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For purposes of this subpart—

(a) The terms “act,” “Administrator,” "handicapped individual," "nonprofit," and "Regional Commissioner" shall have the same meanings as set forth in § 401.1 of this chapter.

(b) "State" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(c) "State agency" or "State vocational rehabilitation agency" has the same meaning as set forth in § 401.1(v) of this chapter and, in addition, means the Governor of American Samoa and the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

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Under section 4(a) (2) (D) of the act, grants may be made to State vocational rehabilitation agencies and other public and private nonprofit agencies to enable them to develop new programs to recruit and train handicapped individuals to provide them with new career opportunities in the fields of rehabilitation, health, welfare, public safety, and law enforcement, and other appropriate public service employment.

§403.37 Non-Federal funds.

In the case of any project under this subpart for which Federal funds are granted to pay part of the cost, the matching grantee funds may not consist of other Federal funds or of non-Federal funds that are applied to match other Federal funds, except as may be specifically authorized by Congress. No Fed

eral financial assistance may be furnished under this subpart for activities for which payment is made under another part of this chapter, or other authority.

$403.38 Application procedure.

Applications or grants under this program may be made at any time by State vocational rehabilitation agencies or by other public or private nonprofit agencies or organizations. The application shall be made in the form and detail required by the Administrator and shall be submitted to the Regional Commissioner for review for approval. Applicants other than a State vocational rehabilitation agency shall secure prior consultation and assistance from the appropriate State vocational rehabilitation agency or agencies in the development of their proposals and the preparation of their applications. If the applicant is an organization or agency other than a State vocational rehabilitation agency, the application must have prior approval of the appropriate State vocational rehabilitation agency or agencies before submittal to the Regional Commissioner for approval.

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The application shall (a) describe the organization that will conduct the activities, indicating the nature and scope of its public service programs; (b) describe the specific recruitment and training activities to be undertaken for handicapped individuals; (c) provide for qualified and adequate staff, including a project director, to accomplish the purpose of the project; (d) specify the duration of the project; (e) describe supportive services to be provided to handicapped individuals to be served within the project; (f) indicate plans for ensuring that individuals successfully completing the program have an opportunity for appropriate public service employment; (g) indicate the extent to which the occupations for which training is being provided offer possibilities for continuing full-time employment and realizable opportunity for promotion and advancement through structured channels of promotion; (h) assure that no training or instruction shall be provided to any individual for any one course of study for a period longer than 4 years; (i) set forth the proposed budget for the project; (j) contain an agreement to make such reports and to keep such records and accounts as the Administrator

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(a) Projects for new careers for the handicapped may include, but are not limited to, such activities as the following: (1) The provision of training and education which might not otherwise be available to handicapped individuals in need of new occupations; (2) the development of special training programs to enable handicapped individuals to enter public service occupations generally not open to them; (3) the establishment of new jobs or new kinds of jobs either within existing programs or as a part of a new service in a State vocational rehabilitation agency or in another public or private nonprofit public service agency; and (4) the redefinition and restructuring of existing jobs to enable new career opportunities in community and institutional public service programs.

(b) Projects for new careers for handicapped individuals may not include: (1) Construction, alteration, or renovation of buildings except for such minor alteration as might be necessary to eliminate architectural barriers of buildings used for the training or employment of handicapped individuals; or (2) research. § 403.41

Selection of handicapped individuals to be served in projects. Individuals to receive services under this subpart shall be only those individuals who have been determined by the State agency to be handicapped individuals who are suitable for such services. § 403.42 Examples of new career opportunities for the handicapped.

(a) New career opportunities for the handicapped under this subpart may include training and preparation for positions in the fields of rehabilitation, health, welfare, public safety, and law enforcement, and other appropriate public service employment. Such career opportunities may be designed either to provide training in those fields and disciplines leading to professional and other employment within public service agencies, or to develop those skills necessary for subprofessional and other employment within appropriate public service agencies.

(b) New career opportunities for the handicapped may include positions

within State vocational rehabilitation agencies and other public service agencies, and institutions and facilities such as hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, mental health centers, schools, libraries, and courts, which represent either new occupations for handicapped individuals in need of new types of gainful employment or new or redefined subprofessional positions within public service agencies. Such positions may include, but are not limited to, rehabilitation counselor aides, outreach workers, recreation aides, nursing home aides, hospital aides, mental health aides, community health service workers, library aides, school daycare aides, school clerical aides, patrolman aides, juvenile court aides, parole aides, and probation aides.

