15-07 RFP-STAC-CBP Staffers announcement-No Watermark--10 16 2015.pdf

7/1/15 version

AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

TITLE: Chesapeake Bay Program Office Fiscal Year 2015 Request for Proposals for

Chesapeake Bay Program Committees Support

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Request for Proposals (RFP)

RFP NUMBER: EPA-R3-CBP-15-07

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER: 66.466

IMPORTANT DATES

10/22/2015 Issuance of RFP 12/06/2015 Proposal Submission Deadline (see Section IV for more information) 01/29/2016 Approximate date for EPA to notify applicants of results 03/01/2016 Approximate date for applicant to submit federal cooperative agreement application 06/01/2016 Approximate date of award

EPA will consider all proposals that are submitted via Grants.gov by 11.59 p.m. EDT on 12/06/2015. Any proposals submitted after the due date and time will not be considered for funding. No proposals will be accepted by facsimile or e-mail. EPA will only accept proposals submitted via Grants.gov, except in limited circumstances where applicants have no or very limited Internet access (see section IV).

SUMMARY

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) is announcing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for applicants to provide the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partners with a proposal for administrative and technical support to the CBP’s committees within the Partnership’s collaborative decision-making management structure. This RFP is seeking cost-effective proposals from eligible applicants for providing administrative and technical staff support to the CBP Chesapeake Executive Council, Principals’ Staff Committee, Management Board, Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, six Goal Implementation Teams, Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting team, and Communications Workgroup.

Proposals should also include administrative, technical, and coordination support to the non-federal partners and the appropriate CBP technical workgroups for carrying out the stated missions of these committees, teams, and workgroups within the larger CBP management structure.

CBP partners include federal agencies, seven watershed jurisdictions, and many non-federal organizations; however, work funded under this RFP will support the seven watershed jurisdictions and other non-federal partners. The seven watershed jurisdictions are Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

FUNDING/AWARDS: This RFP will cover the project period up to and including six years from an expected start date of 06/01/2016. CBPO plans to award no more than two cooperative agreements under this RFP. The total estimated funding for six years is approximately $6,000,000 to $8,460,000, with an estimated $1,000,000 to $1,410,000 available for the first year and each additional year. There is no guarantee of funding throughout this period or beyond.

FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT

I. Funding Opportunity Description II. Award Information III. Eligibility Information IV. Proposal and Submission Information V. Proposal Review Information VI. Award Administration Information VII. Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information (Appendices)

I: FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Background

1. About the Chesapeake Bay Program The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary. A resource of extraordinary productivity, it is worthy of the highest levels of protection and restoration. Authorized by Section 117 of the Clean Water Act, CBP is responsible for supporting the Chesapeake Executive Council through a number of actions, including the coordination of federal, state, and local efforts to restore and protect living resources and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Section 117 also authorizes EPA to provide assistance grants to support the goals of the program. Pursuant to Section 117(b)(2) of the Clean Water Act, 33 USC 1267 (b)(2), CBPO is the office within EPA charged with providing support to the Executive Council in the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. CBPO and CBP mentioned above are two distinct entities.

CBP is a unique regional partnership that has led and directed the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay since 1983. The CBP partners include the states of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia; the District of Columbia; the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative body; EPA, representing the federal government; and participating citizen, local government, and scientific and technical advisory groups.

The CBP partnership is guided at the direction of the Chesapeake Executive Council (Executive Council), which, through its leadership, establishes the policy direction for the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and exerts its leadership to rally public support for the Bay effort and signs directives, agreements, and amendments that set goals and guide policy for Chesapeake Bay restoration. The Executive Council is established by Section 117 of the Clean Water Act. To ensure implementation of the Executive Council’s Chesapeake Bay Agreements, the CBP partnership has several committees, teams, workgroups comprised of participating partners. The structure and governance of the program will change and evolve over time as a result of the CBP’s application of adaptive management but the current organization includes the following:

The Principals' Staff Committee (PSC) acts as the senior policy advisors to the Executive Council, accepting items for their consideration and approval and setting agendas for Executive Council meetings. The PSC translates the restoration vision by setting policy and implementing actions on behalf of the Executive Council. The PSC also provides policy and program direction to the Management Board.

The Management Board provides strategic planning, priority setting, and operational guidance through implementation of a comprehensive, coordinated, accountable implementation strategy for the CBP. It directs and coordinates all of the goal teams and workgroups under it.

The Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) provides scientific and technical guidance to the Chesapeake Bay Program on measures to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. Since its creation in December 1984, STAC has worked to enhance scientific communication and outreach throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed and beyond.

The CBP partnership also includes two other advisory committees: the Citizens’ Advisory Committee and the Local Government Advisory Committee. Both of these committees are supported under different funding mechanisms.

The six Goal Implementation Teams (GITs), listed below, along with the Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting (STAR) team, include federal and non-federal experts from throughout the watershed. Thus, academic experts, advocacy organizations, and others become active members of the broad restoration partnership. The Management Board can also convene short-term action teams as needed by the CBP partnership to focus on particular issues that are not currently under the purview of the GITs.

The Sustainable Fisheries GIT draws together a diverse group of managers and scientists to improve management and recovery of oysters, blue crab, menhaden, striped bass, and alosines. It focuses on advancing ecosystem-based fisheries management by using science to make informed fishery management decisions that cross state boundaries.

The Habitat GIT seeks to facilitate the implementation of projects that restore and enhance a network of land and water habitats to support priority species and to afford other public benefits, including water quality, recreational uses, and scenic value across the watershed by coordinating the efforts of CBP partners.

The charge of the Water Quality GIT is to evaluate, focus, and accelerate the implementation of practices, policies, and programs that will restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to conditions that support living resources and protect human health.

The goal of the Maintain Healthy Watersheds GIT is to maintain local watersheds at optimal health across a range of landscape contexts.

The charge of the Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship GIT is to increase citizen action, support environmental education for all ages, and assist citizens, communities, and local governments in undertaking initiatives to conserve treasured landscapes.

The charge of the Enhancing Partnering, Leadership and Management GIT is to continually improve the leadership and management of the CBP partnership and assist Bay stakeholders in building their capacity to become environmental leaders in their communities.

The Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting Team works to increase collaboration among science providers to provide monitoring, modeling, and analysis needed to update, explain, and communicate ecosystem condition and change to support the Chesapeake Bay Program’s GITs.

The Communications Workgroup provides support for the communication needs of the CBP partners by spurring public action through consistent messaging, expanded media coverage, use of multimedia and online tools, comprehensive branding and promotion, outreach to stakeholders, and coordinated internal and external communications.

2. 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement On June 16, 2014, the Chesapeake Executive Council, CBP’s governing body, signed a new voluntary Chesapeake Bay agreement (referred to as Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement throughout this RFP) that will guide the CBP partnership’s work into the future. For the first time, Delaware, New York, and West Virginia signed the agreement as full CBP partners in the overall effort. This agreement is one of the most comprehensive restoration plans developed for the Chesapeake region, providing greater transparency and accountability of all CBP partners.

With 10 interrelated goals and 31 outcomes, this watershed-wide accord advances the restoration, conservation, and protection of all the lands and waters within the 64,000-square-mile watershed by promoting sound land use, environmental literacy, stewardship, and a diversity of engaged citizens. Additionally, the goals and outcomes aim to better protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay's living resources, water quality, and vital habitats. The new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement also recognizes the unique and vital role local governments play and how they are essential to the restoration effort.

This cooperative agreement will help fulfill the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement’s sustainable fisheries, vital habitats, water quality, toxic contaminants, healthy watersheds, stewardship, land conservation, public access, environmental literacy, and climate resiliency goals and outcomes.

B. Scope of Work

This RFP is seeking cost-effective proposals from eligible applicants to provide the CBP’s non-federal partners with administrative and technical staff support to the CBP committees, GITs, and workgroups as they work to restore the Chesapeake Bay and meet the goals and commitments contained in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. EPA seeks to support up to two organizations with: 1) The ability to build the capacity of environmental professionals (primarily those just entering the field) to work in a consensus-building committee structure such as the CBP partnership; and/or 2) Experience enhancing multi-partner, consensus-based environmental decision-making in the Chesapeake Bay watershed through the synthesis and application of scientific understanding of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding watershed ecosystems. A single organization with experience in both areas may apply for both activities but in two separate applications, with each application addressing a single activity.

While the CBP partnership is comprised of federal and non-federal partners, any activities funded under this RFP will not directly benefit the federal partners. The recipient of the cooperative agreement awarded under this RFP may work directly with federal agencies, but the nature of the work will only directly benefit the non-federal agencies, partners, and the general public. The non-federal partners of the CBP will provide programmatic direction to the cooperative agreement recipient through the Executive Council, PSC, Management Board, six GITs, STAR, Communications Workgroup, and STAC and their underlying technical workgroups.

