Foa_Content_of_NOAA-NOS-OCM-2024-27098.pdf

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

NOAA NOFO Page 1 of 35

Table of Contents

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Executive Summary

Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description

II. Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

IV. Application and Submission Information

V. Application Review Information

VI. Award Administration Information

VII. Agency Contacts

VIII. Other Information

Executive Summary Federal Agency Name NOS Office for Coastal Management (OCM) Funding Opportunity Title FY24 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law National Estuarine Research Reserve System Habitat Protection and Restoration Competition Announcement Type Competitive Funding Opportunity Number

NOAA-NOS-OCM-2024-27098

Assistance Listing Number(s) 11.473 Dates Letters of Intent (LOIs) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 15, 2024. Full proposals (by invitation only) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 9, 2025.

Funding Opportunity Description The purpose of this notice is to solicit grant proposals from eligible National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs or Reserves) for coastal habitat restoration; coastal habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design; and coastal land conservation projects that support the goals and intent of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP), and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) (BIL, Public Law 117-58, 135 STAT. 1356 (Nov. 15, 2021).

NOAA anticipates that approximately $13.5 million will be competitively awarded to approved Reserves or eligible Program partners. For habitat restoration engineering, design and planning projects, it is anticipated that awards will range from approximately $200,000-$350,000. For habitat restoration projects, it is anticipated that awards will range from approximately $2 million to $4 million. For land conservation projects, it is anticipated that awards will range from approximately $500,000 to $1.5 million. Applicants may propose projects with a Federal funding request less than or more than these amounts, up to $4 million.

NOAA NOFO Page 2 of 35

The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) encourages applicants and awardees to support the principles of equity and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. Promoting equity and inclusion through community engagement, co-development, and partnership improves creativity, productivity, and the vitality of the coastal management community that OCM supports. NOAA also encourages applicants to propose projects with benefits to tribal, indigenous, and/or underserved communities, and projects that appropriately consider and elevate local or indigenous knowledge in project design, implementation, and evaluation. Applicants should identify if the project is located within tribal, indigenous, and/or underserved communities, and/or whether a portion of the resilience benefits from the proposed work will flow to tribal, indigenous, and/or underserved communities.

Full Text of Announcement I. Funding Opportunity Description A. Program Objective The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) consists of estuarine areas of the United States and its territories designated and managed for research and educational purposes (Reserves). Each Reserve within the NERRS is chosen to represent a different biogeographic region and to include a variety of ecosystem types in accordance with the classification scheme of the national program as specified in 15 CFR 921. By funding designated Reserve agencies and universities and their eligible Reserve Partners to conduct land acquisition and habitat restoration projects that support the NERRS mission, NOAA will strengthen protection of key land and water areas, improve climate resilience, enhance long-term protection of Reserve areas for research and education, and support the habitat protection goals and priorities of the National Coastal Zone Management Act. Funding under this opportunity will enable Reserves to protect and restore ecologically significant habitats, including conserving lands that play a critical role in helping coastal communities become more resilient to storms, flooding, inundation, erosion, tsunamis, sea level rise and lake level changes and other natural hazards affecting the U.S. coastlines.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supports NOAA’s efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change. A key pillar is resilience to climate change and its impacts, throughout our communities and ecosystems. Specifically, this NOFO seeks projects that enhance coastal resilience. Coastal areas support the nation’s largest and often fastest-growing population centers as well as key natural assets. Strengthening coastal resilience means preparing and adapting coastal communities to mitigate the impacts of and more quickly recover after extreme events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, flooding, and sea level rise. Habitat restoration and natural and nature-based infrastructure and solutions are critical to doing so by protecting lives and property; sustaining commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing; recovering threatened and endangered species; and maintaining and fostering vibrant coastal economies and lifestyles.

This NOFO – along with the NOFOs for National Coastal Resilience Fund; Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants; Coastal Habitat and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities; and Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection and Restoration grants– aims to fund projects that support the overarching goal of enhancing coastal resilience. This NOFO focuses on projects by or in partnership with National Estuarine Research Reserves approved by NOAA under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Eligible projects are habitat restoration projects, habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects, land conservation projects, or a combination of categories. Projects are expected to be scoped in a manner that would allow them to be completed within three years of the start date of the award.

This competition has a mandatory pre-proposal/letter of intent. Only applicants whose pre proposals strongly align with program objectives and goals, as determined by NOAA through the review process described in Section V.A, will be invited to submit full applications. Pre-proposals must be submitted by the deadline stated in Section IV.D.

