Final PA G16AS00008.docx

United States Geological Survey

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program National Ground-Water Monitoring Network

Proposals for Cooperative Agreements – Fiscal Year 2016 Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity G16AS00008

Closing Date: January 19, 2016 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT: The Paperwork Reduction Act says that the agency must tell you why we are collecting this information, how we will use it, and whether you have to give it to us. This information is being collected to determine the eligibility of the applicant and as a basis for approval or disapproval of the proposed project. The purpose of the program is to support data providers to the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. The Network provides groundwater data from Principal Aquifers at a regional or National scale to assist in assessing ground water resources. Response to this request is required to obtain and retain a cooperative agreement under the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. Public report burden for this collection is estimated to average 30 hours per agreement and 125 hours to prepare a final technical report. The OMB Control Number is 1028-0114 for this information collection; the expiration date is September 30, 2018. Direct comments regarding this collection of information may be sent to the Bureau Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS807, Reston VA20192.

APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY VIA

http://www.grants.gov

SEE INSTRUCTIONS

Cooperative funding Agreements to Support National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Data Providers Announcement for Fiscal Years 2016-2017

CFDA 15.980

The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program of the USGS is offering a two-year cooperative agreement opportunity to state or local water-resources agencies that collect groundwater data to participate in the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. The USGS is working with the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) and its Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) to develop and administer a National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN). This funding opportunity is to support data providers for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network.

Legal authority for this opportunity is provided under Public Law 111-11, Subtitle F—Secure Water: Section 9507 “Water Data Enhancement by the United States Geological Survey”. Funds to support new data providers will be used to work with the USGS to select and classify wells or springs in an existing monitoring program using the requirements in the NGWMN Framework Document, to provide background data on sites, to set up web services that will provide ongoing connection to the NGWMN Portal, and to produce a report describing this process. Funds also will be provided to existing data providers to maintain NGWMN participation.

1. Application Submission Closing Date: January 19, 2016, at 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

2. Electronic Application Requirement For the FY 2016 funding cycle all proposals shall be submitted electronically via Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). Hard/paper submissions will NOT be accepted. Electronic copies submitted via e-mail will NOT be accepted under any circumstances. All proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov on or before:

January 19, 2016, at 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

Please be aware that the electronic submission process requires first time users to register using an e-Authentication process. This registration process can be somewhat complex and can take up to 3 weeks to complete. Be advised that it is virtually impossible to begin the process of electronic submission for the first time if you start just a few days before the due date. If you are from a university, contact your Office of Sponsored Programs. They may already have completed the registration process and should work with you to submit the application.

If you have any questions or problems with the registration process, or the completion of the application package, please contact the grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov

Briefly, when you submit a grant application package to Grants.gov, you will receive a confirmation screen as well as three additional emails over two business days from Grants.gov informing you of your application processing status:

1. Confirmation screen

2. Submission Receipt (with “Track My Application” link)

3. Submission Validation (or Rejection with Errors)

4. Agency Retrieval

CONFIRMATION: Submission Confirmation Screen.

After you submit your grant application package, a confirmation screen will appear on your computer screen. This screen confirms that you have submitted an application to Grants.gov.

NOTIFICATION 1: Submission Receipt Email Within two business days after your application package has been received by the Grants.gov system, you will receive a submission receipt email which indicates that your submission has entered the Grants.gov system and is ready for validation. This email also contains a tracking number for use while tracking the status of the submission as well as a “Track My Application” link, to use to see the progress of your submission.

NOTIFICATION 2: Submission Validation Receipt Email – This is the important one!

After you receive the submission receipt email, the next email you will receive will be a message validating or rejecting your submitted application package with errors. The Grants.gov system is designed to check for technical errors within the submitted application package. Grants.gov does not review application content for award determination. Grants.gov will not post the application if there are errors. Failure to correct errors and submit by the date and time for closing shall not be a reason for accepting a late application.

NOTIFICATION 3: Grantor Agency Retrieval Email Once your application package has passed validation it is delivered to the grantor for award determination and further approval. After the grantor has confirmed receipt of your application, you will be sent a third and final email from Grants.gov. The grantor may also assign your application package an agency specific tracking number for use within their internal system. IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL WITHIN FOUR DAYS OF THE CLOSING DATE, PLEASE CONTACT THE CONTRACTING OFFICER.

If you need help entering your proposal, you can reach the Grants.gov Contact Center at: 1-800-518-4726. Their hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Eastern Time, and they are closed on Federal Holidays.

During the application period an applicant may submit a revised or corrected proposal through grants.gov. Include a cover letter as the first page of the proposal stating that the proposal is revised and indicating that the previous submittal is to be withdrawn from consideration. Such submissions must be completed by January 19, 2016 at 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

See Section 8, Application Preparation Instructions, which describes requirements for the proposal and other application components.

