FINAL SNEP with Authority RFP Revised.pdf

United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 1

Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed Restoration

Agency Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 (EPA)

Funding Opportunity Name: Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed

Restoration

Announcement Type: Request for Initial Proposals (RFIP)

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-R1-SNEP-2016

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number (CFDA): 66.129

IMPORTANT DATES

Information Session #1 (see Section IV.E. for details) December 17

Information Session #2 (see Section IV.E. for details) January 6

45 days after issuance Initial proposals must be received by EPA 5pm Eastern

Standard Time

January 22

35 days after submission deadline

EPA notifies finalists to prepare full proposals. February 26

45 days Full proposals must be received by 5pm Eastern Daylight Time April 12

45 days EPA notifies finalists of results May 27

60 days EPA makes awards July 27

EPA will consider all proposals that are submitted via Grants.gov on or before 11:59 pm EST on

January 22, 2016. All proposals submitted after the due date and time will not be considered for funding. EPA will only accept proposals submitted via Grants.gov, except in limited circumstances where applicants have no or very limited Internet access (See section IV of this announcement).

SUMMARY

EPA is soliciting initial proposals from eligible entities under this announcement to support priorities of the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for coastal watershed restoration by advancing ecosystem resiliency, protecting and restoring water quality, habitat, and ecosystem function, and developing and applying innovative policy, science, and technology to environmental management in southeast coastal New England.

EPA intends to fund projects that address SNEP priorities through projects, networks, and/or partnerships among governmental and community resource managers, technology and science practitioners, policy organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), tribes, and other groups. Projects should build program capacity for environmental management, including developing and establishing robust institutional, monitoring, information, and technology frameworks that can offer more effective, transferrable and sustainable paths to restoring and protecting southeast New England coastal watersheds. These projects must address one or more of the four priority areas: Innovative Restoration and Protection Approaches, Strategic

Collaboration and Regional Impact, Integrating Habitat and Water Quality, and Focus on

Connectivity and Ecosystem Services and Functions.

The total estimated funding for this announcement is up to approximately $7,000,000 over Fiscal

Year 2016 and Fiscal Year 2017. The total estimated funding per award is approximately

$250,000 up to a maximum of $1,000,000 of federal funds with a project period of up to four years. Applicants must provide a minimum non-federal match of 10 percent of the federal award.

EPA anticipates awarding up to fifteen funding agreements under this solicitation.

Full Text Announcement by Section:

I. Funding Opportunity Description

II. Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

IV. Proposal and Submission Information

V. Proposal Review Information

VI. Award Administration Information

VII. Agency Contacts

VIII. Other Information

Appendices

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

I.A. BACKGROUND – About the Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed

Restoration

This is the first dedicated funding opportunity under the Southeast New England Program

(SNEP) for coastal watershed restoration. SNEP is a geographically-based program intended to serve as a collaborative framework for advancing ecosystem resiliency, protecting and restoring water quality, habitat, and ecosystem function, and developing and applying innovative policy, science, and technology to environmental management in southeast coastal New England. A critical aspect of this framework is the integration of physical processes, water quality, and critical habitat at a regional, watershed, and/or landscape scale. Funding under this RFIP is intended to encourage projects that will use SNEP as the framework to support innovations in practices, technology, and policies that link environmental quality to economic opportunity and jobs and deliver local solutions in a regional and watershed context. The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable path for change and to lead the next generation of environmental management through the following priorities:

• Innovative Restoration and Protection Approaches: developing and investing in innovative, cost-effective restoration and protection practices -- especially for nutrient management and adaptation to climate change – that apply new policy, economic, and technology approaches, including financing mechanisms;

• Strategic Collaboration and Regional Impact: delivering programs more effectively to the public by engaging in collaboration among states and appropriate agencies, tribes, partners, stakeholders, and resource managers that builds long-term program capacity, enhances municipalities ability to finance and participate in environmental management programs, and improves information sharing and transferability across the region and among diverse programs;

• Integrating Habitat and Water Quality: designing and implementing on-the-ground restoration projects that integrate habitat and ecological restoration with water quality improvement, especially reduction of nutrient impacts, and offer effective and sustainable paths to ecological resiliency; and/or

• Focus on Connectivity and Ecosystem Services and Functions: identifying and sustaining ecosystem services and functions, including demonstrating the public health, social, and economic benefits provided by environmental quality.

