, Rhinebeck,
12572–0224; (917) 224–3607; joel@
currenthydro.com.
i. FERC Contact: Jay Summers at (202)
502–8764; or at jay.summers@ferc.gov.
j. Pike Island Hydropower
Corporation filed its request to use the
Traditional Licensing Process on August
2, 2021, and provided public notice of
its request on August 2, 2021 and
August 9, 2021. In a letter dated
February 3, 2022, the Director of the
Division of Hydropower Licensing
approved Pike Island Hydropower
Corporation’s request to use the
Traditional Licensing Process.
k. With this notice, we are initiating
informal consultation with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service under section 7 of
the Endangered Species Act and the
joint agency regulations thereunder at
50 CFR, Part 402; and NOAA Fisheries
under section 305(b) of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act and implementing
regulations at 50 CFR 600.920. We are
also initiating consultation with the
Ohio and West Virginia State Historic
Preservation Officers, as required by
section 106, National Historic
Preservation Act, and the implementing
regulations of the Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation at 36 CFR 800.2.
l. With this notice, we are designating
Pike Island Hydropower Corporation as
the Commission’s non-federal
representative for carrying out informal
consultation pursuant to section 7 of the
Endangered Species Act; and
consultation pursuant to section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act.
m. Pike Island Hydropower
Corporation filed a Pre-Application
Document (PAD; including a proposed
process plan and schedule) with the
Commission, pursuant to 18 CFR 5.6 of
the Commission’s regulations.
n. A copy of the PAD may be viewed
and/or printed on the Commission’s
website (https://www.ferc.gov), using the
‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Enter the docket
number, excluding the last three digits
in the docket number field to access the
document. At this time, the Commission
E:\FR\FM\09FEN1.SGM
09FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7433-7441]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02688]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Applications for New Awards; Educational Technology, Media, and
Materials for Individuals With Disabilities Program--Educational
Materials in Accessible Formats for Eligible Children and Students With
Disabilities
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Education (Department) is issuing a notice
inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2022 for
Educational Materials in Accessible Formats for Eligible Children and
Students with Disabilities, Assistance Listing Number 84.327D. This
notice relates to the approved information collection under OMB control
number 1820-0028.
DATES:
Applications Available: February 9, 2022.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 11, 2022.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: June 9, 2022.
Pre-Application Webinar Information: No later than 5 DAYS AFTER
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE Federal Register, the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) will post details on pre-
recorded informational webinars designed to provide technical
assistance to interested applicants. Links to the webinars may be found
at www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/osep/new-osep-grants.html.
ADDRESSES: For the addresses for obtaining and submitting an
application, please refer to our Common Instructions for Applicants to
Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the
Federal Register on December 27, 2021 (86 FR 73264) and available at
www.federalregister.gov/d/2021-27979. Please note that these Common
Instructions supersede the version published on February 13, 2019, and,
in part, describe the transition from the requirement to register in
SAM.gov a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number to the
implementation of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). More information
on the phase-out of DUNS numbers is available at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ofo/docs/unique-entity-identifier-transition-fact-sheet.pdf.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carlene Reid, U.S. Department of
[[Page 7434]]
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5083A, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202-5076. Telephone: (202) 245-6139. Email:
[email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: The purposes of the Educational Technology,
Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities (ETechM2)
Program are to improve results for children with disabilities by (1)
promoting the development, demonstration, and use of technology; (2)
supporting educational activities designed to be of educational value
in the classroom; (3) providing support for captioning and video
description that is appropriate for use in the classroom; and (4)
providing accessible educational materials (AEM) to children with
disabilities in a timely manner.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Applicants should note that other laws, including the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101, et seq.;
28 CFR part 35) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
as amended (29 U.S.C. 794; 34 CFR part 104), may require that State
educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs)
provide captioning, video description, and other accessible
educational materials to students with disabilities when these
materials are necessary to provide equally integrated and equally
effective access to the benefits of the educational program or
activity, or as part of a ``free appropriate public education'' as
defined in 34 CFR 104.33.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priority: This competition includes one absolute priority. In
accordance with 34 CFR 75.105(b)(2)(v), this priority is from allowable
activities specified in the statute (see sections 674(c)(1)(D) and
681(d) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); 20
U.S.C. 1474(c)(1)(D) and 1481(d)).
Absolute Priority: For FY 2022 and any subsequent year in which we
make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this
competition, this priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(3), we consider only applications that meet this priority.
This priority is:
Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with
Disabilities--Educational Materials in Accessible Formats for Eligible
Children and Students with Disabilities.
