DE-FOA-0003475.000001.pdf

Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC)

Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Environmental System Science

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Number:

DE-FOA-0003475

NOFO Type: Amendment 000001

CFDA Number: 81.049

Amendment 000001 is issued to remove references to diversity, equity, and inclusion; to remove references to PIER plans; to update regulatory requirements from Title 2 CFR; and to update research, technology, and economic security provisions.

NOFO Issue Date: November 5, 2024 Submission Deadline for Pre-Applications:

December 11, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET A Pre-Application is required.

Pre-Application Response Date: January 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM ET Submission Deadline for Applications: March 13, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET

Table of Contents

I. BASIC INFORMATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

FUNDING DETAILS

KEY FACTS

KEY DATES

AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION

RECOMMENDATION

II. ELIGIBILITY

A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

B. COST SHARING

C. ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS

D. LIMITATIONS ON SUBMISSIONS

III. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

A. PURPOSE

B. PROGRAM GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND PRIORITIES

C. AWARD CONTRIBUTION TO GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

D. PERFORMANCE GOALS

E. SUBSTANTIAL INVOLVEMENT

F. PROGRAM UNALLOWABLE COSTS

G. CITATIONS TO STATUTE AND REGULATIONS

H. PROGRAM HISTORY

I. OTHER INFORMATION

IV. APPLICATION CONTENTS AND FORMAT

A. PRELIMINARY SUBMISSIONS

B. APPLICATION

C. COMPONENT PIECES OF THE APPLICATION

D. INFORMATION THAT MUST BE SUBMITTED AFTER APPLICATION BUT

BEFORE AWARD

V. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES

A. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE

B. UNIQUE ENTITY IDENTIFIER (UEI) AND SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT

(SAM.GOV)

C. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

D. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES

VI. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

A. RESPONSIVENESS REVIEW

B. REVIEW CRITERIA

C. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

VII. AWARD NOTICES

A. TYPE OF AWARD INSTRUMENT

B. ANTICIPATED TIMELINE FOR NOTICE OF SELECTION FOR AWARD

NEGOTIATION

VIII. POST-AWARD REQUIREMENTS AND ADMINISTRATION

A. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

B. REPORTING

C. REPORTING OF MATTERS RELATED TO RECIPIENT INTEGRITY AND

PERFORMANCE (DECEMBER 2015)

D. INTERIM CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

IX. OTHER INFORMATION

A. CHECKLIST FOR AVOIDING COMMON ERRORS

B. HOW-TO GUIDES

C. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

D. REFERENCE MATERIAL

I. Basic Information

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC)

Executive Summary

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental System Science (ESS). The goal of the ESS program in BER is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. The ESS program scope advances foundational process knowledge with an emphasis on understudied ecosystems. This NOFO will consider applications that focus on measurements, experiments, field data, modeling, and synthesis to provide improved understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of models that span from individual processes to Earth-system scales. This NOFO will encompass three Science Research Areas: 1) plant-soil-microbe interactions and their influence on belowground biogeochemical processes; 2) synthesis studies using existing data that address testing of ESS-relevant hypotheses and development of transferable insights into knowledge gaps for U.S. southeast coastal systems; and 3) synthesis studies on contributions and vulnerabilities of Earth system processes in marginal and degraded lands.

Funding Details Expected total available funding $6 million Expected number of awards 6 to 10 Expected dollar amount of individual awards SRA #1: $300,000 to $1,000,000 (total award) SRA #2 and #3: $100,000 to $400,000 (total award)

Expected award project period SRA #1: up to 3 years SRA #2 and #3: up to 2 years

Key Facts NOFO Title Environmental System Science NOFO Number DE-FOA-0003475 Announcement Type Amendment 000001 Assistance Listing 81.049 Statutory Authority The programmatic authorizing statute is:

Section 646 of Public Law 95-91, U.S. Department of Energy Organization Act Section 901, et seq. of Public Law 109-58, Energy Policy Act of

Governing Regulations

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, codified at 2 CFR 200 U.S. Department of Energy Financial Assistance Rules, codified at 2

CFR 910

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Rule, codified at 10 CFR 605

Key Dates

Key dates are printed on the cover of this NOFO.

