EPA-I-OCSPP-OPPT-FY2023-001 Revised.pdf

FEDERAL AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE: FY 2023 – FY 2024 Pollution Prevention Grants:

Environmental Justice in Communities

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Request for Applications (RFA) Amendment No. 1

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: EPA-I-OCSPP-OPPT-FY2023-001

ASSISTANCE LISTING NUMBER: 66.708

DATE: April 25, 2023

SUMMARY: This notice amends the language provided under Threshold Eligibility Criteria #6.

Amended language to Threshold Eligibility Criteria #6 can be found on page 12 and reads:

Application Submission Information Through Grants.gov: Application information must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov as stated in Section IV of this announcement (except in limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed for as explained in Section IV and Appendix E) on or before the submission deadline. Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV of this solicitation to ensure that their application is timely submitted. Please note that applicants experiencing technical issues with submitting through Grants.gov should follow the instructions provided in Section IV, which include both the requirement to contact Grants.gov and email a full application to EPA prior to the deadline.

FEDERAL AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE: FY 2023 – FY 2024 Pollution Prevention Grants: Environmental Justice in Communities

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Request for Applications (RFA). This is the initial announcement for this funding opportunity.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: EPA-I-OCSPP-OPPT-FY2023-001

ASSISTANCE LISTING NUMBER: 66.708

KEY DATES:

March 8, 2023 RFA OPENS March 21, 28, and 30, 2023 GENERAL INFORMATION SESSIONS March 23, 2023 INFORMATION SESSION FOR TRIBES June 6, 2023 RFA CLOSES – APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY 11:59 PM (EDT) September 30, 2023 ANTICIPATED NOTIFICATION OF FUNDING SELECTION October 30, 2023 ANTICIPATED AWARD

APPLICATION SUBMISSION DEADLINE: EPA will receive applications electronically through Grants.gov. Applications will be electronically date and time stamped. Please refer to Section IV of this announcement for full information on the submission process. Applications must be submitted by June 6, 2023 to be considered for funding.

https://www.grants.gov/

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CONTENTS BY SECTION

Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Background

B. Programmatic Description

C. Statutory/Regulatory Authority Criteria

D. Pollution Prevention Definition

E. Practices that are not P2

F. Environmental Justice (EJ) Definitions

G. Technical Assistance (TA) Approaches

1. Targeted Technical Assistance

2. On-site Technical Assistance

3. Off-site Technical Assistance

4. Safer Chemical Substitution

5. Training

6. Community-based P2

H. Engaging Partners in Technical Assistance

I. Linkage to EPA Strategic Plan and Goals

J. Measuring and Reporting Environmental Results: Output & Outcome Performance Measures

1. Requirements for Estimating Outputs and Outcomes

2. Requirements for a Reporting Plan

K. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation

Section II. Award Information

A. Number of Expected Awards and Funding Amounts

B. Partial Funding

C. Funding Agreement Types

Section III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

B. Cost Sharing and Matching Requirements

C. Performance Partnership Grant (PPG) Agreements:

D. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

1. Statutory Criteria

2. Improve Human Health and the Environment for Disadvantaged Communities

3. Link to EPA Strategic Plan

4. Eligibility

5. Submission Instructions

6. Application Submission Information Through Grants.gov

7. Meet Deadline

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Section IV. Application Submission Information

A. Grants.gov Submission Instructions

B. Application Submission Deadline

C. Prior to Applying through Grants.gov

D. Content and Forms for Application Submission

1. Mandatory Forms and Documentation

2. Optional Documents

3. Instructions for Preparing Mandatory Forms and Documentation

E. Opportunity for Questions and Answers Regarding this Announcement

Section V. Application Review Information

A. Merit Evaluation Criteria

B. Review and Selection Process

1. Review

2. Selection

Section VI. Award Administration Information

A. Award Notification

B. Submission Requirements

C. Administrative Requirements

1. Awards Management

2. Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC)

3. Guidance on Reporting Requirements

4. Progress Reports and Final Technical Reports

5. Disputes

Section VII. Agency Contacts

Appendix A : Examples of P2 Technical Assistance Projects Under This Grant Program............... A-1

Appendix B : Guidance for Developing P2 Case Studies ...................................................................... B-1

Appendix C : Project Narrative Example .............................................................................................. C-1

Appendix D : Budget Guidance and Budget Table Example.............................................................. .D-1

Appendix E : Grants.gov Instructions and Limited Exception Procedures ......................................... E-1

Appendix F : Quality Assurance Guidance for Environmental Outcome Reporting of P2 Grant Projects......................................................................................................................................................... F-1

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SECTION I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Background: Applicants are strongly encouraged to read this announcement in its entirety. It provides important information on the goals and priorities of the program, explains statutory program requirements, explains criteria used to evaluate and score grant applications, and explains agency grant policies and procedures.

