NOAA-NOS-ORR-2021-2006620 NOFO Report.pdf

FY2021 Marine Debris Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 3

A. Program Objective 3 B. Program Priorities 4 C. Program Authority 8

II. Award Information 8 A. Funding Availability 9 B. Project/Award Period 9 C. Type of Funding Instrument 10

III. Eligibility Information 10 A. Eligible Applicants 10 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 11 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 12

IV. Application and Submission Information 13 A. Address to Request Application Package 13 B. Content and Form of Application 13 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 21 D. Submission Dates and Times 22 E. Intergovernmental Review 23 F. Funding Restrictions 23 G. Other Submission Requirements 24

V. Application Review Information 25 A. Evaluation Criteria 25 B. Review and Selection Process 30 C. Selection Factors 32 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 33

VI. Award Administration Information 33 A. Award Notices 33 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 33 C. Reporting 39

VII. Agency Contacts 39 VIII. Other Information 39

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 39

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: FY2021 Marine Debris Research

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NOS-ORR-2021-2006620

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.999, Marine Debris Program

Dates: ATTENTION: The FY2021 Marine Debris Research competition will have a pre-proposal requirement (hereafter described as Letter of Intent; LOI). Please note the competition's early submission deadline for this requirement.

This funding opportunity requires a Letter of Intent to be submitted for competitive review before a full proposal can be submitted. LOIs must be received via email as an attachment (to grants.marinedebris@noaa.gov) no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, November 5, 2020. If invited per the instructions in this announcement, full proposals must then be submitted through and validated by Grants.gov on or before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, February 8, 2021. Due to limited staffing of federal offices due to the ongoing pandemic, hardcopy LOIs or full applications will not be accepted.

Funding Opportunity Description: The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP), authorized in the Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1951-1958), provides funding to support eligible organizations to conduct research directly related to marine debris through field, laboratory, and modeling experiments. NOAA MDP invites applications for research that investigates and identifies the critical input pathways for marine debris introduction into the coastal zone (shoreline or nearshore), including evaluation of appropriate simultaneous pathways of riverine transport downstream, surface runoff, stormwater discharge, and wind-driven transport, and degradation and fragmentation of debris during transport. Projects should be original, hypothesis-driven projects that have not previously been addressed to scientific standards. Successful proposals through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. Funding of up to $2,000,000 is expected to be available for Marine Debris Research grants in Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21). Typical awards will range from $150,000 - $300,000. Funding for this grant competition comes through the NOAA Marine Debris Program as annual or supplemental appropriations to the Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 2 of 39

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

Marine debris is defined as "any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes" (15 C.F.R. § 909.1). Marine debris can include land-based solid waste items such as plastic bags, cigarette butts, foam take-out containers, or balloons, as well as ocean-based items such as derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels. Marine debris is primarily the result of human actions such as ineffective or improper waste management, dumping and littering, or storm water runoff.

Fishing gear may be lost from storms or accidents and become marine debris. There are many adverse impacts from marine debris, including wildlife injury and death from entanglement or ingestion, exposure to toxic chemicals which attach to or are in plastics, habitat destruction, vessel damage, and economic loss to tourism, fisheries and maritime activities.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP), a division of the Office of Response and Restoration, leads national efforts to address marine debris. The mission of the NOAA MDP is to investigate and prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris. A principal objective of the NOAA MDP in carrying out this mission is to provide financial and technical assistance to organizations with the expertise to successfully develop and execute marine debris research projects that will improve our understanding of marine debris impacts. This includes evaluating the input pathways for marine debris introduction into the coastal zone (shoreline or nearshore) and degradation and fragmentation of debris during transport.

A second objective of the NOAA MDP is to promote scientific application of marine debris research results through collaboration with diverse entities and groups. These include partnerships with public and nonprofit organizations, citizen and watershed groups, anglers, boaters, industry (e.g. commercial and recreational fishing industries, aquaculture industry, fishing gear manufacturers, other marine industries, and plastic and waste management industries), corporations and businesses, youth groups, students, landowners, academics, and local and state government agencies. For this solicitation, consideration of local and state government natural resource and/or waste management objectives with respect to marine debris issues is encouraged as is the communication and dissemination of research findings to relevant industry and management agencies.

The priorities for this opportunity described below support NOAA's Mission to protect, Notice of Federal Funding Page 3 of 39 restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management. This opportunity supports NOAA's commitment to conduct science that benefits living marine resources and navigation safety, as well as NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social, and environmental needs.