Agency Contact Information

Grants.gov Customer Support

800-518-4726 (toll-free) support@Grants.gov

PAMS

Customer Support

855-818-1846 (toll-free) 301-903-9610 sc.pams-helpdesk@science.doe.gov

Technical/Scientific Program Contact

Brian Benscoter (Brian.Benscoter@science.doe.gov) Daniel Winkler (Daniel.Winkler@science.doe.gov) Dan Stover (Daniel.Stover@science.doe.gov) Paul Bayer (Paul.Bayer@science.doe.gov)

Recommendation

SC encourages you to register in all systems as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to submit pre-applications and applications well before the deadline.

mailto:support@grants.gov mailto:sc.pams-helpdesk@science.doe.gov mailto:Brian.Benscoter@science.doe.gov mailto:Daniel.Winkler@science.doe.gov mailto:Daniel.Stover@science.doe.gov mailto:Paul.Bayer@science.doe.gov

II. Eligibility

A. Eligible Applicants

All types of domestic applicants are eligible to apply, except nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.

Federally affiliated1 entities must adhere to the eligibility standards below:

1. DOE/NNSA National Laboratories

DOE/NNSA National Laboratories are neither eligible to submit applications under this NOFO nor to be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application.

No funds provided under this NOFO may be used to support any independent research activity at a DOE/NNSA National Laboratory. This prohibition extends to all personnel affiliated with a DOE/NNSA National Laboratory, regardless of their title or position. This prohibition extends to all arrangements, including those characterized as subawards, consortia, contracted work, work-for-others, or strategic partnerships. The only exception is for fee-for-service work provided on identical terms to any customer in accordance with a published schedule of charges.

2. Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs

Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to submit applications under this NOFO and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant, funding will be provided through an interagency agreement to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward may be removed from the prime applicant’s award and may be provided through an interagency agreement to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency. Additional instructions for securing authorization from the cognizant Contracting Officer are found in Section IX of this NOFO.

3. Other Federal Agencies

Other Federal Agencies are eligible to submit applications under this NOFO and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant, funding will be provided through an interagency agreement. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward may be removed from the prime applicant’s award and may be provided through an interagency agreement.

Additional instructions for providing statutory authorization are found in Section IX of this

NOFO.

1 Institutions that are not DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, a non-DOE/NNSA FFRDC, or another Federal agency are not Federally affiliated, even if they receive Federal funds or perform work under a Federal award or contract.

Notes for applicants of all types:

• Individual applicants are unlikely to possess the skills, abilities, and resources to successfully accomplish the objectives of this NOFO. Individual applicants are encouraged to address this concern in their applications and to demonstrate how they will accomplish the objectives of this NOFO.

• Non-domestic applicants are advised that successful applications from non-domestic applicants include a detailed demonstration of how the applicant possesses skills, resources, and abilities that do not exist among potential domestic applicants.

This NOFO seeks to support basic research to advance understanding rather than to address commercial opportunities. Applications that propose research related to current commercial activity or current customer needs may be declined without merit review.

Applications that are submitted by applicants that have not submitted a required LOI or pre-application may be declined without further review.

B. Cost Sharing

Cost sharing for basic and fundamental research is not required pursuant to an exclusion from the requirements of Section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Cost sharing is not required of non-DOE Federal agencies, non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs, or their subcontractors at any tier. non-DOE Federal agencies, and non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs may impose cost-sharing requirements on their contractors subject to their policies and procedures.

Cost sharing will not be considered as a factor during merit review or award selection.

C. Eligible Individuals

Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as a Principal Investigator (PI) are invited to work with their organizations to develop an application. Individuals from underrepresented groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply.

SC does not require that individuals be U.S. citizens or permanent residents to be proposed as a PI or in any other role under an award, but all personnel working or proposed to work under an award must have the legal right to perform such work in the jurisdiction where the work will be performed. Individuals at any stage of their career may be proposed as a PI if they have the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research.

D. Limitations on Submissions

Applicant institutions are limited to no more than one pre-application or application for each PI at the applicant institution.

There is no limitation to the number of applications on which an institution appears as a subrecipient.

Should DOE receive submissions in excess of the applicable limits, DOE reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to request additional or clarifying information to ascertain the institution’s intended submissions. Otherwise, DOE will consider the latest received submissions to be the institution’s intended submissions.

• Pre-applications in excess of the limited number of submissions may be discouraged.

• Applications in excess of the limited number of submissions may be declined without review.

LIMITATIONS ON PI

The PI on a pre-application or application may also be listed as a senior or key personnel on an unlimited number of separate submissions.

Individuals receiving any portion of their salary and benefits from a DOE/NNSA National Laboratory may not be named as the PI or senior/key personnel in a pre-application or application under this NOFO, regardless of any arrangement between the employing Laboratory and the applicant institution.