§ 403.43 Federal financial participation.

(a) Federal financial participation will be available only for those activities approved, and in the amount specified, in the project application.

(b) Federal funds may be used to finance the costs of salaries and related expenses, including travel expenses; necessary supportive services provided to those handicapped individuals being recruited and trained for new career opportunities; training allowances for trainees; training supplies, rental of space; purchase of equipment; and other expenses approved by the Administrator.

(c) Federal financial participation in any single project shall be limited to a maximum of 5 years.

§ 403.44 Project revision.

A revision to an approved project shall be submitted whenever necessary to reflect any material change in the scope of the project or in its operation or administration.

§ 403.45 Grant awards.

All grant awards shall be in writing, shall set forth the amount of funds granted, and shall constitute for such amounts the encumbrance of Federal funds available for such purpose on the date of the award. The initial award shall also specify the project period for which support is contemplated if the activity is satisfactorily carried out and Federal funds are available. For continuation support, grantees must make separate application in the form and detail required by the Administrator.

§ 403.46 Reports.

In the case of any project, a final activity report shall be submitted not later than 90 days following termination of the project. A progress report shall also be submitted with each request for a continuation grant. Fnancial and other reports shall be submitted at the intervals prescribed by the Administrator. All reports shall be submitted to the Regional Commissioner in the form and containing the information specified by the Administrator, with copies to the State Vocational rehabilitation agency if the grantee is other than the State agency.

§ 403.47 Payments.

Payment of the Federal funds for an approved project may be made in advance for estimated costs of operation, or as reimbursement to the grantee and shall be subject to such requirements as the Administrator may establish.

§ 403.48 Interest.

Pursuant to section 203 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-577), a State, as defined in section 102 of that Act, will not be held accountable for interest earned on grant funds, pending their disbursement for program purposes. A State, as defined in the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, section 102, means any one of the several States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, or any agency or instrumentality of a State, but does not include the governments of the political subdivisions of the State. All other grantees must return to the Social and Rehabilitation Service all interest earned on grant funds.

$403.49 Termination.

If for any reason the grantee discontinues an approved project, the grantee shall notify the Regional Commissioner and the State agency in writing, giving the reasons for termination, an accounting of funds granted for the project, and other pertinent information. The grant may be terminated, in whole or part, at any time at the discretion of the Administrator. The grantee, and the State agency, if the grantee is other than the State agency, will be given prompt notice of the termination, including the reasons therefor. Such information shall not affect obligations incurred prior to the termination of the grant. Upon termination or completion

of a project, the proportion of unexpended funds attributable to the Federal grant shall be refunded.

Subpart D-Projects With Industry § 403.60 Terms.

For purposes of this subpart―

(a) The terms "act," "Administrator," "handicapped individual," "Regional Commissioner," and "vocational rehabilitation services" shall have the same meanings as set forth in § 401.1 of this chapter.

(b) "State" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(c) "State agency" or "State vocational rehabilitation agency" has the same meaning as set forth in § 401.1(v) of this chapter and, in addition, means the Governor of American Samoa and the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

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Under section 4(a) (2) (B) of the act, contracts or jointly financed cooperative arrangements may be made with employers and organizations for the establishment of projects which are designed to prepare handicapped individuals for gainful employment in the competitive labor market and under which such individuals may be provided training and employment in a realistic work setting and such other services as are necessary for such individuals to continue to engage in such employment.

§ 403.62 Employers and organizations.

A project may be undertaken only upon execution of a contract or arrangement between the Administrator and an employer or organization. Any industrial, business, or commercial enterprise; labor organization; or employer, industrial, or community trade association; or other agency or organization with the capacity to arrange, coordinate, or conduct training and other employment programs for the handicapped in a realistic work setting, may enter into such contracts or arrangements. Such training and employment programs shall include a planned and systematic sequence of training and instruction in occupational and employment skills, and provide reasonable assurance of gainful employment at the successful termination of such training and instruction,

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Projects with industry may include, but are not limited to, such activities as the following: (a) The provision of onthe-job training for handicapped individuals; (b) the provision of prevocational and other job readiness training for handicapped individuals; (c) such special orientation for supervisors; foremen, and other personnel as might contribute to the training and continuing employment of handicapped individuals; (d) supportive services such as job coaching, basic education, personal adjustment training, and personal and job counseling to assist handicapped individuals to maintain themselves in employment; (e) the recruitment and employment of special placement personnel by employers or organizations to assist in the job placement of additional numbers of handicapped persons; and (f) such other activities as may be necessary to prepare handicapped individuals for competitive employment and to assist them to continue to engage in such employment.