Background:
IDEA requires State educational agencies (SEAs) and local
educational agencies (LEAs) to provide free educational materials,
including textbooks and instructional materials, in accessible formats
\2\ to eligible early intervention, preschool, elementary, and
secondary children and students in a timely manner (IDEA Part B,
section 612(a)(23)(B) and section 613(a)(6)(B)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ For the purposes of this priority, ``accessible format(s)''
has the meaning given in 17 U.S.C. 121(d)(1).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further, under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended, recipients of Federal financial assistance that are
institutions of higher education (IHEs), SEAs, and LEAs must provide
educational materials in accessible formats as a means to accommodate
students with disabilities, including those who are blind, have a
visual impairment or perceptual or reading disability, or have a
physical disability. The accessible formats are needed to provide these
students with an equal educational opportunity. 34 CFR 104.4.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is
also applicable and requires, among other things, that public entities,
including LEAs, SEAs, and public IHEs, ensure that students with
disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in a school's
services, programs, or activities and ensure that communication with
students with disabilities is as effective as communication with
students without disabilities, through the provision, in a timely
manner, of auxiliary aids and services. 28 CFR 35.130, 35.160.
To help ensure the free distribution of educational materials in
accessible formats, Congress has granted exceptions to copyright
holders' exclusive rights to replication and distribution through 17
U.S.C. 121 (the Chafee Amendment), which authorizes entities to
reproduce or distribute copies of previously published works in
accessible formats exclusively for use by eligible persons.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ For the purposes of this priority, ``eligible person'' means
an individual who meets the eligible person definition in 17 U.S.C.
121(d)(3) regardless of any other disability--(A) is blind; (B) has
a visual impairment or perceptual or reading disability that cannot
be improved to give visual function substantially equivalent to that
of a person who has no such impairment or disability and so is
unable to read printed works to substantially the same degree as a
person without an impairment or disability; or (C) is otherwise
unable, through physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book or
to focus or move the eyes to the extent that would be normally
acceptable for reading. Eligibility must be certified in accordance
with 36 CFR 701.6(b)(2).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the 2019-2020 school year, States reported that there were
28,132 enrolled students, ages 3 through 21, receiving services through
IDEA whose primary disability eligibility category was deaf-blindness
or visual impairment including blindness and 2,381,411 students had a
specific learning disability, many of whom would typically qualify as
having a reading or perceptual disability that inhibits access to
printed educational materials (U.S. Department of Education, 2020). For
more than 15 years, previous projects supported by the Department have
provided equitable access to materials that enable access to and
progress in the general education curriculum for more than 800,000
individuals who have downloaded more than 10,045,000 files. These
numbers continue to grow daily (www.bookshare.org). In order to provide
access to educational content that is otherwise denied to individuals
with disabilities when content is inaccessible, the provision of AEM is
required. The provision of AEM enables those individuals to access
content and experience equal opportunity and benefit from their
education.
Priority:
The purpose of this priority is to fund a cooperative agreement to
establish and operate a Center that will provide free educational
materials,\4\ including textbooks, in fully accessible media for
eligible children and students \5\ enrolled in early intervention,
preschool, elementary, and secondary schools, and eligible students
enrolled in postsecondary schools. This Center will provide high-
quality AEM to eligible children and students with disabilities,
including individuals from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds,
at no cost, in a timely manner including dedicated outreach and
collaboration with stakeholders (including those in high needs
communities) to increase awareness and use of AEM. As a condition of
this grant, the educational materials and textbooks distributed by the
Center must be in accessible formats that are of high quality and meet
or exceed industry standards for accessibility (e.g., Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA Standard; EPUB 3.2
Accessibility Standards) and digital rights management. Processes,
strategies, and models used in the production, dissemination, and in
digital rights management must be user-friendly, efficient, and cost
effective. The AEM distributed by the Center must exemplify
accessibility features required to receive third-party certification
for accessibility. The Center will improve access to text, images,
charts, graphics,
[[Page 7435]]
equations, and other expressions, notations, or numerical content
included in educational materials. To facilitate continuous improvement
and promote equity in access to free, high-quality products and
services, the Center will collect and analyze relevant data on the
needs of its' users \6\ and barriers encountered by children and
students eligible to use, but not currently using AEM.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ For the purposes of this priority, we are using the term
``educational materials'' as it is used in section 674(c)(1)(D) of
IDEA.
\5\ For the purposes of this priority, ``eligible children and
students'' are eligible persons as defined in 17 U.S.C. 121.
