NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2021-2006729 NOFO Report (2).pdf

FY2021 Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

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

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

III. Eligibility Information 9 A. Eligible Applicants 9 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 10 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 10

IV. Application and Submission Information 10 A. Address to Request Application Package 10 B. Content and Form of Application 10 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 14 D. Submission Dates and Times 14 E. Intergovernmental Review 15 F. Funding Restrictions 15 G. Other Submission Requirements 15

V. Application Review Information 16 A. Evaluation Criteria 16 B. Review and Selection Process 17 C. Selection Factors 18 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 18

VI. Award Administration Information 19 A. Award Notices 19 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 19 C. Reporting 22

VII. Agency Contacts 22 VIII. Other Information 22

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 23

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 Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed Project

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2021-2006729

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.012, Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)

Dates: Full proposals must be received no later than 11:59 PM Eastern on Friday, 26 February

Funding Opportunity Description: Funding Opportunity Description: The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) is a national and regional partnership working to provide ocean, coastal and Great Lakes observations, data, tools, and forecasts to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect our environment. NOAA and IOOS stakeholders view a coastal and ocean modeling test environment as essential to achieve a sustained and operational IOOS. The Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) was established to advance predictions and forecasts by fostering continued coordination of development and testing work between federal and non-federal operational and research partners. The COMT aims to support projects that facilitate and accelerate the transition of models and model based technologies from research environments toward operational readiness. The goal of this effort is to grow the federal suite of operational ocean modeling products to better understand coastal, ocean and lake processes and to improve predictions of events and changes that impact coastal lives and livelihoods. Of particular interest are coastal, ocean and lake phenomena that intersect the mission goals of NOAA, other operational agencies, and the IOOS Regional Associations.

The U.S. IOOS Program is seeking to fund projects which advance new or existing solutions that address long standing and emerging coastal modeling and forecast product development challenges. This announcement specifically funds activities needed to progress through the transitional stages from research toward full operations (such as system integration, testing, validation, and verification). Projects will be expected to participate in and advance the operation of the U.S. IOOS COMT under a community modeling environment. Funding will be targeted to models, tools or products, with demonstrated operators and end users, that are sufficiently mature for evaluation and transition to long term operations.

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Total estimated funding for all awards is up to $2 million per year from the U.S. IOOS Program.

Multiple awards are anticipated, subject to availability of funds, in amounts up to $300,000 per year for up to three years. The number of awards is anticipated to range from approximately three (3) to five (5), and will be adjusted based on availability of funds. Proposals not funded in the current fiscal period may be considered for funding in the next fiscal period (Fiscal Year 2021) without NOAA repeating the competitive process outlined in this announcement.

Investigators are highly encouraged to visit the U.S. IOOS Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed website for more information about the Testbed: https://ioos.noaa.gov/project/COMT/ and https://ioos.us/comt/.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The overarching purpose of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) is to address regional and national needs for ocean information, to gather reliable data on key coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes variables, and to ensure timely and sustained dissemination and availability of these data. IOOS is a national, regional and private-sector partnership working to enhance the nation’s ability to collect, disseminate, and use ocean information.

U.S. IOOS is designed to address regional and national needs for ocean information, to gather specific data on key coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes variables, and to ensure timely and sustained dissemination and availability of these data to support national defense, marine commerce, navigation safety, weather, climate, and marine forecasting, energy siting and production, economic development, ecosystem-based marine, coastal, and Great Lakes resource management, public safety, and public outreach training and education.

The IOOS Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) is an ongoing, multi-year effort to transition prototype ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes models, modeling tools and techniques, products, and data management advances to operations in a stepped, parallel, and scalable process that includes stakeholder engagement from industry, government, academia, and others invested in the modeling and prediction of the nation’s ocean and coastal regions.

Operational mode is defined as the actual application of the technology in its final form and under mission requirements.

Within this context, the U.S. IOOS Program is managing a competitive research and development project in which the IOOS Program funds advanced ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes modeling, prediction innovation projects designed to enable evaluation and transition of these models, modeling tools and techniques to operations mode. This funding will support modeling and prediction transitions in regions across the United States.

B. Program Priorities

In FY 2021, the US IOOS Program Office will accept applications to advance the Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) by accelerating the transition of advanced coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes modeling technologies to operations mode.