Proposals must address one or more of these priorities within the SNEP geographic area (defined in Section I.B. of this announcement) by building program capacity through projects, networks and/or partnerships of governmental and community resource managers, technology and science practitioners, policy organizations, and other groups that seek to apply collaborative and innovative approaches.

Under this announcement, EPA intends to fund large-scale projects in areas such as:

planning, design, and construction of restoration projects that promote watershed or ecosystem connectivity;

adoption and implementation of innovative financing, governance, or management policies;

development, testing, and adoption of technology and policy that advance environmental improvements or protection;

new approaches for environmental monitoring, including water quality monitoring, testing and adoption of methods, equipment, data synthesis, analysis and interpretation, citizen science, and best management practices (BMPs) and treatment technology effectiveness;

technical training in new or adapted approaches; and/or information sharing and targeted/applied research.

While they are important components of long term sustainability, projects such as developing school curricula or classroom activities or focusing primarily on public outreach and education are not eligible for funding under this solicitation. See sub-section I.B. for a map of the SNEP geographic area, Appendix A for a list of eligible activities and example projects, and Appendix

B for a list of eligible communities and checklist of application materials.

I.B. Scope of Work and SNEP Priorities

EPA is very interested in partnerships that leverage multiple resources to generate strategic collaboration to foster, test, promote, and implement innovations and efficiencies in integrated ecosystem management. These innovations and efficiencies may emerge from a wide variety of approaches, partners, technologies, and programs. Proposals may apply approaches and lessons from economics and social sciences as well as technological and management improvements, and should contribute to long-term program capacity and sustainability. For purposes of this

RFIP, EPA considers strategic collaboration to be projects that apply approaches that integrate physical processes, water quality, and critical habitat at a regional, watershed, and/or landscape scale, support and/or scale-up innovations in management practices, technology, and policies, and ensure that efforts take place within a larger ecosystem context. Competitive proposals should be consistent with the SNEP vision to restore the ecological health of southeast New

England's estuaries, watersheds, and coastal waters and ensure access now and in the future to resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems of clean water, healthy diverse habitats, and associated populations of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic dependent organisms.

Achieving significant environmental results is an overall program priority. Although partnership and program building may not produce immediate results in the environment, all proposals should describe how their partnerships will contribute to future achievement of quantifiable water quality and ecosystem improvements, as well as the degree to which proposed activities advance progress towards stated long-term goals. These anticipated results, also known as outcomes, should be quantitatively described in the initial proposal and a timeframe provided for achieving the results. Applicants should not express anticipated outcomes in general terms; for instance, just referencing “water quality improvements” is not sufficient. For more information on quantifying anticipated results, see paragraph I.C.2. “Environmental Outputs and Outcomes.”

All projects that include a data collection component must conform to EPA’s guidelines for water quality assurance project plans (http://www2.epa.gov/quality/managing-quality-environmental-data-epa-region-1). To maximize environmental results, all projects should include an information transfer component to promote the use of project results by other organizations both within and outside the SNEP watersheds. See Appendix A for a list of example projects.

Section V. provides details on the criteria by which initial and full proposals will be evaluated.

Applicants should carefully read this RFIP and closely consider the evaluation criteria in order to propose projects that best address these program priorities.

Proposals must describe how applicants will contribute to advancing one or more of the following SNEP priorities:

Priority 1: Innovative Restoration and Protection Approaches. Projects should seek to develop and invest in innovative, cost-effective restoration and protection practices -- especially for nutrient management and adaptation to climate change -- as well as new policy, economic, and technology approaches; develop and transfer leading-edge, inventive ways of preventing and/or reducing nutrient loads from stormwater, fertilizer and onsite wastewater pollution, and contributing cost-effective, sustainable new methods or ways of doing business. The proposed projects should introduce, test, demonstrate, or implement new approaches (policy, technology, financing, information sharing, monitoring) that enable watershed ecosystem protection and restoration, and/or lay the groundwork for future efforts.

Priority 2: Strategic Collaboration and Regional Impact. Projects should deliver programs more effectively to the public by networking and leveraging among states and appropriate agencies, tribes, governmental and community resource managers and municipal planners, technology and science practitioners, policy organizations, and other groups, partners, and stakeholders to build long-term program and financial capacity, resource quality tracking, and improved technology transfer and information sharing across the region and among diverse programs. Projects should also lay the groundwork for future ecosystem efforts, including increasing program and stakeholder capacity to address nutrient impacts and the anticipated impacts of climate change as well as create the potential for regionally significant benefits.