\6\ For the purposes of this priority, ``users'' includes
eligible children and students, families, schools, SEAs, LEAs,
postsecondary schools, and vocational rehabilitation agencies
requesting AEM on behalf of eligible children or students.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Center must achieve, at a minimum, the following expected
outcomes:
(a) Improved access to text, images, charts, graphics, equations,
and other expressions, notations, or numerical content disseminated in
AEM;
(b) An increase in the number of children and students accessing
high-quality AEM, including those in underserved communities (e.g.,
urban, rural, and high-poverty areas);
(c) An increase in the number of early intervention providers,
LEAs, and postsecondary schools enrolling eligible children or students
and accessing AEM on behalf of eligible children and students;
(d) An increase in the number of eligible children and students
enrolling and accessing AEM directly from the Center;
(e) An increase in the number of publishers and producers who
create and disseminate student-ready accessible files to the Center and
provide eligible children and students direct access to student-ready
accessible files;
(f) An increase in the number and quality of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) textbooks and educational
materials, including STEM images, graphics, descriptions, charts,
equations, and other expressions, notations, or numerical content
distributed to eligible children and students;
(g) Improved implementation of a model or models for producing and
disseminating educational materials in accessible formats for children
served under Part C of IDEA and section 619 of IDEA;
(h) Expanded or enhanced models for postsecondary schools to
produce and disseminate accessible educational materials and textbooks
that align with the key recommendations from the Advisory Commission on
Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for
Students with Disabilities (2011); \7\ and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ For the recommendations from this report, please see:
https://aem.cast.org/get-started/resources/2011/postsecondary-advisory-commission-report
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Increased provision of educational materials in accessible
formats, including any specialized software needed to use the
materials, at no cost to SEAs, LEAs, families, schools for use by
students who are eligible to receive accessible materials through the
National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC).\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ For more information regarding the NIMAC, please see:
www.nimac.us.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to these programmatic requirements, to be considered
for funding under this priority, applicants must meet the application
and administrative requirements in this priority, which are:
(a) Demonstrate, in the narrative section of the application under
``Quality of project services,'' how the proposed project will--
(1) Acquire materials from publishers or authorized entities and
make those materials accessible and available as high-quality, user-
friendly AEM, including digital text, braille-ready files, and audio
formats at no cost to eligible children and students;
(2) Ensure equal access and treatment for eligible children and
students from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented
based on race, color, national origin, gender, age, or disability. To
meet this requirement, the applicant must describe how it will--
(i) Apply knowledge of diverse populations, inclusive with regard
to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status, to
determine preferences and respond to unmet needs of eligible children
and students in selecting the materials and services made available by
the Center;
(ii) Use criteria to develop and implement processes for selecting,
producing, and adding high-quality products and services to meet the
needs of eligible children and students; and
(iii) Increase engagement in high-need communities to ensure
educators in these communities are accessing professional development
and learning to support the effective use of AEM in their instructional
practice.
(3) Achieve its goals, objectives, and intended outcomes. To meet
this requirement, the applicant must provide--
(i) Measurable intended project outcomes; and
(ii) A plan to implement the services and provide the products
described in paragraph one of this section including the provision of
no cost, compatible software for use with a variety of electronic
devices and operating systems (e.g., e-readers, computers, smart
phones, and tablets);
(iii) A plan that focuses on improving the quality, timeliness,
ease of use, and access to AEM for eligible children and students,
including anticipating and responding to future needs and technologies
across the five years of the project;
(iv) A plan to ensure that eligible children and students will
continue to be able to access at no cost the educational materials,
including textbooks, in accessible formats, when the Center is no
longer federally funded;
(v) A plan to ensure that resources developed by the Center are, to
the maximum extent allowable under the law, openly licensed \9\ through
an open licensing authority;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Openly licensed educational resources are teaching,
learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or
have been released under a license that permits their use,
modification, and sharing with others.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(vi) A detailed digital rights management plan that will be
implemented during the project and will protect the interests of rights
holders while maintaining ease of access to AEM for eligible children
and students;
(vii) A plan to consult with publishers, software developers, other
manufacturers of AEM for eligible children and students, and the NIMAC,
to ensure that the project uses the most efficient, cost-effective
technology available to provide timely access to AEM. This plan should
also address strategies to provide consistent features across all
interfaces and media formats;
(viii) A plan to encourage and support the inclusion of
accessibility features that are embedded during the development and
production of the AEM by publishers and producers, where possible;
(ix) A plan for how the project will proactively coordinate across
authorized entities to include IHEs, SEAs, and LEAs to reduce costs of
production and duplication of materials, and to improve the timeliness
of distribution;
(x) Information on how the project will collaborate with the
National Library Service (NLS), Described and Captioned Media Program
(DCMP), NIMAC, the National AEM Center, and other projects supporting
accessibility to ensure awareness of work, share developed products to
improve the quality of AEM, and minimize duplicative efforts;
(xi) Information on how the project will collaborate with the
National AEM
[[Page 7436]]
Center and other projects supporting accessibility to implement a plan
for improving IHE, SEA, and LEA systems for providing educational
material in accessible formats to eligible children and students; and
(xii) A description of how the project will ensure that project
activities are conducted in compliance with 17 U.S.C. 121.
(www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#121).
(4) Provide direct support to eligible children and students to
address any technical assistance (TA) needs;
(5) Implement outreach activities to systematically distribute
information, products, and services to varied audiences, including
underserved individuals and their families (e.g., individuals from
racially, ethnically, linguistically diverse backgrounds and
individuals living in poverty or experiencing homelessness), using a
variety of engagement strategies, to promote awareness and use of the
Center's products and services; and
(6) Develop a professional learning plan to increase awareness of
AEM, develop educator capacity, and create support systems for current
and future educators. The plan must include strategies to engage
faculty from teacher preparation programs responsible for preparing
future educators as well as outreach to and engagement with current
educators to support the effective use of AEM in their instructional
practice.