Additionally, the priorities of this opportunity also address the 2021-2025 MDP Strategic Plan research goal of supporting the scientific community to improve global understanding of marine debris. At the time of publication of this announcement, the 2021-2025 MDP Strategic Plan is currently under development; MDP’s most current Strategic Plan documents can be found at https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/who-we-are.

B. Program Priorities

The overarching goal of this funding opportunity is to advance the state of marine debris science by funding hypothesis-driven research projects in order to enhance natural resource and/or waste management objectives. This goal will be achieved through rigorous, scientific inquiry of the research priorities described in this section.

The highest program priority is for research that investigates and identifies the critical input pathways (in your study area) for marine debris introduction into the coastal zone (shoreline or nearshore), including evaluation of appropriate simultaneous pathways of riverine transport downstream, surface runoff, stormwater discharge, and wind-driven transport.

Secondary to the pathways, fate and transport priority is a complementary research track that investigates the fragmentation and degradation of marine debris and the effect that fragmentation and degradation have on fate and transport. Here, fragmentation is defined as a change in particle size or mass often resulting from abrasion and wave action but also degradation. Degradation is the chemical breakdown of the polymers with consequent change in particle appearance and physical properties, material properties, and loss of molecular weight which mainly occurs via solar UV-radiation and photo-oxidation reactions.

The following sections describe the research priority for this grant competition in more detail.

Understanding the transport and transformations of marine debris along various pathways is essential for managing this global issue. Rivers and tributaries serve as major transport pathways for all sizes of plastic debris into the ocean and Laurentian Great Lakes with global estimates varying between 0.4–2.75 million tonnes of plastic per year (Baldwin et al. 2016, Lebreton et al. 2017, Schmidt et al. 2017, 2018). Stormwater systems and direct deposition by beachgoers also serve as significant transport pathways of marine debris to the coastal zone, with greater concentrations of debris near stormwater sources and on beaches that are

Notice of Federal Funding Page 4 of 39 more easily accessed (Willis et al. 2017). Even so, very few studies have examined the relative contributions of various transport pathways to coastal zone marine debris (but see Willis et al. 2017) and few studies have addressed marine debris types beyond plastic.

Further complicating the issue is a lack of understanding regarding how biofouling and the physical properties of various types of marine debris affect its fate and transport and lead to variable fragmentation and degradation processes. There is scant literature on plastic fragmentation and degradation rates under various environmental conditions (review by Chamas et al. 2020), and even less so for rates as debris moves along transport pathways (but see Williams and Simmons 1996). As illustrated above, a critical data gap remains for contributions of marine debris from various sources and pathways and the corresponding fate, transformation, and transport of this debris across environmental compartments and debris size classes which would inform a mass balance equation of marine debris inputs and sinks in the environment (Law 2017, Strafella and Gomiero 2018). Of particular concern are larger items (> 5mm) found floating on the surface of rivers and in stormwater which may fragment and degrade during transport processes and could be intercepted before finding their way to coastal environments (Kataoka and Nihei 2020).To begin addressing this data gap, a holistic approach should be employed to analyze debris contributions from across all size distributions and material types from as many sources and known pathways as possible.

Such studies will help us to better quantify the extent of the issue and evaluate management options to alleviate marine debris upstream and ultimately, at the source. A reference list for the citations mentioned above can be found here: https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/proposal-submission-guidance-applicants

This competition calls for research that will advance our understanding of the fate and transport pathways of marine debris and the variable processes of degradation and fragmentation that may occur during transport. Projects that consider both aspects of this priority (see A & B below), will receive higher consideration during proposal evaluation.

A. PATHWAYS, FATE, AND TRANSPORT OF MARINE DEBRIS FROM UPSTREAM

TO MARINE AND FRESHWATER COASTAL ZONES:

Fate and transport proposals should consider the following:

a. Research should characterize all types of marine debris material present across the spectrum of size classes observed in the study location (e.g., not just plastic or microplastic).