The mission of COMT is to use targeted research and development to accelerate the transition of scientific and technical advances from the coastal and ocean modeling research

Notice of Federal Funding Page 4 of 23 community to improve identified operational ocean products and services (i.e. via research to operations and operations to research). Applicants should propose work that has been through initial evaluation and is ready for more robust testing or consideration for transition to a demonstration or operational environment.

COMT uses NOAA’s Readiness Levels (RLs) ontology (see NOAA Administrative Order 216-105B at https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-216-105b-policy-on-research-and-development-transitions) to assess the maturity of R&D projects from research to operation, application, commercial product, or service, or other (Note: NOAA's RL's are similar to Technology Readiness Levels developed by NASA and embody the same concept for quantifying the maturity of research. RLs are used as a systematic metric/measurement system that supports assessments of the maturity of a particular technology, and enables a consistent comparison between different types of technologies. COMT specifically focuses on transitioning models and model techniques that are, at project inception, between RLs 4 and 8 with plans to advance at least two RLs; in effect transforming the innovative research developed externally from this Project into operational products. Applicants are asked to identify the Readiness Level (RL) of the models or techniques with which they are working and how far they expect to advance in RLs through the project period. Each application will state clearly how the applicant determined that his/her proposed project is at an appropriate RL level for this funding opportunity.

Successful proposals will be responsive to existing requirements for the operational coastal and ocean modeling community including those defined in the following documentation:

1. “Advancing coastal ocean modelling, analysis, and prediction for the US Integrated Ocean Observing System” (Wilkin, J, et al.

2017,https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1755876X.2017.1322026) (Note: If you do not have free access to this article, contact the technical POC for this NOFO to have it provided.)

2. NOAA’s Water Initiative Vision and Five Year Plan, specifically the coupling of coastal circulation and wave models to the national water model.

(https://www.noaa.gov/water/explainers/noaa-water-initiative-vision-and-five-year-plan)

3. NOAA’s Ecological Forecasting Roadmap (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecoforecasting/)

4. NOAA’s Ocean, Coastal and Great Lakes Acidification Research Plan: 2020-2029 (https://oceanacidification.noaa.gov/ResearchPlan2020/Download.aspx)

5. NOAA’s plans for a Unified Forecast System (https://www.ufscommunity.org/science/plan/), specifically the design of a coastal component of the UFS, including using the Environmental Modeling System (NEMS) (https://noaa-emc.github.io/NEMS_doc_ufs-v1.1.0/index.html) framework for coupling

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 23 component models and JEDI data assimilation interfaces.

The overarching goal of the COMT is to bolster an operational oceanography capability for the nation which provides sustained accurate oceanographic products and services to support decision making. In support of that goal, IOOS has identified the following objectives:

- Improvements to the coastal physics representation in community models

- Coupling the National Water Model (https://water.noaa.gov/about/nwm) with ocean circulation models to understand and predict the combined effects of land processes (riverine input/land runoff) and ocean circulation (wind/waves/tides) on coastal inundation, sediment transport and water quality in the coastal zone; of particular interest is 3D modeling approaches for coupling the National Water Model and ocean circulation models with a focus on temperature and salinity.

- Approaches to improve performance, speed, or accuracy of data assimilation algorithms for operational models.

- Model evaluation through reanalysis/ hindcasting, skill assessment and/or development of acceptance metrics for operational models within NOAAs portfolio

- Finding efficient approaches to transition ecosystem models (including, but not limited to, ocean acidification, harmful algal bloom (HAB), hypoxia, and pathogens) for incorporation into existing physical modeling frameworks

- Performance evaluation of competitive forecast model approaches including development of metrics to evaluate model improvements

Applicants to this topic must demonstrate that NOAA, IOOS Regional Associations, and / or other potential operational hosts are integral to the transition activities. Additional partners are encouraged, especially those representing an end user or customer for the proposed product.