(b) In the narrative section of the application under ``Quality of
the project evaluation,'' include an evaluation plan for the project
developed in consultation with and implemented by a third-party
evaluator.\10\ The evaluation plan must--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ A third-party evaluator is an independent and impartial
program evaluator who is contracted by the grantee to conduct an
objective evaluation of the project. This evaluator must not have
participated in the development or implementation of any project
activities, except for the evaluation activities, nor have any
financial interest in the outcome of the evaluation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Include the logic model \11\ by which the proposed project will
achieve its intended outcomes that depicts, at a minimum, the goals and
how they will be measured, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes
of the proposed project;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ Logic model (34 CFR 77.1) (also referred to as a theory of
action) means a framework that identifies key project components of
the proposed project (i.e., the active ``ingredients'' that are
hypothesized to be critical to achieving the relevant outcomes) and
describes the theoretical and operational relationships among the
key project components and relevant outcomes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Describe a formative and summative evaluation plan, including
important process and outcome evaluation questions. The plan must
describe how the formative evaluation will use clear performance
objectives to ensure continuous improvement in the operation of the
proposed project, including objective measures of progress in
implementing the project and ensuring quality of products and services.
This plan should be related to the project's proposed logic model
required in paragraph (b)(1) of the application and administrative
requirements in this priority;
(3) Describe how progress in and fidelity of implementation, as
well as project outcomes, will be measured to answer the evaluation
questions. Specify the measures and associated instruments to be used
so that the project can better meet the needs of current users and
identify the needs of eligible, non-users. Identify and justify the
sources for data appropriate to the evaluation questions. Include
information regarding procedures for establishing reliability and
validity of measures and data quality, where appropriate. Data sources
must include, at a minimum--
(i) Information on the numbers of free educational materials
requested by, produced for, available to, distributed to, and accessed
by eligible children and students;
(ii) Information on the characteristics of the free educational
materials (e.g., descriptive metadata, file types, types of literary
work, source of materials), requested by, produced for, available to,
distributed to, and accessed by eligible children and students;
(iii) Information on the characteristics of the current users
(e.g., qualifying disability type (visual, learning, physical),
individualized education program status, 504 plan status, age, grade
level, member type, National Center for Education Statistics District
ID or Institution) who request and access the free educational
materials;
(4) Describe strategies for analyzing data and how data collected
as part of this plan will be used to inform and improve product
development and service delivery over the course of the project and to
refine the proposed logic model and evaluation plan, including
subsequent data collection;
(5) Include cost and efficiency measures, or a plan for cost and
efficiency measures, for the production of AEM and using information
from those measures to incorporate the most efficient, cost-effective
technology available to provide timely access to AEM that can be used
across alternative media formats;
(6) Provide a timeline for conducting the evaluation and include
staff assignments for completing the plan. The timeline must indicate
that the data will be available annually for the annual performance
report (APR) and at the end of Year 2 for the review process described
under the heading, Fourth and Fifth Years of the Project;
(7) Dedicate sufficient funds in each budget year to cover the
costs of developing or refining the evaluation plan in consultation
with a third-party evaluator, as well as the costs associated with the
implementation of the evaluation plan by the third-party evaluator.
(c) Demonstrate, in the narrative section of the application under
``Adequacy of resources and quality of project personnel,'' how--
(1) The proposed project will encourage applications for employment
from persons who are members of groups that have traditionally been
underrepresented based on race, color, national origin, gender, age, or
disability, as appropriate;
(2) The proposed key project personnel, consultants, and
subcontractors have the qualifications and experience to carry out the
proposed activities and achieve the project's intended outcomes;
(3) The applicant and any key partners have adequate resources to
carry out the proposed activities; and
(4) The proposed costs are reasonable in relation to the
anticipated results and benefits.
(d) Demonstrate, in the narrative section of the application under
``Quality of the management plan,'' how--
(1) The proposed management plan will ensure that the project's
intended outcomes will be achieved on time and within budget. To
address this requirement, the applicant must describe--
(i) Clearly defined responsibilities for key project personnel,
consultants, and subcontractors, as applicable; and
(ii) Timelines and milestones for accomplishing the project tasks;
(2) Key project personnel and any consultants and subcontractors
will be allocated and how these allocations are appropriate and
adequate to achieve the project's intended outcomes;
(3) The proposed management plan will ensure that the products and
services provided are of high quality, relevant, and useful to
recipients; and
(4) The proposed project will benefit from a diversity of
perspectives, including those of eligible children or students,
families, educators, TA providers, researchers, and policy makers,
among others, in its development and operation.