III. Program Description

A. Purpose

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental System Science (ESS). The goal of the ESS program in BER is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. The ESS program scope advances foundational process knowledge with an emphasis on understudied ecosystems. This NOFO will consider applications that focus on measurements, experiments, field data, modeling, and synthesis to provide improved understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of models that span from individual processes to Earth-system scales. This NOFO will encompass three Science Research Areas: 1) plant-soil-microbe interactions and their influence on belowground biogeochemical processes; 2) synthesis studies using existing data that address testing of ESS-relevant hypotheses and development of transferable insights into knowledge gaps for U.S. southeast coastal systems; and 3) synthesis studies on contributions and vulnerabilities of Earth system processes in marginal and degraded lands.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Program Objective

The BER ESS program goal is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent microbial, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and physical processes. To support this goal, the program uses a systems approach to develop an integrative framework to elucidate the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial and watershed systems, that span from molecular to global scales and extend from the bedrock through the soil, rhizosphere, and vegetation to the atmosphere. The ESS program scope advances foundational process knowledge with an emphasis on understudied ecosystems. Supported research emphasizes ecological and hydro-biogeochemical linkages among system components and characterization of processes across interfaces (e.g., terrestrial-aquatic, coastal, urban) to address key knowledge gaps and uncertainties across a range of spatial and temporal scales.

Incorporation of scientific findings into process and system models is an important aspect of the ESS strategy, both to improve predictive understanding as well as to enable the identification of new research questions and directions.

Program Approach

ESS research includes lab- and field-based studies as well as model development, and will continue to use the Modeling-Experimental (ModEx) paradigm (https://ess.science.energy.gov/modex/) for examining terrestrial and watershed system properties that exhibit large uncertainties in their functions, feedbacks, and dynamics that are insufficiently captured in open-source or community models. Such models are used to generate https://ess.science.energy.gov/modex/ predictions, and these are compared against laboratory as well as field observations to identify critical uncertainties and inform future research directions.

Using an open-science and open-data philosophy, the ESS program advances priority research areas by supporting a complementary and coordinated mix of short-term (e.g., university-led projects), decadal (e.g., Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments projects), and other long-term studies (e.g., National Laboratory-led Science Focus Area programs). The ESS program undertakes and integrates research across a wide range of disciplines (e.g., environmental genomics, microbial ecology, plant ecology, biogeochemistry, geology, hydrology, and computational science), and applies state-of-the-art mechanistic studies and ecosystem manipulations to investigate inherent and emergent properties of changes to Earth and environmental systems. Through site observation, experimentation, field manipulation, and simulation, the ESS program uses the new knowledge gained to enhance the understanding of the current functioning and future dynamics of watershed and ecosystem processes in terrestrial systems.

ESS seeks to coordinate and collaborate closely with other research activities within the BER Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD) and the Biological Systems Sciences Division (BSSD), other DOE research programs, research efforts supported by other federal agencies, and capabilities available at a variety of DOE user facilities. Within BER, EESSD strategically supports basic research that address key uncertainties in the understanding of Earth system components, as well as complex uncertainties that arise from the interactions and interdependencies of these components in the coupled Earth system while BSSD supports basic research to understand, predict, manipulate and design biological processes for a variety of DOE bioenergy and environmental mission needs.

More information on the ESS program can be found at https://ess.science.energy.gov/. More information on BER activities can be found at https://science.osti.gov/ber/.

All applications to this NOFO are required to clearly delineate knowledge gaps limiting the understanding of fundamental ecological and watershed processes and describe how these knowledge gaps link to existing needs/gaps in state-of-the-art models that motivate the proposed research. Applicants must propose specific and testable hypotheses and approaches to resolve these knowledge gaps and are expected to provide details on how the results of the proposed research will be used to improve the predictability and sophistication of specifically identified reactive transport, hydrologic, terrestrial ecosystem, and/or Earth system models (ESMs).

Application Types

Two types of research applications are solicited as part of this NOFO.

Standard applications are solicited for Science Research Area (SRA) #1 only. Standard applications may propose a project up to 3 years in duration with a budget between $300,000 and $1,000,000 for the total award in response to the scope of SRA #1. Applications must include significant new field measurements and/or generation of laboratory data as part of the proposed activities, use observations and experiments to inform and/or improve one or more specific https://ess.science.energy.gov/ https://science.osti.gov/ber/ models in a ModEx approach, and advance the understanding of ecosystem and/or watershed systems. Projects focused primarily on modeling or model development, and/or those lacking substantial new empirical data collection may be considered out of scope. Standard applications should have budgets commensurate with the scope of work. Applications do not have to be proposed at the award ceiling but can and should include smaller-scope research applications with commensurate budgets. The potential impact, probability of success, and the risk-reward balance will be considered when making funding decisions.