§ 403.64 Application procedure.

(a) An employer or organization desiring to apply for a project for training and employing the handicapped shall consult the State vocational rehabilitation agency for technical advice in the development of the project. In those cases where applicant employers or organizations are located in more than one State and propose to operate a project in more than one State, the applicant shall request technical advice from the Administrator.

(b) Where the proposed project involves activities to be conducted within a single State, the State vocational rehabilitation agency will explore the feasibility of the project. Where the proposed project involves activities to be conducted in more than one State, the Administrator shall conduct, or coordinate in association with the appropriate State agencies, studies of project feasibility.

(c) Where projects involve activities to be conducted in a single State, the application shall be submitted to the appropriate State vocational rehabilitation agency for review and approval, and the State agency shall forward such application to the Regional Commissioner for approval. Approved applications shall be forwarded to the Administrator for exe

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The application shall (1) include a description of the nature and scope of the project activities; (2) provide for qualified and adequate staff to accomplish the purposes of the project; and (3) provide a proposed budget.

§ 403.66 Prior assurances for contracts and arrangements.

Prior to entering into a contract or a cooperative arrangement with an applicant, it will first be determined that there is:

(a) Concurrence with the project by the bargaining agent where there is a collective bargaining agreement applicable to the employer and the occupation;

(b) Reasonable assurance that the wage rate to be set for trainees will not tend to create unfair competitive labor cost advantages nor have the effect of impairing or depressing wage or working standards established for experienced workers for work of a like or comparable character;

(c) No abnormal labor condition such as a strike, a lock-out, or other similar condition, existing with respect to the applicant; and

(d) Reasonable assurance that the State agency will, to the maximum extent practicable, maintain a continuing relationship with the handicapped individuals to be served in the project in order to provide, or ensure the availability of, necessary vocational rehabilitation services and related supportive services. § 403.67

General provisions of contracts and arrangements.

Any contract or arrangement entered into shall, in addition to standard provisions:

(a) Provide for adherence to the terms or conditions of employment prescribed by any applicable Federal, State, or local law;

(b) Provide that determination by competent authority of failure to adhere to the terms or conditions required by subsection (a) of this section shall constitute cause for termination of the contract or arrangement;

(c) Provide that the recruitment, examination, appointment, training, promotion, retention, or any other personnel action with respect to any handicapped individual receiving training or employment, shall be without regard to race, sex, color, creed, age, or national origin, and that violation shall constitute grounds for termination of the contract or arrangement and that the United States shall have a right to seek judicial enforcement of this provision; (d) Provide that trainees shall be compensated for hours spent in production of any goods or services;

(e) Provide that individuals to receive training or employment services under the contract or arrangement will include only those individuals who have been determined by the appropriate State agency to be handicapped individuals who are suitable for such services;

(f) Provide reasonable assurance that handicapped individuals successfully completing the training program will be employed by the employer or within a similar enterprise;

(g) Specify the duration of the project;

(h) Contain an agreement to make such reports and to keep such records and accounts as the Administrator may require, and to make such records and accounts available for audit purposes, and

(i) Contain an agreement to provide such other information as the Administrator may require.

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the extent that such acts are applicable to the trainee; and

(c) Any minimum rate applicable to the trainee and required under any other Federal law, or any State or local law.

The contract or arrangement shall further provide for an increasing rate of payment to trainees if the training program is of such duration that periodic increases are reasonable and if the proficiency of such trainees merits such increases.

§ 403.69 On-the-job training.

The contract or arrangement shall

(a) Provide for methods of instruction, progression of trainees, and size of the training group (including any appropriate combination of individualized or group training), which shall be comparable in duration to other training programs for the particular occupation, and adequate in content to qualify trainees for employment;

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(a) Payments under a contract or arrangement shall be pursuant to the terms thereof and may be made in advance on the basis of estimated costs of operation or by way of reimbursement and shall be subject to such requirements as the Administrator may establish;

(b) The total payments shall not exceed the amount specified in the contract or arrangement. Contracts or arrangements may provide for payment with respect to such items as job training and related supportive services; instruction and supervision of trainees; training materials and supplies, including consumable materials, instructional aids, excessive waste and scrap; bonding fees, liability and insurance premiums; the purchase or modification of equipment adapted to the special capacity of handicapped individuals; such minor altera

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