federalfundingopportunity-w9126g-15-2-rfp-0003.docx

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Department of the Army, Department of Defense

Funding Opportunity Title: NOAA Atlas 14 Volume for Texas

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: W9126G-15-2-RFP-0003

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 12.114, Collaborative Research and Development

Dates: Proposals must be received by USACE no later than 2:00 PM., CDT, April 30, 2015. Proposals submitted through grants.gov will receive an electronic date stamp to determine timeliness. Any applications received through the mail will be hand stamped for the same purpose.

Funding Opportunity Description: This program is for the research and development of the NOAA Atlas 14 Volume for Texas.

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

A. Program Description

The purpose of Atlas 14 is to determine annual exceedance probabilities (AEP) and average recurrence intervals (ARI) for precipitation durations ranging from 5 minutes to 60 days and for ARIs from 1 to 1,000 years. After researching historical precipitation data, point estimates of AEPs and ARIs will be developed and spatially interpolated to a spatial resolution of approximately 4km x 4 km. The study results will be published as a volume of NOAA Atlas 14, a wholly web based publication available online through NOAA. The NOAA Atlas 14 Volume for Texas will include the artifacts provided in previous Volumes, including access through the Precipitation Frequency Data Server, base grids in standard formats, electronic copies of maps, results of trend analyses, charts of seasonal distributions and probabilistic temporal distributions, and detailed documentation. NOAA Atlas 14 Volume for Texas will assist USACE in developing hydrologic studies with the best available precipitation frequency data and support USACE’s Flood Risk Management mission. Various state agencies, such as TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation), will use the precipitation frequency estimates acquired in this study to assist in the design of highways, culverts, bridges, and parking lots. The precipitation frequency data may also be used to design storm water-runoff facilities, to estimate the volume of detentions basins and size detention-basin outlet structures. The precipitation frequency data provided in Atlas 14 will provide a public benefit in the form of more accurately designed drainage for roads and highways, providing safety when travelling across the state. Increasing the accuracy of the design of flood-risk management structures and forecasts by USACE and other state agencies also provides safety benefits to the public.

B. Federal Award Information

1. Funding Availability and Project/Award Period

The total funding amount available for this program is anticipated to be approximately $1,750,000 over the course of approximately three years. It is expected that there will be a base period of approximately 4 months with a funding amount of approximately $150,000. It is anticipated that there will be 4 option period subject to the availability of funds. It is anticipated that the first option period will be for 3 months from the end of the base period. If exercised, the 3 remaining option periods are anticipated to extend the POP for approximately 12 months for each option exercised. All option periods are subject to the availability of funds. The anticipated start date is May 18, 2015.

2. Type of Funding Instrument

The funding instrument used for this program will be a cooperative agreement. An example of substantial involvement includes, but is not limited to;

· Collaboration between a scientist interacting with a USACE engineer or scientist on a project of joint interest.

· NOAA’s Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center (HDSC) will provide Technical Review of precipitation frequency analysis, as well as perform a portion of the precipitation frequency analysis. The organization and structure of work will be determined by the HDSC Atlas 14 program manager.

· The USACE Fort Worth District Water Resources Branch will serve in a technical role by developing the integration of the Atlas 14 Volume for Texas precipitation frequency data into the meteorological software program (MetVue) within the Corps Water Management System.

· USACE will also perform quality assurance reviews for quarterly and annual reports developed for the Atlas 14 Volume for Texas.

C. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

Eligibility is limited to non-Federal public and private, non-profit colleges and universities which offer advanced degrees in sciences and engineering, consortia of non-profit academic institutions of higher learning, and non-profit research institutions. Applications will only be accepted from single institutions. Multi-institution proposals will not be accepted.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

No cost sharing is required under this program.

3. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

None.

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package

The standard application package is available at http://www.grants.gov.

2. Content and Form of Application

Proposals should total no more than 45 pages in length, single spaced. Additional pages will not be considered during proposal evaluation. It is strongly recommended that Time New Roman 12 point font, or an equivalent, be used. Federally mandated forms, tables of contents, and any letters of support are not included within the page count, but all other information is. Multi-year proposals will be considered, however, funding beyond the first period will be dependent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funds. May 1, 2015 is to be used as the proposed start date on proposals unless otherwise directed by USACE.

The application elements listed below are required before an award can be made.