[[Page 7437]]
(5) The proposed project will establish and maintain an advisory
committee consisting of representatives from an SEA and an LEA;
representatives from community colleges and four-year IHEs;
representatives from vocational rehabilitation agencies; eligible
children and students, and/or parents or family members of eligible
children or students; and representatives of schools or other
institutions where AEM are used. The purpose of this advisory committee
is to provide the project with input and ongoing advice on the
project's goals, objectives, products, and services. The project must
submit the proposed membership of the advisory committee to the Office
of Special Education Programs (OSEP) for approval within eight weeks
after receipt of the award;
(6) The project will communicate and collaborate on an ongoing
basis with OSEP-funded projects (see www.osepideasthatwork.org/find-center-or-grant/find-a-center), including NIMAS-related projects.
Activities could include jointly developing products, training
sessions, and materials; and improving the AEM delivery system to
ensure timely and easy access; and
(7) The project will maintain ongoing communication with the OSEP
project officer through phone conferences, email communication, and
face-to-face meetings, as appropriate.
(e) Address the following application requirements. The applicant
must--
(1) Include, in Appendix A, personnel-loading charts and timelines,
as applicable, to illustrate the management plan described in the
narrative;
(2) Use a conceptual framework (and provide a copy in Appendix A)
to develop project plans and activities, describing any underlying
concepts, assumptions, expectations, beliefs, or theories, as well as
the presumed relationships or linkages among these variables, and any
empirical support for this framework;
Note: The following websites provide more information on logic
models and conceptual frameworks: www.osepideasthatwork.org/logicModel
and www.osepideasthatwork.org/resources-grantees/program-areas/ta-ta/tad-project-logic-model-and-conceptual-framework.
(3) Include, in the budget, attendance at the following:
(i) A one and one-half day kick-off meeting in Washington, DC, or
virtually, after receipt of the award, and an annual planning meeting
in Washington, DC, or virtually, with the OSEP project officer and
other relevant staff during each subsequent year of the project period.
Note: Within 30 days of receipt of the award, a post-award
teleconference must be held between the OSEP project officer and the
grantee's project director or other authorized representative;
(ii) A two and one-half day project directors' conference in
Washington, DC, or virtually, during each year of the project period;
(iii) Two annual two-day trips, or virtually, to attend Department
briefings, Department-sponsored conferences, and other meetings, as
requested by OSEP; and
(iv) A one-day intensive 3+2 review meeting in Washington, DC, or
virtually, during the last half of the second year of the project
period;
(4) Include, in the budget, a line item for an annual set-aside of
5 percent of the grant amount to support emerging needs that are
consistent with the proposed project's intended outcomes, as those
needs are identified in consultation with, and approved by, the OSEP
project officer. With approval from the OSEP project officer, the
project must reallocate any remaining funds from this annual set-aside
no later than the end of the third quarter of each budget period; and
(5) Maintain a high-quality website, with an easy-to-navigate
design, that meets or exceeds government or industry-recognized
standards for accessibility;
(6) Ensure that annual project progress toward meeting project
goals is posted on the project website; and
(7) Include, in Appendix A, an assurance to assist OSEP with the
transfer of pertinent resources and products and to maintain the
continuity of services to eligible children and students during the
transition to this new award period and at the end of this award
period, as appropriate.
Fourth and Fifth Years of the Project:
In deciding whether to continue funding the project for the fourth
and fifth years, the Secretary will consider the requirements of 34 CFR
75.253(a), including--
(a) The recommendations of a 3+2 review team consisting of experts
who have experience and knowledge in providing educational materials in
accessible formats for eligible children and students with
disabilities. This review will be conducted during a one-day intensive
meeting that will be held during the last half of the second year of
the project period;
(b) The timeliness with which, and how well, the requirements of
the negotiated cooperative agreement have been or are being met by the
project; and
(c) The quality, relevance, and usefulness of the project's
products and services and the extent to which the project's products
and services are aligned with the project's objectives and likely to
result in the project achieving its intended outcomes.
Under 34 CFR 75.253, the Secretary may reduce continuation awards
or discontinue awards in any year of the project period for excessive
carryover balances or a failure to make substantial progress. The
Department intends to closely monitor unobligated balances and
substantial progress under this program and may reduce or discontinue
funding accordingly.
References:
Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in
Postsecondary Education. (December 6, 2011). Report of the Advisory
Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary
Education for Students with Disabilities. Advisory Commission on AIM
in Postsecondary Education. https://aem.cast.org/about/publications/2011/postsecondary-advisory-commission-report.html
U.S. Department of Education. 2020. IDEA section 618 data products:
Static tables (2019-2020). https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/static-tables/#partb-cc.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: Under the Administrative Procedure
Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 553) the Department generally offers interested
parties the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities. Section
681(d) of IDEA, however, makes the public comment requirements of the
APA inapplicable to the priority in this notice.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1474 and 1481.