Applicants should identify intended end users of the model or product that will be evaluated in the Testbed. Incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) (using machine learning, deep learning and other techniques) and cloud computing techniques is encouraged. Commitment from operators and end users is critical to the eventual success of each project and the transition and adoption of the models, tools or forecast products for sustained use. A successful project will involve operators and practitioners, to the fullest extent possible, from the beginning of the project. The applicant must show a clear path for further developing the partnerships and opportunities for transfer throughout the course of the project. To ensure that research leads to practical and valuable management outcomes, proposals should include a minimum of two investigators, a Scientific Principal Investigator and an Transition Principal Investigator. In order to ensure transition of management tools to application, the

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 23 duties and responsibilities of the two PIs are presented below:

Scientific Principle Investigator: will coordinate research and modeling activities, such as:

(1) Data management

(2) Development and validation of models

(3) Development of tool prototypes

(4) Working with Transition PI to refine and develop models or tools based on input from end users.

(5) Identify the transition metrics that are used to measure progress toward transition.

Transition Principal Investigator: will be responsible for activities related to transitioning the research information and tools toward operational application, such as:

(1) Developing application concept based on stakeholder outreach;

(2) Coordination and communications with the operator and end user groups, ensuring continuous engagement in project activities (meetings, workshops), and outreach of project results;

(3) Ensuring that the milestones representing transition of research to operations are met.

(4) Enabling collaboration within projects and between COMT project teams to improve COMT and the impact and value of the technical projects done within it.

The operator(s) that will ultimately adopt the models or products for operational use should demonstrate a strong interest in and commitment to the proposed evaluation or model. As the model or product matures and the likelihood of success increases, and the commitment of the operator(s) is expected to grow, including resource commitments to incorporate and maintain the new model or product in operational settings.

Applicants are expected to commit to developing a draft transition plan using the guidance in https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-216-105b-policy-on-research-and-development-transitions. The draft transition plan will be required no later than the end of year one and follow the guidelines provided in the NOAA Transition Procedural Handbook.

See page 9 for section on Transition Plans - (https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/Handbook_NAO216-105B_03-21- 17.pdf).

Applicants are expected to show how projects will engage in the COMT to meet its mission and vision. This will minimally include working with the COMT project manager, participation in at least one meeting annually with all COMT project teams and participation with Data Management and Communication (DMAC) activities led by the IOOS Program Office to share appropriate data sets and provide input to meet COMT publication or

Notice of Federal Funding Page 7 of 23 information requirements.

Within the project narrative applicants are encouraged to identify modular components of the project and priority order in which the modules could be funded individually if funding available for the COMT is less than expected.

On an annual basis, IOOS Program Officers will assess the project's progress toward development of management tools and transition to management application, and determine whether a change of course is beneficial and the extent to which funds should continue to be awarded in subsequent years. A criterion for continued funding is the demonstrated likelihood that the project tools would be used by managers; therefore securing a commitment for support of the operation of management tools by those in coastal decision making roles will be an important factor for continued funding of the project.

C. Program Authority

Statutory authority for this project is provided under the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System (ICOOS) Act of 2009, 33 U.S.C. 3601-3610; public Law 111-11; and the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act 33 U.S.C. 3701-3708.

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Total estimated funding for all awards is up to $2 million per year from the U.S. IOOS Program and partner program within NOAA. Multiple awards are anticipated, subject to availability of funds, in amounts up to $300,000 per year for up to three years. The number of awards is anticipated to range from approximately three (3) to six (6), and will be adjusted based on availability of funds. Proposals not funded in the current fiscal period may be considered for funding in the next fiscal period (Fiscal Year 2022) without NOAA repeating the competitive process outlined in this announcement.

There is no guarantee that funds will be available to make awards for this Notice of Funding Opportunity or that any proposal will be selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement signed by a NOAA grants officer, the applicant does so at the applicant’s own risk. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for any proposal preparation costs. Recipients and subawards are subject to all Federal laws and agency policies, regulations, and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance awards. Applicants must be in good standing with respect to all existing NOAA awards in order to receive funds.

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B. Project/Award Period

Applicants may request support for projects that do not exceed three years. Funding is contingent upon availability of funds and the satisfactory performance of the recipient, and is at the sole discretion of NOAA.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

NOAA will issue a cooperative agreement, therefore, the Federal government will be substantially involved by, for example, coordinating partners and teams to accomplish the work; assisting with technical aspects of the project; and/or coordinating access to Federal operational entities, data or facilities needed to support the work.