Projects should support and/or scale-up innovations in management practices, technologies, and policies, and explain how results will be shared and transferable to increase the knowledge base of effective approaches in southeast coastal New England and beyond.

Priority 3: Integrating Habitat and Water Quality. Projects should undertake ecological restoration and protection efforts that integrate habitat and water quality, especially reduction of nutrient impacts, within the context of regional or watershed-scale effectiveness. These projects may include planning; design; on-the-ground restoration; calculating the ability of innovative treatment technologies to reduce nutrient loads, and other efficiencies from innovative technologies and control and management; financing mechanisms; monitoring; data synthesis, interpretation, and analysis; and/or tools and technical training in new approaches that apply approaches and lessons from economics and social sciences.

Priority 4: Focus on Connectivity and Ecosystem Services and Functions: Projects should describe how they will contribute to the future achievement of significant water quality and ecosystem results, especially for addressing the impacts of nutrients on coastal systems. Projects should focus on integration and connectivity of habitat, water quality, and physical processes as key steps in identifying and sustaining southeast New England ecosystem services and functions to meet the Clean Water Act goals of physical, chemical, and biological integrity, including methods to quantify and value the benefits of intact or functioning ecosystems and ecosystem services, including values and benefits in terms of public health, sustainable economies, and community sustainability and resilience.

Projects must address one or more of these priorities within the SNEP Geographic Area. The geographic area of the southeast New England Region includes south-facing coastal watersheds between Westerly, Rhode Island to Chatham, Massachusetts, and off-shore islands of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Elizabeth Islands (Town of Gosnold, MA), and

Block Island (Town of New Shoreham, RI). Projects must reside within this geographic area to be eligible for consideration of funding. The map below provides a visual interpretation of the geographic area. A higher resolution map of the SNEP area is provided at http://www2.epa.gov/snecwrp/background-information-southeast-new-england-coastal-watershed-restoration-program http://www2.epa.gov/snecwrp/background-information-southeast-new-england-coastal-watershed-restoration-program http://www2.epa.gov/snecwrp/background-information-southeast-new-england-coastal-watershed-restoration-program

Examples of eligible activities are provided in Appendix A. Applicants may consider these activities, as well as describe alternative approaches to lay the groundwork for future implementation projects for SNEP. It is strongly encouraged that proposals include one or more partners within the SNEP geographic region (see Section V for evaluation criteria addressing partnerships). At a minimum, proposals must have the following components:

propose to conduct projects within the SNEP geographic area;

address one or more program priorities listed in this sub-section 1.B.;

test, demonstrate, assess, or implement innovative methods or watershed restoration approaches;

describe the environmental significance of the project, including the value added by partnerships and an innovative approach; and describe the potential of the proposed project as a transferrable model both within and outside the SNEP watersheds.

The review team will evaluate initial proposals according to the evaluation criteria in section

V.A. of this announcement to determine whether EPA will request full proposals from applicants. EPA expects full proposals to demonstrate how the applicant will promote the future achievement of significant water quality and ecosystem results, especially for addressing the impacts of nutrients on ecosystems. They should emphasize the integration and connectivity of habitat, water quality, and physical processes as key steps in preserving, enhancing, and improving southeast New England ecosystem functions to meet the Clean Water Act goals of physical, chemical, and biological integrity. To the extent possible, they should leverage resources and propose approaches that are innovative, transferable, and long-term. For additional information on SNEP visit: http://www2.epa.gov/snecwrp.

I.C. ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS AND LINKAGE TO STRATEGIC PLAN

Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance

Agreements,” EPA must link proposed assistance agreements to the EPA’s Strategic Plan. EPA also requires that applicants and recipients adequately describe environmental outputs and environmental outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements

(http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf).

1. Linkage to EPA Strategic Plan. All proposals must support EPA's strategic goals to improve and restore impaired water quality on a watershed basis and facilitate ecosystem scale protection and restoration under EPA Strategic Plan Goal 2 – Protecting America’s Waters, Objective 2:

Protect and Restore Watersheds and Aquatic Ecosystems: Protect, restore, and sustain the quality of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands on a watershed basis, and sustainably manage and protect coastal and ocean resources and ecosystems; and Strategic Measures (Improve Water Quality on a Watershed Basis and Improve Coastal and Ocean Waters)

(http://www2.epa.gov/planandbudget)

2. Environmental Outputs and Outcomes. Applicants must address their expected environmental outputs and outcomes in their proposal (see section V.). EPA will consider the significance of environmental outputs and outcomes that the applicant expects to achieve, and the plan for tracking and measuring progress towards achieving them. EPA will evaluate proposals’ environmental outputs and outcomes using the evaluation criteria in section V.