Synthesis applications are solicited for SRA #2 and #3 only. Synthesis and meta-analysis studies play an important role in accelerating scientific discovery and building predictive understanding by harnessing existing data to identify and evaluate emergent patterns, generalizable principles, and fundamental insights from extensive datasets that go beyond what can be learned from site-specific studies. Synthesis applications should propose new science that is focused on meta-analysis and synthesis research efforts that address development and testing of ESS-relevant hypotheses using existing data, and that have the potential for high impact regarding ESS research priorities. Synthesis awards will have a duration of up to two years with a budget between $100,000 and $400,000 for the total award. Synthesis applications should target innovative questions that can be addressed by both interrogating and integrating existing data to address key knowledge gaps that are relevant and transferable across ecosystems and/or watershed systems. Synthesis applications may not request funding for collection of new data or field research, support for field-related supplies or equipment, travel to or maintenance of field sites or research facilities, or operational support for research networks.

Both standard and synthesis pre-applications and applications must provide an explicit justification on how the proposed research is clearly within scope of the ESS program.

Additionally, both standard applications and synthesis applications will use the same submission process and will be subject to the same review requirements (described in Section VI). BER anticipates funding meritorious applications from both categories of research efforts, but the precise ratio of standard to synthesis applications to be funded will be determined based on the review and selection criteria and other program policy factors of this NOFO, available funding, and competitiveness of application budget requests. Award information specific for each application type and associated Science Research Areas is provided in Section I and Section

III.A.

SCIENCE RESEARCH AREA 1: PLANT-SOIL-MICROBE INTERACTIONS AND BELOWGROUND

BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES

Belowground ecosystems are complex environments where plant roots and root hairs, microbial communities, and soils interact while simultaneously being influenced by hydrologic, environmental, and other physical, and chemical conditions. These interactions give rise to biogeochemical processes and outcomes that can differ from what would be predicted for each individual component separately. The role of plant-soil-microbe interactions in shaping belowground biogeochemical processes constitutes a significant knowledge gap in understanding and predicting system feedbacks and response to shifting drivers and conditions. Furthermore, recent advancements in trait-based, molecular, genomic, and other characterization approaches are enabling new opportunities to gain insights into the interactions and function of rhizosphere properties that can then be incorporated into models for scaling to ecosystem-level processes and functions. The goal of applications to this SRA should be to advance the understanding of how plant-soil-microbe interactions affect belowground biogeochemical processes by employing a systems science approach, including the use of -omics (e.g., genomics, proteomics, etc.), that integrates hydrology, geochemistry/mineralogy, soil structure, and gaseous constituents with plant and microbial ecological processes. Specifically, this SRA seeks applications to elucidate a fundamental understanding of belowground plant-soil-microbe interactions with respect to biogeochemical aspects of nutrient cycling and responses to shifting ecosystem and/or environmental conditions to improve their transferrable, predictive understanding and representation in ecosystem and/or Earth system models.

Applications must include one or more field-based experiments but may incorporate both a lab-and field-study component. Applications must target and justify a knowledge gap for a specific ecosystem as well as the likelihood of transferability of the project findings beyond the specific project field site(s). While molecular and -omics approaches are permitted, applications that primarily focus on the use and/or methodological development of these approaches without a clear linkage to relevant mechanistic understanding of scalable belowground ecosystem biogeochemical processes are out of scope and will not be considered.

Submissions that focus primarily on food crop production, aquatic processes, land/forest management, contaminant remediation, or engineered or artificial systems are out of scope and will not be considered. In addition, submissions that focus primarily on the development and/or parameterization of a numerical model or development of a conceptual model without equally contributing new fundamental understanding of belowground plant-soil-microbe interactions are out of scope and will not be considered.

SCIENCE RESEARCH AREA 2: SYNTHESIS STUDIES OF U.S. SOUTHEAST COASTAL SYSTEMS

Coastal systems, found in the zones where the land margin meets freshwater or saltwater environments, are areas of high hydro-biogeochemical activity and predictive uncertainty in local to global environmental and Earth system dynamics and are home to significant human populations, biodiversity, and energy infrastructure. The U.S. southeast coastal region, defined as the interfacial and bidirectionally interacting zone along the coastal land margin of the continental southeast U.S. as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is comprised of critically important, highly diverse and heterogeneous systems spanning expansive low-lying topographies and large regional temperature and precipitation gradients. Southeast coastal systems are also characterized by frequent and increasing impacts of weather and climate-related extremes such as hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and floods, wildfire, and sea level rise as well as growing land use pressures from dense and extensive human populations and energy and transportation infrastructure. Individually and synergistically, these factors pose major challenges to the current and future persistence and functioning of southeast coastal systems.