For details regarding the suggested content of pre-proposals, please see Section IV.B.

The following definitions of key terms apply to this funding opportunity:

1. “Land Conservation” refers to the acquisition of fee simple interest in real property or less-than-fee interests in the form of conservation easements.

2. “Disadvantaged communities” is defined by the Council on Environmental Quality as those communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution, and they are identified by the Climate and Economic Justice Screen Tool.

NOAA NOFO Page 3 of 35

3. “Equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment (E.O.

13985).

4. “Meaningful Engagement” refers to the intentional, consistent inclusion of underserved and/or tribal partners throughout project development and implementation to collaborate towards solutions of problems identified by communities themselves.

5. “Resilience” is defined as the ability of a coastal community to prepare and plan for, absorb impacts of, recover from, and more successfully adapt to weather and climate impacts.

6. “Underserved communities” refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life (E.O. 13985).

7. “Underrepresented” means a population that is typically underrepresented in service provision, and includes populations such as persons who are minorities, poor persons, persons with limited English proficiency, older individuals, or persons from rural areas (see 29 U.S.C. § 3002(18)).

B. Program Priorities This competition is anticipated to fund a combination of habitat restoration and land conservation projects that are ‘shovel ready’ or reasonably advanced in the acquisition due diligence process, as well as habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects that will create a pipeline of future projects. Proposals that include on-the-ground implementation will be given priority compared to those that include only pre-implementation activities.

NOAA aims to fund high-impact projects that can have a transformational effect on an ecosystem or community.

NOAA will prioritize the geographic distribution of funding to Reserves. Therefore, projects may be selected out of rank order to increase geographic distribution of funds across Reserves with meritorious projects. Projects may also be selected out of rank order to fund a variety of project types or to select meritorious projects that best advance the principles of equity and inclusion or effectively factor anticipated climate change effects. NOAA intends to allocate at least 10% of the competition funding towards projects that target engagement and partnership with underserved communities, provided that a sufficient number of meritorious projects meeting this criterion are submitted to the competition.

NOAA will also prioritize projects based on specific considerations according to project type, as follows:

1. For habitat restoration projects, priority will be given to projects that:

o reflect coastal habitat restoration priority areas identified in state/territories, tribal or regional plans. However, please note that all projects must be located within the Reserve’s targeted watershed boundary or if located outside the targeted watershed boundary, the application must demonstrate that the project will provide measurable benefits to the Reserve;

o restore important habitats and connected ecosystem functions/species;

o restore hydrologic connections between habitats that improve ecosystem function;

o enhance or restore important ecosystem services that support coastal communities, vulnerable populations or cultural resources (i.e., coastal flood protection, extreme weather resilience, water quality and quantity, food safety and security, chronic coastal erosion, etc);

o include a long-term plan for monitoring specific criteria relevant to achieve project objectives; and o provide for engineering and design needs, if not already completed.

2. For habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects, priority will be given to projects that:

o reflect coastal habitat restoration priority areas identified in state/territories, tribal or regional plans. However, please note that all projects must be located within the Reserve’s targeted watershed boundary or if located outside the targeted watershed boundary, the application must demonstrate that the project will provide measurable benefits to the Reserve;

o support or catalyze subsequent restoring of important habitats and connected ecosystem functions/species;

o support or catalyze subsequent restoring of hydrologic connections between habitats that improve ecosystem function;

NOAA NOFO Page 4 of 35 o support or catalyze subsequent enhancing or restoring important ecosystem services that support coastal communities, vulnerable populations or cultural resources (i.e., coastal flood protection, extreme weather resilience, water quality and quantity, food safety and security, chronic coastal erosion, etc);

3. For land conservation projects, priority will be given to projects that:

o have significant ecological value, and o have a demonstrated need for protection; and o can be effectively managed and protected.

Of the land conservation projects that meet the above standards, priority will subsequently be given to projects that:

• are designed to protect properties under an imminent threat of conversion to a use that will degrade or diminish their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state;

• serve to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by coastal population growth in the coastal environment;

and/or

• reflect the land conservation priority area(s) that are: identified in state or regional conservation plans such as a state’s CELCP plan; included the goals and objectives of CZM Program or National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) management plans approved under the CZMA; or included in other regional, tribal or state watershed protection plans.