Further examples of possible proposal outputs and outcomes are available in Appendix A.

Outputs. The term "output" means an activity, effort, and/or associated work product related to an environmental goal or objective that will be produced or provided over a specific period of time or by a specific date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance agreement funding period. All proposals must include a description of project outputs and the way in which the recipient will track progress towards achieving the environmental goals throughout the funding period. Outputs can serve to measure project progress. Projects comprised of a series of tasks, activities, and products – ‘outputs’ – e.g., field assessments, meetings with agencies and residents, presentations to town officials, maps of resources, etc., must show how they will culminate in a final project output (report, presentation, series of resource maps, data base, etc.).

Examples of environmental outputs from projects funded under this RFIP include but are not limited to:

number of partnerships established among programs and agencies to collaborate on implementing activities with watershed-scale impacts such as identifying and taking actions to protect headwater streams and nutrient sinks, prioritizing and sequencing dam removals, incorporating culvert improvements into routine and planned roadwork, or installing fish passage;

http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf http://www2.epa.gov/planandbudget number of regionally significant wetland restorations that are planned, designed, and implemented;

number of tools developed and applied to quantify the benefits of, and increased cost-efficiencies of, low impact development, especially for practices that address nutrients from stormwater and septic system sources;

establishment of markets and/or incentives created for adopting new septic system, on-site, or distributed treatment technologies;

number of nutrient trading methodologies assessed for comparing effectiveness of trading versus current approaches;

number of innovative nutrient-removal technologies installed and tested for efficacy, including documenting improvements they may offer over existing approaches;

establishment of an innovative regional monitoring program;

frequency of administrative, fiscal, or other services shared among multiple municipalities or permittees to more efficiently manage stormwater and track improvements;

establishment of a clearinghouse to more effectively transfer technology, share and update information more quickly, and communicate lessons learned to share and leverage multiple resources more effectively;

number of methods applied for tracking ecosystem impacts from nutrients, climate change, and watershed disturbances; and number of collaborative funding mechanisms developed, such as shared RFP calendars, pooled grant funding, etc.

Outcomes. Environmental outcomes are the result, effect, or consequence from implementing an environmental program or activity that is related to an environmental or programmatic goal or objective. In addition, outcomes are used as a way to gauge a project’s performance. Outcomes may be qualitative and environmental, behavioral, health-related, or programmatic in nature but must also be quantitative. They may not necessarily be achieved within an assistance agreement funding period. Outcomes may be short term (changes in learning, knowledge, attitude, skills), intermediate (changes in behavior, practice, strategies or decisions), or long-term (changes in condition of the natural resource).

Examples of anticipated environmental outcomes from projects funded under this RFIP include but are not limited to:

creation of new, expanded, and more effective monitoring partnership(s) as measured by adoption of shared methodologies, indices, and indicators to promote coordinated monitoring and reporting;

the restoration of a regionally significant wetland as measured by assessment for restored or improved functionality;

adoption of more holistic assessments of the economic benefits of ecosystem services and environmental benefits as measured by application of improved evaluation methodologies;

adoption by municipalities and states of natural green infrastructure protection and retrofitting practices throughout the region;

enhanced communication to transfer technology and share and update information efficiently as measured by adoption of practices and approaches based on value of shared information and evidence of technology effectiveness;

instances of testing, documentation, installation, demonstration, and adoption of new technologies, restoration tools, approaches, and associated policies; and measurement of direct or indirect water quality improvement or habitat restoration.

I.D. STATUTORY AUTHORITY

The statutory authority to fund SNEP activities under this announcement is contained in the

Fiscal Year 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Funding under this act can be used for implementation projects throughout SNEP.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

II.A. AMOUNT OF FUNDING

The total estimated funding for this announcement is up to a total of approximately $7,000,000 for FY16 and FY17.

The total estimated funding per award is approximately $250,000 up to a maximum of

$1,000,000 of federal funds; the total project period may be up to four years. There is a funding limit of up to one award per applicant under this announcement. Applicants must provide a minimum non-federal match of 10 percent of the federal award under the Fiscal Year 2016

Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Funding for the projects is not guaranteed and is subject to the availability of funds, satisfactory performance, and other applicable considerations. In addition, EPA reserves the right to make no awards under this announcement. Further, award of funding through this competition is not a guarantee of future funding.