Despite their importance and vulnerability, southeast coastal systems are inadequately represented in state-of-the-art predictive models, limiting the ability to understand and assess the potential impacts of natural and anthropogenic changes on ecosystem and watershed function and their contributions to regional to global Earth system responses.

To assess and explore critical research needs and opportunities in the U.S. southeast coastal systems, ESS held a workshop in March 2024 on “Critical Knowledge Gaps for Coastal Systems: Research Priorities for the U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.” The workshop identified several coastal science knowledge gaps, key uncertainties, and research priorities in the U.S. southeast coastal region, which are summarized in the workshop Executive Summary and will be described in more detail in a forthcoming report (tentative release in winter 2024).

The goal of applications to this Science Research Area should be to propose novel, hypothesis-driven synthesis studies addressing the key knowledge gaps for U.S. southeast coastal systems listed below, by integrating and interrogating findings and/or data from prior observational and/or experimental research activities to generate new knowledge and mechanistic understanding. Applications to this SRA must address one or more of the following three general knowledge gaps through hypothesis-driven synthesis and analysis of existing data:

• Distribution and Connectivity of Coastal Systems

• Biogeochemical Processes Underlying Ecosystem Function

• Response to Compounding Stressors and Disturbances

Applications can focus on an individual knowledge gap or integrate across multiple knowledge gaps to address an overarching hypothesis that addresses key uncertainties in southeast coastal systems. However, applications cannot be a collection of separate individual topics within a single application. To promote robust, transferrable insights, data or findings from areas outside the defined southeast coastal domain may be incorporated into the proposed approach, but the hypothesis(es) must be focused on systems within the southeast coastal domain.

Development of new field- or laboratory-based research, development of a new model, or improvements to an existing model are out of scope. Submissions focused on synthesis activities that are outside of the scope of the three knowledge gaps identified in this SRA, will not be considered. Submissions that focus primarily on non-coastal systems (as defined in the topic);

land/water management practices; agriculture, forestry, or aquaculture/fisheries practices; civil planning or engineering; marine systems; contaminants; weather forecasting or modeling;

animals and/or insects; or operational support for research networks are out of scope and will not be considered.

SCIENCE RESEARCH AREA 3: SYNTHESIS STUDIES OF MARGINAL AND DEGRADED LANDS

Marginal and degraded lands are increasing in area globally and their susceptibility to climate and environmental change requires attention. Marginal and degraded lands are oftentimes in ecological transition states and, as a result, may be particularly sensitive to natural processes and anthropogenic activity. Additionally, these lands can amplify feedback loops between climate and the environment, potentially pushing systems beyond ecological thresholds that imply limited recoverability. Together these lands and the climate-environment feedbacks associated with them have important implications for carbon, nutrient, and water cycling. Yet the ability to represent the unique assembly of processes in these transitional areas remains challenged in part by limited understanding of the environmental properties and processes in these systems, their https://ess.science.energy.gov/southeast-coastal-systems-report/ influence on connected systems, and their contributions to regional and global nutrient and hydrologic cycles, among others.

Although rooted in agricultural science, the definition of marginal lands has varied over time, region, and discipline; the term is often used interchangeably with degraded, unproductive, under-utilized, or abandoned lands. For the context of this Science Research Area, the terms marginal and degraded lands are combined and defined as environments with relatively low value for human use and low ecological integrity due to factors related to soil quality, aridity, drainage conditions, erodibility, topography, biological, or other restrictions (e.g., physical isolation). Furthermore, marginal and degraded lands can also include those exploited by human activity for natural resource extraction and energy development. Despite these factors and though they may have historically been developed or used for extractive purposes, marginal and degraded lands may still act as buffers or barriers between built or other disturbed systems, thereby providing ecosystem services including soil carbon storage, habitat for biodiversity, migration corridors for wildlife, flood control, and water storage, among others.

Applications are sought that perform syntheses research that will improve understanding of the contributions marginal and degraded lands have on carbon and hydrologic cycles, sediment and nutrient fluxes, and their response to climate and anthropogenic influences. Of particular interest are synthesis applications that focus on the ecosystem functions of marginal and degraded lands and their vulnerability to state change or transition. Both preapplications and all applications must include a description of the marginal and degraded lands to be studied. The goal of applications to this Science Research Area should be to propose novel, hypothesis-driven synthesis or meta-analysis studies addressing current understanding and existing knowledge gaps of environmental processes in marginal and degraded systems.

Applications should propose questions with clear connections to the scope of ESS research.

Submissions that focus solely on actively cultivated sites, forestry, ranching, food crop systems, land/water management, invasive species biology, aquatic systems, contaminant remediation, engineered or artificial systems, or operational support for research networks are out of scope and will not be considered.