CBPO plans to award up to two cooperative agreements to carry out all activities under this RFP.

The estimated funding for $6,000,000 to $8,460,000, with an estimated $1,000,000 to $1,410,000 available for the first year and each additional year.

If your organization has an interest in either activity under this project, has the skills to accomplish the activities, and is eligible to receive a federal assistance agreement as described in Section III of this announcement, we encourage you to submit a proposal. Each eligible proposal will be evaluated using the criteria described in Section V. The activities are multi-year projects (up to six years), and the proposal should have a work plan and budget for the first year and an estimated budget detail for each of the subsequent five years.

Applicants must address each activity for which they are applying in their proposal:

Activity 1: Chesapeake Bay Program Committee Staffing Support Estimated Funding: $700,000-$920,000 per year ($4,200,000 to $5,520,000 over six years)

This activity supports the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership in two ways: It provides administrative and technical staffing support for the CBP partnership's technical, management, and policy committees, GITs, and workgroups; and it increases the capacity, diversity, and development of the state, local, and NGO workforce committed to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. This work will support CBP partnership’s efforts to carry out the work needed to achieve the 10 goals and 31 underlying outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and the 25 management strategies and work plans developed to implement the outcomes. The following are examples of the types of activities required to carry out Activity 1.

Applicants may consider these activities as well as describe alternative approaches to providing the requested support.

Provide professional development for the applicant’s staff hired to carry out this activity through activities such as a variety of group trainings and educational experiences, individual professional experiences, volunteer activities, and by developing and implementing independent projects all of which allow the staffers to support the mission of the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership efficiently and effectively

Provide support to the Chesapeake Bay Program organization (committees, goal implementation teams, workgroups, action teams, etc.) in its effort to meet the goals outlined in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and the supporting Management Strategies by:

Scheduling, organizing, and developing agendas for meetings, conference calls, and webinars;

Producing minutes/summaries of meetings, conference call, and webinars;

Following through on follow-up actions and decisions agreed to during meetings, conference call, and webinars;

Creating content for and maintaining web pages on the CBP partnership’s suite of websites;

Drafting, writing, preparing, and editing reports, documents, presentations, and other narrative and visual forms of communications; and

Conducting special projects as assigned, such as analyzing data, producing GIS maps, developing reports, running model scenarios, etc.

Historically, these staff support positions have been filled by entry-level environmental professionals with environmental, science, and/or government policy backgrounds. Applicants should show that support staff for this activity have strong written and oral communication skills, proficiency with computer software such as Microsoft Office (e.g. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), and the ability to work with social networks and remote meeting technologies. The staffing support should be able to work with a variety of people, interests, and levels of government. The successful applicant should have the ability to work in a fast-paced environment on multiple priorities. In addition to the general skills and knowledge needed for all positions, below are specific areas of emphasis for the various committees, teams, and workgroups. Applicants should describe how they would provide support for these different groups given their unique areas of focus. For more information about the number of workgroups, meeting schedules, missions, and membership of each, refer to http://www.chesapeakebay.net/about.

Management Board (monthly meetings), Principals’ Staff Committee (quarterly meetings), Chesapeake Executive Council (annual meetings) These are units of the CBP partnership management organization for high-level officials that decide priorities, resolve conflicts among partners and remove barriers, and make the policy and budget decisions on ecosystem restoration policy. The applicant support staff should have solid meeting management techniques and diplomacy skills. Understanding how a multi-party governmental partnership makes decisions effectively and sets and achieves goals through collaborative processes is key as is a strong emphasis on summarization, documentation, and record-keeping of collaborative decisions and follow-up actions.

Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team This Goal Implementation Team (GIT) focuses on fisheries management, fisheries ecosystem science and stock assessments, monitoring, and analyses.

Restore Vital Habitats Goal Implementation Team This GIT focuses on ecosystem restoration in habitats such as wetlands, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), fish passage and/or streams, and coordinates with partnerships on brook trout and black duck. Applicants should have an understanding of large complexes of aquatic and terrestrial habitats and or a strong science background

Water Quality Goal Implementation Team This GIT focuses on water quality policy and/or the law of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and the relationship between land use and water quality, particularly as they relates to toxics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment reduction through a variety of pollutant source sectors.