EPA also reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement consistent with

Agency policy if additional funding becomes available after the original selection decisions. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months after the original selection decisions.

II.B. AWARD TYPE

Successful applicants will be issued a cooperative agreement as appropriate. 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 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 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 reports rests with the recipient.

II.C. PARTIAL FUNDING

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

II.D. EXPECTED PROJECT PERIOD

The expected project period for the assistance agreement is up to four years. The expected start date for the award resulting from this RFIP is September 1, 2016.

II.E. PRE-AWARD COSTS

Recipients may incur otherwise eligible and allowable pre-award costs up to 90 days prior to award at their own risk without prior approval of EPA’s award official. Pre-award costs must comply with 2 CFR 200.458. If EPA determines that the requested pre-award costs comply with the relevant authorities, and that the costs are justified as allocable to the project, then these costs may be included as allowable expenditures at the time that the assistance award document is prepared.

However, if for any reason EPA does not fund the proposal or the amount of the award is less than the applicant anticipated, EPA is under no obligation to reimburse the applicant for these costs incurred. Thus, applicants incur pre-award costs at their own risk. Costs incurred more than

90 days prior to award require the approval of EPA Region 1’s award official.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

III.A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Assistance under SNEP is available to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments;

institutions of higher education; nonprofit institutions and organizations; intertribal consortia;

and interstate agencies. Private businesses, federal agencies, and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients; however, they are encouraged to work in partnership with eligible applicants on projects. Applicants are not limited to the geographic area of southeastern coastal New

England, however, projects must be carried out within the SNEP geographic region and applicants are encouraged to have at least one local partner from within the geographic area specified in the competitive funding announcement.

Organizations must be capable of undertaking and managing activities that advance SNEP priorities, including managing potentially complex fiscal and administrative requirements. Non-profit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply; the term "interstate agency" is defined in CWA section 502 as "an agency of two or more States established by or pursuant to an agreement or compact approved by the

Congress, or any other agency of two or more States, having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator."

Intertribal consortia must meet the requirements of 40 CFR 35.504. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this CFDA description, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement

Competition Policy.

III.B. COST SHARING/MATCH REQUIREMENTS

All applicants that receive an award under Fiscal Year 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act must demonstrate a match/cost share of 10 percent of the total federal funding.

Match/cost shares can be in the form of cash or in-kind contributions, such as the use of volunteers and/or donated time, equipment, expertise, salaries or other verifiable costs and must be carefully documented. In the case of salaries, applicants may use either minimum wage or fair market value. Regulations governing match/cost share requirements can be found at 2 CFR

200.306.

The match/cost share must be for allowable project costs under the SNEP funding authority described in sub-section I.D. All funds are subject to federal audit. Applicants that do not describe how they will meet the minimum match/cost share requirement in their initial proposal submission will not be considered for funding.

III.C. THRESHOLD ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

All proposals must meet the following requirements in order to be considered for funding. If these requirements are not met at the time of initial proposal submission, the proposal will not be considered for funding. Proposals that meet all of the threshold eligibility criteria outlined below will be eligible for consideration and evaluated against the ranking factors in Section V. of this announcement. EPA will notify applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination. Please refer to the map of the SNEP geographic region and checklist of application materials.

1. Proposals must substantially comply with the proposal submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV. of this announcement or else they will be rejected. However, where a page limit is expressed in Section IV. with respect to the proposal, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed.

In addition, initial proposals must be submitted through Grants.gov as stated in

Section IV. of this announcement, except in the limited circumstances as explained in

Section IV., on or before the proposal submission deadline published in Section IV.

of this announcement. Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV. of this announcement.

Proposals submitted after the submission deadline will be considered late and deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that it was late due to EPA mishandling or because of technical problems associated with Grants.gov or relevant SAM.gov system issues. An applicant’s failure to timely submit their proposal/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 late submission. Applicants should confirm receipt of their proposal with Karen Simpson at SEcoastalNE@epa.gov as soon as possible after the submission deadline—failure to do so may result in your proposal not being reviewed.

2. Eligible Applicants: Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements in sub-

Section III.A. at the time of initial proposal submission.

3. Eligible Projects: For proposals that include any ineligible tasks or activities (see sub-Section III.D.), that portion of the proposal will be ineligible for funding and the entire proposal may be rendered ineligible for funding.

