PART 3401—RANGELAND RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAM Authority: Section 1470 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3316). Source: 61 FR 27753, May 31, 1996, unless otherwise noted. Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to part 3401 appear at 76 FR 4806, Jan. 27, 2011. Subpart A—General § 3401.1 Applicability of regulations of this part. (a) The regulations of this part apply to rangeland research grants awarded under the authority of section 1480 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3333) to land-grant colleges and universities, State agricultural experiment stations, and colleges, universities, and Federal laboratories having a demonstrable capacity in rangeland research, as determined by the Secretary, to carry out rangeland research. The Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) shall determine and announce, through publication each year of a Notice in the Federal Register, (b) The regulations of this part do not apply to research grants awarded by the Department of Agriculture under any other authority. § 3401.2 Definitions. As used in this part: (a) Director (b) Department (c) Principal investigator (d) Grantee (e) Research project grant (f) Project (g) Project period (h) Budget period (i) Awarding official (j) Peer review group (k) Ad hoc reviewers (l) Research (m) Methodology § 3401.3 Eligibility requirements. (a) Except where otherwise prohibited by law, any land-grant college and university, State agricultural experiment station, and college, university, and Federal laboratory having a demonstrable capacity in rangeland research, as determined by the Secretary, shall be eligible to apply for and to receive a project grant under this part, provided that the applicant qualifies as a responsible grantee under the criteria set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. (b) To qualify as responsible, an applicant must meet the following standards as they relate to a particular project: (1) Have adequate financial resources for performance, the necessary experience, organizational and technical qualifications, and facilities, or a firm commitment, arrangement, or ability to obtain such (including proposed subagreements); (2) Be able to comply with the proposed or required completion schedule for the project; (3) Have a satisfactory record of integrity, judgment, and performance, including, in particular, any prior performance under grants and contracts from the Federal government; (4) Have an adequate financial management system and audit procedure which provides efficient and effective accountability and control of all property, funds, and other assets; and (5) Be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive a research project grant under applicable laws and regulations. (c) Any applicant who is determined to be not responsible will be notified in writing of such findings and the basis therefor. § 3401.4 Matching funds requirement. In accordance with section 1480 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3333), except in the case of Federal laboratories, each grant recipient must match the Federal funds expended on a research project based on a formula of 50 percent Federal and 50 percent non-Federal funding. § 3401.5 Indirect costs and tuition remission costs. Pursuant to section 1473 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3319), funds made available under this program to recipients other than Federal laboratories shall not be subject to reduction for indirect costs or tuition remission costs. Since indirect costs and tuition remission costs, except in the case of Federal laboratories, are not allowable costs for purposes of this program, such costs may not be used to satisfy the matching requirement set forth in § 3401.4. § 3401.6 How to apply for a grant. (a) General. Federal Register, (1) Descriptions of specific research program areas which the Department proposes to support during the fiscal year involved, including anticipated funds to be awarded; (2) Deadline dates for having proposal packages postmarked; (3) Name and address where proposals should be mailed; (4) Number of copies to be submitted; (5) Forms required to be used when submitting proposals; and (6) Special requirements. (b) Application kit. (c) Format for research grant proposals. (1) Application for funding. (2) Title of project. (3) Objectives. (4) Procedures. (i) A description of the proposed investigations and/or experiments in the sequence in which it is planned to carry them out; (ii) Techniques to be employed, including their feasibility; (iii) Kinds of results expected; (iv) Means by which data will be analyzed or interpreted; (v) Pitfalls which might be encountered; and (vi) Limitations to proposed procedures. (5) Justification. (i) The importance of the problem to the needs of the Department and to the Nation, including estimates of the magnitude of the problem; (ii) The importance of starting the work during the current fiscal year; and (iii) Reasons for having the work performed by the proposing organization. (6) Literature review. (7) Current research. (8) Facilities and equipment. (9) Collaborative arrangements. (10) Research timetable. (11) Personnel support. (i) An estimate of the time commitments necessary; (ii) Vitae of the principal investigator(s), senior associate(s), and other professional personnel