Healthy Watersheds Goal Implementation Team This GIT focuses on protection and conservation approaches and is developing land-use metrics to show changes in land use and impervious cover, developing and collecting best practices to minimize development footprints, and techniques for conserving healthy watersheds and measuring success.

Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team This GIT focuses on public access, land conservation, citizen stewardship, diversity of involved partners and stakeholder, and environmental literacy with an emphasis on natural and social sciences, environmental management, policy, interpretation, education, and planning,. The team works collaboratively with watershed organizations and citizens to solve local environmental issues and develop and deliver environmental education programming.

Enhance Partnership, Leadership and Management Goal Implementation Team This GIT focuses on the development and use of management tools such as adaptive management, decision support tools, performance measurements, and fostering local leadership.

This team is charged with developing and maintaining the governance documents of the CBP and developing evaluation techniques to be used by the CBP.

Scientific and Technical Assessment and Reporting Team

This team focuses on monitoring, modeling, and assessments such as status and trends, and understanding and measuring factors that affect trends. It also provides support to all other teams in understanding and adapting to climate change and resiliency. Applicant support staff should be proficient with data management and analysis, including use of spreadsheets, databases, and graphics software to present results of data analyses. Familiarity with ecological and environmental monitoring programs and analyses is also essential.

Communications Workgroup This workgroup is responsible for the CBP communications to the public and media through press releases and events and the use of social media and web postings. Applicant support staff should have good writing, editing, and communication skills, web writing, and computer skills.

Activity 2: Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee Support Estimated Funding: $300,000-$490,000 per year ($1,800,000 to $2,940,000 over six years)

The CBP partnership’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) provides scientific and technical guidance to the CBP partnership on measures to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed and to enhance the ability of the CBP partnership to make environmentally sound decisions.

STAC continues to be an integral component of the CBP partnership’s collaborative decision-making management structure. The currently 38-member advisory committee includes internationally acclaimed representatives affiliated with major universities and research institutions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed who were appointed by governors, federal agencies, and members of the scientific and technical community.

STAC focuses the Chesapeake Bay watershed and national scientific and technical communities’ expertise towards the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed by:

Setting priorities on scientific and technical issues of direct relevance to resource management decision-making directed toward Bay and watershed restoration and protection;

Evaluating CBP partnership issues and programs from the perspective of scientific integrity;

Providing guidance on scientific research and technical products through independent scientific peer reviews;

Identifying emerging scientific and technical issues and challenges to achieving Bay and watershed restoration and protection goals well before they become mainstream topics of management focus;

Conducting workshops, evaluations, and independent scientific peer reviews to address specific issues of interest to restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed; and

Synthesizing, evaluating, disseminating, and communicating scientific information of direct relevance to restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

The following are examples of the types of activities required to carry out Activity 2. Applicants may consider these tasks as well as describe alternative approaches to providing the requested support.

In support of STAC, the cooperative agreement recipient will carry out the following activities:

Schedule and provide for the full administrative and logistical support to STAC for its quarterly two-day meetings. This support may include developing agendas, lining up speakers and presenters, ensuring delivery of advance briefing and presentation materials, drafting summaries, and posting all relevant meeting materials on the STAC website in a timely manner. The successful applicant will provide this support by identifying emerging issues, assessing performance of CBP activities, and addressing issues brought to the committee by various parts of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership’s management structure.

Directly assist STAC in its efforts to identify, prioritize, and synthesize relevant findings and evaluate possible management implications of emerging scientific and technical issues facing the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and its surrounding watershed.

Provide a full range of administrative and logistical support to STAC in scheduling and conducting its sponsored technical workshops, scientific and technical conferences, workgroups, task forces, evaluations, and independent scientific peer reviews. This includes assisting in the development, review, and publication of proceedings of each of these forums.

Support the continued annual implementation of the established STAC workshops’ protocol from the annual requests to the larger Chesapeake Bay Program partnership for scientific and technical workshops proposals all the way through to receipt of the CBP partnership’s formal responses to findings and recommendations from each proactive and reactive workshop.

Support STAC’s preparation of scientific and technical reports, papers, and synthesizes scientific literature on management- relevant topics.

Support STAC’s convening of rapid-response review teams, scheduling small meetings or assembling expert panels to respond to CBP partnership management requests for scientific review/technical synthesis/evaluation.

Support STAC members in providing direct assistance to individual GITs, STAR, and workgroups on an as requested/as needed basis by providing STAC members expertise directly to GIT, STAR or workgroup deliberations.