Failure to submit elements i, ii, and iii by the deadline will result in the application not being reviewed if the omissions are not corrected prior to the deadline. The program office will make an effort to notify the applicant of any omissions, but there is no guarantee this can occur prior to the application deadline. The aforementioned application elements are as follows:

i. Title Page. The title page must be officially authorized by the institutional representative. The principal investigator (PI) and institutional representative should be identified by full name, title, organization, telephone number, and address. It is requested that the title page list the total amount of requested Federal funds for each budget period.

ii. Abstract Page. An abstract should be included and should consist of a concise summary of the proposed effort.

iii. Results from Prior Research. The results of relevant projects supported by NOAA and other agencies should be described, including their relation to the currently proposed work. Reference to each prior research award should include the title, agency, award number, PIs, period of award, and total award. The section should be a brief summary and should not exceed two pages total.

iv. Project description. The proposed project must be completely described, including identification of the problem; scientific objectives; proposed methodology; relevance to NOAA science; scientific merit; past collaborations with NOAA; cost effectiveness of program; and the program priorities listed above. Benefits of the proposed project to the general public and the scientific community should be discussed. A year-by-year summary of proposed work must be included.

v. Budget and Proposed Budget Justification. Applicants must submit a Standard Form (SF) 424, Application for Federal Assistance, including a detailed budget using the SF 424A, Budget Information--Non-Construction Programs. (The forms are available on grants.gov.) Pay careful attention to show the yearly budget breakout on the SF 424A for multi-year proposals. In addition, the body of the proposal should include a separate table showing total and annual budgets (if multi-year) corresponding with the project description. Additional text to justify expenses should be included as necessary.

vi. Vitae. Abbreviated curriculum vitae are sought with each proposal. Reference lists should be limited to all publications in the last three years with up to five other relevant papers.

vii. Current and Pending Support. For each investigator, submit a list which includes project title, supporting agency with grant number, investigator months, dollar value, and duration. Requested values should be listed for pending support. This program does not require any NEPA questions to be answered as part of the application.

3. Submission Dates and Times

The deadline for receipt of proposals at the USACE office is 2:00 PM, CDT, April 30, 2015. For proposals submitted through grants.gov, a date and time receipt indication is included and will be the basis of determining timeliness. Hard copy proposals will be date and time stamped when they are received in the programs office and must meet the same deadline reference above. Proposals received after the deadline will be rejected/returned to the sender without further consideration.

4. Intergovernmental Review

Applications under this program are not subject to Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.

5. Funding Restrictions.

Funding beyond the first period will be dependent upon satisfactory performance and the continued availability of funds.

6. Other Submission Requirements

None.

Proposals should be submitted through www.grants.gov . Applicants should attach their Technical Proposal to the attachment point below Box 15 on the SF424 cover page.

E. Application Review Information

1. Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria and weighting of the criteria are as follows:

i. Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Proposal (30 Percent): This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to USACE, federal, regional, state, or local activities.

ii. Technical/Scientific Merit (25 Percent): This criterion assess whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear project goals and objectives. For the NOAA Science Collaboration Program competition this includes:

a) Was a sound strategy developed to identify, develop, and manage the scientists that will enter the program and work with NOAA professionals across numerous science areas?

b) Were focused scientific objectives and strategies, including data management considerations, project milestones, and timelines used?

iii. Overall Qualification of Applicants (30 Percent): This criterion ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education, experience, training facilities, and administrative resources to accomplish the project. For this project’s competition this includes:

a) Do PIs clearly document past experience with identifying, developing, and managing undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scientists in science and engineering related fields and have the technical expertise to conduct research in the societal related impacts of environmental and related science?

b) Have past experiences been successful?

c) Are the PIs and scientists brought into the program likely to maintain effective and consistent interactions with USACE professionals throughout the course of the proposed research program?

d) Have PIs demonstrated the avbility to conduct successful research?

iv. Project Costs (15 Percent): This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time-frame. For this Atlas 14 program, this includes:

a) Is there an efficient use of proposed award funds to identify, develop, and manage collaborating scientists entering the program?

b) Do the PIs demonstrate the ability to leverage other resources as necessary?

2. Review and Selection process

An initial administrative review/screening is conducted to determine compliance with requirements/completeness. All proposals will be evaluated and individually ranked in accordance with the assigned weights of the above evaluation criteria by an independent peer panel review. Four to ten NOAA employees, primarily representing units that will likely be involved with scientific collaborations with the applicant, may be used in this process. The merit reviewers' ratings are used to produce a rank order of the proposals. The Selection Official selects proposals after considering the peer panel reviews and selection factors listed below. In making the final selections, the Selecting Official will award in rank order unless the proposal is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon one or more of the selection factors.

3. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates.

