HEC/Alert: Additional Peer Reviewers Needed

The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) is seeking additional
peer reviewers for the Prevention of High-Risk Drinking or Violent
Behavior Among College Students discretionary grant competition
currently underway. Please see the information below on the
requirements, application procedures, and important dates and schedules.

BACKGROUND AND REQUIREMENTS

A panel of three different peer reviewers will read and evaluate each
application received by OSDFS. This peer review process determines which
applications will be funded in FY 2007. OSDFS anticipates needing many
peer review panels for the FY2007 High-Risk Drinking and Violence
competition, and is currently in the process of recruiting peer
reviewers. Each reviewer will be asked to read up to 12 grant
applications, evaluate and score those applications according to
established selection criteria, and prepare written comments summarizing
each application's strengths and weaknesses. Peer reviewers must have
access to e-mail, the Internet, and a phone since some aspects of the
review will rely on those technologies. Reviewers will be required to
participate in one training conference call regarding the competition,
as well as in three panel calls to discuss the applications with fellow
reviewers. Each reviewer completing the applications assigned will
receive an honorarium of $800.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Those interested in applying to read for the FY 2007 High-Risk Drinking
competition must register at the Business Partner Network's Central
Contractor Registration (CCR) system. This is required of all vendors,
including individuals, doing business with the federal government, as
explained below. OSDFS anticipates the first round of reviews will start
March 9th and therefore people need to register as quickly as possible.

This is one of the steps the federal government is taking to streamline
the acquisition process and broaden the use of e-business applications.
The Department of Education (ED) requests that you complete registration
in CCR IMMEDIATELY if you are interested in reading for this
competition.

Applicants need to complete a one-time business registration in order to
receive any payments under existing ED contracts after December 31,
2003. Annual renewal of the registration also is required, at least
through final payment. If you are an existing ED vendor, you already
have a DUNS number, which means you completed the first step in the
registration process. If you do not have a DUNS, you should contact Dun
& Bradstreet at 866-705-5711 to obtain one. It will take 24 hours to
activate your DUNS. Once you have your DUNS, you need to register in the
CCR System, which is located at http://www.ccr.gov. Go to
http://www.higheredcenter.org/grants/high-risk/0701/ccr-hints.doc for a
Word document containing helpful hints for ease in registering in CCR.
For additional details on registering, see the CCR Handbook at
http://www.ccr.gov/doc/CCR_Handbook.pdf. To register, click on "Start
New Registration" from the CCR home page. With the necessary information
at hand, the online registration takes approximately 30 minutes to
complete. The CCR registration should take approximately 48 hours to
process and activate.

As soon as you complete the registration process in CCR, please send a
confirmation message, including your assigned DUNS Number, via e-mail to
Richard Lucey in the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at:
Richard.Lucey_at_ed.gov, referencing Potential Peer Reviewer (84.184H) in
the subject line.

IMPORTANT DATES AND SCHEDULE

Applications for the FY 2007 High-Risk Drinking and Violence grant
competition were due on February 20, 2007. OSDFS has scheduled the peer
review for this competition to take place from March 9 to March 23,
2007.

All reviewers will be required to participate in a mandatory Peer
Reviewer training that will be held via conference call. The training
will cover High-Risk Drinking program-specific information as well as
the e-reader module. The training will be offered on four different
dates and reviewers have the option to pick which day is most convenient
for them. However, one must participate in one of these training
sessions to serve as a reviewer. Training attendance will be documented
by a Call Center and those who do not participate may not continue with
the review.

The training conference calls are scheduled as follows:

Monday, February 26, 2007 from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm (ET)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm (ET)
Friday, March 2, 2007 from 9:30 am - 11:30 am (ET)
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 from 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm (ET)

Reviewers for the High-Risk Drinking and Violence program will
participate in three conference calls, scheduled as follows:

Panel Discussion/Conference Call 1 - March 13, 2007 (Call will be
scheduled for 1 hour between 1:00 pm -4:00 pm EST)
Panel Discussion/Conference Call 2 - March 16, 2007 (Call will be
scheduled for 90 minutes between 1:00 pm - 5:15 pm EST)
Panel Discussion/Conference Call 3 - March 20, 2007 (Call will be
scheduled for 90 minutes between 1:00 - 5:15 pm EST)

If you have any questions or need additional information about the CCR
Web site and/or handbook, please contact Debbie Kalnasy, Contracting
Officer for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, by telephone
(202-260-1926) or e-mail (debbie.kalnasy_at_ed.gov). If you have any
general questions about the High-Risk Drinking and Violence competition,
please contact Richard Lucey by telephone (202-205-5471) or email
(Richard.Lucey_at_ed.gov).

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HEC/News is a service provided by the U.S. Department of Education
Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence
Prevention. Through its Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, the
Department funds the Center under Contract Number ED-04-CO-0137.
No official support or endorsement by the Department related to items
highlighted in HEC/News is intended nor should it be inferred.
*********************************************************

HEC/News is a conduit for press coverage of alcohol, other drugs, and
violence issues in higher education, and is not a discussion list. Negative
coverage may reinforce misperceptions of norms related to drug abuse or
violence, while other opinions and angles taken may run counter to the views
of many prevention practitioners. In such cases, subscribers may consider
writing letters to the editor to state their respective positions.
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Received on Fri Feb 23 2007 - 12:17:20 EST