Please allow sufficient time for the proposal to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov and allow time for possible computer delays. Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last minute for submission. A proposal received after the closing date and time will not be considered for award. If the USGS determines that a proposal will not be considered for award due to lateness, the applicant will be notified immediately.

Questions?

For Grants.gov issues, see http://www.grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jso or http://www.usgs.gov.contracts/grants/grantsgov.html, or contact:

Laura Mahoney, (703) 648-7344, lmahoney@usgs.gov

For Contracting Officer issues, contact:

Maggie Eastman

(703) 648-7366, mrussell@usgs.gov

For National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Program issues contact:

Daryll Pope

(609) 771-3933 dpope@usgs.gov

3. Award Description The total amount of funding available for this Program Announcement is expected to be up to a total of $4,000,000 for Federal FY2016 and FY2017. Individual applications are restricted to a maximum annual funding level of $90,000 for work to fund new data providers. Applications to fund ongoing maintenance will be limited to a maximum of $30,000 ($15,000 for each project year). These estimates do not bind the USGS to a specific number of awards or to the amount of any award. Congress has not yet authorized FY2016 funds for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. Work performance under these awards must be completed within the two-year cycle from the start date. However, new data providers will need to complete objectives required to connect to the NGWMN and select and classify sites by the end of the first project year. New data providers may apply for funds for ongoing maintenance ($15,000) for the second year of the project. The start date will be determined by the timing of funds availability and the signing of the award. Substantial involvement of the USGS is anticipated to aid in well selection and classification to meet National Network goals, to provide guidance in setting up web services, and to map data elements to the NGWMN Portal. Therefore, these awards will be in the form of cooperative agreements.

4. Eligibility Information A. Applicant eligibility

Applicants can be state or local water-resource agencies which collect groundwater data. Discussion and coordination with the Subcommittee on Ground-Water members and the NGWMN USGS Management and Operations Group is encouraged; however, USGS personnel are prohibited from helping an organization prepare its application for competitive funding.

Applicants must include a cost-share contribution in the form of in-kind services.

A set cost-sharing percentage for the recipient is not mandated, but a 50-50 match of in-kind services is encouraged and should be denoted within the budget as cost sharing.

Application announcement date: November 16, 2015 Applications must be submitted by the closing date of January 19, 2016

B. Topic eligibility

The design for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network is presented in the document ‘A National Framework for Ground-Water Monitoring in the United States’ and is available at: http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf

The National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) is designed to be a compilation of selected wells and springs from existing monitoring efforts to create a network to assess long-term water-level and water-quality trends at a National scale. The network will focus on monitoring groundwater in the Nation’s most productive aquifers. The network will be built primarily to help answer questions of groundwater availability at a Principal or major aquifer scale (as defined by the USGS). However, other regionally important aquifers also may be included. In order to create a unified network, field and data management techniques need to be as consistent as possible and sites need to be selected and classified in a common manner. In addition, well density in the network should be consistent at a Principal aquifer scale.

Data from the NGWMN is served from a Network Portal that links to data from all of the data providers various databases. In order to accomplish this, the data providers must set up and maintain web services for their databases. The data elements from these web services will be mapped to the Data Portal so that data can be retrieved to answer questions at a scale that crosses agency boundaries.

The focus of the Network will be on long-term data collected at a sufficient frequency to determine seasonal and long-term effects. These will be considered the ‘key’ sites in the network. Water-level and water-quality data from both wells and springs will be included in the NGWMN.

The current priority of the NGWMN is to add as many new data providers as possible to build a robust network. USGS staff will assist with web services and will create the necessary data mapping to translate data from data providers into the common NGWMN format. It is also a priority of the NGWMN to maintain a relationship with existing data providers. For this reason funding will be provided to existing data providers to maintain web services and the associated network portal connections. After we have developed the Network by bringing in existing data sources, spatial and temporal gaps will be identified at the Principal and major aquifer scale. These gaps may be in terms of locations and/or density of sites or in terms of insufficient monitoring frequency. Funding through a future announcement may be available to enhance the network by adding sites or increasing monitoring frequency at important sites.

Proposals will be considered that address the following objectives:

Add new data providers to the network Support continued operations of existing data providers

The following objectives are not eligible for funding under this announcement:

Data collection (water-level or water-quality data) Use of GPS to update location or land-surface elevation of sites New database development Drilling and installation of new wells

Proposals that include these ineligible objectives will be rejected

5. Network Policies, Standards and Procedures The requirements for the National Ground-Water Monitoring network are described in the National Ground-Water Management Framework Document which is available online at: http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf

More information on the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network can be found on the web page for the Subcommittee on Ground-Water (SOGW) of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) available at: http://acwi.gov/sogw/index.html

Attachment A provides an updated list of required data elements for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. All fields listed shall be available to be populated either through web services that are established as part of the project or through the NGWMN Well Registry Application. If data for a particular site is currently missing, the site may still qualify if the data can be populated in the future or if extenuating circumstances exist.