While microplastic-specific proposals will be considered, our preference is for projects that cover all sizes of debris, which will provide a more holistic understanding of the issue, and corresponding evaluation of management options.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 39

b. Studies will likely be a combination of field sampling and observations, mesocosm experiments, laboratory experiments and/or modeling and will provide direct quantitative measurements of the individual contributions of said pathways in the hopes of guiding management action. Studies should clearly address the following:

i. identification of the transport pathways under consideration (e.g., river, stormwater outfall or discharge points, runoff, treated wastewater) and when possible, source identification (e.g., street littering, illegal dumping, specific points of leakage, etc.)

ii. estimation of marine debris loadings from individual pathways to the coastal zone

iii. documentation of the distribution of size classes (from micro to mega) and material type (i.e., not only plastic) being transported

iv. amount of partitioning (if any) across the pathway (i.e., surface, midwater, sediments) and contribution of biotic activity (if any) to this partitioning

c. Although studies of fate and transport of marine debris at a global scale will be considered, priority will be given to those studies working within a regional or local context (i.e., a defined watershed, local water management district). Applications should provide justification of the locality selection.

d. If shoreline monitoring will be a component of the study, priority will be given to those projects that use MDMAP standing stock monitoring protocols (https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/research/marine-debris-monitoring-and-assessment-project).

e. Priority will be given to those projects that link the proposed work to a specific management plan, management objective (e.g., source reduction, trash capture, etc.) or if collaboration with local policy makers is pursued. Letters of support from management agencies are helpful in demonstrating these linkages and overall support for the project.

B. FRAGMENTATION AND DEGRADATION

This secondary research track is intended to be complementary to the pathways, fate and transport priority and not a stand alone priority. Fragmentation and degradation work should consider the following:

a. Research should characterize all types of marine debris material present across the

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 39 spectrum of size classes observed in that location (e.g., not just plastic or microplastic).

While microplastic-specific proposals will be considered, our preference is for projects that cover all sizes of debris, which will provide a more holistic understanding of the issue, and corresponding evaluation of management options.

b. Studies will likely be a combination of field sampling and observations, mesocosm experiments, laboratory experiments and/or modeling and will provide direct quantitative measurements of degradation or fragmentation rates during transport in the hopes of guiding management action. Studies should clearly identify the following:

i. mechanisms, processes and timescales of fragmentation (if any) during transport (mega to macro to micro)

ii. how biotic activity, photodegradation, temperature and mechanical weathering operate collectively to fragment debris during transport

c. Priority will be given to those projects that link the proposed work to a specific management plan, management objective (e.g., source reduction, trash capture, etc.), or if collaboration with local policy makers is pursued. Letters of support from management agencies are helpful in demonstrating these linkages and overall support for the project.

Applicants should keep in mind the need for the project to answer discrete, well-defined and articulated research questions about the proposal’s chosen priority area(s). Successful applicants will be those with clearly defined goals, well-articulated research questions and hypotheses, relevant and established methods to fulfill hypothesis-testing requirements including necessary statistical analyses, and thorough data analysis, including assessment of results in relation to the current scientific literature and broader impacts. All proposals should provide a rationale for the sources, pathways, and geographic region of interest.

Proposals are encouraged to involve collaboration among research sectors (e.g., academia, non-governmental organizations, and industry), and engagement with local or state natural resource and/or waste management agencies.

All proposed research projects will be evaluated based on the criteria outlined in Section V.A. Projects that consider the pathways, fate and transport of all marine debris material types (not just plastic) and sizes (not just microplastic) will receive higher priority.

Projects that solely characterize the distribution of marine debris in the environment are not a focus of this grant competition and will receive lower priority. Projects with a primary emphasis solely on microplastic or nanoplastic are not a focus of this grant competition and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 7 of 39 will receive lower priority. Projects with a primary emphasis on the development of methodologies for sampling marine debris in the environment are not a focus of this grant competition and will receive lower priority. Because funding is limited, proposals requesting support for large equipment purchases, to expand an organization's day-to-day administrative or program management activities or to support strictly administration, salaries, overhead, and travel without being part of a specific project will be a low priority. If a project requires funding for large equipment purchases, the application should provide a lease versus purchase justification, identify how the overall project will continue into the future and how any equipment operation and maintenance costs will be paid for beyond the award period.

Projects that duplicate those that the NOAA MDP currently supports or those that have been funded by NOAA, partner organizations, and/or other federal agencies may not receive priority.

Applications addressing other types of pollution not fitting the definition of marine debris provided in Section I.A. are not priorities for this solicitation and may not be considered.

The NOAA MDP may prioritize projects implementing activities that fit into any existing national or regional programs, state/local priorities, or strategic plans to address marine debris (e.g. the Great Lakes Marine Debris Action Plan, the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan, the Hawai’i Marine Debris Action Plan, the Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan, the Florida Marine Debris Reduction Plan, the California Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Regional Action Plan, the Southeast Marine Debris Action Plan, the Gulf of Maine Marine Debris Action Plan, the Washington Marine Debris Action Plan, the National Estuary Program or NOAA Habitat Focus Area sites, etc.) and describe how they do so. Regional plans can be found on the MDP website at https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/emergency-response-guides-and-regional-action-plans.

