[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 135 (Tuesday, July 15, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41257-41258]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16614]
[[Page 41257]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Solicitation of Input From Stakeholders Regarding Centers of
Excellence, Implementation
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of web-based listening session and request for
stakeholder input.
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SUMMARY: As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's
(NIFA) strategy to successfully implement Section 7214 of Public Law
113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting stakeholder
input on how it will provide priority to Centers of Excellence in the
receipt of funding from its competitive research or extension programs.
NIFA will be holding web-based listening sessions in order to
solicit stakeholder input on this new challenge area. The focus of the
web-based listening sessions will be to gather stakeholder input that
will be used in developing a process for consistently providing
priority consideration to these Centers of Excellence. NIFA is
particularly interested in input on how best to define the scope of a
Center of Excellence, whether there are models being used by other
federal agencies that might be useful to examine, and at what point in
the review/selection process ``priority'' should be given to
applications submitted by Centers of Excellence.
All comments must be received by close of business on July 31,
2014, to be considered in the initial drafting of the FY 2015 process
for priority consideration of the Centers of Excellence.
DATES: The web-based listening sessions will be held on Thursday, July
17, 2014, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (ET), and
Thursday, July 31, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., ET. All written
comments must be received by 5:00 p.m., ET on Thursday, July 31, 2014.
ADDRESSES: The web-based listening sessions will be hosted using Adobe
Connect. On July 17th and July 31st and, please access the following
Web site, http://nifa-connect.nifa.usda.gov/frnce/. In addition, audio
conference call capabilities can be accessed at 1-888-844-9904,
participant code 3702409. You may submit comments, identified by NIFA-
2014-003, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include NIFA-2014-003 in the subject
line of the message.
Fax: 202-690-0289.
Mail: Paper, disk or CD-ROM submissions should be submitted to
Centers of Excellence; Centers of Excellence-Office of the
Administrator, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, STOP 2201, 1400 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20250-2201.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Centers of Excellence-Office of the
Administrator, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Room 4248, Waterfront Centre, 800 9th Street
SW., Washington, DC 20024.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and reference to NIFA-2014-003]. All comments received will be posted
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Valeria Best, (202) 720-8540
(phone), (202) 690-1260 (fax), or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comment Procedures
Persons wishing to present oral comments during the web-based
listening session on either Thursday, July 17, or Thursday, July 31,
2014 are requested to pre-register by contacting Ms. Valeria Best at
(202) 720-8540, by fax at (202) 690-1260 or by email to
[email protected]. Participants may reserve one 5-minute comment
period. More time may be available, depending on the number of people
wishing to make a presentation. Reservations will be confirmed on a
first-come, first-served basis. All other participants may provide
comments during the web-based listening session if time permits, or
submit written comments. All written comments must be received by close
of business July 31, 2014, to be considered. All comments and the
official transcript of the web-based listening session, when they
become available, may be reviewed on the NIFA Web page, http://www.nifa.usda.gov, for six months.
Background and Purpose
NIFA is moving forward to implement Section 7214 of the 2014 Farm
Bill. Beginning in October of 2014, this section requires that the
Agency prioritize Centers of Excellence established for purposes of
food and agricultural research, extension, and education activities
when selecting recipients of grants from any of the Agency's research
or extension competitive grant programs. While the Farm Bill delineates
criteria for being recognized as a Center of Excellence, such as
coordination and cost effectiveness, the leveraging of resources using
public-private partnerships, and the ability to increase economic
returns to rural communities, it will be important that NIFA hear from
the community about what the scope of a Center of Excellence should be,
and what our stakeholders believe are the strengths and weaknesses of
some of the models that are used by other federal agencies.
Section 7214 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-79)
(i.e., the 2014 Farm Bill) adds a new section 1673 to the Food,
Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5926) to
require the Secretary of Agriculture to prioritize Centers of
Excellence that are established for purposes of carrying out research,
extension, and education activities relating to the food and
agricultural sciences (as defined in section 1404 of the National
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7
U.S.C. 3103)) for the receipt of funding for any competitive research
or extension program administered by the Secretary. The amendment takes
effect on October 1, 2014. The Agency is considering different ways to
implement the ``priority'' consideration of grant proposals from
Centers of Excellence, including using the Center of Excellence
distinction as a tie-breaker, should proposals be equally ranked for
funding during our peer review process, or providing additional points
to Center of Excellence proposals as part of applying evaluation
criteria during the peer review process.
A center of excellence is composed of 1 or more of the following
entities that provide financial or in-kind support to the Center of
Excellence: State agricultural experiment stations; colleges and
universities; university research foundations; other research
institutions and organizations; Federal agencies; national
laboratories; private organizations, foundations, or corporations; and
individuals.
The criteria for Centers of Excellence include efforts: to ensure
coordination and cost effectiveness by reducing unnecessarily
duplicative efforts regarding research, teaching, and extension; to
leverage available resources by using public-private partnerships among
agricultural
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industry groups, institutions of higher education, and the Federal
Government; to implement teaching initiatives to increase awareness and
effectively disseminate solutions to target audiences through extension
activities; and to increase the economic returns to rural communities
by identifying, attracting, and directing funds to high-priority
agricultural issues. Where practicable, the criteria for recognition as
a center of excellence shall also include efforts to improve teaching
capacity and infrastructure at colleges and universities (including
land-grant colleges and universities, cooperating forestry schools, Non
Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture, and Schools of Veterinary
Medicine). NIFA is considering using a process where an applicant could
self-identify as a Center of Excellence in an area of science as part
of a particular grant application (using the legislative criteria
described above), and the applicant's justification would be evaluated
as part of the peer review process, or using a process separate from
the grant application process, where an applicant could request
designation as a Center of Excellence, and should the Agency grant such
a designation, it would potentially be applicable to multiple grant
competitions where proposed work fell within a particular area of
science.
NIFA is holding web-based listening sessions to obtain comments to
consider in developing a process for implementing the Centers of
Excellence provision. The web-based listening sessions are open to the
public. Written comments and suggestions may be submitted to Ms.
Valeria Best at the address above.
Implementation Plans
NIFA plans to consider stakeholder input received from this web-
based listening session as well as other written comments in developing
a process to implement the Centers of Excellence provision for FY 2015.
Done at Washington, DC this 10th day of July, 2014.
Robert E. Holland,
Acting Associate Director, Programs, National Institute of Food and
Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2014-16614 Filed 7-14-14; 8:45 am]
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