(a) The regulations of this part only apply to competitive Higher Education Challenge Grants awarded under the provisions of section 1417(b)(1) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, as amended (NARETPA)(7 U.S.C. 3152(b)(1)), to strengthen institutional capacities, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention. Section 1405 of NARETPA (7 U.S.C. 3121) designates the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the lead Federal agency for agricultural research, extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences. Section 1417 of NARETPA (7 U.S.C. 3152) authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, who has delegated the authority to theDirector of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), to make competitive grants to land-grant colleges and universities, to colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments and a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, and to other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, for a period not to exceed 5 years, to administer and conduct programs to respond to identified State, regional, national, or international educational needs in the food and agricultural sciences.

(b) To the extent that funds are available, each year NIFA will publish a Federal Register notice announcing the program and soliciting grant applications.

(c)(1) Based on the amount of funds appropriated in any fiscal year, NIFA will determine and cite in the program announcement:

(i) The targeted need area(s) to be supported or, if the entire scope of a particular targeted need area is not to be supported, the specific special interest(s) within that targeted need area to be supported;

(ii) The degree level(s) to be supported;

(iii) The maximum project period a proposal may request;

(iv) The maximum amount of funds that may be requested by an institution under a regular, complementary, or joint project proposal; and

(v) The maximum total funds that may be awarded to an institution under the program in a given fiscal year, including how funds awarded for complementary and for joint project proposals will be counted toward the institutional maximum.

(2) The program announcement will also specify the deadline date for proposal submission, the number of copies of each proposal that must be submitted, the address to which a proposal must be submitted, and whether or not Form NIFA-711, “Intent to Submit a Proposal,” is requested.

(d)(1) If it is deemed by NIFA that, for a given fiscal year, additional determinations are necessary, each, as relevant, will be stated in the program announcement. Such determinations may include:

(i) Limits on the subject matter/emphasis areas to be supported;

(ii) The maximum number of proposals that may be submitted on behalf of the same school, college, or equivalent administrative unit within an institution;

(iii) The maximum total number of proposals that may be submitted by an institution;

(iv) The minimum project period a proposal may request;

(v) The minimum amount of funds that may be requested by an institution under a regular, complementary, or joint project proposal;

(vi) The proportion of the appropriation reserved for, or available to, regular, complementary, and joint project proposals;

(vii) The proportion of the appropriation reserved for, or available to, projects in each announced targeted need area;

(viii) The proportion of the appropriation reserved for, or available to, each subject matter/emphasis area;

(ix) The maximum number of grants that may be awarded to an institution under the program in a given fiscal year; and

(x) Limits on the use of grant funds for travel or to purchase equipment, if any.

(2) The program announcement also will contain any other limitations deemed necessary by NIFA for proper conduct of the program in the applicable year.

(e) The regulations of this part do not apply to grants awarded by the Department of Agriculture under any other authority.

As used in this part:

(a) Authorized departmental officer means the Secretary or any employee of the Department who has the authority to issue or modify grant instruments on behalf of the Secretary.

(b) Authorized organizational representative means the president of the institution or the official, designated by the president of the institution, who has the authority to commit the resources of the institution.

(c) Budget period means the interval of time (usually 12 months) into which the project period is divided for budgetary and reporting purposes.

(d) Cash contributions means the applicant's cash outlay, including the outlay of money contributed to the applicant by non-Federal third parties.

(e) Citizen or national of the United States means:

(1) A citizen or native resident of a State; or,

(2) A person defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22), who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States.

(f) College or University means an educational institution in any State which:

(1) Admits as regular students only persons having a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate;

(2) Is legally authorized within such State to provide a program of education beyond secondary education;

(3) Provides an educational program for which a baccalaureate degree or any other higher degree is awarded;

(4) Is a public or other nonprofit institution; and

(5) Is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association.

(g) Complementary project proposal means a proposal for a project which involves coordination with one or more other projects for which funding was awarded under this program in a previous fiscal year, or for which funding is requested under this program in the current fiscal year.