Additionally, NOAA will seek to advance the following three Program Priorities:

1. Restoration and Conservation. Priority will be given to projects that will do one or more of the following:

o strengthen the protection of key land and water areas and support the habitat protection goals and priorities of the National Coastal Zone Management Act;

o protect or restore high quality coastal ecosystems;

o increase connectivity to improve habitat conditions; and/or o prevent fragmentation or maintain/enhance species or habitat diversity.

2. Climate Resilience. Priority will be given to projects that factor in anticipated climate change effects. For example, priority will be given to those projects that will do one or more of the following:

o account for future environmental conditions in restoration designs, ensuring long-term ecosystem function to the full extent possible with available data and information;

o protect pathways for habitat and species migrations in response to sea level rise or changing lake levels;

o reduce existing stressors that hinder the ability of species or ecosystems to withstand climatic events;

o protect key ecosystem features, (e.g. keystone species or habitats, or natural infrastructure).

3. Equity and Inclusion. The NOAA Office for Coastal Management encourages applicants and awardees to advance the principles of equity and inclusion when developing and implementing their work. Supporting the principles of equity and inclusion in the context of this funding competition includes but is not limited to:

o providing benefits to underserved communities and populations experiencing heightened vulnerabilities and disproportionate impacts relating to coastal access, ocean or Great Lakes resource management, and coastal habitat stressors including climate change;

o providing benefits to tribes, tribal organizations and Indigenous communities to protect and restore coastal resources, including projects that incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This term refers to the cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment. NOAA recognizes the importance of Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge for understanding the environment, adapting to environmental change, and mitigating negative environmental impacts;

o seeking meaningful engagement with, input from, and partnerships with communities, groups and individuals who have not historically been actively engaged in, or may be underrepresented in the work of state or territorial coastal management programs; and

NOAA NOFO Page 5 of 35 o promoting equity and inclusion through community engagement, co-development, and partnership improves creativity, productivity, and the vitality of the coastal management community that OCM supports.

In alignment with Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government, all applicants are asked to describe how their proposed project will advance equity and inclusion (see Section V.B.4).

C. Program Authority Statutory authority for this program is provided under Coastal Zone Management Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1456c (Technical Assistance), 16 U.S.C. § 1456-1 (CELCP), and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58.

Note: The eligibility and procedural requirements in this funding opportunity supersede the CELCP Guidelines, published in the Federal Register on June 17, 2003 (68 Fed.Reg. 35860- 35869). Most notably, recipients are not required to have an approved CELCP plan in order to be eligible for this competition; there is no match requirement;

and the details of the state project solicitation/nomination process, as well as the NOAA merit review and project selection process may differ from the procedures described in the guidelines. Applicants should follow the application procedures as described in this announcement.

II. Award Information A. Funding Availability Total anticipated funding for this Federal award announcement is approximately $13.5 million, subject to availability of funding and final administrative funding allocations. For habitat restoration engineering, design and planning proposals, it is anticipated that projects ranging from approximately $200,000-$350,000 will be selected.

For habitat restoration proposals, it is anticipated that projects ranging from approximately $2 million to $4 million per project will be selected. For land conservation proposals, it is anticipated that projects ranging from approximately $500,000 to $1.5 million will be selected. Applicants may propose projects with a Federal funding request less than or more than these amounts, up to $4 million.

The lead applicant on any proposal will be responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the purposes of, and in a manner consistent with, this program, including any funds awarded to an eligible sub-awardee.

There is no guarantee that funds will be available for this Federal funding opportunity or that any proposal will be selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement signed by an authorized NOAA official, the applicant does so at their own risk of not being selected and these costs not being included in a subsequent award. Direct costs of proposal preparation shall not be included within the project application budget.

In addition, NOAA and the Department of Commerce (DOC) will not be responsible for project costs if this program fails to receive funding. Recipients and subrecipients are subject to all Federal laws and agency policies, regulations, and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance awards.

Highly ranked proposals not funded in the current fiscal period may be considered for funding in another fiscal period without NOAA repeating the competitive process outlined in this announcement. Funding in subsequent fiscal years encompassing the proposed period of performance is subject to the availability of funding.

B. Project/Award Period Consistent with the Program Objectives of this announcement, projects are expected to be scoped in a manner that would allow them to be completed within three years of the start date of the award, with the potential of up to five years as described below. It is anticipated that projects funded under this announcement will have an award start date of August, 1, 2025. Applicants may submit proposals with a project period of 12 to 36 months, or, for habitat restoration projects only, applicants may request a project period of up to 48 months to allow for at least one year of post-restoration monitoring.

NOAA may extend an award for a total performance period of up to five years if circumstances warrant, such as unforeseen circumstances that prevent the project from being completed within the original period of performance.