If the non-Federal applicant is at an institution that has a NOAA Cooperative Institute (CI), it is allowed to submit applications that reference the CI by attaching a cover letter to the application stating its desire to have the application associated with the CI. This letter should specify the name of the cooperative institute, the CI cooperative agreement number, and the NOAA-approved research theme and task that applies to the proposal. The application will use the Facilities & Administrative (F&A, or indirect cost) rate associated with the main CI agreement. If the application is selected for funding, NOAA will notify the university that a separate award will be issued with its own award number. However, the award will include two Special Award Conditions (SACs): (1) the existing University/NOAA Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) would be incorporated by reference into the terms of the competitive award, and (2) any performance report(s) for the competitive project must follow the timetable of the funding program and be submitted directly to the funding program. Report(s) will be copied to the CI's administrator when due, to be attached to the main cooperative agreement progress report as an appendix. This will allow the CI to coordinate all the projects submitted through the CI, since the terms of these awards will specify that this is a CI project via the MOA.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible funding applicants for this competition are institutions of higher education, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and State, local and tribal governments. Federal agencies or institutions and foreign governments may not be the primary recipient of awards under this announcement, but they are encouraged to partner with applicants when appropriate.

If an applicant has a partner(s) who would receive funds, the lead grantee will be expected to

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 23 use subcontracts or other appropriate mechanisms to provide funds to the partner(s). If a partner is a NOAA office or laboratory, the IOOS office will transfer funds internally.

Applicants should note that paying for transportation, travel, or other expenses for any Federal employee are unallowable costs.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Not required.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

Applicants must include at least one IOOS Regional association partner to qualify, and must contact them at least 30 days prior to application deadline.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Application packages are available online as part of the NOFO announcement on grants.gov and will only be accepted via submission through www.grants.gov.

B. Content and Form of Application

Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement that anticipate collecting new environmental data (i.e., as part of a citizen science project), must include a Data Management Plan (up to 2 pages). See Section VI.B., Administrative and National Policy Requirements, below for additional information on what the plan should contain. If a proposal is not generating environmental data, a Data Management Plan is not required as part of the proposal.

FULL APPLICATION:

The proposal narrative must total no more than 20 pages (double-spaced, 12-point font). The 20-page limit does not include the proposal title page, a table of contents, the data sharing plan, the project summary referenced below under item two (2), and any required appendices. Appendices should be limited to:

- Materials that directly support the main body of the proposal (e.g., support letters, resumes, references, lists of data sources, and maps), which may not exceed 30 pages in length;

- Detailed Budget (see guidance at: https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 23 grants/how-to-apply); not to exceed 10 pages. In addition to an overall budget, an SF-424A must be submitted for each year of the proposal. Applicants must also provide a separate budget for each subcontract. SF-424As will not be included in the page count of the proposal or appendices. For your convenience, sample forms and instructions on how to fill out the forms can be found online at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms.html:

- Standard Form 424B - Assurances

- Non-Construction Programs Standard Form LLL

- Disclosure of Lobbying Activities as needed Form CD-511

- Certification Regarding Lobbying

- Environmental Compliance materials - See Section C (NEPA) below.

Applicants should paginate their proposal and any appendices. Appendices may be paginated as standalone documents (individually) or collectively. Applicants should present their work plan in priority order and identify options for scalability such that if less money is available than is requested the process of modifying proposals is simplified.

All funding application packages must contain the following components:

a. Title Page (Proposal Cover Sheet). Include proposal title, complete contact information for the Principal Investigator and Financial Representative, duration of proposed project, funding type (cooperative agreement), applicant type (i.e. cooperative institute (see section C. Type of Funding Instrument), non-profit, state, etc.) and funding request. If funds are to be transferred to a NOAA partner on the project, also state the amount to NOAA on the cover.

b. Project Summary. Provide a one-to-two-page summary of the proposed project. The summary should be prepared to be readable to a broad audience and contain the following sections:

- Project Name/Title

- Primary Contact (name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail)

- Primary Recipient Institution

- Other Investigators (name, affiliated institution or agency)

- Brief Project Summary including objectives and intended benefits

- Partners

c. Project Description. All project descriptions (proposals) must include the following sections:

Notice of Federal Funding Page 11 of 23

Goals and Objectives. Describe in the narrative the specific project goals and objectives to be achieved. Goals and objectives should be specific for each year of the work plan presented. Recipients will be required to submit semi-annual progress reports in which progress against these goals and objectives will be reported.

