ATTACHMENT_C_-_Project_Abstract_Summary_Requirement..docx

This is a project abstract summary requirement document issued by the Department of the Interior in accordance with OMB Memoranda M-21-20 and M-22-02 to standardize financial assistance award descriptions on USAspending.gov. All applicants submitting proposals for this USGS cooperative agreement opportunity must include a Project Abstract Summary (PAS) not to exceed one page (~4000 characters) formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font. The PAS must contain the following required sections: project title with plain language description; award purpose avoiding acronyms and agency-specific terminology; activities to be performed; deliverables and expected outcomes; intended beneficiaries; and subrecipient activities if known at the time of award. The completed PAS must be submitted alongside the proposal via Grants.gov and will become publicly available on USAspending.gov upon issuance of the cooperative agreement.

The underlying federal grant opportunity is a Cooperative Agreement for affiliated partners with the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) administered by the USGS under Assistance Listing 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection). The solicitation seeks research on carbon cycling in seabed mineral environments, particularly manganese nodule fields in the abyssal Pacific Ocean and U.S. Exclusive Economic Zones, to support Executive Orders 14241, 14285, and 14272 and Secretarial Order 3417. Research must address environmental baseline conditions, impacts of deep-sea mineral mining on benthic ecosystems and carbon cycles, the role of organic carbon in metal enrichment and nodule formation, and sediment-covered seafloor massive sulfide systems. Eligible applicants must be participating partners of the Californian CESU. Award recipients are subject to 2 CFR Parts 200 and 1402, and applications must be submitted through Grants.gov using SF 424 forms with required preapplication coordination.