These additional requirements apply to all Science Research Areas.

Participation in ESS PI Meetings: To ensure that the program meets the broadest needs of the research community and the specific needs of the DOE EESSD, a representative (preferably the lead PI) from successful applications is required to attend the annual Environmental System Science Principal Investigator science team meeting. Typically, this 2-3 day meeting is held in the Washington, DC area each year. Travel funds should be budgeted to allow at least the lead PI to attend this meeting for each year of the project.

Use of ESS-DIVE: Successful applicants and collaborative teams are required to annually share their data, data products, and metadata from their funded project publicly in the Environmental System Science – Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystems (ESS-DIVE) data repository, described below and in Section IV. All applications must include the use of ESS-DIVE and adherence with DOE, SC, and ESS-DIVE policies and procedures as part of their Data Management Plan.

Data Management and Data Sharing Policy: Research data obtained through public funding are a public trust. As such, these data must be publicly accessible. As noted in Section IV of this NOFO, a Data Management Plan (DMP) is a required element for all applications. The DMP should include a clear description of the applicant’s strategy for collecting, validating, curating, preserving, quality assuring, metadata tagging, standardizing, and sharing of data acquired during the course of the funded research effort. This includes data from extensive, long-term observations and experiments and from long-term Earth system model simulations and other simulations that would be costly to duplicate.

To assist funded researchers, EESSD established the ESS-DIVE data archive at LBNL (https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/) with the goal of enabling the scientific community to archive environmental science data for long-term preservation. ESS-DIVE is available to ESS funded projects and allows data contributors to archive and share data in standardized formats, and to obtain digital object identifiers (DOIs) that can be used to cite and track usage of the data. Users of this data archive will be able to find and obtain data generated by ESS-funded researchers that are organized for better interpretation, analysis, and integration.

Successful applicants and collaborative teams are required to annually share their data, data products, and metadata from their funded project publicly in the ESS-DIVE data repository. If successful applicants store some or all of their data in an established, public, long-term archive other than ESS-DIVE (e.g., AmeriFlux Archive, NASA DAAC, NCBI, DOE user facilities), they are also required to, at a minimum, archive metadata describing the data with ESS-DIVE, including links/DOIs to the archived data.

Details of what has been provided to ESS-DIVE, including citations and URLs of data packages, must be provided in the project’s annual progress report to DOE. Failure to provide evidence of data submission may jeopardize release of the continuation of financial support for the supported application.

These archiving requirements are not intended to interfere with data management activities at the home institution(s) of the project PI(s). Applications that represent multiple PIs and/or institutions must describe the data management strategy across the entire team and integration with the ESS-DIVE.

Individual PIs and teams are allowed an initial period of one year of exclusive use of the data from the date of acquisition to quality check the data and to publish papers based on the data, as outlined in the additional EESSD requirements regarding digital data management (https://science.osti.gov/ber/Funding-Opportunities/Digital-Data-Management). The appropriate ESS program manager must approve exceptions to this requirement, based upon a written request from the lead PI that fully explains the basis or extenuating circumstances for the request.

Successful applicants are strongly encouraged to engage the ESS-DIVE team to identify appropriate standards and training for submitting the data and making the data openly available as soon as possible. Explicit data management and data sharing plans are required to be included https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/ https://science.osti.gov/ber/Funding-Opportunities/Digital-Data-Management as Appendix 4 and limited to 3 pages in length (see ‘Software Sustainability Improvement’ regarding conditions for potential extension of the DMP page limit). Criteria for review of DMP’s are provided to the reviewers, as described in Section VI.

Software Sustainability Improvement: Scientific software plays an increasingly important role in both accelerating scientific discovery and developing a predictive understanding of complex systems. All applications that make use of software/code are required to include, as part of the Data Management Plan (Appendix 4), a description of the team’s strategy for using "best practices" that support software development, productivity, and sustainability for the modeling components.

Applications that only plan to make use of an existing (open source or proprietary) software/code to be parameterized with their project data/information as part of the proposed effort are required to include a sentence or short paragraph in Appendix 4 that explains that no new software will be developed, or no existing software will be modified or enhanced. In addition to this statement, there should be some discussion of plans and approaches to verify and validate the model results/outputs from such existing software/code.

Otherwise, applications that propose to develop or modify existing software/code must provide a plan for management of the software development/enhancement, implementation, testing and evaluation, and preservation and sharing. For additional guidance, applicants are encouraged to visit the Better Scientific Software site (https://bssw.io/) as well as a series of archived IDEAS- ECP webinars (https://ideas-productivity.org/events/hpc-best-practices-webinars) and GitHub: http://github.com/betterscientificsoftware/PSIP-Tools.