Background. Provide sufficient background information for NOAA and non- NOAA reviewers to assess independently the significance of the proposed project. Summarize the problem to be addressed and the status of ongoing efforts to address the identified needs.

Audience. Identify specific users of the results of the project, describe how they will use the results, and identify any training that will be needed for users to make full use of the results.

Approach. Provide a work plan that: identifies specific tasks to be accomplished; explains the technical approach (including quality assurance) needed to accomplish the tasks;

identifies partner roles and contributions, including resources; and identifies potential obstacles to successful completion of the goals and objectives. Describe how end-users are involved in the planning and design process. The work plan must include a data management plan which clearly addresses data management requirements and includes coordination with COMT cyberinfrastructure group, and the steps to be taken to achieve efficient and effective data access/sharing through U.S. IOOS and archiving that is compliant with Federal regulations as indicated in the Data Sharing Plan Policy. Refer to Section VI. B. for more information on the data sharing policy. In addition to data management plan guidance, name one data manager point of contact (POC), and include plans to identify and disseminate at least one data set per year. Roles, responsibilities and contributions of Federal partners must be clearly identified.

Benefits. Identify, with a high degree of specificity, the users of the information derived from the work, and the benefits that will be achieved for those users, as well as society as a whole. Document how valid user requirements are guiding the proposed work. Describe how the information from the project will be delivered to those users, and any special considerations or requirements for ensuring or improving the delivery of information.

Milestone Schedule. Display timelines for major tasks, target milestones for important intermediate and final products including deliverables and key project outcomes. Milestones should include expected readiness level achievements.

Readiness Level. Identify the current Readiness Level (RL) of the models or techniques and how far they expect to advance in RLs through the project period. Clearly state how this funding will aid in the advancement of RL and potential for transition into NOAA

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 23 operations.

Project Budget. The webpage where budget narrative guidance can be found is https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-_05- 24-2017_final.pdf. Provide a budget description that follows the categories and formats in the NOAA grants package (SF-424A) and a detailed budget narrative of the budget. An SF- 424A must be submitted for each year of the project as well as for each subcontract.

The budget narrative must also provide, to the extent possible, detailed information on travel, including costs, a description of anticipated travel, destinations, the number of travelers, and a justification of how the requested travel is directly relevant to the successful completion of the project. If actual trip details are unknown, applicants must state the basis for the proposed travel charges. Applicants should allocate travel funds for any coordination meetings at regional or national levels. Foreign travel must receive prior approval, and therefore, should be included in the proposal to avoid having to request prior approval after the project starts.

Applicants may factor in travel costs for participation in a NOAA Grants Management Division workshop for recipients should one be offered.

If a NOAA or another non-NOAA Federal partner is requested to perform any work as part of the project, please be advised that the work to be performed and resources required must be reflected separately in the project description and partner budget. The budget should clearly show where all funds will go and how the funds will be used.

For a NOAA partner, applications for Federal assistance (SF-424 and SF-424A) must show the total amount less that which would go to the NOAA partner. Detailed budget and budget justifications within the proposal should show the total amount, including that which would go to the NOAA partner, and should include text stating that the applicant wishes for NOAA to retain those funds and transfer them to the NOAA partner.

For a non-NOAA Federal partner, applications for Federal assistance (SF-424 and SF-424A) must show the total amount including that which would go to the non- NOAA Federal partner. Detailed budget and budget justifications within the proposal should show the total amount, including that which would go to the non-NOAA Federal partner. Applicants should obtain written assurances (to include the specific legal citation) from the receiving Federal agency regarding its legal authority to take the funds and to carry out the identified work.

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Additional detailed budget information, including a description of complementary funding and in-kind contributions from project partners, should be included in an appendix (see IV.B.4 for additional information).

- Appendices - Resumes. Provide resumes of the Principal Investigator for the project and other key personnel critical to the success of the project. Ensure that resumes address qualifications relevant to conducting the proposed work.

- Detailed Budget Information, Including budgets of subawards and contracts, detailed information on travel, etc. Information should include the names of all entities receiving funds, the locations of the entities receiving funds (city, State, and Congressional district), and the locations of the primary places of performance under the contract/subaward. In this appendix, the budget narrative also shall clearly identify the priority and cost of separable elements of the proposed work, and shall identify the elements of the project that the cooperator would recommend for revision or elimination in the event that sufficient funding is not available for all proposed activities.