In order to qualify for an extension, award recipients must be up-to-date on all progress and financial reports, demonstrate progress during the initial period of performance, and be able to demonstrate that additional time is likely to result in successful completion of the project.

NOAA NOFO Page 6 of 35

C. Type of Funding Instrument Projects will be funded as grants or cooperative agreements, as described in 2 C.F.R. § 200.1, depending on the nature of the project. If a cooperative agreement is used, NOAA expects to be substantially involved in many aspects of the award. Applicants may propose anticipated Federal roles and responsibilities in their proposals, or NOAA may establish the particular involvement. Substantial involvement may include, but is not limited to, collaborating on the scope of work, providing assistance with technical aspects of the habitat restoration, reviewing and commenting on design plans, and reviewing procurement materials to the extent authorized by 2 C.F.R. § 200.325.

III. Eligibility Information A. Eligible Applicants Any NERRS lead state agencies or universities designated to receive NERRS operations funding through a Memorandum of Understanding with NOAA in coastal states and territories are eligible for funds under this competition.

For elected projects, NOAA may make financial assistance awards to the Reserve lead state agency or university, which will be responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the purposes of and in a manner consistent with this program. NOAA may also, with concurrence from the Reserve lead agency or university, make a grant directly to an identified eligible Reserve partner in order to expedite completion of an approved project. For these projects, the Reserve lead agency or university would submit a Letter of Intent and include an identification and brief description of the Reserve partner that would be the final grant recipient. If the Reserve is invited to submit a final application for the proposal, then the Reserve partner would submit the final application through grants.gov. In such cases, the Reserve partner (as the grant award recipient) will be responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the approved purposes of, and in a manner consistent with, this program.

Eligible Reserve partners may include regional authorities, non-governmental organizations, institutions of higher education, and state, territorial, tribal, and county/local governments.

Non-governmental organizations may serve as the lead applicant for habitat restoration projects or for habitat restoration engineering, design and planning projects. As noted in section III C.3. Public Benefit, all projects must be located on publicly-owned land, or land where a public entity holds a lease or easement that provides for adequate public control of the property. For these projects, the project application should also include a letter of support from the public entity who holds title or a legal interest on the project site.

Non-governmental organizations may not serve as the lead applicant for land conservation projects, as they are not eligible to hold title to lands acquired with these funds. Non-governmental organizations also must not be listed as a subawardee for land acquisition purchase funds. However, non-governmental organizations, such as land trusts, may participate as partners in the acquisition of lands through this program in other ways such as: identifying target properties; conducting or assisting in acquisition negotiations to secure properties; preparing due diligence materials;

conducting restoration activities; and providing stewardship and management of properties in perpetuity, including holding a secondary easement or other stewardship agreement for these lands. Here, non-governmental organizations may be listed as a subawardee for funds for these services.

DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and is strongly committed to broadening the participation of Minority Service Institutions, including historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institutions that work in underserved areas. DOC/NOAA encourages applicants to include partners and contributors from any of the above groups or institutions.

B. Cost Share or Matching Requirement Pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, Division J, Title II, in order to promote a more equitable competition that supports a wider variety of projects and project partners, there is no non-Federal matching requirement for this funding. However, applicants are strongly encouraged to combine NOAA Federal funding with formal non-federal matching contributions or informal leveraged funds from a broad range of sources in the public and private sectors to demonstrate stakeholder support, partnership, and collaboration for the proposed work. Such cost sharing is an element considered in the evaluation criteria.

NOAA NOFO Page 7 of 35

Applicants should clearly indicate if funds are proposed as official, non-federal match, or if the funds are informal leverage. Match is entered on federal forms, recorded on award documents signed by NOAA’s Grants Management Division, and the ratio of approved NOAA funds to non-Federal match funds becomes a legally binding component of the award. Applicants should refer to 2 C.F.R. § 200.306 for explanations of match funds, which must generally be used during the award period. NOAA is under no obligation to amend the match contributions once the award document is signed by the recipient, unless the amount is amended based on extenuating circumstances.

Leverage refers to all other funding support that contributes to completion of the project. Leverage can be either federal or non-federal in origin, and can include funds expended toward the project(s) either before or during the award period. NOAA will require successful applicants to track leveraged funds as part of the project reporting requirements, but leveraged funds are not entered on federal forms or award documents and do not become a legally binding component of the award.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility Criteria 1-7 apply to all project types. Criteria 8-10 are specific to land conservation projects.

