Notice2023-03732
Request for Information on Implementation of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 23, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentEconomic Development Administration
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development Administration (EDA), is seeking information to inform the planning and design of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot (Recompete Pilot) Program. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform planning for the implementation of the Recompete Pilot Program.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 36 (Thursday, February 23, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11406-11407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03732]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Economic Development Administration
Request for Information on Implementation of the Distressed Area
Recompete Pilot Program
AGENCY: Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, through the Economic Development
Administration (EDA), is seeking information to inform the planning and
design of the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot (Recompete Pilot)
Program. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform
planning for the implementation of the Recompete Pilot Program.
DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 27,
2023. Submissions received after that date may not be considered.
Written comments in response to this RFI should be submitted in
accordance with the instructions in the Addresses and Supplementary
Information sections below.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by
mail to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#017364626e6c71647564416465602f666e77"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="97e5f2f4f8fae7f2e3f2d7f2f3f6b9f0f8e1">[email protected]</span></a>. Do not submit confidential business
information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mara Quintero Campbell, Senior
Advisor, via email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f0bdb3919d8092959c9cb0959491de979f86"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d19c92b0bca1b3b4bdbd91b4b5b0ffb6bea7">[email protected]</span></a> or via telephone: (202) 482-9055.
Please reference ``Recompete RFI'' in the subject line of your
correspondence.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 10621 of the Research and Development, Competition, and
Innovation Act directs the Department of Commerce to establish a pilot
program to award strategy development grants and strategy
implementation grants to eligible recipients representing eligible
local labor markets, tribes, or local communities to ``alleviate
persistent economic distress and support long-term comprehensive
economic development and job creation in eligible areas.'' (15 U.S.C.
3722b; Pub. L. 117-167, Division B, Title VI, Subtitle C, Sec.
10621(a)(2), 136 Stat. 1642). Of the $1 billion authorized for the
Recompete Pilot Program from fiscal year 2022 through 2026, $200
million has been made available for the program as of the publication
of this RFI.
The Recompete Pilot Program will invest in distressed communities
across the country to create, and connect workers to, good jobs and
support long-term comprehensive economic development. The Recompete
Pilot Program specifically targets areas with lower than the U.S.
average labor participation by prime-age (25 to 54 years of age)
workers (i.e., high prime-age employment gap) and strives to make
targeted interventions to spark economic activity in such areas.
The program focuses on eligible geographic areas--Tribal lands,
local labor markets, and local communities \1\--that are experiencing
low labor force participation. Part of the goal of this RFI is to
identify the different interventions and approaches capable of making a
discernible impact on prime-age employment and related indicators of
economic distress, such as low household or per capita income.
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\1\ Eligible geographic areas are defined at 15 U.S.C.
3722b(j)(1), (3), (4), and (8).
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EDA intends to run a rigorous, fair, and evidence-driven
competition informed by the experiences of all stakeholders, economic
development practitioners, and relevant policy research to guide
program design, structure, and evaluation, and to ensure program
impacts are distributed inclusively and equitably. This RFI is meant to
encourage the field of workforce and economic development to provide
evidence-based guidance that will be used to plan the implementation of
the $200 million Recompete Pilot Program.
Specific Request for Information: Recompete Characteristics
1. For those who live or work in areas with high prime-age
employment gaps, what barriers should be addressed to increase job
placement/retention and/or job creation? What unique challenges and
opportunities do you see in your community?
2. How might EDA determine how large of an investment is necessary
to meaningfully advance the economy of a
[[Page 11407]]
local labor market or community with a high prime-age employment gap?
What data and information are important to that determination?
a. If implementation awards were limited to the statutory minimum
of $20 million, what types of initial investments would most
significantly increase employment rates?
3. What scale and types of economic development interventions would
be most likely to advance the economy of a locality or region with a
high prime-age employment gap? For example, should the program
emphasize industry sectors or be sector agnostic?
a. Are there limitations due to what's currently allowable with EDA
funding?
b. Given that each eligible community will bring its own unique set
of challenges and opportunities, how should EDA evaluate whether any
such investments, interventions, and/or policies would be most
effective in an eligible community?
c. What features of existing block grant programs should EDA adopt
or avoid to increase the likelihood of alleviating persistent economic
distress and increasing employment? What about these features makes
them effective or ineffective?
4. What economic development assets are most predictive of long-
term success from a Recompete intervention?
5. What economic development assets does a local labor market and/
or community need to have to take advantage of the Recompete Pilot
Program?
6. What are best practices for building local public capacity that
would prepare local labor markets and/or communities for Recompete
implementation and other future funding?
7. What are the most significant distinctions in the interventions
needed in smaller versus larger geographic areas, or local communities
versus local labor markets as defined by the statute?
8. Please provide research and evidence of interventions that work
in highly distressed labor markets and/or communities to create good
jobs and/or connect un- or underemployed residents to good jobs.
Specific Request for Information: Recompete Pilot Program Design
9. Are there measures in addition to prime-age employment gap (for
local labor markets) and prime-age employment gap and median household
income (for local communities) recommended to reach areas that are
either (a) most persistently distressed, or (b) most likely to show
sustained economic development progress after intervention?
10. How can federal grants and cooperative agreements be structured
to ensure the impacts of the Recompete Pilot Program are shared broadly
and equitably?
11. The statute permits implementation investments only in areas
with an approved Recompete Plan. What elements should Recompete Plans
include, and against what criteria should EDA evaluate them?
12. How should EDA evaluate Tribal prime-age population given that
data from the Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus State and Local
Fiscal Recovery Fund programs under title VI of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 802 et seq.) are unlikely to be available?
13. What should EDA consider in designing the program for its
current funding level of $200 million given the $1 billion vision in
the program's statutory authorization? How should those considerations
affect EDA's design of the program now and potentially into future
years?
14. What else should EDA consider when building this program?
Specific Request for Information: Recompete Pilot Program
Administration
15. What types of administrative or technical assistance will help
the recipients of Recompete funding to be more successful during
implementation?
16. How should EDA measure the success of the Recompete Pilot
Program?
a. What would be the indications of a successful implementation
investment under the Recompete Pilot Program?
17. How can the Recompete Pilot Program best complement and
leverage other Federal, State, and local economic development
investments (e.g., HUD's Community Development Block Grant program,
American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation
Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, etc.) so that persistent economic
distress is alleviated successfully?
18. What is a realistic time period (e.g., 5, 10, 15 years, other?)
over which to evaluate the economic development impacts of the
Recompete Pilot Program and why?
Date: February 17, 2023.
Susan Brehm,
Regional Director, Economic Development Administration Chicago Regional
Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-03732 Filed 2-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-24-P
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