- National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - No reference to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) questionnaire is required in the proposal.

These COMT projects usually involve the development of ocean and hydrologic modeling systems, an online tool, product and visualization development, as well as stakeholder engagement. These activities are described in the IOOS Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) under the DMAC and Cross-Cutting Subsystems (Sections 1.1.3) IOOS PEA with Appendices_Final_June_2016. These subsystems are administrative in nature and/or are being conducted using established procedures in existing facilities. The facility-based, administrative subsystems are currently operating and are not expected to result in additional environmental impacts.

C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

To enable the use of a universal identifier and to enhance the quality of information available to the public as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, 31 U.S.C. 6101 note, to the extent applicable, any proposal awarded in response to this announcement will be required to use the System for Award Management (SAM), which may be accessed online at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Applicants are also required to use the Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System, as identified in OMB guidance published at 2 CFR Parts 25, Appendix A C.2

D. Submission Dates and Times

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Full applications must be received by 11:59 PM Eastern on February 26, 2021.

Applications received after this deadline will not be considered for funding. For applications submitted through Grants.gov, a date and time receipt indication is included and will be the basis of determining timeliness. Faxed or emailed copies of applications will not be accepted.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Funding applications to NOAA are subject to Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." It is the State agency's responsibility to contact their State's Single Point of Contact (SPCO) to find out about and comply with the State's process under EO 12372. To assist the applicant, the names and addresses of the SPOCs are listed on the Office of Management and Budget's Web site www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc/.

F. Funding Restrictions

Restrictions None.

G. Other Submission Requirements

Requirements FULL

APPLICATION:

Application packages must be submitted through Grants.gov/apply. No e-mail or fax copies will be accepted.

Applicants using Grants.gov must locate the downloadable application package for this solicitation by the Funding Opportunity Number or the CFDA number (11.012). Applicants will be able to download a copy of the application package, complete it off line, and then upload and submit the application through Grants.gov.

Grants.gov will provide information about submitting a proposal through the site as well as the hours of operation. After electronic submission of the application, the person submitting the application will receive within the next 24 to 48 hours two e-mail messages from Grants.gov updating him or her on the progress of the application. The first e-mail will confirm receipt of the application by Grants.gov, and the second will indicate that the application has been either successfully validated by the system prior to transmission to the grantor agency, or rejected due to errors. After the application has been validated, this same person will receive another e-mail when the application has been downloaded by the Federal agency.

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To use Grants.gov, applicants must have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and be registered in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). Allow a minimum of five days to complete the CCR registration. (Note: Your organization's Employer Identification Number (EIN) will be needed on the application form.)

Please refer to important information in "Submission Dates and Times" above to help ensure your application is received on time. Please be advised that potential funding applicants must register with Grants.gov before any application materials can be submitted. An organization's one-time registration process may take up to three weeks to complete, so please allow sufficient time to ensure applications are submitted before the closing date.

Grants.gov contains directions for submitting an application, the application package (forms), and is also where the completed application is submitted.

Address for Submitting Proposals: Not applicable.

V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

FULL PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA:

1. Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Application to the Project Goals (35%)

This ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, Federal, regional, State, and/or local activities. This includes importance and relevance to the scientific priorities described in the Funding Opportunity. Proposed Projects will be assessed on their ability to advance new or existing modeling and prediction solutions that address coastal and ocean modeling issues, tool needs or product development, and data management challenges. Funding will be targeted to projects focused on: 1) modeling tools and techniques for which there are demonstrated operational end-users who commit to integrated, long term use of those modeling advancements and products; 2) are transitioning technology from RLs 4 through 7 to at least two higher level RLs (one higher level if starting at RL7), up to RL8 (ie. 4 to 6, 5 to 7, or 7 to 8); 3) including significant engagement with partners from at least one IOOS Regional Association, academia, and a federal agency. The PI's record of making his/her data accessible and usable by the scientific community in the past will also be considered when evaluating the importance and relevance of the application.