Tip Sheets are available to provide guidance to new data providers to the NGWMN. These Tip Sheets are available at http://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/learnmore.jsp under the ‘Data Provider’ tab.

6. Multi-year proposals All agreements will be for a maximum period of two years. Proposals to become a new data provider to the NGWMN shall have all work associated with this objective planned for the first year of the project. The applicant should then include funding to support maintenance of the network for the second year of the application. Current data providers can submit an application for maintenance funding for two years. All work must be completed by the end of the two-year cycle (dependent upon actual project period of performance) and final reports generated within 90 days of completion.

7. Unsuitable Proposals The following proposals are ineligible for consideration under this Announcement at this time:

· Proposals from U.S. Government Agencies or U.S. Government employees.

· Proposals from Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC).

· Proposals principally involving the direct procurement of a product, equipment, or service.

· Proposals funding data collection efforts (water-level or water-quality data).

· Proposals to upgrade sites in the network.

· Proposals to use GPS to update location or land-surface elevation of sites.

· Proposals with a significant component of new database development.

· Proposals to drill and install new wells.

· Proposals with significant objectives related to ‘filling gaps’, either temporally or spatially, in the NGWMN.

8. Application Preparation Instructions Your electronic submission shall consist of forms SF-424, SF-424a, and SF-424b, plus the items described below. No additional documents or materials may be submitted. Failure to comply with the required application components listed below may result in the proposal being rejected.

Items A through D as described below shall be combined together in one document, in the order noted below, and submitted through Grants.gov in either MS Word or Adobe PDF format. The application shall not exceed 20 single-spaced pages (including figures, tables, references, appendices, etc.), and the type size shall not be smaller than 12 point. All pages of the application shall be numbered. All text, figures, and tables shall be sized to fit on 8½” by 11” paper with 1-inch margins. The SF forms, negotiated rate agreement, required tables do not count toward the page limit.

In the Grants.gov forms, floating your mouse over a field will provide instructions for completing that field. You can also click on the ‘Check Package for Errors’ button to check the entire application for validation errors (incomplete fields, etc.)

The application submitted through Grants.gov as the ‘Project Narrative Attachment Form’ (in MS Word or Adobe PDF format) shall be assembled in the following order:

A. Proposal Information Summary B. Proposal C. Budget Summary D. Detailed Budget

A. Proposal Information Summary.

Provide a summary for the proposal using the format shown in Attachment B.

B. Proposal

Please include the following sections:

a) Project Summary. Provide an overall summary of the project including physical area monitored, Principal Aquifers monitored, type of data available (water level and/or water quality), and numbers of wells/springs monitored. Describe briefly the work to be accomplished on the project.

b) Project Description

a. New Data providers. Support is provided for projects that will select and classify sites for inclusion in the NGWMN and for connection of the agency databases to the NGWMN Data Portal.

i. Description of Agency and purpose of monitoring. Give a brief description of your agency, its role, and the purpose for which the monitoring data are being collected.

ii. Identification of USGS principal or other major aquifers. List Principal Aquifers that are monitored. List major aquifers within each Principle Aquifer (as defined by the Groundwater Atlas of the United States; http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/atlas.html) that are being monitored. List other local aquifers that are monitored and a description of the importance of the aquifer at a National scale.

iii. Description of the Agency’s existing monitoring networks. Provide a detailed description of existing monitoring networks with wells or springs that may be considered for inclusion in the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network. (Data Providers may describe water-level networks, water-quality networks, or both).

· For water-level Networks

· Network Goals and Objectives

· Map of Network sites

· Monitoring frequencies

· Number of sites (by monitoring frequency, and Principal aquifer)

· Briefly discuss water-level measurement techniques in regards to the standards in Appendix 5 of the Framework Document. Refer to any existing documentation of data collection protocols.

· For water-quality Networks

· Network Goals and Objectives

· Map of Network sites

· Monitoring frequencies

· Number of sites (by monitoring frequency, and Principal aquifer)

· List of water-quality properties and constituents analyzed

· Briefly discuss water-quality sampling techniques in regards to the standards in Appendix 5 of the Framework Document. Refer to any existing documentation of data collection protocols.