Help organize and provide administrative oversight and logistical support for CBP-partnership-requested (and STAC-convened) independent, scientific peer reviews of reports, models, and monitoring programs following established STAC-peer-review procedures.

Assist in the identification and dissemination of scientific research priorities for supporting implementation of the goals and outcomes within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and the supporting management strategies and implementation work plans.

Support the active participation by STAC members in meetings of the CBP’s Executive

Council, PSC, Management Board, CAC, LGAC, GITs, STAR, and workgroups.

On behalf of STAC, interact directly and frequently and coordinate routinely with the chairs and coordinators of CAC, LGAC, PSC, Management Board, GITs, and STAR to stay abreast of the management-relevant emerging-scientific and -technical issues and needs.

Support efforts by STAC to help the CBP partnership to effectively carry out adaptive management as called for in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement by:

o Working to constantly improve the effectiveness of the management programs by helping to design, and evaluate the results of, a process for continually reducing the uncertainty in management strategies;

o Implementing the CBP partnership’s decision framework, including developing detailed predictions of expected future system behavior and responses to management actions based on current scientific understanding of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and it’s watershed; and o Ensuring the continued operation of well-designed monitoring programs that will enable the CBP partnership’s constant assessment of the relative effectiveness of the collective set of management actions taken and use of that information in adaptive management.

Support STAC in ensuring the continued adherence to the CBP/STAC Communication

Protocol and maintain a public record of the results of STAC-sponsored workshops, conferences, evaluations, and peer reviews, and corresponding CBP responses to the resultant findings and recommendations.

Actively maintain and routinely update the STAC website to keep STAC members, CBP partners, and other website users informed about the full array of past, present, and planned STAC activities, including on-going projects, meetings, workshops, reviews, evaluations, and publications as well as STAC’s findings and recommendations reported back to the CBP partnership.

Obtaining Additional Information

For additional background information on the CBP achievements and commitments, see the CBP Partnership’s website located at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/ or call 1-800-YOUR-BAY to receive information by mail.

C. EPA Strategic Plan Linkage & Anticipated Outcomes and Outputs

Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance Agreements,” EPA must link proposed assistance agreements to the Agency’s Strategic Plan.

EPA also requires that grant applicants and recipients adequately describe environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements (see EPA Order 5700.7, Environmental Results under Assistance Agreements, http://www.epa.gov/ogd/grants/award/5700.7.pdf).

1. Linkage to EPA’s Strategic Plan The overall objective of this grant is to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem through increased public awareness and public engagement in addressing water-quality restoration goals and Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. Under EPA’s FY2014–2018 Strategic Plan (see: http://www2.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan), this objective supports Strategic Goal #2: Protecting America’s Waters; Objective 2.2: Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems; specifically, Improve the Health of the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem. The project funded under this announcement must be linkable to these strategic goals.

2. Outputs The term “output” means an environmental activity, effort, and/or associated work product related to an environmental goal and objective that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance agreement funding period. Expected outputs from the project(s) to be funded under this announcement may include the following:

Activity 1:

Increased number of meetings and conference calls scheduled, with the agenda developed and advance briefing materials and presentations posted online with link to CBP web site calendar (http://www.chesapeakebay.net/calendar) within a week of each meeting/conference call.

Increased use of conference calls, webinars and other means of more efficient use of the CBP partnership members’ time in conducting the work of the partnership while maintaining the collaborative decision-making process.

Increased number of milestones listed in the management strategies and annual implementation work plans achieved on time by the CBP partnership.

Activity 2:

Increased number of STAC meetings scheduled, with the agenda developed and advance briefing materials and presentations posted on-line on the STAC web site with link to CBP web site calendar (http://www.chesapeakebay.net/calendar) within a week of each meeting/conference call.

Increased number of STAC-sponsored workshop and conference proceedings published within six months of the original date of the workshop/conference.

Increased number of STAC-sponsored, independent scientific peer review reports published within two months of the original date of the conclusion of the peer review panel.

Increased number of management agency challenges taken on and addressed by STAC through a combination of meetings, workshops, reviews, and/or special teams.

Progress reports and a final report will also be required outputs, as specified in Section VI.C., Reporting, of this announcement.