to assist reviewers in evaluating the competence and experience of the project staff. This section should include curricula vitae of all (iii) A chronological listing of the most representative publications during the past five years shall be provided for each professional project member of whom a curriculum vitae appears under this section. Authors should be listed in the same order as they appear on each paper cited, along with the title and complete reference as these usually appear in journals. (12) Budget. (13) Research involving special considerations. (i) Recombinant DNA molecules. (ii) Human subjects at risk. (iii) Laboratory animal care. et seq. (14) Current and pending support. (15) Additions to project description. (16) National Environmental Policy Act. (17) Organizational management information. one-time basis prior to the award of a research project grant § 3401.7 Evaluation and disposition of applications. (a) Evaluation. ad hoc (b) Disposition. § 3401.8 Grant awards. (a) General. (b) Grant award document and notice of grant award Grant award documents. (i) Legal name and address of performing organization or institution to whom the Director has awarded a rangeland research project grant under the terms of this part; (ii) Title of project; (iii) Name(s) and address(es) of principal investigator(s) chosen to direct and control approved activities; (iv) Identifying grant number assigned by the Department; (v) Project period, which specifies how long the Department intends to support the effort without requiring recompetition for funds; (vi) Total amount of Departmental financial assistance approved by the Director during the project period; (vii) Legal authority(ies) under which the research project grant is awarded to accomplish the purpose of the law; (viii) Approved budget plan for categorizing allocable project funds to accomplish the stated purpose of the research project grant award; and (ix) Other information or provisions deemed necessary by the Department to carry out its granting activities or to accomplish the purpose of a particular research project grant. (2) Notice of grant award. (c) Categories of grant instruments. (1) Standard grant. (2) Renewal grant. de novo (3) Continuation grant. (4) Supplemental grant. (d) Obligation of the Federal government. [61 FR 27753, May 31, 1996, as amended at 79 FR 75998, Dec. 19, 2014] § 3401.9 Use of funds; changes. (a) Delegation of fiscal responsibility. (b) Change in project plans. (2) Changes in approved goals, or objectives, shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes. In no event shall requests for such changes be approved which are outside the scope of the original approved project. (3) Changes in approved project leadership or the replacement or reassignment of other key project personnel shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes. (4) Transfers of actual performance of the substantive programmatic work in whole or in part and provisions for payment of funds, whether or not Federal funds are involved, shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes, except as may be allowed in the terms and conditions of a grant award. (c) Changes in project period. (d) Changes in approved budget. § 3401.10 Other Federal statutes and regulations that apply. (a) The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued guidance on Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 CFR part 200 on December 26, 2013. In 2 CFR 400.1, the Department adopted OMB's guidance in subparts A through F of 2 CFR part 200, as supplemented by 2 CFR part 400, as the Department's policies and procedures for uniform administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for federal awards. As a result, this regulation contains references to 2 CFR part 200 as it has regulatory effect for the Department's programs and activities.” (b) Several other Federal statutes and/or regulations apply to grant proposals considered for review or to research project grants awarded under this part. These include but are not limited to: 2 CFR part 200—Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, And Audit Requirements For Federal Awards. 2 CFR part 180 and Part 417—OMB Guidelines To Agencies On Government-Wide Debarment And Suspension (Nonprocurement) And USDA Nonprocurement Debarment And Suspension 7 CFR part 1c—USDA implementation of the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects. 7 CFR 1.1—USDA implementation of Freedom of Information Act. 7 CFR part 3—USDA implementation of OMB Circular A-129 regarding debt collection. 7 CFR part 15, subpart A—USDA implementation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 7 CFR part 3407—NIFA procedures to implement the National Environmental Policy Act; 29 U.S.C. 794 (section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973) and 7 CFR part 15B (USDA implementation of statute)—prohibiting discrimination based upon physical or mental handicap in Federally assisted programs; and 35 U.S.C. 200 et seq. [79 FR 75998, Dec. 19, 2014] § 3401.11 Other conditions. The Director may, with respect to any research project grant or to any class of awards, impose additional conditions prior to or at the time of any award when, in the Director's judgment, such conditions are necessary to assure or protect advancement of the approved project, the interests of the public, or the conservation