Applicants should also note that the following activities, in general, will not be considered for use of federal dollars under project awards: (1) activities that constitute legally required mitigation for the adverse effects of an activity regulated or otherwise governed by local, state, or federal law; (2) activities that constitute restoration for natural resource damages under federal, state, or local law; and (3) activities that are required by a separate consent decree, court order, statute, or regulation.

C. Program Authority

Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1951-1958)

II. Award Information

Notice of Federal Funding Page 8 of 39

A. Funding Availability

Funding of up to $2,000,000 is expected to be available for this grant solicitation. The actual funding amount available is contingent upon the availability of Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations. The NOAA MDP does not plan to fund proposals with a total project budget of less than $75,000 or more than $350,000 under this solicitation. Typical project awards range from $150,000 to $300,000.

The NOAA MDP anticipates that between 2 and 5 awards will be made under this solicitation. The exact amount of funds to be awarded and the number of awards made will be at the discretion of NOAA following pre-award negotiations with those applicants recommended for funding. At NOAA's discretion, additional funding may be awarded above the $350,000 limit to allow for effective completion of proposed project objectives. NOAA may request that any highly ranked applications from the same applicant combine all or parts of its proposals into one award. Publication of this opportunity does not obligate NOAA to award any specific project or obligate all or any part of available program funds. Awards may include funding from other programs or agencies. There is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to make awards for any or all proposals. The number of awards to be made under this solicitation will depend on the number of eligible applications received, the amount of funding requested by recommended applicants, the merit and ranking of the proposals, and the amount of funds made available to the NOAA MDP by Congress.

B. Project/Award Period

Applications should cover a project period of performance of up to three years in duration. The earliest anticipated start date for awards will be September 1, 2021. Applicants should consider this date when developing plans for initiating proposed project activities.

Applicants selected to receive funding may be asked to modify the project start date to accommodate any delays in federal appropriations. The project start date should fall on the first day of any given month and the project end date should end on the last day of any given month. Applications for renewal or supplementation of previously-awarded NOAA MDP projects are allowed, however any proposal to continue work on an existing project must submit an application as described in this announcement and will be subject to the competitive process and will not receive preferential treatment. In some cases NOAA may fund a project with incremental funding, usually in the form of a multi-year award. If incremental or multi-year funding is awarded, in which NOAA only obligates funds initially for the first phase of a project, NOAA has no obligation to provide any additional prospective funding in connection with that award in subsequent time periods; additional funding is contingent upon satisfactory performance, continued relevance to program mission and priorities, and the availability of funds.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 39

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Selected applications will be funded through cooperative agreements since NOAA staff will be substantially involved in aspects of the project. Substantial involvement may include, but is not limited to, activities such as engagement with recipient on environmental compliance requirements, hands-on technical collaboration or permitting assistance, support in developing and/or reviewing study approach, methodologies and conceptual models, tracking project progress through site visits, regular conference calls, and progress report evaluation and milestone approval, developing performance measures to assess project outcomes, reviewing manuscript drafts, and support in developing and disseminating public-facing communication materials or events to highlight marine debris research activities.

Marine debris research activities funded through this competition may have long-term planning goals and objectives common to the programmatic needs of both NOAA and the recipients. As such, NOAA may seek to maintain a long-term partnership with recipients by establishing cooperative agreements in relevant situations as "institutional awards". If a cooperative agreement is established as an institutional award, the initial cooperative agreement will be established for no more than three years and NOAA may issue new cooperative agreements to the recipient for similar or related activities through a non-competitive selection process.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

As outlined in the Marine Debris Act, eligible applicants are state, local, tribal, and territory governments whose activities affect research or regulation of marine debris and any institution of higher education, nonprofit organization, or commercial (for-profit) organization with expertise in a field related to marine debris. Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. Interested federal agencies may collaborate with eligible applicants but may not receive funds through this competition.

All projects must take place within the United States or territories or their adjacent waterways. Foreign organizations and foreign public entities are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant but can be involved as project partners.

NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of veterans, minority-serving institutions, and entities that work in underserved areas. The NOAA MDP encourages proposals from, or involving any of the above types of institutions.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 39

Applications that have been submitted to other NOAA grant programs or as part of another NOAA grant may be considered under this solicitation. Applicants should indicate if the proposal has been submitted elsewhere for funding as described in the Budget Justification referenced in Section IV.B. of this announcement.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

The Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. § 1951-58) requires NOAA MDP’s grant programs to leverage their federal grant funding with non-federal cost share or match. Applicants often satisfy this requirement by developing and including public and private partnerships, as well as cash and third party in-kind contributions, to accomplish the overall project objectives.

Applicants must provide a minimum 1:1 ratio of non-federal matching contributions to NOAA funds requested to conduct the proposed project. In addition to required cost sharing, the NOAA MDP encourages applicants to leverage additional investment where possible.

"Cost share" or "match" is defined by 2 C.F.R. 200.29 as "the portion of project costs not paid by federal funds (unless otherwise authorized by federal statute)." Any shared costs or matching funds and all contributions, including cash and third party in-kind contributions, will be accepted as part of an applicant's cost sharing or matching when the contributions meet the criteria listed in 2 C.F.R. 200.306. Matching funds may come from a variety of public and private sources and may include goods and services from the applicant or third parties (e.g., private boat use, existing equipment, volunteer labor, etc.). In addition, applicants are permitted to combine contributions for allowable costs from non-federal partners when they meet the criteria in Section 200.306, such as not being contributed as match for other projects, and being available within the project period stated in the application. Section 200.306 also describes the valuations to attribute to the matching contributions. Federal contributions cannot be used as match without a specific legal authority, but can be described in the budget narrative to demonstrate additional leverage or partnership. Applicants may also choose to designate part or all of their federally-negotiated indirect costs as match. Refer to Section IV.F.2. "Indirect Costs".

If the match requirement cannot be met, the Marine Debris Act allows the NOAA Administrator to waive all or part of the matching requirement if the applicant can demonstrate the following:

1) no reasonable means are available through which applicants can meet the matching requirement, and

2) the probable benefit of such a project outweighs the public interest in such matching requirements.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 11 of 39

Applicants wishing to waive all or part of this competition’s match requirement should request a waiver in the Budget Narrative section of the application package being submitted.

Match waiver requests must justify the need for the waiver, describe attempts to obtain sources of matching funds, and explain how the benefit of the project outweighs the public interest in providing match, along with any other extenuating circumstances preventing the incorporation or local availability of matching contributions. In certain cases, if circumstances warrant, match waivers may also be negotiated post-award at NOAA’s discretion.

In accordance with 48 U.S.C. 1469a and the Marine Debris Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1951-58, NOAA has determined that any requirement for local matching funds less than $200,000 (including in-kind contributions) to be provided by territorial applicants from American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be waived, notwithstanding any other provision of law. Any matching funds otherwise required by law to be provided by government entities of the above-mentioned insular areas may be waived at the discretion of NOAA.

Applicants should note that cost sharing is an evaluation criterion (See Section V.A.

"Evaluation Criteria") for this funding opportunity. As such, if available, the inclusion of matching contributions is encouraged. Please note within the proposal whether cash or third party in-kind contributions have been secured at the time of application, or if such contributions are still pending.

Applicants whose proposals are selected for funding will be bound by the cost share amount reflected in the award document signed by the NOAA Grants Officer. Successful applicants should carefully document cost sharing, including but not limited to, the estimated value of services and/or resources provided by the applicant’s organization or a third party (e.g., real property, equipment, supplies and expendable goods) as well as facilities and administration costs. Letters of commitment for any secured matching contributions expected for an award should be submitted as an attachment to the application.

The Marine Debris Act also allows the NOAA Administrator to authorize, as appropriate, the non-federal share of the cost of a project to include money paid pursuant to, or the value of any in-kind service performed under, an administrative order on consent or judicial consent decree that will remove or prevent marine debris. See 33 USC 1952(d)(3).

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

For activities conducted under an award funded through this competition, recipients of financial assistance from the NOAA MDP involved in the collection, assessment, oversight, or interpretation of scientific information are required to adhere, to the best of their ability, to the principles, policies and codes of conduct identified in NOAA’s Policy on Scientific

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 39

Integrity (NOAA Administrative Order 202-735D), which is available at:

http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/administrative_orders/chapter_202/202-735- D.html

The intent of the policy is to strengthen widespread confidence (from scientists, decision-makers, and the general public) in the quality, validity, and reliability of NOAA-funded science. Further information on this policy can be found at:

https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-202-735d-scientific-integrity.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Complete application packages, including required federal forms, general instructions, and supplementary instructions specific to the Fiscal Year 2021 Marine Debris Research grants competition, can be found on Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). If the application forms and instructions cannot be downloaded from Grants.gov, please contact Tom Barry (tom.barry@noaa.gov, 202-870-2863).