1. Letters of Intent. Letters of Intent must be submitted by a Reserve, and each Reserve may submit no more than three proposals (letters of intent) for this competition.

2. Project location. Projects must be located within a Reserve’s targeted watershed boundary, or if located outside the targeted watershed boundary, the application must demonstrate that the project will provide measurable benefits to the Reserve. The project description should describe where the project is located in relation to a Reserve’s boundary or targeted watershed boundary. Targeted watershed boundary maps for each reserve are available on the NERRS Central Data Management Office website at: http://cdmo.baruch.sc.edu/get/gis_index.cfm. For those Reserves that have not yet designated targeted watershed boundaries, the project application should note whether the project is located within the Reserve’s boundary or the boundary of the 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC12) watershed that the reserve is located within.

3. Public Benefit. All projects should provide clear public benefit. Eligible habitat restoration projects must be located on publicly-owned land, or land where a public entity holds a lease or easement that provides for adequate public control of the property. Restoration planning, engineering, and design projects should also be for publicly owned or controlled project sites, or for sites where the majority of the project area is under public ownership or control. Land conservation projects must provide for non-Federal public ownership by the grant award recipient or eligible sub-recipient for conservation in perpetuity.

For the purposes of this announcement, non-Federal public ownership includes state agencies, Federally recognized Indian Tribes and tribal organizations as defined at 25 U.S.C. § 5304 (see also 2 C.F.R. § 200.1), local governments as defined at 15 C.F.R. § 28.105, or other local or regional entities as included in the definition under section 306A(e) of the CZMA (16 U.S.C. § 1455a(e)), provided that each has the authority to acquire and manage land for conservation purposes.

Projects must allow passive public access or provide other public benefit(s), to the extent it is appropriate and consistent with resource protection. However, this funding is not intended to support public access infrastructure;

therefore, public access infrastructure projects such as construction or restoration of boardwalks, boat ramps, bridges, bathrooms, or walkways would not be eligible for funding under this competition.

4. Mitigation. Federal project funds may not be used to comply with mandatory or compensatory mitigation for recent, pending or future habitat losses resulting from the actions of agencies, organizations, companies, or individuals. Project funds also may not be used for enforcing fish, wildlife, or other regulations, either solely or primarily, except when necessary for the accomplishment of approved project purposes.

5. Monitoring. Applications requesting funding for restoration activities should include a Monitoring Plan.

Applicants should be willing to work with NOAA to adjust the plan, if necessary, to ensure that the proposed parameters are adequate and meaningful. All Monitoring Plans should propose sufficient, cost-effective monitoring metrics that assess whether the restoration action was carried out as designed and provide a basic level of effectiveness. Monitoring Plans should:

• include parameters that evaluate short-term structural changes at the project site(s) (e.g. as-built surveys), and may also include a basic measure of effectiveness (e.g. presence/absence of target species);

NOAA NOFO Page 8 of 35

• propose pre-implementation data collection, when applicable;

• include parameters with quantitative or clearly defined ecological targets; and include ecological targets that can be evaluated within approximately one-year post-implementation.

On a limited basis, NOAA may also consider funding more in-depth, longer-term monitoring that addresses ecological effectiveness or restoration technique effectiveness. NOAA may choose to provide additional out year funds to an award, increase the award period, and/or an additional out year award for successful applicants whose awards are identified as suitable for longer-term effectiveness monitoring. Projects proposing such effectiveness monitoring should describe the specific question or hypothesis that will be addressed, and detail the monitoring methods and analyses proposed.

NOAA encourages projects that align monitoring metrics with regional and/or other restoration funding programs.

Monitoring should support ecosystem service goals of the restoration projects, as well as consider cultural ecosystem services.

Applications requesting funding for planning, engineering, and design projects should include a brief plan for any pre-restoration monitoring to establish baseline conditions.

6. Post Award Changes in Scope. In the event that a funded project is determined to be no longer feasible, in-full or in-part, after the start of the award, the recipient may propose a replacement project that also meets the intent and purposes of this funding competition. This project will be reviewed by NOAA staff using the criteria within this funding announcement and if the project is found meritorious consistent with program priorities in section I.B. and evaluation criteria in V.A., then NOAA may approve the replacement project. However, NOAA may take the need for a replacement project into account when making subsequent years’ funding recommendations, in order to ensure that one coastal state is not being approved for a disproportionate number of projects.