· List of laboratories conducting water-quality analyses

iv. IT Infrastructure

· Describe databases used to store data for the Network

· Briefly describe any current data sharing applications or web sites

· Describe IT staff experience and availability

· Discuss any security requirements or limitations

v. Work plan. Provide a work plan that describes the work necessary for the project. Agencies that are applying to be new data providers will be performing very similar work. The workplan should include the objectives listed below. (These can be further subdivided to provide more detail, if desired.) Describe your approach to accomplish each objective and the approximate percentage of the total project budget expected to be used.

The NGWMN Framework Document and a set of Tip Sheets are available resources that can be used to provide guidance to applicants.

These Tip Sheets are available at http://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/learnmore.jsp under the ‘Data Provider’ tab.

Objectives:

· Evaluate monitoring points for potential inclusion in the network. Evaluation will be based on the Framework document and “tip sheets”. Work with NGWMN staff to determine expected density of monitoring locations in each principal aquifer.

· Provide required data elements for all selected sites as described in Attachment A. Document any sites or group of sites which may be missing required data elements. These may be able to be addressed as a ‘gap filling’ objective in a future proposal.

· Classify candidate sites into Subnetworks and Monitoring Categories using guidelines from Framework Document and Tip Sheets.

· Populate the NGWMN Well Registry with sites and network information (Tip Sheet Available).

· Establish connections between agency databases and the NGWMN using Web Services for the data to be shared, as necessary. Describe approach, service payload (XML,WQX, etc.), database (Oracle, MySql, etc.), web server technology (ArcServer, GeoServer, etc).

· Water-level data

· Water-quality data (for water-quality networks)

· Lithologic data

· Well Construction data

· Document field and data management practices or provide references to existing documents.

· Prepare a brief report documenting outcomes.

· Describe site selection process and well classification criteria

· Describe web services used to supply data to network

· Perform ongoing maintenance. This will be for year two only for new data providers. This objective should be a part of any new data provider project for year two.

· Keep list of sites in network current

· Populate data elements for new sites

· Ensure that the NGWMN Portal connection to the databases are operational

vi. Personnel/Timeline. Identify the personnel involved and the timeline to accomplish the project objectives listed in this section. The work (with the exception of ongoing maintenance) should be planned to be completed in the first year of the project.

b. Existing Data Providers. Support may be provided for agencies that are already providing data to the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network to support ongoing maintenance.

Objectives: Perform ongoing maintenance. The cooperative agreement can be for up to two years. If you have a current project to become a NGWMN data provider, plan to have this work start after you have connected web services to your database.

· Keep list of sites in network current

· Populate data elements for new sites

· Ensure that the NGWMN Portal connection to the databases are operational

C. Budget Summary Provide a budget summary for each year using the format shown in Attachment C. The budget items should correlate with the detailed budget below.

D. Detailed Budget A budget sheet for each year is required that provides more detail than what is entered under the SF-424A form. In this budget breakdown sheet please separate federal from cost-sharing funds (see ‘In-kind Resource Match’ section below). A set cost-sharing percentage for the recipient is not mandated, but a 50-50 match of in-kind services is encouraged and should be denoted within the budget as cost sharing. The cost for the project should include both the agency in-kind services and the work to be funded by the NGWMN funding opportunity. Applicants should include the following categories for both federal and in-kind services:

a. Salaries

· Please provide a list of staff that will work on each objective listed in the proposal. If staff will work on more than one objective, please include an entry with the hours for that employee on each objective.

· Objective Name: For each objective provide a table with the following items for each staff member that will work on the objective

1) employee name,

2) title,

3) hourly rate of compensation,

4) fringe benefit rate and hourly rate of fringe benefit,

5) the total hourly rate (item 3 + item 4),

6) the number of hours planned,

7) the cost (item 5 times item 6),

8) the percent of the cost that is Federally funded, and

9) the percent of cost that is Agency in-kind services (items 8 and item 9 should add to 100%)

b. Supplies. For each major type of supply, enter a description and the cost for supplies needed for the project (include percent of cost that is Federally funded and/or provided as in-kind);

c. Equipment: Enter a description and the cost for each piece of equipment needed for the project. Please list any computer purchases separately. If possible, computer purchases should be as in-kind services to avoid property ownership issues;

d. Contracts: Provide a detailed breakdown for each contract needed for the project (include percent of cost that is Federally funded and/or provided as in-kind);

e. Travel: Provide detailed information on proposed travel, i.e. where to, why, how many, how long, per diem and lodging rates, etc. (include percent of cost that is Federally funded and/or provided as in-kind); and

f. Indirect Cost/General and Administrative (G&A) Cost: Show the proposed rate, cost base, and proposed amount for allowable indirect costs based on the cost principles applicable to the Applicant's organization. If the Applicant has separate rates for recovery of labor overhead and G&A costs, each charge should be shown. Explain the distinction between items included in the two cost pools. The Applicant should propose rates for evaluation purposes, which they are also willing to establish as fixed or ceiling rates in any resulting award. NOTE: A copy of the indirect negotiated cost agreement with the Federal Government should be provided with the application package. Pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, Section 200.414, in the absences of a negotiated rate agreement non-Federal entities may use a de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs (MTDC).