For applications requiring inclusion of plans for software sustainability as part of the Data Management Plan, Appendix 4 may be extended up to two (2) additional pages; however, these additional pages can only be used for description of plans related to software sustainability, not an expansion of the data management description.

Authorization Letter for Field Research: For all applications involving field-based sampling or research at an established site whose access is not controlled by the lead PI or their institution, a letter of support from the lead individual responsible for the specified field site should be provided in the full application for evaluation of project feasibility. The letter should verify the field site is available for use by the proposed effort, as well as the availability of any expertise/resources for the proposed effort described in the proposal narrative. Authorization letters, when applicable, should be provided as part of Appendix 7: Other Information (described in Section IV).

Flux Measurements and Sites: Applications that include the collection of flux measurements for carbon, water, and/or energy must contribute to the AmeriFlux Network (https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/) and must specify the nature and timing of data submission to AmeriFlux as part of the DMP. The establishment of new flux measurement locations will be considered carefully against the value of existing sites. Potential applicants are encouraged to review scientific activity and data associated with the existing AmeriFlux locations and to consider opportunities for collaboration as alternatives to the establishment of new sites. For https://bssw.io/ https://ideas-productivity.org/events/hpc-best-practices-webinars http://github.com/betterscientificsoftware/PSIP-Tools https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/ applications that seek to sustain existing AmeriFlux locations, priority will be placed on hypothesis-based research and sites that have a strong record of measurement performance and prompt delivery of data products to the AmeriFlux archive, with demonstrated use by the broader scientific community. There is an established archive for reporting AmeriFlux data (https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/data/how-to-uploaddownload-data/), and supported projects will be expected to comply rigorously with reporting guidelines and standards. Modeling, synthesis, and integration activities should consider utilization of available AmeriFlux (https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/) and FACE (via ESS-DIVE: https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/) data products.

Applications should identify any large computational requirements and their proposed plan for acquiring access to appropriate computational resources.

Multi-Institutional Teams

SC uses two different mechanisms to support teams of multiple institutions.

COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS

Collaborative applications (in which each team member submits its own application with a common Project Narrative) will not be accepted under this NOFO.

SUBAWARDS2

Multi-institutional teams must submit one application from a designated lead institution with all other team members proposed as subrecipients.

DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) National Laboratories3 may not be proposed as subawards.

Other Federal agencies and another Federal agency’s FFRDCs4, if participating in a team led by another institution, may be proposed as subrecipients. Note that the value of any such proposed subaward may be removed from any such prime award: DOE may make separate awards to Federally affiliated institutions.

References

Availability of User Facilities and Other Specialized Resources: DOE has responsibility for User Facilities (https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities) and programs that offer unique and complementary resources in support of research in environmental system science. Applicants are encouraged to consider using or collaborating with these experimental, observational, and computational facilities/capabilities, which may have existing and dedicated financial support, to

2 Subawards are made to subrecipients. Both terms are defined in 2 CFR 200.1 (https://www.ecfr.gov) 3 The phrase “National Laboratories” is used broadly to encompass DOE/NNSA laboratories and sites capable of performing the work described in this NOFO and capable of receiving funds through the DOE Field Work System.

4 An authoritative list of all Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) may be found at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/ https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/data/how-to-uploaddownload-data/ https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/ https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/ https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities https://www.ecfr.gov/ https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/ leverage their capabilities, including archived samples and long-term data sets. Potential applicants are encouraged to consider use of DOE resources/user facilities in developing their applications. The applicant must certify via written documentation (e.g., letter of support) that user program coordinators, site/capability coordinators/managers, and/or advisory panels find the proposed research within their mission and would support the access or use if selected for an award. Some User Facilities have a separate proposal process, but applicants to this NOFO should still provide a letter from that facility indicating the proposed interaction would be within scope of their capabilities pending successful selection through their respective process. This documentation should be in the form of a letter of agreement, signed by an individual with authority to commit the expertise/resources of the collaborating institution/project/program, and submitted with the application. Examples of available user facilities and other specialized resources can be found at https://ess.science.energy.gov/resources.