In addition to this RFA, EPA is publishing a second Pollution Prevention (P2) Environmental Justice (EJ)-focused grant RFA in FY 2023 using funds authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) under the title, “FY 2023 – FY 2024 Pollution Prevention Grants: Environmental Justice Through Safer and More Sustainable Products.” The second RFA describes a funding opportunity for state and tribal programs to provide P2 technical assistance to businesses to improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by increasing the supply, demand and/or use of safer and more sustainable products, such as those that are certified by EPA’s Safer Choice program, or those that conform to EPA’s Recommendations for Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing (EPA Recommendations). These two RFAs have no cost-share requirements (zero match required) and will not be eligible for inclusion in performance partnership grant (PPG) agreements. For more information on this second P2 grant announcement, see EPA’s P2 Grant Program page.

Applicants are welcome to apply to one or both RFAs. However, applicants should clearly indicate that the work described in each application and workplan is either separate from or in addition to the work described in the application and workplan submitted under the other P2 grant announcement. If applicants apply to both RFAs, the work described in each application should be self-contained and implementable as proposed.

The work in one proposal should not be dependent on the work proposed in the other proposal, which might not be selected for funding.

FUNDING AND AWARDS: The total estimated funding for this competitive opportunity is approximately $8 million to be awarded in 2023. Individual grant awards may range from $100,000 to $800,000 for the funding period, or up to $1.2 million for multi-state or multi-tribal projects. EPA will fund awards in the form of grants or cooperative agreements under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA) Section 6605. See Section II of this announcement for more information.

B. Programmatic Description: This grant opportunity is announced under the authority of the PPA and is funded by IIJA. EPA is announcing a two-year competitive funding opportunity for awards to eligible entities, including: the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the U.S., any agency or instrumentality of a state or tribe, including colleges and universities,1 and federally recognized tribes and intertribal consortia. Applicants are strongly encouraged, but not required, to develop partnerships where they can strengthen their ability to provide P2 technical assistance to businesses2 in disadvantaged communities, which are communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.3

1 Colleges or universities that are agencies or instrumentalities of a state government and/or federally recognized tribe are eligible.

Colleges and universities must be chartered, commissioned, or publicly-owned/operated by the state or tribe in order to be deemed eligible.

2 For the purposes of this announcement, the term “businesses” may represent for-profit or not-for-profit entities.

3 Biden Administration Justice40 initiative.

https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice https://www.epa.gov/greenerproducts/recommendations-specifications-standards-and-ecolabels-federal-purchasing https://www.epa.gov/greenerproducts/recommendations-specifications-standards-and-ecolabels-federal-purchasing https://www.epa.gov/p2/grant-programs-pollution-prevention https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/

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The goal of this grant opportunity is to address environmental justice priorities and improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by providing P2 technical assistance to businesses (e.g., information, training, expert advice) on source reduction, also known as pollution prevention (P2).

Implementing P2 approaches can help businesses reduce the use and release of hazardous substances that can adversely impact human health and the environment while at the same time help businesses save money by reducing their resource use, expenditures, waste, and liability costs. P2 approaches can particularly address harmful chemical exposures and impacts on human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities. Therefore, EPA views these grants as a component of the Biden Administration Justice40 Initiative, which is designed to assure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.

To allow a greater number of disadvantaged communities to benefit from the results and lessons learned from projects funded by these grants, EPA is requiring recipients to develop P2 case studies on approaches that address environmental and human health concerns in disadvantaged communities, where the approaches are new, not widely known or adopted, or where the recipient believes detailed information on the project could support more widespread project replication. Recipients must develop at least one case study during the grant period. Case studies submitted by recipients will be used to build and share a body of knowledge about P2 approaches to address human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities that could be implemented by other enterprises. In addition to case studies, EPA also encourages other means to document and widely share projects and lessons learned through the technical assistance provided through these grants (e.g., outreach, training, and videos). Guidance for developing these case studies can be found in Appendix B.

