[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 155 (Wednesday, August 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 48292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19820]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Business-Cooperative Service


Notice of Change to Announcement of Requirements and Registration 
for the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition

AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of change to Announcement of Requirements and 
Registration for the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a cooperative 
partnership with the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood 
Lumber Council is conducting a prize competition funding initiative to 
support the demonstration of tall wood buildings in the United States. 
The U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition (the ``Competition'') is 
being conducted to showcase the architectural and commercial viability 
of advanced wood products in tall building construction in order to 
support employment opportunities in rural communities, maintain the 
health and resiliency of the Nation's forests, and advance 
sustainability in the built environment.
    On October 10, 2014, USDA published official competition rules in 
the Federal Register in Notice 79 FR 61275. The competition rules note 
that the Prize Purse is a combined pool from the Competition Partners 
of $2 million and that the Prize Purse may increase, but will not 
decrease. The rules also state that any increases in the Prize Purse 
will be posted on the Competition Web site 
(www.tallwoodbuildingcompetition.org) and published in the Federal 
Register. The Softwood Lumber Board has committed an additional $1 
million to support the competition. By way of this notice, USDA is 
informing the public that the combined competition prize purse is now 
$3 million in accordance with the competition's official rules.
    The Prize Purse will be used to fund one or more awards; the number 
of awards made will depend on the estimated amount of Eligible Expenses 
proposed by the winning Project Proponent Team(s). Award(s) will be 
made to the winning Project Proponent Team(s) to cover incremental 
costs of transitioning their building from a traditional structure to a 
wood structure, i.e., those costs incurred only because of the Project 
Proponent Team's innovative use of wood products in the demonstration 
structure. Additional details may be found in the original Federal 
Register Notice.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.

     Dated: August 7, 2015.
Lillian Salerno,
Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-19820 Filed 8-11-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-XY-P