B. Content and Form of Application

LETTER OF INTENT

Applicants must submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) and receive an invitation from the NOAA MDP before submitting a full proposal. LOIs must be submitted as an email attachment to grants.marinedebris@noaa.gov by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 5, 2020 (see Section IV.D. below). Please put “FY2021 Marine Debris Research Letter of Intent (LOI)” in the email subject heading. Do not direct questions to this email address (see Section VII below). An email confirmation will be sent indicating successful submission of the LOI. If no confirmation email is received, that is an indication that the LOI submission was not successful and will not be reviewed. In such cases please contact NOAA MDP to resolve the issue. For this reason, it is highly recommended that LOIs are submitted early.

Applicants must follow the LOI and full application requirements stated in the funding announcement, or they may not be considered. The LOI submission is a critical step to determine if proposed projects are well-suited for this specific competition. The goal of the LOI is to streamline the proposal review process by inviting full applications only from those applicants whose projects are most likely to support NOAA’s implementation of the Marine Debris Act through research focused on the outlined priorities, and for NOAA MDP to be able to provide feedback and guidance on invited application ideas.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 13 of 39

The LOI must be no more than two (2) pages in length. It should be single-spaced, using 11-or 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, with one-inch margins, and should provide a concise description of the proposed work and its relevance to the competition’s priorities. A third page may be submitted showing only project site maps, diagrams and/or photographs.

If the LOI is incomplete, does not meet the guidelines above, or is submitted late, it may not be considered. Those applicants invited to submit a full proposal will receive an email notification containing feedback and full-proposal submission instructions from NOAA MDP. NOAA MDP may limit the number of full applications invited in order to manage the review workload.

The LOI must contain the following information:

A. Project Title B. Lead PI and confirmed Co-PI names, department(s), institution(s), phone number(s), and email address(es). The Lead PI must be listed as the point of contact, not the institution's sponsored research representative. Also list additional confirmed participating organizations.

If there is participation from veterans, minority-serving institutions, and/or entities that work in underserved areas, please indicate that here.

C. The submitting institution's name.

D. A project synopsis that describes the proposed research activities and contains the following:

a. Statement of need (outline the conceptual advancements of the research as well as expected significance of the project)

b. State the hypothesis (or hypotheses) to be tested (or specific research questions to be asked)

c. Methods: Summarize the proposed research design/approach, including study location(s), and plans for data analysis

d. Explain how results will be useful to the scientific community at large E. Summarize how the proposed work links to a specific management plan or management objective (e.g., waste reduction or trash capture), or describe how collaboration with local policy makers will transpire F. Brief project timeline G. Approximate cost estimate (total, not itemized)

a. Federal ask

b. Anticipated non-Federal match

FULL PROPOSAL (only if invited)

Notice of Federal Funding Page 14 of 39

Applicants may only submit a full proposal if invited to do so by NOAA. Applicants are required to apply through the Grants.gov website. No hardcopy applications will be accepted due to limited staff presence in federal offices due to the ongoing pandemic.

Please visit http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/proposal-submission-guidance-applicants for helpful information on developing and submitting proposal documents/information.

Applicants are also encouraged to minimize the number of files uploaded to an application by combining the proposal’s files as much as possible. Adobe PDF is the preferred file format for all application attachments.

Applications must adhere to page limits and any pages that exceed the limit for each section may not be reviewed. Files that cannot be opened or downloaded will not be reviewed. Full proposals will not be accepted if sent via fax or email.

Application documents must use 11- or 12-pt font on an 8.5” x 11” page size.

Applications should be sufficiently detailed in accordance with the guidelines and information requirements listed below and elsewhere in this announcement, and proposed activities should be able to be completed within the proposed period of performance. Each full proposal application must contain the following required federal application forms (available from Grants.gov) and adhere to page limits indicated for each category, unless otherwise noted below:

- SF-424 - Application for Federal Assistance

- SF-424A - Budget Information, Non-construction Programs

- SF-424B - Assurances, Non-construction Programs

- CD-511 - Certifications Regarding Lobbying

- SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities: (if applicable)

- Cover Sheet (described below, 1 page or less);

- Project Description (described below, 15 pages or less);

- Data Sharing Plan (described below, 2 pages or less);

- Budget Narrative (described below, 4 pages or less, and include a budget table);

- Curriculum vitae or résumé of each of the primary project personnel;

- Maps with site location(s) highlighted, where applicable;

- Letter(s) documenting partner and management support; and

- Indirect cost rate agreement, if applicable (no page limit); and

- Other relevant attachments important to the overall understanding and evaluation of the proposed project, such as summaries of regional marine debris action plans, or documentation about any permits necessary to perform the project (20 pages or less).