4. Ten (10) percent Match: Applicants must demonstrate how they will meet the cost share/match requirements in sub-Section III.B. of this announcement if selected to submit a full proposal.

5. EPA Strategic Plan: All Proposals must support Strategic Plan Goal 2 of EPA’s

Strategic Plan as specified in paragraph I.C.1.

6. SNEP Consistency: All proposals must describe how the proposed activities are consistent with one or more of the SNEP priorities outlined in Section I.B.

7. Instruction and Requirement Compliance: Proposals must comply with the proposal submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV., or they will be rejected.

8. Project Location: Projects must be carried out within the designated Southeast New

England Coastal region. Projects outside of this region will be rejected. Please note that applicants and/or project partners may be located outside the designated area.

(see map in sub-Section I.B.)

9. Funding Authority: Proposals must be in compliance with the funding authorities described in sub-Section I.D.

10. Funding Limits: Proposals requesting funding for more than $1,000,000 for the total project period will be rejected.

III.D. INELIGIBLE PROJECT ACTIVITIES

Provided below are examples of project activities that are generally not eligible for funding under this announcement. Ineligible activities include, but are not limited to:

1. Projects that do not yield outputs and outcomes within the geographic area of the

SNEP region (see map in sub-section I.B.);

http://www.sam.gov/ http://grants.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://grants.gov/

2. project activities that are located outside the SNEP geographic area;

3. land acquisition;

4. public outreach and education as a primary project focus, and

5. activities that directly benefit the federal government (e.g., training provided to federal employees, restoration/improvement of federal lands/facilities, etc.).

Additional restrictions on the use of federal funds are available at:

http://www2.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses.

IV. PROPOSAL AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

IV.A. CONTENT FOR INITIAL PROPOSALS

The proposal package must include all of the application materials described below (SF-424, SF-

424A, and Proposal Description). A checklist of required materials is provided in Appendix B.

Proposals must substantially comply with the requirements in this section as described in section

III.C.

If you would like confirmation that your proposal has been received by EPA, contact Karen

Simpson via email at SEcoastalNE@epa.gov. Please note, as described in Section IV F. of this announcement, if you have not received a confirmation of receipt from EPA (not from

Grants.gov) within 30 days of the proposal/application deadline, please contact the person listed in Section VII. of this announcement. Failure to do so may result in your proposal/application not being reviewed.

All questions, including those about submission instructions or proposal content, must be received in writing via email (SEcoastalNE@epa.gov) or fax at (617) 918-0672 with the funding opportunity number referenced in the subject and text of the communication (RFP EPA-R1-

SNEP-2016).

Initial Proposal Submission Content

Application

Information on

Federal Assistance

Standard Form 424

Complete the form (with no attachments). Include applicant

(organization) name, address, contact person, phone number, fax and e-mail address. Please note that the organizational Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Number

System (DUNS) number must be included on the SF 424.

Organizations may obtain a DUNS number at no cost by calling the toll-free DUNS number request line at 1-866-705-5711 or by visiting the website at www.dnb.com.

Federal Assistance

Standard Form 424A and Budget

Description

Complete the form (with no attachments). The total amount of federal funding requested for the project should be shown on line 5(e) and on line 6(k) of the SF-424A. If indirect costs are included, the amount of indirect costs should be entered on line 6(j). The indirect cost rate (a percentage), the base (e.g., personnel costs and fringe benefits), and http://www2.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses http://www.dnb.com/ the amount should also be indicated on line 22. In Section B: Budget

Categories, column (1) should be filled out for federal funds, column

(2) should be filled out for non-federal match/cost share, and column

(5) should be filled out for total project cost (combined federal funds and non-federal match/cost share).

In addition, a budget description aligned with project tasks must be included in the initial proposal including description of project match.

Description of costs must correspond to figures presented in the SF-

424A.

Initial Proposal

Narrative

Provide an initial proposal narrative of no more than four single-spaced typed 8.5x11-inch pages. In addition provide a cover page, 424 and 424A forms, budget description, and up to five commitment letters. These materials do not count towards the 4-page limit of the initial proposal narrative. Applicants should use a standard 12-point type with 1-inch margins and pages should be consecutively numbered. Additional pages beyond the four-page single-spaced limit for the proposal narrative will not be reviewed. The initial Proposal

Narrative must describe the applicant organization; provide a project description addressing one or more SNEP program priorities, community engagement, and any relevant partnerships; and how environmental results and progress will be measured. Applicants should address the evaluation criteria that are further described in

Section V.A.