C. Statutory/Regulatory Authority Criteria: Pursuant to Section 6605(b) of the PPA and EPA’s P2 regulations at 40 CFR 35.342 and 35.661, a P2 grant application must address at least one of the following:

1. Makes specific technical assistance available to businesses seeking information about source reduction opportunities, including funding for experts to provide on-site technical advice to businesses and to assist in the development of source reduction plans;

2. Targets assistance to businesses for whom lack of information is an impediment to source reduction; or

3. Provides training in source reduction techniques. Such training may be provided through local engineering schools or other appropriate means.

D. Pollution Prevention Definition: The PPA, section 6603(5)(A), defines source reduction, also called pollution prevention or P2, as any practice which reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling of discarded material, treatment, or disposal; and reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of those substances, pollutants, or contaminants.

EPA has also interpreted P2 to include practices that may protect natural resources through conservation methods, or in-process recycling (i.e., process improvements to reuse materials within the same business in the production process). Reducing the amount of pollution in the environment means producing less waste to control, treat, or dispose. Less pollution means fewer hazards posed to public health and the environment.

P2 practices may involve but are not limited to: making equipment or technology modifications to reduce the amount of chemicals used or released into the environment, using environmentally preferable materials to reduce or eliminate the use of raw materials or more hazardous chemicals, making process or procedure modifications to conserve energy or natural resources, reformulating or redesigning products to reduce or eliminate hazardous materials or pollutants, retooling/retrofitting (accessorizing) equipment or improving

5 | P a g e inventory control to reduce the likelihood of the release of pollutants. See Appendix A for examples of P2 approaches and technical assistance projects that can benefit disadvantaged communities.

E. Practices that are not P2: As described in the PPA section 6603(5)(B) and 40 CFR 35.343 and 35.662, P2 does not involve practices which alter the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics or the volume of a pollutant, hazardous substance or contaminant through a process or activity which itself is not integral to and necessary for the production of a product or in providing a service. Technical assistance on practices that are not considered P2 cannot serve as the basis for P2 grant funding. These non-P2 practices include:

recycling of discarded materials, waste clean-up, disposal activities, managing or processing of non-hazardous solid waste (e.g., paper, cardboard, glass, plastics), and the implementation of Lean manufacturing activities that do not involve reductions in the use/release of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, greenhouse gas releases or water use. If any of these activities represent more than a small and ancillary part of the proposed project, EPA will not consider the application for an award. For assistance with recycling of discarded materials, waste clean-up, disposal and management or processing of non-hazardous solid waste activities, please refer to EPA’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle website.

F. Environmental Justice (EJ) Definitions: EPA views these grants as a component of the Biden Administration Justice40 Initiative, which is designed to assure that “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.”4

Environmental justice is defined by the EPA as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. Fair treatment means that no one group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local and tribal environmental programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that: people have an opportunity to participate in decisions about activities that may affect their environment and/or health; the public’s contribution can influence the regulatory agency’s decision; community concerns will be considered in the decision-making process; and decision makers will seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.

Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, issued on January 27, 2021, affirmed the Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice by creating the Justice40 Initiative. The Justice40 Initiative establishes a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments—including those in climate change; clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit;

affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and the development of critical clean water infrastructure—flow to disadvantaged communities. In addition, Section 219 of the Executive Order stressed that environmental and economic justice are key considerations to factor into governmental decision-making and that transforming disadvantaged communities—historically marginalized, underserved, and overburdened—into healthy, thriving communities, and undertaking robust actions to mitigate climate change while preparing for the impacts of climate change across rural, urban, and Tribal areas are governmental priorities. The Executive Order also called for making environmental justice part of Agency missions by developing programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, 4 Biden Administration Justice40 (J40) Initiative. Further information on Justice40 can be found in OMB’s interim implementation guidance for the Justice40 Initiative (M-21-28).

https://www.epa.gov/recycle https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/ https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/learn-about-environmental-justice https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F07%2FM-21-28.pdf&data=05%7C01%7CKelly.Bridget%40epa.gov%7Cb07797645232405715d108daef5e5a31%7C88b378b367484867acf976aacbeca6a7%7C0%7C0%7C638085485780824017%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oei7XfMUVpD4yCSDpp09ka%2F2TE3CVq86Qt6ypQ%2BDe8E%3D&reserved=0

6 | P a g e climate-related and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged communities, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such impacts.