Notice of Federal Funding Page 15 of 39

The following sections describe the proposal’s content requirements:

1) Cover Sheet (1 page or less):

a) Project Title;

b) Principal Investigator and Co-PI Information: Name, Organizational/ Institutional affiliation, Physical Address, Telephone Number and Email Address.

c) Project Overview: Briefly describe the objectives of the research project, methods to be utilized and potential for advancing the state of marine debris science, and broader impacts/benefits to marine resources and society.

d) Project Location: Please indicate the State or general geographic area where the project will take place.

e) Budget and Duration: approximate Federal funds requested, non-Federal match anticipated, and project duration (in months).

2) Project Description (15 pages or less)

When writing the Project Description, applicants should understand the components of the evaluation criteria (see Section V. A. "Evaluation Criteria" in this announcement), as they explain how proposals will be scored for the application to be competitive. The Project Description may not exceed 15 pages. Figures, tables, and other visual materials such as conceptual models and photographs are included in the 15-page limitation. URLs that provide supporting information should not be used. The Project Description should clearly describe the work to be undertaken and must include:

a) Introduction: A summary of the current understanding of the state of marine debris science (as it relates to the research priority) that establishes the context of the work being proposed. Please discuss how the proposed work relates to the current state of marine debris knowledge, the scientific significance, as well as how the project will make broader contributions to the field. Include the transport pathway(s) to be addressed (i.e., riverine, storm water) and whether fragmentation or degradation will be examined, as well as a justification for the chosen study area/region of interest.

b) Hypothesis or Research Question: A clearly stated hypothesis or research question that directly addresses natural resource and/or waste management objectives in the specified region.

c) Methods and Study Area: An outline of the experimental or sampling design including

Notice of Federal Funding Page 16 of 39 a clear, concise outline of methods, procedures, and activities to be performed as well as a description of the study site(s), and the qualitative or statistical analyses to be used. For the pathways, fate and transport priority, please describe how the watershed or study region is delineated and why it was chosen. Also describe the specific approach that will be implemented to evaluate and enumerate the contribution of marine debris from the watershed to the nearshore or coastal environment. For the fragmentation and degradation priority, please describe the primary mechanisms for fragmentation and degradation in your study area and the specific approach for evaluating and enumerating the rate of fragmentation and degradation occurring during transport to the nearshore or coastal environment.

d) Expected Results: Describe potential outcome measures that will be used to track the success of the project. Research outcome measures may include (but are not limited to) the following:

i. A description of how the proposed project will advance knowledge in the field of marine debris particularly natural resource and/or waste management decisions;

ii. Potential benefits the research may have on living marine resources, habitats, and society;

iii. Anticipated submission of a manuscript(s) to a peer-reviewed, scientific journal;

iv. Identification of appropriate management/regulatory actions to be taken in response to the identified pathways of marine debris;

v. Lessons learned - identification of critical themes that may (or may not) be exportable to other situations; and

vi. Communication strategy for informing appropriate stakeholders, including presentations at appropriate scientific and management venues, engagement with non-scientific communities, etc.

e) References Cited: This section should include all references to source materials cited within the Introduction and Methods sections. Please follow any accepted scholarly format for citations that includes authors’ names, year of publication, article and journal (or chapter and book) title, volume number, and page numbers. The Reference Cited section is not included in the 15-page limit but should include bibliographic references only (i.e., no additional parenthetical information should be included).

Notice of Federal Funding Page 17 of 39

f) Project Implementation Timeline with Milestones: Describe the anticipated project duration (not to exceed 36 months) and the timeline and milestones for completing project objectives.

g) Organizational Structure and Project Staff: Describe the organizational structure of the applicant, and the qualifications of project staff. Include a CV for all key personnel. If applicable, describe any previous NOAA involvement in and/or support for the project and include name(s) of any relevant NOAA staff. If there is participation from veterans, minority-serving institutions, and/or entities that work in underserved areas, please indicate that here.