IV.B. CONTENT FOR FULL PROPOSALS ONCE EPA NOTIFIES SELECTED

APPLICANTS.

If your Initial Proposal is selected for further consideration, EPA will invite you to submit a full proposal package. EPA Region 1 plans to notify applicants that are invited to submit a full proposal package on or around February 26, 2016. EPA will provide these applicants with additional instructions about submitting a full application. Below is a table of the full proposal submission content.

Full proposals must be no longer than 10 pages (8 ½ x 11 inches, single spaced); in addition to this ten-page page limit, applicants should provide up to five (5) letters of commitment from partners, at least one of which must be from a local partner if the applicant is not within the southeast New England geographic area. Commitment letters DO NOT count toward the 10-page limit. A letter of commitment must describe a partner’s expected role in the proposed project, including any match and/or other contribution to the applicant’s project. EPA discourages general letters of support, which are not considered commitment letters for purposes of evaluation. A checklist of required materials is provided in Appendix B.

The review team will not review pages in excess of this page limitation nor excess commitment letters. EPA will notify selected applicants in a notification letter and will include complete instructions for submittal of the full proposal. Full proposals must address the evaluation criteria listed in Section V.B.

Full Proposal Submission Content

Background Contact Information At the top of the first page, include the following:

i. Project title

ii. Applicant’s organization name

iii. List of all potential partners associated with the project;

iv. Key personnel and contact information (e-mail address and phone number)

v. Total project cost (specify the amount of federal funds requested, the non-federal match/cost share, and the total project cost)

Budget Detail Clearly explain how EPA funds will be used. This section provides an opportunity for a narrative description of the budget in the SF-424 and

SF-424A previously submitted in the initial application. Applicants must itemize costs related to personnel, fringe benefits, contractual costs, travel, equipment, supplies, match, other direct costs (including subawards), indirect costs, and total costs. Explanations of the costs associated with each project task including match amounts from project partners must be provided.

Description of costs must correspond to figures presented in the SF-

424A. A table highlighting key tasks and/or outputs for the length of the project with the associated budget breakdown is recommended.

Discuss whether the overall project costs and the various components are cost-effective in furthering future implementation. See Appendix

C for example of budget detail.

Full Proposal

Narrative

Full proposal narratives must be no longer than 10 pages (8 ½ x 11 inches, single spaced), not including the budget detail or commitment letters. A checklist of required materials, description of proposal content, and the recommended narrative format is provided in

Appendix B. The Full Proposal Narrative must address the evaluation criteria as discussed in the scoring criteria and in Appendix B.

Commitment Letters In addition to this 10-page limit, applicants should provide up to five

(5) letters of commitment from partners, at least one of which is encouraged to be from a local partner if the applicant is not within the southeast New England geographic area. Commitment letters DO

NOT count toward the 10-page limit. A letter of commitment must describe a partner’s expected role in the proposed project, including any match and/or other contribution to the effort. EPA discourages general letters of support, which are not considered letters of commitment for purposes of evaluation. Applicants electing to not have project partners must demonstrate their capability to perform the project without partner support.

IV.C. Intergovernmental Review

Applicants must comply with the Intergovernmental Review Process and/or consultation provisions of section 204 of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act, if applicable, which are contained in 40 CFR Part 29. This program is eligible for coverage under

Executive Order (EO) 12372, An Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs. An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her state for more information on that state's required process for applying for assistance if the state has selected the program for review. Further information regarding this requirement will be provided if your proposal is selected for funding. Single Points of Contact can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_spoc.

IV.D. Additional Provisions For Applicants Incorporated Into The Solicitation Additional provisions that apply to this solicitation and/or awards made under this solicitation, including but not limited to those related to confidential business information, contracts and subawards under grants, and proposal assistance and communications, can be found at http://www2.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses. These, and the other provisions that can be found at the website link, are important, and applicants must review them when preparing proposals for this solicitation. If you are unable to access these provisions electronically at the website above, please communicate with the EPA contact listed in this solicitation to obtain the provisions.

IV.E. Information Sessions

In order to answer applicant questions, SNEP will sponsor two webinar-based information sessions to address questions before the application under the Request for Initial Proposals is due. These virtual sessions are optional, but registration is required for participation. To register, please send an email to Karen Simpson at SEcoastalNE@epa.gov and indicate which session(s) you’d like to participate in. You will then receive instructions on how to join. Please see below for the schedule of these information sessions.