3. Outcomes The term “outcome” means the result, effect, or consequence that will occur from carrying out an environmental program or activity that is related to an environmental or programmatic goal or objective. Outcomes may be qualitative and environmental, behavioral, health-related, or programmatic in nature but must also be quantitative. They may not necessarily be achievable within an assistance agreement funding period. An example of an outcome under this proposal under Activity 1 is the increased ability by the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership to make collaborative decisions needed to carry out the work required to meeting the goals and outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. Another example under Activity 2 is increased public acceptance of the necessary actions to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed due to higher levels of confidence in the scientific basis of those needed restoration and protection actions.

D. Authorizing Statutes and Regulations

The grant made as a result of this announcement is authorized under the Clean Water Act, Section 117(d). Under Section 117(d) (1) of the Act, EPA has the authority to issue grants and cooperative agreements for the purposes of protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem. This project is subject to the Office of Management and Budget’ (OMB) Uniform Grants Guidance (2 CFR Part 200) and EPA-specific provisions of the Uniform Grants Guidance (2 CFR Part 1500).

II: AWARD INFORMATION

A. Funding Amount and Expected Number of Awards

CBPO plans to award up to two cooperative agreements under this RFP. Total funding for the activity listed above is approximately $1,000,000 to $1,410,000 annually for FY2016 through FY2021, depending on funding availability, satisfactory performance, and other applicable considerations. The total estimated funding for six years is approximately $6,000,000 to

$8,460,000. For the split in funding by activity, see the descriptions of the activities in I.B.

above.

EPA reserves the right to reject all proposals and make no award under this announcement.

EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding becomes available after the original selection is made. Any additional selection for awards will be made no later than six months after the original selection decision.

B. Award Type

Successful applicants will be issued a cooperative agreement as appropriate. A cooperative agreement is an assistance agreement that is used when there is substantial federal involvement with the recipient during the performance of an activity or project. EPA awards cooperative agreements for those projects in which it expects to have substantial interaction with the recipient throughout the performance of the project. EPA will negotiate the precise terms and conditions of “substantial involvement” as part of the award process. Federal involvement may include close monitoring of the recipient’s performance; collaboration during the performance of the scope of work; in accordance with 2 CFR 200.317 and 2 CFR 200.318, as appropriate, review of proposed procurements; reviewing qualifications of key personnel; and/or review and comment on the content of printed or electronic publications prepared. EPA does not have the authority to select employees or contractors employed by the recipient. The final decision on the content of reports rests with the recipient.

For this project, federal involvement would typically be in the form of participation with other CBP partners and stakeholders in an advisory capacity to the grantee. This participation is expected to include involvement through the various CBP Principals’ Staff Committee, Management Board, STAC, Goal Implementation Teams, STAR and related committees and workgroups (on which EPA also participates to ensure that all the recommendations for technical work support the CBP partners). All work conducted is to support the efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

C. Partial Funding

In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund proposals by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund a project, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice the applicant or affect the basis upon which the proposal or portion thereof was evaluated and selected for award and therefore maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

D. Expected Project Period

The expected project period for the cooperative agreement is six years, with funding provided on an annual basis. No commitment of funding can be made beyond the first year. The expected start date for the award resulting from this RFP is 06/01/2016.

E. Pre-Award Costs

Recipients may incur otherwise eligible and allowable pre-award costs up to 90 days prior to award at their own risk without prior approval of EPA’s award official. Pre-award costs must comply with 2 CFR 200.458 and 2 CFR 1500.8. If EPA determines that the requested pre-award costs comply with the relevant authorities, and that the costs are justified as allocable to the project, then these costs may be included as allowable expenditures at the time that the assistance award document is prepared.

However, if for any reason EPA does not fund the proposal or the amount of the award is less than the applicant anticipated, then EPA is under no obligation to reimburse the applicant for these costs incurred. Thus, applicants incur pre-award costs at their own risk. Costs incurred more than 90 days prior to award require the approval of EPA Region 3’s grant official.

III: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Eligible Applicants

Nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, colleges, universities, and interstate agencies are eligible to submit proposals in response to this RFP. For-profit organizations are not eligible to submit proposals in response to this RFP.

B. Cost-Share or Matching Requirements

Pursuant to Clean Water Act 117(d)(2)(A), the agency shall determine the cost-share requirements for awards. The CFDA Number 66.466 states that assistance agreement applicants must commit to a cost-share ranging from five to 50 percent of eligible project costs as determined at the sole discretion of EPA. For this RFP, EPA has determined that an applicant must provide a minimum of five percent of the total cost of the project as the non-federal cost-share. (See Appendix A, Section 3.ii. for more detail)

Cost-share may be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. Involvement from foundations, watershed groups, private sector, eligible governmental, as well as non-conventional partners can help with the match. This match must be met by eligible and allowable costs and is subject to the match provisions in grant regulations. Proposals that do not demonstrate how the five percent match will be met will be rejected.

C. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

Only proposals from eligible entities (see Section III.A above) that meet the following threshold eligibility criteria will be evaluated against the criteria in Section V.B. Applicants must meet the following threshold criteria to be considered for funding. Applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration as a result of the threshold eligibility review will be notified in writing within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

1. Proposals must substantially comply with the proposal submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV of this announcement or else they will be rejected.

Where a page limit is expressed in Section IV with respect to the narrative proposal, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed.

2. In addition, initial proposals must be submitted through www.grants.gov as stated in Section IV of this announcement (except in the limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed for as explained in Section IV) on or before the proposal submission deadline published in Section IV of this announcement.

Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV of this announcement to ensure that their proposal/application is timely submitted.

3. Proposals submitted after the submission deadline will be considered late and deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that it was late due to EPA mishandling or because of technical problems associated with Grants.gov or relevant SAM.gov system issues. An applicant’s failure to timely submit their proposal/application through Grants.gov because they did not timely or properly register in SAM.gov or Grants.gov will not be considered an acceptable reason to consider a late submission. Applicants should confirm receipt of their proposal with James Hargett at Hargett.james@epa.gov (see Section VII, Agency Contact) as soon as possible after the submission deadline—failure to do so may result in your proposal [or application] not being reviewed.

4. The project funded under this announcement must be linked to the strategic goal outlined in Section I.C.1.

5. For a proposal to be considered eligible for funding, substantive project-related work included in the proposal must take place within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which includes portions of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, and all of the District of Columbia.

6. Proposals must show how they will meet the five percent cost-share requirement of Section III.B.

7. Proposals requesting funding for more than $920,000 for the first year or more than $5,520,000 for the full six years for Activity 1, or funding for more than $490,000 for the first year or more than $2,940,000 for the full six years for Activity 2 will be rejected.

8. Proposals must address Activity 1 or Activity 2 listed in Section I.B. in the RFP to be considered. Applicants can apply to address both listed activities, but only in separate proposals each addressing a single activity. A single organization with experience in both areas may apply for both activities but in two separate applications, with each application addressing a single activity. Applicants that address more than one activity in a proposal will be rejected.

9. If a proposal is submitted that includes any ineligible tasks or activities, that portion of the proposal will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the proposal, render the entire proposal ineligible for funding.

IV: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

A. How to Obtain a Proposal Package

Applicants can download individual grant application forms from Grants.gov.

B. Content and Form of Proposal Submission

Each proposal will be evaluated using the criteria referenced in Section V.B. of this announcement. You must submit a single-spaced proposal of up to 15 pages in length by the date and time specified in Section IV.C below. The format for this proposal is contained in Appendix A of this announcement. Review the directions for the preparation of the proposal. Proposals that are not prepared in substantial compliance with the requirements in Appendix A will not be considered for funding and will be returned to the applicant.

The proposal package must include all of the following materials:

1. Standard Form (SF)-424, Application for Federal Assistance – Complete the form.

There are no attachments. Please be sure to include organization fax number and email address in Block 8 of SF-424. Please note that the organizational Dunn and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number must be included on the SF-

424. Organizations may obtain a DUNS number at no cost by calling the toll-free DUNS number request line at 1-866-705-5711 or visiting their website at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

2. SF-424A, Budget Information – Complete the form. There are no attachments. The total amount of federal funding requested for the project period should be shown on line 5(e) and on line 6(k) of SF-424A, the amount of indirect costs should be entered on line 6(j).

The indirect cost rate (i.e., a percentage), the base (e.g., personnel costs and fringe benefits), and the amount should also be indicated on line 22.

3. Narrative Proposal – The format for this proposal is contained in Appendix A of this announcement. Review the directions for the preparation of the proposal.

Requirements for Narrative Proposal — See Appendix A All proposal review criteria in Section V must be addressed in the proposal. The proposal shall not exceed 15 pages in length. Pages refer to one side of a single-spaced, typed page. Font size should be no smaller than 10 and the proposal must be submitted on 8 ½” x 11" paper. Note that the 15 pages include all supporting materials, including budget, budget detail, resumes or curriculum vitae and letters of support. With the exception of documentation of non-profit status, cost-share letters of commitment, and the SF-424, if you submit more than 15 pages, the additional pages will be discarded and will not be reviewed. See Appendix A for additional instructions.