To address EJ and meet the goals of the Justice40 Initiative, EPA is issuing this grant solicitation requesting applications for P2 projects that address environmental or public health concerns in disadvantaged communities. For the purposes of this grant, a community can be characterized by a particular geographic area and/or by the relationships among members with similar interests and can be characterized as part of a broader national or regional community where organizations can be focused on the needs of urban, rural, and/or tribal areas, workers, displaced workers, children with high levels of lead, asthmatics, subsistence fishers, and other similar groups. These projects will help transform these disadvantaged communities into healthy, thriving communities capable of addressing the environmental and public health challenges they have historically faced, as well as current and future challenges.

Disadvantaged communities can be identified through The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which is a geospatial mapping tool developed by CEQ and using Supplemental Indexes available in both:

• The EPA’s EJScreen tool, which is a tool that combines environmental and socioeconomic indicators in maps and reports; and,

• The P2 EJ Facility Mapping Tool, which allows users to identify industrial businesses located in or adjacent to US Census tracts that meet the EJ socioeconomic indicators featured in EJScreen and the P2 EJ Facility Mapping Tool.

Applicants may use other approaches and demographic indicators for identifying disadvantaged communities that may be appropriate for their state but must specify those approaches in their grant applications. Applicants from federally recognized tribes and intertribal consortia will automatically be given full credit in the merit evaluation criteria for community identification and do not need to provide details on their identification process.

Where appropriate and feasible, EPA encourages applicants to design their projects to incorporate opportunities for meaningful community engagement to consider and address community concerns.

G. Technical Assistance (TA) Approaches: All applications must describe how the P2 technical assistance will be provided to businesses and how that approach will encourage adoption of practices that will support the EJ goals of this grant program by improving human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities. Approaches may include but are not limited to those listed below. Additional examples can be found in Appendix A.

1. Targeted Technical Assistance: Using the P2 EJ Facility Mapping tool or other approaches to target business establishments located in or adjacent to disadvantaged communities, AND use any of the technical assistance approaches described below.

2. On-site Technical Assistance: Conducting technical assistance on source reduction practices at businesses that can improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities.

3. Off-site Technical Assistance: Providing information on P2 practices to businesses remotely, such as by phone, video conferencing, e-mail or through on-demand video instruction.

4. Safer Chemical Substitution: Helping businesses assess and redesign their operations, processes and supply-chain practices to replace harmful toxic chemicals with safer chemical alternatives.

https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#3/33.47/-97.5 https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#3/33.47/-97.5 https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen https://www.epa.gov/p2/p2-ej-facility-mapping-tool

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5. Training: Developing and conducting training for businesses in disadvantaged communities on P2 practices.

6. Community-based P2: Establishing community organization partnerships to identify businesses in the community who are receptive to receive P2 technical assistance. Convening meetings with businesses and members of the disadvantaged communities to identify environmental and human health issues that could be addressed through the adoption of P2 practices by businesses, and then working with businesses to adopt those P2 approaches.

H. Engaging Partners in Technical Assistance: Applicants are strongly encouraged, but not required, to develop partnerships where they can strengthen their ability to provide P2 technical assistance to businesses in disadvantaged communities.5 Applications will be evaluated on the extent they leverage expertise through partnerships or describe why partnerships are not needed for the proposed work (see Section V).

Establishing partnerships may bring expertise, form relationships and/or enhance and expand the quality of the resources applied to the applicant’s grant project. One tool that may be useful for identifying potential partners is EPA’s P2 Technical Assistance Resources. Developing these types of engagements may help to improve the proposed project’s human health and environmental outcomes and/or community involvement.

Partnerships may include, but are not limited to, university-based technical assistance and cooperative extension programs, environmental assistance programs offered within a State, Tribe or community, local governments, nonprofit or for-profit organizations, businesses, organizations representing disadvantaged communities to ensure equity in participation and others. Partnerships may also include, but are not limited to: trade organizations; federal programs; EPA’s Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs (SBEAPs); the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Assessment Centers. Note: Engaging in partnerships to help carry out project tasks will not absolve applicants of their legal obligations to comply with applicable agency guidance and regulatory provisions, including competitive procurement, if applicable.