Information Session 1: Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 1:30pm to 3:00pm https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_spoc mailto:SEcoastalNE@epa.gov

Information Session 2: Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 11:00am to 12:30pm

After applicants are selected to submit full proposals, SNEP will host additional informational sessions to review requirements for the full proposal submission.

IV.F. FORM OF INITIAL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND DEADLINE

Requirement to Submit Through Grants.gov and Limited Exception Procedures

Applicants, except as noted below, must apply electronically through Grants.gov under this funding opportunity based on the grants.gov instructions in this announcement. If an applicant does not have the technical capability to apply electronically through grants.gov because of limited or no internet access which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials to Grants.gov, the applicant must contact OGDWaivers@epa.gov or the address listed below in writing (e.g., by hard copy, email) at least 15 calendar days prior to the submission deadline under this announcement to request approval to submit their application materials through an alternate method.

Mailing Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Barbara Perkins

USEPA Headquarters

William Jefferson Clinton Building

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N. W.

Mail Code: 3903R

Washington, DC 20460

Courier Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Barbara Perkins

Ronald Reagan Building

1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Rm # 51267

Washington, DC 20004

In the request, the applicant must include the following information:

Funding Opportunity Number (FON)

Organization Name and DUNS

Organization’s Contact Information (email address and phone number)

Explanation of how they lack the technical capability to apply electronically through

Grants.gov because of 1) limited internet access or 2) no internet access which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials through www.Grants.gov.

EPA will only consider alternate submission exception requests based on the two reasons stated above and will timely respond to the request -- all other requests will be denied. If an alternate http://www.grants.gov/ mailto:Grants.gov mailto:OGDWaivers@epa.gov http://www.grants.gov/ submission method is approved, the applicant will receive documentation of this approval and further instructions on how to apply under this announcement. Applicants will be required to submit the documentation of approval with any initial application submitted under the alternative method. In addition, any submittal through an alternative method must comply with all applicable requirements and deadlines in the announcement including the submission deadline and requirements regarding proposal content and page limits (although the documentation of approval of an alternate submission method will not count against any page limits).

If an exception is granted, it is valid for submissions to EPA for the remainder of the entire calendar year in which the exception was approved and can be used to justify alternative submission methods for application submissions made through December 31 of the calendar year in which the exception was approved (e.g., if the exception was approved on March 1, 2015, it is valid for any competitive or non-competitive application submission to EPA through December

31, 2015). Applicants need only request an exception once in a calendar year and all exceptions will expire on December 31 of that calendar year. Applicants must request a new exception from required electronic submission through Grants.gov for submissions for any succeeding calendar year. For example, if there is a competitive opportunity issued on December 1, 2015 with a submission deadline of January 15, 2016, the applicant would need a new exception to submit through alternative methods beginning January 1, 2016.

Please note that the process described in this section is only for requesting alternate submission methods. All other inquiries about this announcement must be directed to the Agency Contact listed in section VII. of the announcement. Queries or requests submitted to the email address identified above for any reason other than to request an alternate submission method will not be acknowledged or answered.

Submission Instructions

The electronic submission of your application must be made by an official representative of your institution who is registered with Grants.gov and is authorized to sign applications for Federal assistance. For more information on the registration requirements that must be completed in order to submit an application through grants.gov, go to http://www.grants.gov and click on

“Applicants” on the top of the page and then go to the “Get Registered” link on the page. If your organization is not currently registered with Grants.gov, please encourage your office to designate an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) and ask that individual to begin the registration process as soon as possible. Please note that the registration process also requires that your organization have a DUNS number and a current registration with the System for

Award Management (SAM) and the process of obtaining both could take a month or more.

Applicants must ensure that all registration requirements are met in order to apply for this opportunity through grants.gov and should ensure that all such requirements have been met well in advance of the submission deadline. Registration on grants.gov, SAM.gov, and DUNS number assignment is FREE.

Applicants need to ensure that the AOR who submits the application through Grants.gov and whose DUNS number is listed on the application is an AOR for the applicant listed on the application. Additionally, the DUNS number listed on the application must be registered to the applicant organization’s SAM account. If not, the application may be deemed ineligible.

To begin the application process under this grant announcement, go to http://www.grants.gov and click on “Applicants” on the top of the page and then “Apply for Grants” from the dropdown menu and then follow the instructions accordingly.