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (30%)

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This assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, whether the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear project goals and objectives. The proposed work should have focused objectives and a complete and technically sound strategy for model evaluation, demonstrated end users, and a data sharing plan that includes plans for data standard compliance with existing COMT cyberinfrastructure. The proposed work should demonstrate the modeling tools, techniques, or forecast products are mature, scalable and ready for evaluation as part of long- term operations. This will also assess whether modular components or scalability has been identified for project execution if full funding is not available.

3. Overall Qualifications of Applicants (10%)

This criterion assesses whether the applicant team possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to accomplish the project. This assesses if scientific and transition PIs have each been identified and have requisite experience to perform those roles.

4. Project Costs (10%)

This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time frame.

5. Outreach and Education (15%)

This criterion assesses whether the project provides a focused and effective education and outreach strategy regarding partner agency missions, including NOAA's mission to understand and protect the Nation's natural resources. It also assesses whether the proposed work demonstrates how the applicant is positioned to provide engagement with the COMT program, all the appropriate modeling groups, and a robust plan for engagement and outreach with operators and end users to ensure proposed work meets their requirements.

B. Review and Selection Process

An initial administrative screening is conducted to determine compliance with requirements/completeness for the proposal. Proposals that do not meet the requirements and goals of this RFA, will not be evaluated.

All full proposals will be evaluated and individually scored in accordance with the assigned weights of the above evaluation criteria by at least three independent peer evaluations as part

Notice of Federal Funding Page 17 of 23 of a larger impartial expert panel review process. The merit reviewers' ratings are used to produce a rank order of the proposals. The competition manager will present selection recommendations to the selecting official in rank order as determined by the merit review ratings. The Selecting Official will award in the rank order unless proposals are justified to be selected out of rank order based upon one or more of the selection factors provided below.

C. Selection Factors

The selection official shall award in rank order unless the proposal is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon one or more of the following factors:

1. Availability of funding

2. Balance/distribution of funds:

a. By number and type of partners

b. By project type

c. By operational focus

d. By type of institutions

e. By geographic region

f. By industry type

3. Leveraging of other projects funded or considered for funding by NOAA/Federal agencies

4. Project priorities and policy factors

5, Applicant's prior award performance

6, Partnerships with/participation of targeted groups

7. Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA staff to make a NEPA determination and draft necessary documentation before recommendations for funding are made to the Grants Officer.

The Selecting Official or designee may negotiate the funding level of the proposal. The Selecting Official makes final recommendations for awards to the Grants Officer who is authorized to obligate the funds.

D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

The start date on proposals should be September 1, 2021, or the first day of the month of any

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 23 month after August 1, 2021, but no later than October 1, 2021.

VI. Award Administration Information

A. Award Notices

Successful applicants will receive notification that the application has been recommended for funding by an official of the U.S. IOOS Program Office. This notification is not an authorization to begin performance of the project. Official notification of funding, signed by a NOAA Grants Officer, is the authorizing document that allows the project to begin. Notifications will be issued to the applicant’s Authorized Representative and the Principal Investigator of the project.

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PRE-AWARD NOTIFICATION

REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.

The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register notice of December 30, 2014 (79 FR 78390) are applicable to this solicitation and may be accessed online at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf.

UNIFORM ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS, COST PRINCIPLES, AND AUDIT

REQUIREMENTS.

Through 2 C.F.R. § 1327.101, the Department of Commerce adopted Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 C.F.R. Part 200, which apply to awards in this program. Refer to http://go.usa.gov/SBYh and http://go.usa.gov/SBg4.

DOC TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

Successful applicants who accept a NOAA award under this solicitation will be bound by Department of Commerce Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions. This document will be provided in the award package in NOAA’s Grants Online system at http://www.ago.noaa.gov and at http://go.usa.gov/hKbj.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

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Funding for programs listed in this notice is contingent upon the availability of appropriations. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds may not have been appropriated yet for the programs listed in this notice. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for proposal preparation costs. Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds.

UNPAID OR DELINQUENT TAX LIABILITY.

In accordance with current Federal appropriations law, NOAA will provide a successful corporate applicant a form to be completed by its authorized representatives certifying that the corporation has no Federally-assessed unpaid or delinquent tax liability or recent felony criminal convictions under any Federal law.

DATA SHARING POLICY.

Environmental data and information, collected and/or created under NOAA grants/cooperative agreements must be made visible, accessible, and independently understandable to general users, free of charge or at minimal cost, in a timely manner (typically no later than two (2) years after the data are collected or created), except where limited by law, regulation, policy or by security requirements.