In-Kind Resource Match

· Examples of in-kind resource match are: salaries, contract support, student assistance fees, travel expenses, software purchase, equipment dedicated to the project, production of outreach materials, and indirect costs or overhead charges. All contributions, including cash and third party in-kind, will be accepted as part of the recipient’s in-kind match when such contributions meet all of the following criteria:

· verifiable from the recipients’ records.

· not included as contributions for any other federally-assisted project or program.

· necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of project or program objectives.

· allowable under the applicable cost principles.

· not paid by the Federal Government under another award, except where authorized by Federal statute to be used for cost matching.

· provided for in the approved budget when required by the Federal awarding agency.

· Conform to the provision of the appropriate OMB Circular, as applicable.

· Volunteer services furnished by professional and technical personnel, consultants, and other skilled and unskilled labor may be counted as in-kind match if the service is an integral and necessary part of the project. Rates for volunteer services shall be consistent with those paid for similar work in the recipient’s organization. In those instances in which the required skills are not found in the recipient organization, rates shall be consistent with those paid for similar work in the labor market in which the recipient competes for the kind of services involved. In either case, paid fringe benefits that are reasonable, allowable, and allocable may be included in the valuation.

· Match calculation: For example, with a request for an award of $5,000 of Federal assistance, a 50-50 cost share contribution by the applicant would be $5,000 in value for a total of $10,000 value committed to the project ($5,000 and $5,000 Federal and applicant, respectively).

· Applicant must document the amount and type of in-kind resource that will be contributed to the fulfillment of the project and include this information in the detail budget breakdown.

9. Rejection of Applications after Initial Review If an application does not meet all requirements specified in the Announcement, as determined by the Contracting Officer in consultation with the USGS NGWMN Management and Operations Group, the institution and principal investigator will be promptly notified that the proposal will not be reviewed indicating the reason for its rejection.

10. Application Evaluation Procedure and Criteria

Applications will be reviewed by the USGS NGWMN Management and Operations Group staff and the NGWMN Program Board.

Proposals that are for maintenance funding only will be evaluated using the following criteria.

· The level of effort and staffing for the maintenance objective is in line with Program objectives.

· Past performance of the applicant on maintenance objectives will be considered.

Applications for new data providers will be considered in accordance with the criteria written below: The weighting factor that will be applied to each criterion is shown as a percentage.

A. Availability of groundwater data: (25%)

1. Consider number of groundwater-level and groundwater-quality sites eligible for NGWMN.

2. Data collection frequencies meet guidelines in the Framework Document.

3. Data is stored in an accessible database.

4. Minimum data elements in Appendix A of the Program Announcement available are populated.

B. Geographic area and Principal aquifers monitored: (10%)

1. Proposals in areas which are not currently covered in the Network.

2. Proposals with sites in aquifers that are not well represented in the Network.

C. Compliance with NGWMN Framework document: (20%)

1. Water-level data measurement methods meet the standards in Appendix 5 of the Framework Document.

2. Water-quality sampling methods meet the standards in Appendix 5 of the Framework Document.

3. The analyte list exceeds the minimum list of constituents for water-quality analysis documented in Table 4.6.1 of the Framework Document.

4. Data-management guidelines already meet the standards in the Framework Document.

E. Project Proposal: (25%)

1. Project Proposal adequately addresses the elements required in the Program Announcement

2. Project objectives are in line with the Program objectives.

3. The Approach to setting up web services is well described and agrees with Tip Sheet guidelines on setting up web services.

4. Project budget is realistic. Compare to costs that the Pilot Studies (http://acwi.gov/sogw/pubs/tr/pilot_results/index.html) reported for similar work.

5. Is cost sharing proposed at a 50-50 match of in-kind services or is it at a lower level? Projects with less than 50-50 cost sharing will be scored lower.

6. In-kind services are included in the project budget sheets.

F. Products: (10%)

1. Proposal includes preparation of a final report documenting work done for the project.

2. Proposal for new data provider includes plans to set up and maintain web services to make the data available to the NGMWN Portal.

3. Applicant will populate the well registry for selected sites using the Well Registry Management Application.

G. Maintenance (10%)

1. The level of effort and staffing for the maintenance objective is in line with Program objectives

11. Reporting Requirements and Instructions

Final Technical Reports shall describe in detail the work performed and results obtained during the grant period. Final Technical Reports are due 90 days after the conclusion of the project period. Any information contained in a previously submitted progress report shall be repeated or restated in the Final Technical Report.