Subject to the availability of funds, review of proposals will occur during April-May 2015. May 18, 2015 should be used as the proposed start date on proposals, unless otherwise directed by USACE.

F. Award Administration Information

1. Award Notices

Successful applicants may be asked to modify objectives, work plans, or budgets prior to final approval of an award. The exact amount of funds to be awarded, the final scope of activities, the project duration, and specific USACE cooperative involvement with the activities of each project will be determined in pre-award negotiations among the applicant and the USACE program staff. Projects should not be initiated in expectation of federal funding until a notice of award document is received from the NOAA Grants Office. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified that their proposals were not selected.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

For GRANT and COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT Proposals:

Grant awards greater than $100,000 require a certification of compliance with a national policy mandate concerning lobbying. Statutes and Government-wide regulations require the certification to be submitted prior to award. The certification is set forth at Appendix A to 32 CFR 28 regarding lobbying. When submitting your grant through Grants.gov, by completing blocks 17 and 19 of the Standard Form 424 Research and Related (R&R) Form, the grant applicant is providing the certification on lobbying required by 32 CFR Part 28, otherwise a signed copy by the authorized representative must be provided.

Below is the required certification:

i. CERTIFICATION AT APPENDIX A TO 32 CFR PART 28 REGARDING LOBBYING: Certification for Contracts, Grants, Loans, and Cooperative Agreements

The undersigned certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, that:

a) No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of an agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any Federal contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal loan, the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.

b) If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with this Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall complete and submit Standard Form-LLL, "Disclosure Form to Report Lobbying," in accordance with its instructions.

3. Reporting

i. Quarterly Reports – Once work begins, reports need to be provided to USACE once every three months detailing progress of the precipitation frequency analysis based on the assumption that the base period and all four option periods are awarded. However, if any of the option periods are not exercised, all precipitation frequency estimates, reports, and all accompanying data that had been completed up to the end of the base period or the last executed option period will be sent to the Fort Worth District.

ii. Annual Report – A report will be prepared for USACE SWF Office once every twelve months detailing progress of the Atlas 14 Volume for Texas and the timeline for finishing the remaining year(s) anticipated for the project based on the assumption that the base period and all four option periods are awarded. However, if any of the option periods are not exercised, any reports working towards the Annual Report and all accompanying data that had been completed up to the end of the base period or the last executed option period will be sent to the Fort Worth District.

iii. Annual Technical Summary Report – A report that provides to USACE, all data analyzed and created throughout the previous fiscal year in support of the final Atlas 14 Volume for Texas. However, if any of the option periods are not exercised, any reports working towards the Annual Technical Summary Report and all accompanying data that had been completed up to the end of the base period or the last executed option period will be sent to the Fort Worth District.

iv. Draft Final Report – A draft report that provides all available data and reports that are to be prepared for the Final Report (requirements for Final Report shown below in 8.1-5). The due date for the Draft Final Report will be three months before the estimated completion of the Atlas 14 Volume, as determined by the HDSC Director.

v. Final Report – The Final Report must include:

• Web based Precipitation Frequency Data Server for accessing each artifact

• Precipitation frequency estimates with upper and lower 90% confidence intervals at durations of 5, 15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, 4, 7, 10, 20, 30, 45, and 60 days, and ARIs of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 years

• High resolution grids of precipitation frequency estimates and upper and lower 90% confidence intervals with one grid for each combination of frequency and duration for the expected value and upper and lower 90% confidence intervals, provided in standard ASCII format accompanied by Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata.

• Either cartographic maps of the estimates with one map for selected combinations of frequency and duration for the expected value and upper and lower 90% confidence intervals or equivalent information delivered through an Internet map server.

• Probabilistic temporal distributions for 6, 12, 24 and 96 hour durations in both chart and digital form

• Charts of the seasonal distribution of annual maxima.

The Fort Worth District Water Resources Branch Chief will coordinate the submittal date of the Final Report and all deliverables to the Fort Worth District with the Director of the HDSC.

G. Agency Contacts

1. The point of contact is Lucille Smith, Grants Specialist, 409-766-3845, Lucille.R.Smith@usace.army.mil , Maria E. Rodriguez, Grants Officer, maria.e.rodriguez@usace.army.mil , 409-766-6331 or Mr. Maxwell Strickland, Maxwell.r.strickler@usace.army.mil, Project Manager, (817) 886-1541

H. Other Information

To use grants.gov, applicants must have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and be registered in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). Allow a minimum of five days to complete the CCR registration.

[Note: Your organization's Employer Identification Number (EIN) will be needed on the application form.] Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the application deadline data to begin the application process through grants.gov.