I. Linkage to EPA Strategic Plan and Goals: Application narratives must explain how the work proposed will support the EPA Strategic Plan goal and objective identified below. Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7A1, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance Agreements,” EPA must review the linkage of proposed applications with the Agency’s Strategic Plan. The grants and cooperative agreements funded under this announcement will need to support EPA’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan), under Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment, Objective 7.2: Promote Pollution Prevention.

The program anticipates that assistance agreements (grants and cooperative agreements) awarded under this announcement will achieve the Agency’s goals and objectives for P2 by addressing the required output and outcome performance measures provided directly below in Section I.J.

J. Measuring and Reporting Environmental Results: Output & Outcome Performance Measures:

Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7A1, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance Agreements,” EPA requires that grant applicants and recipients describe environmental outputs and

5 If partnerships will involve contracts and/or subawards, applicants are strongly advised to consult the applicable rules for using contracts and issuing subawards in federal assistance agreements. Applicants will find a discussion of the applicable rules in Section IV of the EPA Solicitation Clauses website at: https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses. For additional information, applicants may consult the P2 Grant Programs’ List of Frequent Questions here.

https://www.epa.gov/p2/p2-technical-assistance-resources https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf?VersionId=nfYM.sisK2Ed_6e_uH7NY6iHbUdEmh1Q https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-02/p2ejgrants_frequent-questions.pdf

8 | P a g e outcomes. Outputs are activities, efforts, and/or associated work products related to an environmental goal or objective that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outcomes are the results, effects or consequences that will occur from carrying out an environmental program or activity that is related to an environmental or programmatic goal or objective (e.g., reduction in pounds of hazardous material used and of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants released, reductions in gallons of water used). Within the project narrative, applicants must provide an estimate of expected outputs and outcomes, as well as a plan for measuring and reporting outputs and outcomes during the grant period.

1. Requirements for Estimating Outputs and Outcomes: Grant applicants must describe and estimate their expected outputs and, to the maximum extent practicable, their expected outcomes as described below in Section I.J.2. Applicants may also include additional output and outcome measures if they choose. To estimate anticipated outcomes, applicants may use one or more of EPA’s P2 calculators on the EPA P2 website (click on “Calculators to Measure Outcomes”), or may use other methodologies provided those methodologies are described and referenced in the project narrative.

2. Requirements for a Reporting Plan: Applicants must provide a comprehensive plan for gathering data and reporting on the required outputs and outcomes for each business establishment6 receiving P2 technical assistance as listed below and described in Section VI.C.3. Recipients may also report additional output and outcome measures if they choose.

Within the plan, applicants should describe the approach that will be used to document the P2 recommendations provided to each business establishment and the approach used to follow up with each business to determine what P2 recommendations were implemented and what outcomes resulted from that implementation. Applicants should also describe how this information will be documented and reported to EPA.

EPA encourages applicants to specify that outputs and outcomes will be reported to EPA in table or spreadsheet form. For the convenience of the recipients, Excel spreadsheet reporting template(s) are available on EPA’s P2 Program Grant Reporting page. Although the use of these Excel spreadsheets is currently not required, applicants should consider referring to these templates in their Reporting Plans as their planned method to collect, document and submit the required reporting to EPA. EPA will use this required reported information to determine if workplan requirements are being met and to build a repository of P2 practices that can be widely shared and replicated. Use of the optional Excel spreadsheets will help EPA make the most effective use of the reporting provided.7

a. Required P2 Output Measures: Applicants must estimate and provide a comprehensive plan for gathering data and reporting the following recipient activities expected as a result of grant technical assistance activities:

i. Number of businesses provided P2 technical assistance to improve human health and/or the environment in disadvantaged communities.

ii. Percent of businesses provided P2 technical assistance that the recipient follows up with (e.g., phone call, visit, letter, or email) to determine which P2 practices were implemented (should be 100%).