Note: Projects will be awarded and must be operated in a manner
consistent with the nondiscrimination requirements contained in Federal
civil rights laws.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 84, 86,
97, 98, and 99. (b) The Office of Management and Budget Guidelines to
Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) in
2 CFR part 180, as adopted and amended as regulations of the Department
in 2 CFR part 3485. (c) The Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost
Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards in 2 CFR part
200, as adopted and amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR
part 3474.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants
except federally recognized Indian Tribes.
[[Page 7438]]
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to IHEs only.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Cooperative agreement.
Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested
$29,547,000 for the Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for
Individuals with Disabilities program for FY 2022, of which we intend
to use an estimated $8,500,000 for this competition. The actual level
of funding, if any, depends on final congressional action. However, we
are inviting applications to allow enough time to complete the grant
process if Congress appropriates funds for this program.
Contingent upon the availability of funds and the quality of
applications, we may make additional awards in FY 2023 from the list of
unfunded applications from this competition.
Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $8,500,000 for a
single budget period of 12 months.
Estimated Number of Awards: 1.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: SEAs; State lead agencies under Part C of
IDEA; LEAs, including public charter schools that are considered LEAs
under State law; IHEs; other public agencies; private nonprofit
organizations; freely associated States and outlying areas; Indian
Tribes or Tribal organizations; and for-profit organizations.
2. a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not require
cost sharing or matching.
b. Indirect Cost Rate Information: This program uses an
unrestricted indirect cost rate. For more information regarding
indirect costs, or to obtain a negotiated indirect cost rate, please
see www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/intro.html.
c. Administrative Cost Limitation: This program does not include
any program-specific limitation on administrative expenses. All
administrative expenses must be reasonable and necessary and conform to
Cost Principles described in 2 CFR part 200 subpart E of the Uniform
Guidance.
3. Subgrantees: A grantee under this competition may not award
subgrants to entities to directly carry out project activities
described in its application. Under 34 CFR 75.708(e), a grantee may
contract for supplies, equipment, and other services in accordance with
2 CFR part 200.
4. Other General Requirements:
a. Recipients of funding under this competition must make positive
efforts to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with
disabilities (see section 606 of IDEA).
b. Applicants for, and recipients of, funding must, with respect to
the aspects of their proposed project relating to the absolute
priority, involve individuals with disabilities, or parents of
individuals with disabilities ages birth through 26, in planning,
implementing, and evaluating the project (see section 682(a)(1)(A) of
IDEA).
IV. Application and Submission Information
1. Application Submission Instructions: Applicants are required to
follow the Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of
Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal
Register on December 27, 2021 (86 FR 73264) and available at
www.federalregister.gov/d/2021-27979. Please note that these Common
Instructions supersede the version published on February 13, 2019, and,
in part, describe the transition from the requirement to register in
SAM.gov a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number to the
implementation of the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). More information
on the phase-out of DUNS numbers is available at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ofo/docs/unique-entity-identifier-transition-fact-sheet.pdf.
2. 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.
3. Funding Restrictions: We reference regulations outlining funding
restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.
4. Recommended Page Limit: The application narrative is where you,
the applicant, address the selection criteria that reviewers use to
evaluate your application. We recommend that you (1) limit the
application narrative to no more than 70 pages and (2) use the
following standards:
A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1''
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
Double-space (no more than three lines per vertical inch)
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, reference citations, and captions, as well as
all text in charts, tables, figures, graphs, and screen shots.
Use a font that is 12 point or larger.
Use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Courier,
Courier New, or Arial.
The recommended page limit does not apply to the cover sheet; the
budget section, including the narrative budget justification; the
assurances and certifications; or the abstract (follow the guidance
provided in the application package for completing the abstract), the
table of contents, the list of priority requirements, the resumes, the
reference list, the letters of support, or the appendices. However, the
recommended page limit does apply to all of the application narrative,
including all text in charts, tables, figures, graphs, and screen
shots.
V. Application Review Information
1. Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for this competition
are from 34 CFR 75.210 and are listed below:
(a) Quality of project services (30 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the quality of the services to be
provided by the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the services to be provided by
the proposed project, the Secretary considers the quality and
sufficiency of strategies for ensuring equal access and treatment for
eligible project participants who are members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color, national
origin, gender, age, or disability.
(3) In addition, the Secretary considers the following factors:
(i) The extent to which the goals, objectives, and outcomes to be
achieved by the proposed project are clearly specified and measurable.
(ii) The likely impact of the services to be provided by the
proposed project on the intended recipients of those services.
(iii) The extent to which the services to be provided by the
proposed project reflect up-to-date knowledge from research and
effective practice.
(iv) The extent to which the training or professional development
services to be provided by the proposed project are of sufficient
quality, intensity, and duration to lead to improvements in practice
among the recipients of those services.
(v) The extent to which the technical assistance services to be
provided by the proposed project involve the use of efficient
strategies, including the use of technology, as appropriate, and the
leveraging of non-project resources.