7. De minimis uses: Sustainable aquaculture, forestry, agriculture, and small-scale community recreation facilities (such as playgrounds, sports fields, non-primitive camping areas, or paved bicycle paths) may be allowed on a de minimis scale if they are located away from sensitive ecological features. For the purposes of this competition, de minimis scale is considered to be no more than 10 percent of the total acreage of the project. The location, size, and nature of these uses should be described in the project proposal and NOAA may negotiate with the applicant if the project is selected for funding.

8. Land Conservation Projects. This competition provides support for acquisition of fee simple interests in lands or conservation easements from willing sellers within eligible locations (as defined in Project Location, above). In order to be eligible, a project must:

• Protect important coastal and estuarine areas that have significant conservation or ecological values, or that are threatened by conversion from their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state to other uses. Historic and aesthetic values will also be evaluated, but for the purposes of this competition, the primary purpose of the project must be based on conservation or ecological values.

• Provide for non-Federal public ownership by the grant recipient or sub-recipient for conservation in perpetuity. If the grant recipient is a state agency that does not have authority to hold title to lands, the property may be held by another eligible non-Federal public entity as defined under #3, “Public Benefit,” above.

• Provide for passive public access or other public benefit on some portion of the property, as appropriate and consistent with resource protection, or clearly describe why passive public access would be detrimental to the conservation goals of the property;

• Advance the goals, objectives, and implementation of state, tribal, or regional conservation plans, such as a state’s Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) plan; or be included in other regional, tribal, or state watershed protection plans.

• Acquire property or conservation easements from willing sellers.

• Be consistent with a state’s coastal management program approved under the CZMA.

• Complement (or not conflict with) working waterfront needs, to the extent practicable.

• For projects that propose to acquire more than one property, parcels must be located in the same vicinity, be substantially related in terms of conservation values, or have other direct physical or strategic connection (for example, acquiring multiple properties that will be assembled into a single greenway).

NOAA NOFO Page 9 of 35 o NOAA recommends that applicants limit the scope to acquiring no more than three separate parcels. Properties containing multiple parcels covered under a single appraisal, title report, and survey plat could count as one parcel (e.g., a subdivided property with the same landowner).

9. Uses of Funds For Land Conservation Projects. Land conservation funds may be used for:

1. Direct Acquisition Costs. Acquisition of eligible properties or interests in properties (conservation easements) from willing sellers, including direct expenses relating to the acquisition of lands, such as appraisals, surveys, title opinions, and other direct transaction costs. The negotiated price of the property or conservation easement should be based on the fair market value as established by a complete and self-contained appraisal prepared by an independent state-approved appraiser.

Costs to be paid from the Federal share must be documented and expended within the period of performance, unless approved for reimbursement as a pre-award cost, as described in Section VI.A. Pre-award costs eligible for consideration include costs necessary for conducting appraisals, title work, and environmental assessments.

The cost of land acquisition may also be reimbursed as a pre-award cost. Reimbursement of funds is subject to NOAA’s approval of due diligence documents; closing on a property prior to the award start date is at the applicant’s risk.

Although uncommon, projects involving the acquisition of lands already held by a public entity or by a conservation organization (such as a land trust) whose purpose is to manage and protect land for ecological or conservation values, or lands already subject to an easement or deed restriction that limits the conversion of such lands from their natural, undeveloped or recreational state, may also qualify if they meet the one of the following criteria to demonstrate their need for protection:

• the property was acquired and has been held by such entity in a “buy and hold” arrangement for a period less than three years from the publication date of this funding announcement;

• the property was previously acquired and/or managed for a non- conservation purpose by a public entity, and the agency or entity currently holding title does not have a mission to manage land for conservation purposes; or

• the agency or entity currently holding title has governing authorities that require sale when transferring property to another public agency.

In the “buy and hold” circumstances, reimbursement of some “holding costs” may be eligible, subject to a limit of five percent of the purchase price of the property. Any costs incurred prior to the start of the award are considered pre-award costs subject to prior approval by NOAA. See Section VI.A below.

2. Costs for administering a land conservation grant award. Staffing and administrative costs must be incurred within the period of performance, and should only include the amount of time necessary to complete the proposed project. Such costs may include time spent by staff for project planning, implementation, and review, as well as costs for certain initial land stewardship activities, such as signage, baseline report development, public safety, or other stewardship purposes.