6 Past P2 Grant RFAs referred to business establishments as “facilities.”

7 EPA is developing an online grant reporting database that will be required for reporting once the database is completed and posted.

https://www.epa.gov/p2/pollution-prevention-tools-and-calculators https://www.epa.gov/p2/grant-reporting

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iii. Percentage of businesses that implement at least one new P2 practice to improve human health and/or the environment in disadvantaged communities as a result of the technical assistance provided by the recipient.

iv. Number of case studies developed to document the projects and approaches used to improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities. Minimum must be at least one case study.

v. Number of outreach activities and informational materials (i.e., webinar postings, video postings, mass mailings or other outreach) that widely share P2 practices and P2 documentation products implemented through the grant.

o If known, number of businesses impacting disadvantaged communities exposed to or reached by the amplification activities and products.

b. Optional P2 Output Measures: In addition to the required output measures discussed above, grant applicants may also include additional project outputs in their plan, such as:

i. Number of trade associations enlisted as partners.

ii. Number of community organizations enlisted as partners.

iii. Number of workshops, trainings and courses conducted, and number of businesses attending.

c. Required P2 Outcome Measures: Applicants must estimate and provide a comprehensive plan for gathering data and reporting the outcomes from the P2 TA provided as applicable to the proposal.

Outcomes should be estimated to reflect annual totals expected to be achieved. Zero values should be used if there are no results expected for a measure, and N/A should be used if the measure is not appropriate for a proposed project.

Note: Recipients should not work with businesses that are not willing to provide information to support these measures. Recipients may omit the affiliated business name and location if a business has confidentiality concerns with providing the information needed for the required reporting.

i. Annual reduction in pounds of hazardous materials used and of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants released at each business establishment impacting disadvantaged communities.

ii. Annual reductions in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) at each business impacting disadvantaged communities.

iii. Annual reductions in gallons of water used at each business impacting disadvantage communities.

iv. The annual dollar savings associated with implementing P2 actions at each business impacting disadvantaged communities.

K. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation: Additional provisions that apply to this solicitation and award of assistance agreements (grants or cooperative agreements) anticipated under this solicitation, include, but are not limited to: confidential business information, proposal assistance and communication with prospective applicants, System of Award Management unique entity identifier, disputes, grant performance reporting, using contracts and subawards under assistance agreements and many others. These provisions can be found on EPA's Solicitation Clauses website and are critically important for applying and receiving funding under this announcement. Applicants will need to review them when preparing applications under this solicitation. If you are unable to access these provisions electronically at the website above, please communicate with the EPA contacts listed in Section VII of this solicitation to obtain the provisions.

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SECTION II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. Number of Expected Awards and Funding Amounts: The total funding under this competitive opportunity is approximately $8 million, to be awarded in 2023 for projects with a two-year funding period.

This estimate is based on funding which is not guaranteed and may change. EPA anticipates that approximately 25 grant awards will be selected, which may be in the range of $100,000 to $800,000 for projects conducted within a single state or tribe, or up to $1.2 million for multi-state or tribal projects.8

Awards will be funded in full upon issuing the assistance agreements. EPA will release awards in the form of grants or cooperative agreements under the authority of Section 6605 of the PPA of 1990 and IIJA.

As provided in IIJA, recipients will not be expected to provide funds to match the federal award.

The recipient’s budget and workplan may set aside funds from the two-year award for an optional third-year to obtain and report the required information as described in Section VI.C.3 of this RFA and developing case studies.

The number and dollar amount of P2 grants issued will depend upon the factors noted above including funding availability, Congressional appropriations, satisfactory performance, the quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations. Funding is not guaranteed. EPA anticipates that final selections will be made 180 days after this announcement is published. EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and issue no awards or issue fewer awards than anticipated, under this solicitation. All awards will be consistent with applicable EPA regulations and grant policies. In addition, EPA reserves the right to issue additional awards under this announcement, if additional funding becomes available. Any additional awards will be made no later than six months from the date of the original selections.

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

C. Funding Agreement Types: Successful applicant(s) will be issued funds in the form of a grant or cooperative agreement under the authority of PPA Section 6605 to cover a two-year funding period9 as appropriate. Awards will be funded in full upon issuing the assistance agreements. A cooperative agreement is an assistance agreement that is used when there is substantial federal involvement with the recipient during the performance of an activity or project. EPA awards cooperative agreements for those projects in which it expects to have substantial interaction with the recipient throughout the recipient’s performance of the project. EPA will negotiate the precise terms and conditions of “substantial involvement” as part of the award process. Federal involvement may include close monitoring of the recipient’s performance;

collaboration during the performance of the scope of work; in accordance with 2 CFR 200.317 and 2 CFR 200.318, as appropriate, review of proposed procurements, reviewing qualifications of key personnel, and/or review and comment on the content of printed or electronic publications prepared. EPA does not have the authority to select employees or contractors employed by the recipient. The final decision on the content of

8 Recipients may partner with other states, tribes, and/or work across state boundaries 9 Awardee budgets and workplans may set aside funds from the potential two years of federal funding to allow time for a third year to perform the required follow-up with facilities for reporting and developing case studies.