of grant funds. Subpart B—Scientific Peer Review of Research Applications for Funding § 3401.12 Establishment and operation of peer review groups. Subject to § 3401.7, the Director will adopt procedures for the conduct of peer reviews and the formulation of recommendations under § 3401.16. § 3401.13 Composition of peer review groups. Peer review group members will be selected based upon their training or experience in relevant scientific or technical fields, taking into account the following factors: (a) The level of formal scientific or technical education by the individual; (b) The extent to which the individual has engaged in relevant research, the capacities in which the individual has done so (e.g., principal investigator, assistant), and the quality of such research; (c) Professional recognition as reflected by awards and other honors received from scientific and professional organizations outside of the Department; (d) The need of the group to include within its membership experts from various areas of specialization within relevant scientific or technical fields; (e) The need of the group to include within its membership experts from a variety of organizational types (e.g., universities, industry, private consultant(s)) and geographic locations; and (f) The need of the group to maintain a balanced membership, e.g., minority and female representation and an equitable age distribution. § 3401.14 Conflicts of interest. Members of peer review groups covered by this part are subject to relevant provisions contained in Title 18 of the United States Code relating to criminal activity, Department regulations governing employee responsibilities and conduct (part 0 of this title), and Executive Order 11222 (3 CFR, 1964-1965 Comp., p. 306), as amended. Administration of the peer review group must be in accordance with the Department's conflict of interest policy, 2 CFR 400.2. [61 FR 27753, May 31, 1996, as amended at 79 FR 75998, Dec. 19, 2014] § 3401.15 Availability of information. Information regarding the peer review process will be made available to the extent permitted under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a.), and implementing Departmental regulations (part 1 of this title). § 3401.16 Proposal review. (a) All research Applications for Funding will be acknowledged. Prior to technical examination, a preliminary review will be made for responsiveness to the request for proposals (e.g., relationship of application to research program area). Proposals that do not fall within the guidelines as stated in the annual request for proposals will be eliminated from competition and will be returned to the applicant. Proposals whose budgets exceed the maximum allowable amount for a particular program area as announced in the request for proposals may be considered as lying outside the guidelines. (b) All applications will be reviewed carefully by the Director , qualified officers or employees of the Department, the respective merit review panel, and ad hoc reviewers, as required. Written comments will be solicited from ad hoc reviewers, when required, and individual written comments and in-depth discussions will be provided by peer review group members prior to recommending applications for funding. Applications will be ranked and support levels recommended within the limitation of total available funding for each research program area as announced in the applicable request for proposals. (c) Except to the extent otherwise provided by law, such recommendations are advisory only and are not binding on program officers or on the awarding official. § 3401.17 Review criteria. (a) Federally funded research supported under these provisions shall be designed to, among other things, accomplish one or more of the following purposes: (1) Improve management of rangelands as an integrated system and/or watershed; (2) Remedy unstable or unsatisfactory rangeland conditions; (3) Increase revegetation and/or rehabilitation of rangelands; (4) Examine the health of rangelands; and (5) Define economic parameters associated with rangelands. (b) In carrying out its review under § 3401.16, the peer review panel will use the following form upon which the evaluation criteria to be used are enumerated, unless, pursuant to § 3401.7(a), different evaluation criteria are specified in the annual solicitation of proposals for a particular program: Peer Panel Scoring Form Proposal Identification No. Institution and Project Title I. Basic Requirement: Proposal falls within guidelines? __________ Yes __________ No. If no, explain why proposal does not meet guidelines under comment section of this form. II. Selection Criteria: Score 1-10 Weight factor Score X weight factor Comments 1. Overall scientific and technical quality of proposal 10 2. Scientific and technical quality of the approach 10 3. Relevance and importance of proposed research to solution of specific areas of inquiry 6 4. Feasibility of attaining objectives; adequacy of professional training and experience, facilities and equipment 5 Score Summary Comments (c) Proposals satisfactorily meeting the guidelines will be evaluated and scored by the peer review panel for each criterion utilizing a scale of 1 through 10. A score of one (1) will be considered low and a score of ten (10) will be considered high for each selection criterion. A weighted factor is used for each criterion.