(a) Applications for grants. Any applicant eligible for assistance may submit on or before such submission deadline date or dates as the Administrator may establish in program announcements, an application containing such pertinent information and in accordance with the forms and instructions as prescribed therein and any additional forms and instructions as may be specified by the Administrator. Such application shall be executed by the applicant or an official or representative of the applicant duly authorized to make such application and to assume on behalf of the applicant the obligations imposed by law, applicable regulations, and any additional terms and conditions of the assistance award. The Administrator may require any applicant eligible for assistance under this subpart to submit a preliminary proposal for review and approval prior to the acceptance of an application.

(b) Cooperative arrangements.

(1) When specified in program announcements, eligible parties may enter into cooperative arrangements with other eligible parties, including those in another State, and submit joint applications for assistance.

(2) A joint application made by two or more applicants for assistance may have separate budgets corresponding to the programs, services and activities performed by each of the joint applicants or may have a combined budget. If joint applications present separate budgets, the Administrator may make separate awards, or may award a single assistance award authorizing separate amounts for each of the joint applicants.

(c) Evaluation of applications submitted under part C of the Act. All applications filed in accordance with §34.1 of this subpart for assistance with part C—National Programs funds shall be evaluated by the Administrator through OJJDP and other DOJ personnel (internal review) and by such experts or consultants required for this purpose that the Administrator determines are specially qualified in the particular part C program area covered by the announced program (peer review). Supplementary application review procedures, in addition to internal review and peer review, may be used for each competitive part C program announcement. The program announcement shall clearly state the application review procedures (peer review and other) to be used for each competitive part C program announcement.

(d) Applicant's performance on prior award. When the applicant has previously received an award from OJJDP or another Federal agency, the applicant's noncompliance with requirements applicable to such prior award as reflected in past written evaluation reports and memoranda on performance, and the completeness of required submissions, may be considered by the Administrator. In any case where the Administrator proposes to deny assistance based upon the applicant's noncompliance with requirements applicable to a prior award, the Administrator shall do so only after affording the applicant reasonable notice and an opportunity to rebut the proposed basis for denial of assistance.

(e) Applicant's fiscal integrity. Applicants must meet OJP standard of fiscal integrity (see OJP M 7100.1C, par. 24 and OJP HB 4500.2B, par. 48 a and b).

(f) Disposition of applications. On the basis of competition and applicable review procedures completed pursuant to this regulation, the Administrator will either:

(1) Approve the application for funding, in whole or in part, for such amount of funds, and subject to such conditions as the Administrator deems necessary or desirable for the completion of the approved project;

(2) Determine that the application is of acceptable quality for funding, in that it meets minimum criteria, but that the application must be disapproved for funding because it did not rank sufficiently high in relation to other applications approved for funding to qualify for an award based on the level of funding allocated to the program; or

(3) Reject the application for failure to meet the applicable selection criteria at a sufficiently high level to justify an award of funds, or for other reason which the Administrator deems compelling, as provided in the documentation of the funding decision.

(g) Notification of disposition. The Administrator will notify the applicant in writing of the disposition of the application. A signed Grant/Cooperative Agreement form will be issued to notify the applicant of an approved project application.

(h) Effective date of approved grant. Federal financial assistance is normally available only with respect to obligations incurred subsequent to the effective date of an approved assistance project. The effective date of the project will be set forth in the Grant/Cooperative Agreement form. Recipients may be reimbursed for costs resulting from obligations incurred before the effective date of the assistance award, if such costs are authorized by the Administrator in the notification of assistance award or subsequently in writing, and otherwise would be allowable as costs of the assistance award under applicable guidelines, regulations, and award terms and conditions.