11 | P a g e reports rests with the recipient. For more information see: https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-funding-instruments-and-authorities.

SECTION III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

Note: Additional provisions that apply to this section can be found at EPA Solicitation Clauses.

A. Eligible Applicants: Section 6605 of the PPA and applicable parts of 40 CFR Part 35, Subparts A and B (40 CFR 35.340 et seq. and 35.660 et seq.) authorize EPA to award grants and/or cooperative agreements to the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the U.S. (40 CFR 35.345), any agency or instrumentality of a state or tribe, including colleges and universities, federally recognized Indian tribes that meet the requirements as described in 40 CFR 35.663, and Intertribal Consortia that meet the requirements in 40 CFR 35.504.10

Colleges and universities must be chartered, commissioned or publicly-owned/operated by the state or the federally recognized tribe in order to be eligible. Colleges and universities must include documentation within their applications, which may include, but is not limited to a: state constitutional reference, college/ university charter, or a W-7 tax form that has confirmed the college or university to serve as an instrumentality of a state or a federally recognized tribe. EPA strongly encourages minority serving institutions (MSIs) that meet the eligibility criteria to apply for these grants. Note: Local governments, private universities, for-profit organizations, nonprofit organizations, private businesses, and individuals are not eligible to apply for funding under this announcement but can partner with eligible applicants.

B. Cost Sharing and Matching Requirements: There is no cost share/match requirement under this program as authorized under IIJA – Pub. L. 117-58, 135 Stat. 1404.

C. Performance Partnership Grant (PPG) Agreements:

Because of the budget accounting that is required for IIJA-appropriated funds, assistance agreements issued under this program are ineligible for inclusion in PPGs.

D. Threshold Eligibility Criteria: Each application must meet the Threshold Eligibility Criteria provided below at the time of submission in order to be considered for funding. These are requirements that, if not met by the time of submission, will result in elimination of the application from being considered for funding. Only applications from eligible entities (Section III.A) that meet all threshold eligibility criteria will be evaluated against the merit evaluation criteria in Section V.A of this RFA. If applications are deemed ineligible for funding consideration as a result of the threshold eligibility review, the applicants will be notified within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

1. Statutory Criteria: Applications must adhere to the statutory criteria of P2 grants by addressing one or more of the Statutory/Regulatory Authority Criteria in Section I.C and the definition of P2 in Section I.D. The focus of work described in applications must provide technical assistance to businesses, such

10 Under this grant program, federally recognized tribes and intertribal consortia are not required to have “treatment in a manner similar to a state” (TAS) authorization in order to apply or receive grant funding. The requirements as noted in the code of federal regulations (CFR) and in the preamble to 40 CFR Part 35 provide that the grant program shall have the authority and discretion to evaluate based on the merit evaluation criteria the extent to which federally recognized tribes or intertribal consortia have the capacity to successfully execute the proposed grant activities.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-117publ58 https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-funding-instruments-and-authorities https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-funding-instruments-and-authorities

12 | P a g e as providing information, training, or expert advice. For the purposes of this announcement, the term “businesses” may represent for-profit or not-for-profit entities. Non-P2 technical assistance to businesses may only represent a small and ancillary part of the proposed work and must be funded from other sources that will support the P2 grant. If applications include ineligible tasks or activities (i.e., those not considered to be pollution prevention/source reduction, or P2 technical assistance to business) then those activities may be found ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent of the ineligible activities, render the entire application unsuitable for funding.

2. Improve Human Health and the Environment for Disadvantaged Communities: Applications must describe how the project being proposed will identify disadvantaged communities as described in Section I.F and how the project will address human health and environmental concerns in those communities. NOTE: Applications from federally recognized tribes and intertribal consortia will not need to demonstrate a focus on disadvantaged communities but will need to demonstrate how the project will improve human health and the environment for the tribe.

3. Link to EPA Strategic Plan: Applications must specify how the grant activity links to and supports the goal and objective of EPA’s FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for P2 and must explain how the grant activities will support expected outputs and outcomes – Section I.I and Section I.J.

