What are the novice procedures and how do they apply?
In an effort to broaden the competitive pool of applicants for discretionary grant programs, the Department of Education amended its regulations to encourage first time applicants or novice applicants to apply for funding. This revision does not require every ED program to offer the novice incentive but it does allow ED programs the flexibility to offer the novice incentive where appropriate. Novice applicants will receive either up to five bonus points added to their total grant application score or the program office will conduct a separate grant competition where novice applications would be read apart from applicants with experience as a federal grantee. In order to be considered a novice applicant, the applicant can never have been awarded or participated as a partner in the program for which they are applying and have not been a federal grantee or a partner of a federal grantee in any grant program in the past five years.