(a) Submit the Final Technical Report as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Submit the report as an e-mail attachment to both:

(b) The Final Technical report should consist of the following sections:

(1) Cover page The cover page should include the following information:

· Award Number

· Agency Name

· Title

· Author(s) and Affiliation(s) with address and zip code

· Author’s Telephone numbers and email address

· Term covered by award (start and end dates)

· Date of final report

(2) Main body of the report

For new data providers

· Overview of work

· Description of existing water-level and/or water-quality networks including the objectives of the networks

· Description of site selection criteria and process

· Description of process used to assign Subnetworks and Monitoring Categories for both water-level and water-quality networks (as appropriate for your Network)

· Description or link to Field techniques for water-level measurement and water-quality sample collection (as appropriate for your network)

· Description of data quality and quality assurance processes

· List of Minimum Data elements and how they are provided to the Data Portal (via the Well Registry or web services)

· Notes on any sites that have missing required data elements

· Note any sites that do not meet requirements in Table 4.5.1.1 and/or 4.5.2.1 of the Framework Document.

· A description of the web services used or installed for this project

· Analyte list used for sampling networks

· List of laboratories and their accreditation for analyzing properties and constituents included in the monitoring program For existing data providers

· Description of work done to support the NGWMN as a data provider

· Description of any updates made to web services during period of award

· Description of any problems encountered in serving data to the NGWMN data portal

· Notice of any changes in databases or web services that are being planned that would impact future integration of the web services with the NGWMN data portal.

12. Involvement of Federal Employees Federal employees, including USGS employees, are prohibited from serving in any capacity (paid or unpaid) on any application submitted under this Announcement; federal employees may not assist in the development of proposals. Proposals that have a real or apparent conflict of interest related to Federal employees will not be processed for evaluation. This does not prohibit cooperation or collaboration between USGS and non-USGS scientists once a grant or cooperative agreement is in place.

13. Award Terms and Conditions Award Recipient must comply with award Terms and Conditions (Attachment D). Submittal of an application constitutes the applicant’s acceptance of the terms and conditions for inclusion on any award resulting from their application. Any concerns with the requirements of the Special Terms and Conditions shall be presented to the Contracting Officer at least three (3) days prior to the closing date of the Announcement.

A. No pre-award costs are authorized B. No-Cost extensions to the project period are discouraged. New Data providers should have objectives involved in establishing connection to the network in year 1 of a 2-year project. No-Cost extensions should not be necessary for maintenance funding.

C. Project Report. A final technical report must be completed and submitted to the USGS with 90-days of the end date of the project.

Attachment A

Minimum Data Requirements for NGWMN Candidate sites

A minimum set of data elements are listed in the NGWMN Framework Document. Some are fields are stored in agency databases and others are entered directly into a table in the Portal database that contains site information called the ‘Well Registry’. In the list of data elements, the parenthesis after the field specifies where the data reside.

(R) Populated in NGWMN Well Registry

(C) Construction database, linked to using web services (WL) Water-Level database, linked to using web services (WQ) Water-quality database, linked to using web services or from EPA Storet

(L) Lithology database, linked to using web services All Sites

· Name of Agency that collects data (R)

· Site Number (R,C, WL, WQ, L) –This is the database key

· Site Name (R) (reviewed so that no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is present

· Country (R)

· State (R)

· County (R)

· Latitude and Longitude with Metadata

· Latitude (decimal degrees) (R)

· Longitude (decimal degrees) (R)

· Horizontal Datum (R)

· Horizontal Location method (R)

· Horizontal Location Accuracy (R)

· National Aquifer Code (R)

· Local Aquifer Code (R)

· Type of site; Well/Spring (R)

· Confinement Status; Confined/unconfined (R)

· Lithology (L)

· Lithology ID (L)

· Description of Lithology of the unit (L)

· Observation Method (L)

· Beginning depth of lithologic unit (L)

· Ending depth of lithologic unit (L)

· Well Construction Information

· Well Depth (R)

· Well Depth Units (R)

· Beginning depth of Screen interval (C)

· Ending depth of Screen interval (C)

· Screen depth unit of measure (C)

· Screen interval material( C)

· Casing interval (C)

· Casing depth unit of measure (C)

· Casing material (C) Water-level Sites

· Land surface altitude with Metadata (R)

· Land Surface Altitude (R)

· Vertical Datum (R)

· Altitude Units (R)

· Altitude Accuracy (R)

· Method of altitude measurement (R)

· Water-Level data

· Date/Time of water-level measurement (WL)