4. Eligibility: Applications must be from eligible applicants –Section III.A.

5. Submission Instructions: Application packages must substantially comply with the submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV.D of this announcement in order to be considered for funding or else they will be rejected. Where a page limit is indicated for the workplan narrative section of the application, pages in excess of the 15-page limitation will not be reviewed.

6. Application Submission Information Through Grants.gov:Application information must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov as stated in Section IV of this announcement (except in limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed for as explained in Section IV and Appendix E) on or before the submission deadline. Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV of this solicitation to ensure that their application is timely submitted. Please note that applicants experiencing technical issues with submitting through Grants.gov should follow the instructions provided in Section IV, which include both the requirement to contact Grants.gov and email a full application to EPA prior to the deadline.

7. Meet Deadline: Applications submitted outside of Grants.gov will be deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that it was due to EPA mishandling or technical problems associated with Grants.gov or SAM.gov. An applicant’s failure to timely submit their application through Grants.gov because they did not timely or properly register in SAM.gov or Grants.gov will not be considered an acceptable reason to consider a submission outside of Grants.gov.

http://www.grants.gov/ mailto:kelly.bridget@epa.gov

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SECTION IV. APPLICATION SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Note: Additional provisions that apply to this section can be found at EPA Solicitation Clauses.

A. Grants.gov Submission Instructions: Complete application instructions for applying through Grants.gov can be found in Appendix E of this announcement.

B. Application Submission Deadline: The submission deadline is June 6, 2023 11:59 pm (EST). To apply, the applicant’s Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must submit a complete application package electronically to EPA through Grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov). Instructions for applying through Grants.gov are provided in Appendix E of this announcement.

Please reserve enough time to successfully submit your application in the event unexpected errors require you to resubmit your application.

Applications submitted through Grants.gov will be time and date stamped electronically. If you have not received a confirmation of receipt from EPA (not Grants.gov) within 30 days of the application deadline, please contact the EPA representative listed in Section VII. Failure to do so may result in your application not being reviewed.

C. Prior to Applying through Grants.gov – Applicants must:

1. Designate an AOR as the individual who will submit the application through Grants.gov.

2. Be registered and have an active SAM account (https://sam.gov) to apply for federal assistance.

3. Be registered in Grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov/).

Note: The registration process for applying through Grants.gov may take a month or more to complete. Please register early. The electronic submission of your application must be made by the AOR of the organization who is registered with Grants.gov and is authorized to sign applications for federal funding assistance. If you do not have the technical capability to apply electronically through Grants.gov because of limited or no Internet access which prevents you from being able to upload the required application materials to Grants.gov, an alternate submission exception request may be made – see Appendix E for instructions.

If you submit more than one application for the identical project (either in error or to replace a previously submitted application), EPA will only review the most recently submitted application, unless you notify Bridget Kelly (kelly.bridget@epa.gov) and specify which application you want EPA to review.

D. Content and Forms for Application Submission: Submit all materials as described below. Please see Appendix E of this announcement for instructions on how to submit your application on Grants.gov.

1. Mandatory Forms and Documentation: Instructions for preparing forms are provided under item #3 below. Please see Appendix E of this announcement for instructions on submitting your application.

a. Standard Form 424 – Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424).

b. Standard Form 424A, Budget Information – Non-Construction Programs.

c. EPA Form 4700-4, Pre-Award Compliance Review Report for All Applicants Requesting Federal

Financial Assistance.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://sam.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ mailto:kelly.bridget@epa.gov

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d. EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54.

e. Project Narrative Attachment Form: This online form is requested as part of your Grants.gov application package. This is a blank form used by Grants.gov. It creates a drop space to upload and attach your Project Narrative. You will use this form to attach your Project Narrative. The Project Narrative should contain the following: a cover page sharing contact details, responses to threshold criteria, merit evaluation criteria responses and a timeline. All items described above should be 15-pages or less. To help organize your Project Narrative, see Section IV.D.3.f below.

f. Budget Table: The table should clearly illustrate your budget cost categories. The budget table should be uploaded as a separate document using the “Other Attachment Form” and will not count toward the 15-page Project Narrative page limit.

2. Optional Documents: The following documentation, while not required, is encouraged to be submitted, and will not count toward the 15-page limit for the Project Narrative:

a. Letters of Support: Describe the community organizations and other partner organizations that will be engaged in the project and the service(s) they will provide to help carry out and enhance the project…