(a) Criteria. Within the limits of available funds, the Secretary may award training grants to carry out those projects which:

(1) Are determined by the Secretary to be technically meritorious; and

(2) In the judgment of the Secretary best promote the purpose of the grant program as authorized by section 472 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 286b-3), the regulations of this part (see §64.1), and address program priorities.

(b) Project period.

(1) The notice of grant award specifies how long the Secretary intends to support the project without requiring the project to recompete for funds. This period, called the project period, will usually be for one to five years.

(2) Generally, the grant will initially be for one year and subsequent continuation awards will also be for one year at a time. A grantee must submit a separate application to have the support continued for each subsequent year. Decisions regarding continuation awards and the funding level of these awards will be made after consideration of such factors as the grantee's progress and management practices, and the availability of funds. In all cases, continuation awards require a determination by the Secretary that continued funding is in the best interest of the Federal Government.

(3) Neither the approval of any application nor the award of any grant commits or obligates the Federal Government in any way to make any additional, supplemental, continuation, or other award with respect to any approved application or portion of an approved application.

(4) Any balance of federally obligated grant funds remaining unobligated by the grantee at the end of a budget period may be carried forward to the next budget period, for use as prescribed by the Secretary, provided a continuation award is made. If at any time during a budget period it becomes apparent to the Secretary that the amount of Federal funds awarded and available to the grantee for that period, including any unobligated balance carried forward from prior periods, exceeds the grantee's needs for that period, the Secretary may adjust the amounts awarded by withdrawing the excess.