3) Data Management Plan (2 pages)

Proposals submitted in response to this announcement must include a Data Management Plan of up to two pages describing how environmental data and information collected or created under a NOAA Marine Debris Program cooperative agreement will be made discoverable by and accessible to the general public, if requested. Such data must be made available in a timely fashion (typically within two years), and should be free of charge or at no more than the cost of reproduction.

The Data Management Plan should be aligned with the Data Management Guidance provided by NOAA in Section VI. B. 9. below. The contents of the Data Management Plan (or absence thereof), and past performance regarding such plans, will be considered as part of proposal review. A typical plan should include descriptions of the types of environmental data and information expected to be created during the course of the project; the tentative date by which data will be shared; the standards to be used for data/metadata format and content; methods for providing data access and the medium by which the data will be shared;

approximate total volume of data to be collected; and prior experience in making such data accessible. NOAA MDP manages and maintains a public-facing Clearinghouse (https://clearinghouse.marinedebris.noaa.gov/) and is able to ensure grantee compliance with Data Management requirements by hosting project data on that platform.

A sample Data Management Plan may be found at: http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/proposal-submission-guidance-applicants

4) Budget Justification (4 pages or less, including a budget summary table)

Applicants should follow NOAA’s Budget Narrative Guidance document to ensure the appropriate content and format is provided with the proposal. This document can be found at: https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 39

_05-24-2017_final.pdf

The Budget Justification should include both a narrative and a summary budget table that lay out and describe each line item’s various costs in as much detail as is reasonable. For clarification and simplicity, the Budget Justification should be organized using the object classes in the order that they appear on the SF424A. Include detailed descriptions of all cost justifications for both federal funds and any cost sharing or matching funds (cost share or matching funds should be described in the same level of detail as the federal funds). The amounts described in the Budget Justification narrative and summary table must match the dollar amounts on all required forms. The summary budget table does not count toward the 4 page limit.

The Budget Justification narrative should also indicate if the proposal has been submitted for funding consideration elsewhere, what amount has been requested or secured from other sources, and whether the funds requested/secured are federal or non-federal. The source of any matching funds, including applicant or third party in-kind contributions, should be explained. If funding will be used to complete part of a larger project, the Budget Justification should describe the overall budget for the entire project to allow NOAA to make an informed determination of a project’s readiness and cost-benefit ratio. Any funding other than the federal funds requested and proposed cost share or match should be considered additional leverage.

If sub-awards are expected to be made, describe the process that will be used to identify recipients and justification for that process.

The Budget Justification narrative should also indicate if the applicant is requesting a waiver of all match requirements, as outlined above in Section III.B. "Cost Share or Matching Requirement." As previously stated, NOAA has waived the requirement for local matching funds to the insular areas (up to $200,000) defined above in Section III.B.

NOAA assesses budgets to determine the reasonableness, necessity, and adequacy of proposed costs for accomplishing the project objectives, and performs a cost analysis to assure that costs are reasonable, allowable, and allocable in accordance with applicable federal cost principles. NOAA MDP may recommend funding only specific components of a project; as such applicants should describe the extent to which project activities can be scaled up or scaled down.

Requests for equipment (any single piece of equipment costing $5,000 or more) should be strongly tied to achieving the project’s stated goals, and a comparison with rental costs

Notice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 39 should be provided to justify the need to purchase. In general, funding requests for equipment purchases such as vehicles, boats, and similar items will be a low priority.

Publication costs (i.e., journal page charges, poster printing) for communicating research results are allowed.

If applying for a Multi-Year award (2 to 3 years), the application must contain a line item budget (SF-424A) and corresponding budget narrative for each of the funding periods anticipated.

Refer to Section IV.F.2. regarding indirect costs in the budget.

5) Other Application Submission Information

Applicants should not assume NOAA has any prior knowledge relative to the merits of the project described in the proposal. As such, proposals should be written with an appropriate level of detail. Inclusion of supplementary materials (e.g., photographs, summaries of project designs, key diagrams, copies of secured permits) are strongly encouraged and do not count toward the project narrative page limit, although supplementary materials should not exceed 20 pages. Letters of support from partners, local, state, and federal government agencies, natural resource and/or waste management agencies, industry, and Congressional representatives are helpful in demonstrating support for the project and if applicable, how project results will be applied to their management objectives. Such supplementary information should be combined and submitted as a single file in the Grants.gov application.

Participant safety is critically-important during project implementation. Proposals should demonstrate meaningful consideration for the safety of project participants during project activities. It should be noted that all funded projects will be required to have a written safety plan governing all project-related activities, especially regarding the safety and management of interns and volunteers.