DOE Genomics Science Program: The DOE-BER Biological Systems Science Division (BSSD), Genomic Science Program (GSP) supports a portfolio in Environmental Microbiome Research. The GSP seeks to understand microbial interactions in natural environments and how such interactions are shaped by environmental change. Understanding community responses to environmental perturbations and long-term change represents an important frontier for efforts to predict ecosystem behavior at different scales. BSSD aims at enabling such predictions by discovering how organisms and community behavior can be understood by leveraging omics-based information. In addition, many environmental microbes harbor genetic potential with relevance to bioenergy and bio-design, and a fundamental understanding of their environmental genomics is likely to have broader impacts across DOE’s mission space. BSSD’s environmental microbiology portfolio support projects that enhance our ability to understand microbial interactions dynamically and predictively, facilitating realistic recapitulations of microbial communities that move beyond the characterization of microbial and genetic diversity. Current efforts aim to advance our understanding of the way microbial interactions, metabolic handoffs, and physiological dependencies lead to microbial function, behavior, and evolution in the environment. More information including projects previously funded by the GSP can be found at https://genomicscience.energy.gov. Applications that leverage data, infrastructure, and other scientific investments supported by the DOE-BER BSSD and GSP, as described at https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/bssd/Structural-Biology, are welcome.

Open Science

SC is dedicated to promoting the values of openness in Federally supported scientific research, including, but not limited to, ensuring that research may be reproduced and that the results of Federally supported research are made available to other researchers. These objectives may be met through any number of mechanisms including, but not limited to, data access plans, data sharing agreements, the use of archives and repositories, and the use of various licensing schemes.

The use of the phrase “open-source” does not refer to any particular licensing arrangement, but is to be understood as encompassing any arrangement that furthers the objective of openness.

https://ess.science.energy.gov/resources https://genomicscience.energy.gov/ https://science.osti.gov/ber/Research/bssd/Structural-Biology

B. Program Goals, Objectives, and Priorities

The Office of Science’s (SC) mission is to deliver scientific discoveries and major scientific tools to transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States (U.S.). SC is the Nation’s largest Federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences and the lead Federal agency supporting fundamental scientific research for our Nation’s energy future.

SC accomplishes its mission and advances national goals by supporting:

• The frontiers of science—exploring nature’s mysteries from the study of fundamental subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules that are the building blocks of the materials of our universe and everything in it to the DNA, proteins, and cells that are the building blocks of life. Each of the programs in SC supports research probing the most fundamental disciplinary questions.

• The 21st Century tools of science—providing the nation’s researchers with 28 state-of-the-art national scientific user facilities, the most advanced tools of modern science, propelling the U.S. to the forefront of science, technology development, and deployment through innovation.

• Science for energy and the environment―paving the knowledge foundation to spur discoveries and innovations for advancing the Department’s mission in energy and environment. SC supports a wide range of funding modalities from single principal investigators to large team-based activities to engage in fundamental research on energy production, conversion, storage, transmission, and use, and on our understanding of the earth systems.

SC is an established leader of the U.S. scientific discovery and innovation enterprise. Over the decades, SC investments and accomplishments in basic research and enabling research capabilities have provided the foundations for new technologies, businesses, and industries, making significant contributions to our nation’s economy, national security, and quality of life.

C. Award Contribution to Goals and Objectives

Awards resulting from this NOFO are intended to increase our understanding of scientific phenomena.

D. Performance Goals

You will be expected to demonstrate progress toward increasing knowledge in periodic progress reports.

E. Substantial Involvement

Not applicable.

F. Program Unallowable Costs

You must apply the cost principles of 2 CFR 200, as modified by 2 CFR 910 and 10 CFR 605, to your application and any resulting award.

G. Citations to Statute and Regulations

The programmatic authorizing statute is:

Section 646 of Public Law 95-91, U.S. Department of Energy Organization Act Section 901, et seq. of Public Law 109-58, Energy Policy Act of 2005

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal

Awards, codified at 2 CFR 200 U.S. Department of Energy Financial Assistance Rules, codified at 2 CFR 910 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Rule, codified at 10

CFR 605

H. Program History

You can learn about SC’s history at https://science.osti.gov/About/History. You can read about our achievements at https://science.osti.gov/Science-Features/Science-Highlights. You can find information about all of our awards at https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov/WebPAMSExternal/interface/awards/AwardSearchExtern al.aspx.

I. Other Information

ANTICIPATED AWARD SIZE

DOE anticipates making awards of $300,000 up to $1,000,000 for SRA #1 and $100,000 up to $400,000 for SRA #2 and SRA #3. The award size will depend on the number of meritorious applications and the availability of appropriated funds.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

DOE anticipates making awards with a project period of up to 3 years for SRA #1 or up to 2 years for SRA #2 and SRA #3.

Continuation funding (funding for the second and subsequent budget periods) is contingent on:

(1) availability of funds appropriated by Congress and future year budget authority; (2) progress towards meeting the objectives of the approved application; (3) submission of required reports;

and (4) compliance with the terms and conditions of the award.

https://science.osti.gov/About/History https://science.osti.gov/Science-Features/Science-Highlights…