C. Intergovernmental Review

Applicants must comply with the Intergovernmental Review Process and/or consultation provisions of Section 204, Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act, if applicable, which are contained in 40 CFR Part 29. This program is eligible for coverage under Executive Order (EO) 12372, An Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs. An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her state for more information on that state's required process for applying for assistance if the state has selected the program for review. Single Points of Contact can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html. Further information regarding this requirement will be provided if your proposal is selected for funding.

D. Funding Restrictions

Administrative Cost Cap Requirement under Statutory Authority Grantees applying for CBP assistance agreements must adhere to the requirements for “Administrative Costs” under the Clean Water Act, Section 117 (d)(4), which states that administrative costs shall not exceed 10 percent of the annual grant award (annual grant award = federal share plus cost-share). Appendix B: Administrative Cost Cap Worksheet is provided as an example of a method to calculate the 10-percent limitation. You are not required to submit Appendix B with your proposal.

Allowable Costs EPA assistance agreement funds may only be used for the purposes set forth in the grant and must be consistent with the statutory authority for the award. Federal funds may not be used for cost sharing for other federal grants (except where authorized by statute), lobbying, or intervention in federal regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings. In addition, federal funds may not be used to sue the federal government or any other government entity. All costs identified in the budget must conform to the provisions of 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E, Cost Principles. During the grant negotiation, any ineligible costs outlined in the proposal (i.e. lobbying activities) will be excluded in the final grant award.

E. Requirement to Submit through Grants.gov and Limited Exception Procedures

Applicants, except as noted below, must apply electronically through Grants.gov under this funding opportunity based on the grants.gov instructions in this announcement. If an applicant does not have the technical capability to apply electronically through grants.gov because of limited or no internet access, which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials to Grants.gov, the applicant must contact OGDWaivers@epa.gov or the address listed below in writing (e.g., by hard copy, email) at least 15 calendar days prior to the submission deadline under this announcement to request approval to submit their application materials through an alternate method.

Mailing Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Barbara Perkins USEPA Headquarters William Jefferson Clinton Building 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N. W.

Mail Code: 3903R Washington, DC 20460

Courier Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Barbara Perkins Ronald Reagan Building 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Rm # 51267 Washington, DC 20004

In the request, the applicant must include the following information:

Funding Opportunity Number (FON) Organization Name and DUNS Organization’s Contact Information (email address and phone number) Explanation of how they lack the technical capability to apply electronically through

Grants.gov because of 1) limited internet access or 2) no internet access which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials through www.Grants.gov.

EPA will only consider alternate submission exception requests based on the two reasons stated above and will timely respond to the request -- all other requests will be denied. If an alternate submission method is approved, the applicant will receive documentation of this approval and further instructions on how to apply under this announcement. Applicants will be required to submit the documentation of approval with any initial application submitted under the alternative method. In addition, any submittal through an alternative method must comply with all applicable requirements and deadlines in the announcement including the submission deadline and requirements regarding proposal content and page limits (although the documentation of approval of an alternate submission method will not count against any page limits).

If an exception is granted, it is valid for submissions to EPA for the remainder of the entire calendar year in which the exception was approved and can be used to justify alternative submission methods for application submissions made through December 31 of the calendar year in which the exception was approved (e.g., if the exception was approved on March 1, 2015, it is valid for any competitive or non-competitive application submission to EPA through December 31, 2015). Applicants need only request an exception once in a calendar year, and all exceptions will expire on December 31 of that calendar year. Applicants must request a new exception from required electronic submission through Grants.gov for submissions for any succeeding calendar year. For example, if there is a competitive opportunity issued on December 1, 2015 with a submission deadline of January 15, 2015, the applicant would need a new exception to submit through alternative methods beginning January 1, 2015.

Please note that the process described in this section is only for requesting alternate submission methods. All other inquiries about this announcement must be directed to the Agency Contact listed in Section VII of the announcement. Queries or requests submitted to the email address identified above for any reason other than to request an alternate submission method will not be acknowledged or answered.

F. Submission Instructions The electronic submission of your application must be made by an official representative of your institution who is registered with Grants.gov and is authorized to sign…