Purpose and Background 1.00─Purpose and Background
Project Background 6.1.1. Brief description of Contracting Agency’s project background and/or situation leading to this Project
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The partnership proposed by the Cooperator was selected due to merit review evaluations from the 2017 Notice of Funding Opportunity P17AS00037. The Cooperator demonstrated expertise in disciplines and subject areas of relevance to cooperative research and training. The Cooperator met the program interests of NPS with expertise, facilities, experience, diversity of programs, and history of collaborative research projects. The Cooperator helps the NPS-CESU to meet its objectives to: Provide research, technical assistance and education to NPS for land management, and research; Develop a program of research, technical assistance and education that involves the biological, physical, social, and cultural sciences needed to address resources issues and interdisciplinary problem-solving at multiple scales and in an ecosystem context at the local, regional, and national level; and Place special emphasis on the working collaboration among NPS, universities, and their related partner institutions. The CESU network seeks to provide scientifically-based information on the nature and status of selected biological, physical, and cultural resources occurring within the parks in a form that increases its utility for making management decisions, conducting scientific research, educating the public, developing effective monitoring programs, and developing management strategies for resource protection. Studying the resources present in NPS parks benefits the Cooperator’s goal of advancing knowledge through scientific discovery, integration, application, and teaching, which lead toward a holistic understanding of our environmental and natural resources. The Cooperator is a public research university, sharing research, educational, and technological strengths with other institutions. Through inter-institutional collaboration, combined with the unique contributions of each constituent institution, the Cooperator strives to contribute substantially to the cultural, economic, environmental, scientific, social and technological advancement of the nation. The NPS expects there to be substantial involvement between itself and the Cooperator in carrying out the activities contemplated in this Agreement. The primary purpose of this study is not the acquisition of property or services for the direct benefit or use by the Federal Government, but rather to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized the Legislative Authorities in ARTICLE II. This agreement fulfills the Public Purpose of support and economic stimulation for the following reasons: Projects will engage recipients, partners, communities, and/or visitors in shared environmental stewardship. Projects will promote greater public and private participation in historic preservation programs and activities. The project builds resource stewardship ethics in its participants. The information, products and/or services identified or developed by projects will be shared through a variety of strategies to increase public awareness, knowledge and support for historic preservation and stewardship of the nation’s cultural and historical heritage. Projects will support the Government’s objective to provide opportunities for youth to learn about the environment by spending time working on projects in National Parks. The NPS receives the indirect benefit of completing conservation projects. Projects will motivate youth participants to become involved in the natural, cultural and /or historical resource protection of their communities and beyond. Students gain “real world” or hands-on experience outside of the classroom of natural, cultural and/or historical resource projects. The scientific community and/or researchers external to NPS gains by new knowledge provided through research and related results dissemination of natural, cultural and/or historical resource information. Projects assist in the creation, promotion, facilitation, and/or improvement of the public’s understanding of natural, cultural, historic, recreational and other aspects of areas such as ecological conservation areas, and state and local parks. For performance under this cooperative agreement, the regulations set forth in 2 CFR, Part 200, supersedes OMB Circulars A–21 (2 CFR 220), A–87 (2 CFR 225), A–110, and A–122 (2 CFR 230); Circulars A–89, A–102, and A–133; and the guidance in Circular A–50 on Single Audit Act follow–up apply. The Cooperator shall adhere to 2 CFR, Part 200 in its entirety in addition to any terms and conditions of the master agreement not superseded by 2 CFR 200, as well as the terms and conditions set forth in this agreement. In the event of a conflict between the original terms of the master agreement and 2 CFR, Part 200, relating to this task agreement, 2 CFR, Part 200 shall take precedence.
BACKGROUND Purchaser wishes to purchase a Revenue Sharing Note issued by the Company through ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇ (the “Site”).
Targets and Milestones For the purposes of this Access Agreement, the University of Bristol will assess progress in widening participation against a combination of progress measures which, between them, are designed to assess: • The specific impact of a number of key outreach initiatives. • Year on year progress in diversifying our applicant and student population. • Year on year progress in improving conversion of under-represented applicants. Bearing in mind the range of outreach activities which we plan to offer, we intend to measure year on year progress in attracting a wider pool of applicants by focusing particularly on each of the following categories (although additional measures included in our 2012 Agreement have also been retained for continuity of monitoring): • Applicants from low performing schools • Applicants from socio-economic groups 4-7 • Local applicants Progress measures for each of these are provided at Appendix Four. In each case, we have included new measures, to assess improvements in application to intake conversion. As far as possible, measures have been calculated taking account of the expected impact of a number of specific outreach initiatives (the Access to Bristol scheme, summer school programme and personal adviser scheme), each of which also has more detailed performance targets associated with them (also detailed at Appendix Four). Measurement of the University’s intake profile will be focused on the low school performance category, reflecting the role which this plays in our contextual approach to admissions. Measures relating to mature student intake have been included for continuity. The recent decision to grow our undergraduate numbers substantially means that continuing to measure progress in diversifying intake by looking at under-represented groups as a percentage of total intake is no longer meaningful. For each intake-related measure, we have therefore added the number of students which the original percentages might have been expected to deliver. Monitoring against these numbers will give a more accurate picture of progress. All progress measures have been informed by more detailed analysis of progress against the institutional milestones detailed in Appendix Two and will be re-calculated annually to reflect assessment of our progress to date. In addition, it should be noted that we intend to carry out further research, for example, to better understand the impact of educational standards in the Bristol area on our ability to progress at the specified rates; we may need to adjust the progress measures contained in this agreement for future years to reflect the findings.