· Depth to Water (WL)

· Water-level units (WL)

· Method of water-level measurement (WL)

· Accuracy of water-level measurement (WL) Water-Quality Sites

· Water-Quality data

· Date/Time of sample (WQ)

· Analyte Name (WQ)

· Analyte value (WQ)

· Parameter unit (WQ)

· Sample Fraction (WQ)

· Chemical Identification Number (WQ)

· Chemical Classification System (WQ)

· Method (WQ)

· Analytical Method System (WQ)

Attachment B

USGS National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Cooperative Agreement Proposal Information Summary

Use the format below for the required Proposal Information Summary

(Name) (Institute/Organization Name) (Street Address/P.O. Box) (City, State, Zip Code) (Telephone Number), (FAX Number), (E-mail Address)

(Institute/Organization Name) (Organizational Unit) (Street Address/P.O. Box) (City, State, Zip Code) (Telephone Number), (FAX Number), (E-mail Address*)

4. Amount Requested: (List amount requested for Fiscal Year 2016 support) (Two year projects: list requests for FY 2016 and 2017 separately)

6. Proposed Duration: (12 or 24 months, No awards are issued for less than 12 months)

8. Data Provider Status: Indicate status as ‘New’ or ‘Existing’ data provider. Existing data providers, please provide start date with NGWMN and date and title of last proposal.

Attachment C

Budget Summary

Indirect cost rate:

Budget summary Year 1

1. Salary (wages, fringe)

2. Travel

3. Equipment

4. Supplies

5. Contracts

6. Total Direct Costs (items 1-5)

7. Indirect cost

8. Total Cost (items 6 and 7)

In-kind services percent:

Budget summary Year 2

1. Salary (wages, fringe)

2. Travel

3. Equipment

4. Supplies

5. Contracts

6. Total Direct Costs (sum of items 1-5)

7. Indirect cost

8. Total Cost (sum of items 6 and 7)

In-kind services percent:

Attachment D

National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance

Acceptance of a Federal Financial Assistance award from the Department of the Interior (DOI) carries with it the responsibility to be aware of and comply with the terms and conditions of award. Acceptance is defined as the start of work, drawing down funds, or accepting the award by signature or electronic means. Awards are based on the application submitted to and approved by DOI and are subject to the terms and conditions incorporated either directly or by reference below.

2. USGS Involvement Substantial involvement is anticipated through the terms of this Agreement between the USGS and the Recipient. A summary of the involvement is as follows:

(Applicable to awards to new providers) The USGS NGWMN staff will work closely with the Recipient on well selection and classification to ensure that the process is carried out in a similar and consistent manner with other data providers to the NGWMN. The USGS NGWMN staff will also be involved in setting up web services to provide a means to provide the applicant’s data to the NGWMN data portal. USGS will provide guidance so that web services set up as part of this project integrate with the NGWMN data portal. The NGWMN staff will also work with the Recipient to map the database fields in the web services with the NGWMN portal data requirements.

(Applicable to awards for maintenance) In projects funded for ongoing maintenance or in the second year of a new data providers project, operation of the Network, interaction between the data provider and the NGWMN staff will be needed to keep data flowing from the web services maintained by the provider to NGWMN data portal. The USGS staff will monitor the data from each data provider to ensure that data is available, as needed, for the NGWMN data portal. The NGWMN staff will inform the data provider when problems are encountered and the data provider and Network staff will work together to resolve any issues and restore connections of the databases.

3. Funding

(a) The total estimated cost of the USGS share for the performance of this Agreement is (insert total amount of the agreement) inclusive of any renewal years.

(b) If applicable, funding for Budget Year 2 is dependent on (1) availability of funds, (2) submission of the annual progress report; (3) a recommendation by the USGS Program Office to continue the project; and (4) adherence to the published terms and conditions of the award.

(c) The amount obligated under this Assistance Award Modification, hereinafter referred to as “obligated funds”, presently the sum of (insert current obligated amount) shall be available for payment of costs incurred by the recipient in performance of this award as follows:

Budget Year

*Subject to the availability of funds.

In no event shall costs be incurred in performance of this agreement in excess of the funds currently obligated.

4. Pre-Agreement Costs

The Recipient is not authorized to incur costs prior to the award of this Agreement. Costs incurred prior to the award of this agreement are not allowable.

5. Reporting Requirements

(a) Required reports/documents. The Principal Investigator or Director, Sponsored Research Office is required to submit the following reports or documents. Further description of requirements follows the table below.