(h) Department or USDA means the United States Department of Agriculture.

(i) Eligible institution means a land-grant or other U.S. college or university offering a baccalaureate or first professional degree in at least one discipline or area of the food and agricultural sciences. The definition includes a research foundation maintained by an eligible college or university.

(j) Eligible participant means, for purposes of § 3405.6(b), Faculty Preparation and Enhancement for Teaching, and § 3405.6(f), Student Recruitment and Retention, an individual who: Is a citizen or national of the United States, as defined in § 3405.2(e); or is a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Republic of Palau. Where eligibility is claimed under § 3405.2(e)(2), documentary evidence from the Immigration and Naturalization Service as to such eligibility must be made available to NIFA upon request.

(k) Food and agricultural sciences means basic, applied, and developmental research, extension, and teaching activities in the food, agricultural, renewable natural resources, forestry, and physical and social sciences, in the broadest sense of these terms, including but not limited to, activities concerned with the production, processing, marketing, distribution, conservation, consumption, research, and development of food and agriculturally related products and services, and inclusive of programs in agriculture, natural resources, aquaculture, forestry, veterinary medicine, home economics, rural development, and closely allied disciplines.

(l) Grantee means the eligible institution designated in the grant award document as the responsible legal entity to which a grant is awarded.

(m) Joint project proposal means a proposal for a project, which will involve the applicant institution and two or more other colleges, universities, community colleges, junior colleges, or other institutions, each of which will assume a major role in the conduct of the proposed project, and for which the applicant institution will transfer at least one-half of the awarded funds to the other institutions participating in the project. Only the applicant institution must meet the definition of “eligible institution” as specified in § 3405.2(i); the other institutions participating in a joint project proposal are not required to meet the definition of “eligible institution” as specified in § 3405.2(i), nor required to meet the definition of “college” or “university” as specified in § 3405.2(f).

(n) Land-grant colleges and universities means those institutions eligible to receive funds under the Act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. 503-505, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 301-305, 307 and 308), or the Act of August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. 417-419, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 321-326 and 328), including Tuskegee University.

(o) Matching or Cost-sharing means that portion of project costs not borne by the Federal Government, including the value of in-kind contributions.

(p) Peer review panel means a group of experts or consultants, qualified by training and experience in particular fields of science, education, or technology to give expert advice on the merit of grant applications in such fields, who evaluate eligible proposals submitted to this program in their personal area(s) of expertise.

(q) Prior approval means written approval evidencing prior consent by an authorized departmental officer as defined in § 3405.2(a) of this part.

(r) Project means the particular activity within the scope of one or more of the targeted areas supported by a grant awarded under this program.

(s) Project director means the single individual designated by the grantee in the grant application and approved by the Secretary who is responsible for the direction and management of the project.

(t) Project period means the period, as stated in the award document and modifications thereto, if any, during which Federal sponsorship begins and ends.

(u) Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture and any other officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture to whom the authority involved may be delegated.

(v) State means any one of the fifty States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the District of Columbia.

(w) Teaching means formal classroom instruction, laboratory instruction, and practicum experience in the food and agricultural sciences and matters related thereto (such as faculty development, student recruitment and services, curriculum development, instructional materials and equipment, and innovative teaching methodologies) conducted by colleges and universities offering baccalaureate or higher degrees.

(x) Third party in-kind contributions means non-cash contributions of property or services provided by non-Federal third parties, including real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to a funded project or program.

(y) United States means the several States, the territories and possessions of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the District of Columbia.

Proposals may be submitted by land-grant and other U.S. colleges and universities offering a baccalaureate or first professional degree in at least one discipline or area of the food and agricultural sciences. Each applicant must have a demonstrable capacity for, and a significant ongoing commitment to, the teaching of food and agricultural sciences generally and to the specific need and/or subject area(s) for which a grant is requested. Awards may be made only to eligible institutions as defined in § 3405.2(i).