1. Environmental data and information collected or created under NOAA grants or cooperative agreements must be made discoverable by and accessible to the general public, in a timely fashion (typically within two years), free of charge or at no more than the cost of reproduction, unless an exemption is granted by the NOAA Program. Data should be available in at least one machine-readable format, preferably a widely-used or open-standard format, and should also be accompanied by machine-readable documentation (metadata), preferably based on widely used or international standards.

2. Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement must include a Data Management Plan of up to two pages describing how these requirements will be satisfied.

The Data Management Plan should be aligned with the Data Management Guidance provided by NOAA in the Announcement. 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

Notice of Federal Funding Page 20 of 23 content; methods for providing data access; approximate total volume of data to be collected;

and prior experience in making such data accessible. The costs of data preparation, accessibility, or archiving may be included in the proposal budget unless otherwise stated in the Guidance. Accepted submission of data to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is one way to satisfy data sharing requirements;

however, NCEI is not obligated to accept all submissions and may charge a fee, particularly for large or unusual datasets.

3. NOAA may, at its own discretion, make publicly visible the Data Management Plan from funded proposals, or use information from the Data Management Plan to produce a formal metadata record and include that metadata in a Catalog to indicate the pending availability of new data.

4. Proposal submitters are hereby advised that the final pre-publication manuscripts of scholarly articles produced entirely or primarily with NOAA funding will be required to be submitted to NOAA Institutional Repository after acceptance, and no later than upon publication. Such manuscripts shall be made publicly available by NOAA one year after publication by the journal.

MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTIONS

The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC/NOAA) is strongly committed to increasing the participation of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), i.e., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian institutions, and institutions that work in underserved communities.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA)

In the event that an application contains information or data that you do not want disclosed prior to award for purposes other than the evaluation of the application, mark each page containing such information or data with the words "Privileged, Confidential, Commercial, or Financial Information - Limited Use" at the top of the page to assist NOAA in making disclosure determinations. DOC regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C 552, are found at 15 C.F.R. Part 4, which sets forth rules for DOC to make requested materials, information, and records publicly available under FOIA. The contents of funded applications may be subject to requests for release under the FOIA. Based on the information provided by the applicant, the confidentiality of the content of funded applications will be maintained to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 21 of 23

C. Reporting

NOAA awardees will be required to submit financial and performance (technical) progress reports electronically through Grants Online. Instructions for submitting financial and progress reports will be provided by the NOAA Grants Management Division as part of the award terms and conditions.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, 31 U.S. 6101 note, includes a requirement for awardees of applicable Federal grants to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards. All awardees of applicable grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) available at https://www.fsrs.gov/ on all sub-awards over $25,000.

Refer to 2 CFR Parts 170.

VII. Agency Contacts

For questions regarding this announcement, contact: Debra Esty, at debra.esty@noaa.gov.

For questions of a technical nature, contact: Tracy Fanara at tracy.fanara@noaa.gov.

VIII. Other Information

Official notification of an award notice is provided by the Grants Management Division, not the U.S. IOOS Program Office. If one incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement from an authorized NOAA grant official, one would do so solely at one's own risk of these costs not being included under the award.

Successful applicants will be requested to ensure that all progress reports a) clearly state the resulting impact of their project and products in the coastal management community and on forecasting environmental events; and b) indicate whether financial reports have been submitted to NOAA's Grants Management Division and are up-to-date. Applicants in their final progress report will be asked to certify that "Final financial reports have been submitted to NOAA's Grants Management Division and a final funding draw-down has been made through the Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP)."

References:

- COMT Program - https://comt.ioos.us/

Notice of Federal Funding Page 22 of 23

- COMT Terms of Reference -https://cdn.ioos.noaa.gov/media/2017/12/comt_terms_of_reference_091412.pdf

- NOAA’s Ecological Forecasting Roadmap - https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecoforecasting/

- NOAA Unified Modeling Overview -https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1755876X.2017.1322026

- Total Water Prediction, Vision and Five Year Plan -https://www.noaa.gov/water/explainers/noaa-water-initiative-vision-and-five-year-plan

- IOOS Modeling Strategy…