Report/ Document

Method of Delivery

Submit To

When Due

(1) Progress Report

Send PDF file as an email attachment using format in Attachment J-GN or J-SN

NGWMN Management and Operations Group See Section 5.(b)(2)(i) At least 60 calendar days prior to the end of budget year 1 See details of formatting in section 5.(b)(1) below

(2) Final Technical Report

Send PDF file as an email attachment; Maxi-mum size: 10 MB

NGWMN Management and Operations Group See Section 5.(b)(2)(i)

Within 90 calendar days after the end of the award See details of formatting in section 5.(b)(2) below

(3) SF 425 Federal Financial Report

See Section 5.(b)(3)

(4) Final SF 425Federal Financial Report

See Section 5.(b)(4)

(b) Report preparation instructions. The Recipient shall prepare the reports/documents in accordance with the following instructions:

(1) Progress Reports. The Recipient shall submit two copies of each Progress Report to the NGWMN Management and Operations Group and one copy of the transmittal letter to the USGS Contracting Officer. Unless otherwise specified in this Agreement, annual progress reports should be submitted at least sixty (60) days prior to the end of the current budget period to allow adequate time for the designated office to review the report. In the case of multi-year Agreements, failure to submit timely reports may delay processing of funding increments. For Agreements with a total anticipated performance period of twelve months (12) months or less, only a Final Technical Report will be required. A progress report is not required in the final budget year, unless the Recipient requests an extension to the project period.

The progress reports shall include the following information:

(i) A comparison of actual accomplishments to the objectives of the Agreement established for the budget period and overall progress in response to the performance metrics.

(ii) The reasons why established goals were not met, if appropriate.

(iii) Additional pertinent information including, when appropriate, analysis and explanation of cost overruns or high unit costs.

(iv) An outline of anticipated activities and adjustments to the program during the next budget period.

Between the required reporting dates, events may occur which have significant impact upon the project or program. In such cases, the Recipient shall inform the USGS as soon as the following types of conditions become known:

(i) Problems, delays, or adverse conditions which will materially impair the ability to meet the objective of the Agreement. This disclosure must include a statement of the action taken, or contemplated, and any assistance needed to resolve the situation.

(ii) Favorable developments which enable meeting time schedules and objectives sooner or at less cost than anticipated or producing more or different beneficial results than originally planned.

(2) Final Technical Report

Final Technical Reports shall describe in detail the work performed and results obtained during the grant period. Final Technical Reports are due 90 days after the conclusion of the project period. Any information contained in a previously submitted progress report shall be repeated or restated in the Final Technical Report.

(i) Submit the Final Technical Report as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Submit the report as an e-mail attachment to both:

(ii) The Final Technical report should consist of the following sections:

(1) Cover page The cover page should include the following information:

· Award Number

· Agency Name

· Title

· Author(s) and Affiliation(s) with address and zip code

· Author’s Telephone numbers and email address

· Term covered by award (start and end dates)

· Date of final report

(2) Main body of the report

For new data providers

· Overview of work

· Description of existing water-level and/or water-quality networks including the objectives of the networks

· Description of site selection criteria and process

· Description of process used to assign Subnetworks and Monitoring Categories for both water-level and water-quality networks (as appropriate for your Network)

· Description or link to Field techniques for water-level measurement and water-quality sample collection (as appropriate for your network)

· Description of data quality and quality assurance processes

· List of Minimum Data elements and how they are provided to the Data Portal (via the Well Registry or web services)

· Notes on any sites that have missing required data elements

· Note any sites that do not meet requirements in Table 4.5.1.1 and/or 4.5.2.1 of the Framework Document.

· A description of the web services used or installed for this project

· Analyte list used for sampling networks

· List of laboratories and their accreditation for analyzing properties and constituents included in the monitoring program For existing data providers

· Description of work done to support the NGWMN as a data provider

· Description of any updates made to web services during period of award

· Description of any problems encountered in serving data to the NGWMN data portal

· Notice of any changes in databases or web services that are being planned that would impact future integration of the web services with the NGWMN data portal.

(3) Annual Financial Reports

(i) The Recipient will submit an annual SF 425, Federal Financial Report, for each individual USGS award. The SF 425 is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_forms. The SF 425 will be due ninety (90) calendar days after the grant year (i.e., 12 months after the approved effective date of the Agreement and every 12 months thereafter until the expiration date of the Agreement). USGS acknowledges that this annual reporting schedule may not always correspond with a specific budget period.

(ii) The SF 425 must be submitted electronically through the FedConnect Message Center (www.fedconnect.net) or, if FedConnect is not available, by e-mail to SF425@usgs.gov with a cc to the Contracting Officer. Recipient must include the USGS award number in the subject line of all correspondence. If, after 90 days, Recipient has not submitted a report, the Recipient’s account in ASAP will be placed in a manual review status until the report is submitted.

(4) Final Financial Report