Letter from US senators to Betsy DeVos, Secretary, US Dept. of Education | August 2, 2018 | Richard J. Durbin, Angus S. King Jr., Tina Smith

"...Dear Secretary DeVos:

We are pleased that the Department of Education is seeking applications from institutions of higher education for grants under the Open Textbooks Pilot (Pilot). At the same time, we have concerns about the Department's implementation to date and plans for making awards. We urge the Department to take additional steps to ensure that its implementation of the Pilot is most effective at achieving savings for students.

On May 2, Frank Brogan, then delegated the duties of Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, provided an update on the Department's implementation of the Pilot. He noted that the Department would soon be publishing a Notice Inviting Public Comment in order to solicit feedback and, presumably, gather expert opinions on the implementation. At some point later, and without clarifying publicly, the Department determined that it would not seek public comment....

We urge the Department to select experts from the OER community as peer reviewers to evaluate grant applications under the Pilot..."