3. Land Conservation funds may not be used for:

• funding long-term operations, maintenance, and management of the land (above those costs allowed for initial land stewardship);

• construction of buildings, boat launching facilities, docks or piers, shoreline armoring, or other facilities;

• research;

• acquisition of lands, or interests in lands, that completely restrict access to specific persons (e.g., non-residents of a community);

• acquisition of lands, or interests in lands, to comply with mandatory or compensatory mitigation for recent, pending or future habitat losses resulting from the actions of agencies, organizations, companies, or individuals;

• enforcing fish, wildlife, or other regulations, either solely or primarily, except when necessary for the accomplishment of approved project purposes;

NOAA NOFO Page 10 of 35

• acquisition of land for active recreation, such as sports facilities, water parks, playgrounds, or similar uses, except for at a de minimis scale;

• reimbursement of expenses that have been incurred prior to the start of a grant award, except those approved as pre-award costs.

10. Land Conservation Appraisals. For all land conservation projects, appraisals must reflect nationally recognized appraisal standards, including the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisition (the Yellow Book) and the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Appraisals generally must be done according to Yellow Book standards, but NOAA may allow appraisals completed according to USPAP standards if obtaining a Yellow Book appraisal is not feasible, cost prohibitive, or in other limited circumstances. If an applicant intends to use a USPAP rather than a Yellow Book Appraisal, we recommend consulting with NOAA beforehand. If an appraisal has not been completed at the time a project proposal is submitted, the applicant may propose a good-faith estimate of the cost for the project based on market value or agreement with the willing seller.

However, if the project is selected for funding, an appraisal will be required before funds can be released. The amount of the grant cannot exceed the estimated cost in the project application. If the appraised value of the property is higher than the estimated cost in the project proposal, the applicant must make up the difference. If the appraised value is lower than the estimated cost, NOAA may reduce the Federal share of the project as appropriate.

Appraisal reports for properties valued more than $250,000 must also be reviewed by a qualified review appraiser prior to release of acquisition funds. Applicants may consider budgeting costs for an independent appraisal review for all properties valued more than $250,000.

IV. Application and Submission Information A. Address to Request Application Package The standard SF-424 application package is available online at http://www.grants.gov. If this is not feasible, application packages may be requested from the Office for Coastal Management via email at ocm.nerrs.infrastructure@noaa.gov.

B. Content and Form of Application Applications that do not follow the Letter of Intent and full proposal application requirements stated in this announcement may not be considered for review. All application materials should use a legible 11 or 12-point font with 1-inch margins on all sides, single spaced. Electronic applications must be submitted in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

1. Letter of Intent

For this funding competition, a pre-proposal Letter of Intent (LOI) is required before submitting a full proposal. The LOI should provide a concise description of the proposed work and its relevance to program objectives. The goal of the pre-proposal process is to streamline the application and review process by inviting full applications only from applicants whose projects are most likely to support NOAA’s goals as described in this announcement and for those projects that are most likely to be ready to start implementation soon after being awarded funding.

Please note that only LOIs that strongly align with the program objectives and goals will be invited to submit a full proposal. Applicants will not be invited to submit a proposal if the LOI does not strongly align with the program objectives and goals, or the LOI does not include the required components listed below. Applicants may not submit a full proposal unless they receive an invitation from NOAA. Any proposal submitted without having received an invitation will not be reviewed.

The Office for Coastal Management will respond to each LOI by email informing the Reserve and lead Principal Investigator(s) whether or not they are invited to submit a proposal. We anticipate sending responses by October 1, 2024. If the lead principal investigator does not receive an email by October 31, 2024, the applicant must contact ocm.czm.infrastructure@noaa.gov and request the status of their LOI. The proposal submission deadlines in this announcement will apply to everyone.

The Letter of Intent (LOI) must contain the following three sections in one PDF document:

1. LOI Cover Page (one page limit): The cover page should have the following information:

o Reserve Name mailto:ocm.czm.infrastructure@noaa.gov

NOAA NOFO Page 11 of 35 o Name of Partner Organization to be the final Applicant (if applicable);

o Project title;

o Type of Project (identify all categories that apply): Habitat Restoration; Habitat Restoration

Planning, Engineering, and Design; or Land Conservation;

o Project Location (latitude and longitude coordinates);

o Names and affiliations of the lead principal investigator(s) (PIs) with contact information. NOAA will communicate with the lead PIs on the status of their LOI;

o Proposed project start and end dates; and o Total Federal Funding request

2. LOI Proposal (five page limit): The body of the LOI should be no more than 5 pages, numbered, 11 or 12-point font, single spaced, and must include the following components:

o Statement of Purpose: state the intent, goal, and outcome of proposed work;

o Brief Project Description: Briefly describe the proposed project and activities, ensuring to highlight and describe:

▪ the ecosystem benefits of the project; and

▪ the intended benefits to the region and local community in improving resilience.

o Milestones: Include a short, bulleted list of key project milestones.

o Equity and Inclusion: Briefly describe how the proposed activity broadens the participation of, and/or supports the needs of underrepresented groups.

o Climate: Briefly describe how the proposed activity will enhance climate resilience.

o Site Geography: Describe the location of the project, providing geographical coordinates and regional and local specifics as appropriate (e.g., nearest towns, street addresses, nearest intersections).

o Landowner (for habitat restoration and habitat restoration planning, design, and engineering projects). Include the name and address of the landowner of the project site.

o Pre-Existing Uses: Briefly describe the existing uses of the property, the nature of those uses, and whether those uses will continue after completion of the project.

o Partnerships: Describe any public, non-governmental organizations, private or individual partners involved in the project and their intended roles.

o Project Timeline. Provide a realistic timeline of all project activities to be supported with Federal funds, including an indication of when activities will begin.

o Budget summary: Provide an overview of the estimated amount of funding requested, match or leveraged funding expected, and brief details on how funds will be used.

o Project Readiness: Please describe project readiness based on project type, below. If a project is multiple types, please describe all that is applicable.

For habitat restoration projects: identify and list all consultations, permits, and regulatory approvals necessary for the proposed project and include documentation or approval status (e.g., not applied for; pending; secured). Please describe whether project design plans are construction ready (90 to 100% complete). Please describe whether experienced contractors are available and likely to compete under project bid process, if this information is known at the time of application submittal.

For habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects: identify any planned on-the-ground monitoring, sampling, testing, or other activities, and identify and list all consultations, permits, and regulatory approvals necessary for those activities and include documentation or approval status (e.g., not applied for; pending; secured). Please describe if project design plans have started and status (e.g. 10% complete, 30% complete). Please describe whether experienced contractors are available and likely to compete under project bid process, if this information is known at the time of application submittal.

NOAA NOFO Page 12 of 35

For land conservation projects: identify whether sites have been located, the property is on the market, and/or negotiations with landowner have resulted in an option or purchase & sale agreement or other evidence that a seller would be willing to sell at a mutually agreeable price and terms; whether appraisal, title opinion, and other documentation have been completed or can be produced within the performance period; and whether the site has any uncertainties (such as liens, judgments, need for remediation) that are not likely to be resolved within the proposed award performance period.

3. Maps (no page limit): Provide regional and site-specific maps and images as appropriate of the proposed project site(s). Maps will not count against the above page limit for the proposal section of the LOI.

2. Full Proposal If and once a Principal Investigator is invited to submit a full proposal, prior to submission, all applicants should carefully review the PDF Guidelines for submission found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide/format-and-write/format-attachments.htm. Recent applicants have encountered rejected applications for formatting issues, especially:

• Do not use “bundling” or “portfolio” features to combine PDFs into a single document. Everything must be visible in the PDF.

• Descriptive filenames may only be 50 characters or less (including spaces).

• Keep attachment file size to 100 MB or less.

• eRA won’t accept any pages larger than the U.S. standard letter paper size (8.5” x 11”).

We strongly recommend that applicants attempt to submit their full proposals at least a few days prior to the due date in case these or other issues impact your submission, as they are not reasons we can extend the deadline. If you have issues during the submission process, please contact theeRA Service Desk.

The complete application package should include the following documents and forms, with the three below groups as separate files:

1. Full Project Proposal Narrative (15 page limit):

o Project descriptions (proposals), as described in the application component section below, should be limited to no more than 15 pages, 11 or 12-point font, single spaced, excluding the title page and table of contents, which will not count towards this page limit. Applicants should number the pages of the main body of their proposals.

o Project descriptions that exceed the 15-page limit will be shortened by removing pages at the end of the proposal narrative (see element 3 of the component section below) before it is forwarded to merit reviewers for evaluation. Pages removed from lengthy applications will not be reviewed or considered.

o Applications that are incomplete, unclear, or contain numerous typographical errors may not be understood effectively by reviewers, resulting in lower evaluation scores, so applicants are advised to review their application materials closely before they are submitted to the agency for consideration.

2. Budget Narrative and Justification (no page limit):

o In order to allow reviewers to evaluate the appropriateness of all costs, applications should include a detailed budget narrative and justification of costs broken out by individual task per year of the award, as described in the budget narrative section below.

o The budget narrative submitted with the final application should match the dollar amounts and object classes included on all required forms and clearly link to the project…