[[Page 7439]]
(b) Quality of the project evaluation (30 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the quality of the evaluation to be
conducted of the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the evaluation, the Secretary
considers the following factors:
(i) The extent to which the methods of evaluation are thorough,
feasible, and appropriate to the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the
proposed project.
(ii) The extent to which the methods of evaluation provide for
examining the effectiveness of project implementation strategies.
(iii) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
timely guidance for quality assurance.
(iv) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
performance feedback and permit periodic assessment of progress toward
achieving intended outcomes.
(v) The extent to which the methods of evaluation will provide
valid and reliable performance data on relevant outcomes.
(c) Adequacy of resources and quality of project personnel (20
points).
(1) The Secretary considers the adequacy of resources for the
proposed project and the quality of the personnel who will carry out
the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of project personnel, the Secretary
considers the extent to which the applicant encourages applications for
employment from persons who are members of groups that have
traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color, national
origin, gender, age, or disability.
(3) In addition, the Secretary considers the following factors:
(i) The qualifications, including relevant training and experience,
of the project director or principal investigator.
(ii) The qualifications, including relevant training and
experience, of key project personnel.
(iii) The qualifications, including relevant training and
experience, of project consultants or subcontractors.
(iv) The qualifications, including relevant training, experience,
and independence, of the evaluator.
(v) The adequacy of support, including facilities, equipment,
supplies, and other resources, from the applicant organization or the
lead applicant organization.
(vi) The relevance and demonstrated commitment of each partner in
the proposed project to the implementation and success of the project.
(vii) The extent to which the budget is adequate to support the
proposed project.
(viii) The extent to which the costs are reasonable in relation to
the objectives, design, and potential significance of the proposed
project.
(d) Quality of the management plan (20 points).
(1) The Secretary considers the quality of the management plan for
the proposed project.
(2) In determining the quality of the management plan for the
proposed project, the Secretary considers the following factors:
(i) The adequacy of the management plan to achieve the objectives
of the proposed project on time and within budget, including clearly
defined responsibilities, timelines, and milestones for accomplishing
project tasks.
(ii) The extent to which the time commitments of the project
director and principal investigator and other key project personnel are
appropriate and adequate to meet the objectives of the proposed
project.
(iii) The adequacy of mechanisms for ensuring high-quality products
and services from the proposed project.
(iv) How the applicant will ensure that a diversity of perspectives
are brought to bear in the operation of the proposed project, including
those of parents, teachers, the business community, a variety of
disciplinary and professional fields, recipients or beneficiaries of
services, or others, as appropriate.
2. Review and Selection Process: We remind potential applicants
that in reviewing applications in any discretionary grant competition,
the Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR 75.217(d)(3), the past
performance of the applicant in carrying out a previous award, such as
the applicant's use of funds, achievement of project objectives, and
compliance with grant conditions. The Secretary may also consider
whether the applicant failed to submit a timely performance report or
submitted a report of unacceptable quality.
In addition, in making a competitive grant award, the Secretary
requires various assurances, including those applicable to Federal
civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or
activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department
(34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
3. Additional Review and Selection Process Factors: In the past,
the Department has had difficulty finding peer reviewers for certain
competitions because so many individuals who are eligible to serve as
peer reviewers have conflicts of interest. The standing panel
requirements under section 682(b) of IDEA also have placed additional
constraints on the availability of reviewers. Therefore, the Department
has determined that for some discretionary grant competitions,
applications may be separated into two or more groups and ranked and
selected for funding within specific groups. This procedure will make
it easier for the Department to find peer reviewers by ensuring that
greater numbers of individuals who are eligible to serve as reviewers
for any particular group of applicants will not have conflicts of
interest. It also will increase the quality, independence, and fairness
of the review process, while permitting panel members to review
applications under discretionary grant competitions for which they also
have submitted applications.
4. Risk Assessment and Specific Conditions: Consistent with 2 CFR
200.206, before awarding grants under this competition the Department
conducts a review of the risks posed by applicants. Under 2 CFR
200.208, the Secretary may impose specific conditions, and under 2 CFR
3474.10, in appropriate circumstances, high-risk conditions on a grant
if the applicant or grantee is not financially stable; has a history of
unsatisfactory performance; has a financial or other management system
that does not meet the standards in 2 CFR part 200, subpart D; has not
fulfilled the conditions of a prior grant; or is otherwise not
responsible.
5. Integrity and Performance System: If you are selected under this
competition to receive an award that over the course of the project
period may exceed the simplified acquisition threshold (currently
$250,000), under 2 CFR 200.206(a)(2) we must make a judgment about your
integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal
awards--that is, the risk posed by you as an applicant--before we make
an award. In doing so, we must consider any information about you that
is in the integrity and performance system (currently referred to as
the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System
(FAPIIS)), accessible through the System for Award Management. You may
review and comment on any information about yourself that a Federal
agency previously entered and that is currently in FAPIIS.
Please note that, if the total value of your currently active
grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts from the
Federal Government exceeds $10,000,000, the reporting requirements in 2
CFR part 200, Appendix XII, require you to report certain integrity
information to FAPIIS semiannually.
[[Page 7440]]
Please review the requirements in 2 CFR part 200, Appendix XII, if this
grant plus all the other Federal funds you receive exceed $10,000,000.
6. In General: In accordance with the Office of Management and
Budget's guidance located at 2 CFR part 200, all applicable Federal
laws, and relevant Executive guidance, the Department will review and
consider applications for funding pursuant to this notice inviting
applications in accordance with--
(a) Selecting recipients most likely to be successful in delivering
results based on the program objectives through an objective process of
evaluating Federal award applications (2 CFR 200.205);
(b) Prohibiting the purchase of certain telecommunication and video
surveillance services or equipment in alignment with section 889 of the
National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 115--232) (2 CFR
200.216);
(c) Providing a preference, to the extent permitted by law, to
maximize use of goods, products, and materials produced in the United
States (2 CFR 200.322); and
(d) Terminating agreements in whole or in part to the greatest
extent authorized by law if an award no longer effectuates the program
goals or agency priorities (2 CFR 200.340).
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
Notification (GAN); or we may send you an email containing a link to
access an electronic version of your GAN. We may notify you informally,
also.
If your application is not evaluated or not selected for funding,
we 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. Open Licensing Requirements: Unless an exception applies, if you
are awarded a grant under this competition, you will be required to
openly license to the public grant deliverables created in whole, or in
part, with Department grant funds. When the deliverable consists of
modifications to pre-existing works, the license extends only to those
modifications that can be separately identified and only to the extent
that open licensing is permitted under the terms of any licenses or
other legal restrictions on the use of pre-existing works.
Additionally, a grantee that is awarded competitive grant funds must
have a plan to disseminate these public grant deliverables. This
dissemination plan can be developed and submitted after your
application has been reviewed and selected for funding. For additional
information on the open licensing requirements please refer to 2 CFR
3474.20.
4. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a grant under this competition,
you must ensure that you have in place the necessary processes and
systems to comply with the reporting requirements in 2 CFR part 170
should you receive funding under the competition. This does not apply
if you have an exception under 2 CFR 170.110(b).
(b) 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 multiyear award, you must submit an annual
performance report that provides the most current performance and
financial expenditure information as directed by the Secretary under 34
CFR 75.118. The Secretary may also require more frequent performance
reports under 34 CFR 75.720(c). For specific requirements on reporting,
please go to www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/appforms/appforms.html.
5. Performance Measures: For the purposes of Department reporting
under 34 CFR 75.110, we have established a set of performance measures,
including long-term measures, that are designed to yield information on
various aspects of the effectiveness and quality of the ETechM2
Program. These measures are:
Program Performance Measure #1: The percentage of ETechM2
Program products and services judged to be of high quality by an
independent review panel of experts qualified to review the substantial
content of the products and services.
Program Performance Measure #2: The percentage of ETechM2
Program products and services judged to be of high relevance to
improving outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with
disabilities.
Program Performance Measure #3: The percentage of ETechM2
Program products and services judged to be useful in improving results
for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.
Program Performance Measure #4.1: The Federal cost per
unit of accessible educational materials funded by the ETechM2 Program.
Program Performance Measure #4.2: The Federal cost per
unit of accessible educational materials from the National
Instructional Materials Access Center funded by the ETechM2 Program.
Program Performance Measure #4.3: The Federal cost per
unit of video description funded by the ETechM2 Program.
The measures apply to projects funded under this competition, and
grantees are required to submit data on these measures as directed by
OSEP.
Grantees will be required to report information on their project's
performance in annual and final performance reports to the Department
(34 CFR 75.590 and 75.591).
The Department will also closely monitor the extent to which the
products and services provided by the Center meet needs identified by
stakeholders and may require the Center to report on such alignment in
their quarterly, annual, and final performance reports.
6. Continuation Awards: In making a continuation award under 34 CFR
75.253, the Secretary considers, among other things: Whether a grantee
has made substantial progress in achieving the goals and objectives of
the project; whether the grantee has expended funds in a manner that is
consistent with its approved application and budget; and, if the
Secretary has established performance measurement requirements, the
performance targets in the grantee's approved application.
In making a continuation award, the Secretary also considers
whether the grantee is operating in compliance with the assurances in
its approved application, including those applicable to Federal civil
rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities
receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department (34 CFR
100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
VII. Other Information
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document and a copy of the application package in an
accessible format. The Department will provide the requestor with an
accessible format that may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or text
format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible format.
[[Page 7441]]
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Katherine Neas,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, delegated the authority to perform the
functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for the Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2022-02688 Filed 2-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
