FUNDING OPPORTUNITY.docx

Cooperative Agreement for North Atlantic Coast CESU-affiliated University with USGS Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science Collaborative Research: Ontological Delineation and Extraction of Terrain Landforms Expected Period of Agreement: 2017-2018

Funding Opportunity Description The Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science (CEGIS) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner that have the ability to conduct research on geographic information science and topographic ontologies in the North Atlantic Coast CESU. CEGIS primarily conducts research and develops solutions in support of The National Map and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), including basic research and applications of geospatial data. Current research projects include (but are not limited to) automated data integration and generalization, creating geospatial semantics for The National Map, representation of geospatial data and phenomena, high performance computing, and applications of gazetteer and ontologies for hydrologic and terrain data and lidar, http://cegis.usgs.gov/. For a successful cooperative agreement, the partner must have complementary research interests and be able to address these and other potential research topics.

CEGIS specifically is seeking technical assistance from CESU partner for a broad range of research and development efforts related to The National Map and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, both of which support land management; hydrologic applications; multi-hazards research, mitigation, and recovery; environmental and research agencies as well as USGS science. Opportunity includes collaborative opportunities with CESU partner researchers who have access to extensive experience with applied geospatial ontologies, feature semantic specification, software development involving geospatial data services, and high-performance computing environments. The collaborative effort should use existing research in topographic ontologies and implement extensions to a Resource Description Framework (RDF) query engine (such as Jena) to build and cache spatial indices on-the-fly and utilize distributed and paralleled computing resources including computing clusters through libraries such as Spark and GPUs to accelerate spatial computation. Specifically, the research will 1) develop a Web-based GeoSPARQL interface for The National Map that provides auto-complete functionalities, 2) develop a GeoSPARQL query engine by extending an ontology framework (e.g. the Jena library) so that the spatial components of an ontology query can be intercepted and executed in parallel over distributed platforms, 3) to generalize the work for parallelizing spatial operations in distributed settings by designing a domain specific language (DSL) for accelerating Geo-SPARQL queries of The National Map so that the DSL compiler can generate source code that can be compiled and deployed in shared memory platforms, distributed clusters, and GPUs, and 4) further evaluate the GeoSPARQL interface, query engine, and DSL in the context of The National Map. The research will use geospatial data including USGS topographic, elevation and lidar data from the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) and extend and evaluate USGS taxonomies, vocabularies, and ontologies for The National Map.

Award Information

It is anticipated that one award will be made with one base year and two renewal years. Funding in the amount of $120,000 is available for FY 2017. Additional funding will be based upon satisfactory progress and the availability of funding.

Eligibility Information This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESU’s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. All potential applicants who are in the North Atlantic Coast CESU network are invited to apply.

Application and Submission Information,

1. Recipient’s Name

2. Principal Investigator (individual who will oversee the cooperative agreement) including address, phone number, fax number, and email address

3. Technical contact (Staff member(s) who will administer the cooperative agreement) including address, phone number, fax number, and email address

4. List laboratories, field equipment, and facilities available for project work.

5. Experience of staff to conduct the stated work objectives of the project.

Proposal Text - Please include the following:

a. Introduction and Statement of Problem. Give a brief introduction to the research problem. Provide a brief summary of findings or outcomes of any prior work that has been completed or is ongoing in this area

Budget Sheets - This information will provide more details than what is required under the SF 424A form. Please include the following:

n. Provide copy of recipient’s rate agreement

USGS Data Management Plan Requirements

Proposals submitted to USGS must include a supplementary document of no more than two pages labeled "Data Management Plan" (DMP). This supplementary document should describe how the proposal will conform to USGS policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results and associated data. A valid DMP may include only the statement that no detailed plan is needed (e.g. “No data are expected to be produced from this project”), as long as the statement is accompanied by a clear justification. This supplementary document may include:

· the types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project;

· the standards to be used for data and metadata format and content (where existing standards are absent or deemed inadequate, this should be documented along with any proposed solutions or remedies);

· policies for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements;

· provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the production of derivatives; and

· plans for archiving data, samples, and other research products, and for preservation of free public access to them.

Additional guidance on data management plans is available from the USGS Data Management web site here: http://www.usgs.gov/datamanagement/plan/dmplans.php

Simultaneously submitted collaborative proposals and proposals that include subawards are a single unified project and should include only one supplemental combined DMP by the lead PI that also addresses all subaward data management needs, regardless of the number of non-lead collaborative proposals or subawards included.

Prohibition on Issuing Financial Assistance Awards to Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements

Section 743 of Division E, Title VII of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235) prohibits the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available under that or any other Act for grants or cooperative agreements to an entity that requires employees or contractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or contractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

Recipients must not require their employees or contractors seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or contractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

Recipients must notify their employees or contractors that existing internal confidentiality agreements covered by this condition are no longer in effect.

Application Review Information Review and Selection Process: Applications are considered based on the completeness of documentation, meeting of stated basic eligibility, and other category requirements. Specific evaluation factors are identified in the proposal narrative. Budget information is evaluated for reasonableness and appropriateness to applicant project goals.

Proposals are reviewed by the U.S. Geological Survey technical personnel. Individual proposals are evaluated and scored. The evaluations and scores will be submitted to the contracting officer for final award determination.

Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. How well does the proposal demonstrate the applicant’s faculty have expertise in geographic information science, ontology, semantics, gazetteers, hydrology, visualization, and computer science? (30 points)

2. How well does the proposal demonstrate the applicant’s faculty have the depth and breadth of research interests that complement and extend the ability of the CEGIS to do geographic information science, ontology, and research for terrain applications in the public interest? (15 points)

3. How well does the proposal demonstrate the applicant enrolls and trains the appropriate numbers of students at both undergraduate and graduate levels? (10 points)

4. How well does the proposal demonstrate the applicant’s encourages internships either through formal classes or through the requirement of senior theses? (10 points)

5. How well does the proposal demonstrate the applicant owns or have access to lab facilities, visualization equipment and software that complements and extends the existing capabilities of CEGIS? (20 points)

6. How well does the proposal demonstrate what obstacles might exist that would discourage cooperative and collaborative research? How easily might those obstacles be surmounted? (15 points)

Award Administration Information, Award recipients are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the grant/cooperative agreements and sub-award supported activities to assure compliance with applicable Federal requirements, and that performance goals are being achieved. Recipient monitoring must cover each program, function or activity.

Progress Reports

a. The Recipient shall submit two copies of each Progress Report to the USGS Project Officer and one copy of the transmittal letter to the USGS Contracting Officer. Unless otherwise specified in the grant, annual progress reports should be submitted at least sixty (60) days prior to the end of the current budget period to allow adequate time for the designated office to review the report. In the case of multi-year awards, failure to submit timely reports may delay processing of funding increments. For awards with a total anticipated performance period of twelve months (12) months or less, only a Final Technical Report will be required.

b. The progress reports shall include the following information:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Technical Report

a. The Recipient shall submit two copies of the final technical report to the USGS Project Officer and one copy of the transmittal letter to the USGS Contracting Officer. The final performance report will be due 90 calendar days after the period of performance end date.

b. The final technical report shall document and summarize the results of Recipient’s work. The report shall include a quantitative description of activities and overall progress in response to the performance metrics which documents and summarizes the results of the entire Agreement. The final report shall include tables, graphs, diagrams, sketches, etc., as required to explain the results achieved under the Agreement. The report shall also include recommendations and conclusions based upon both the experience and the results obtained.

Annual Financial Reports

a) The Recipient will submit an annual SF 425, Federal Financial Report, for each individual USGS award. The SF 425 is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_forms. The SF 425 will be due in accordance with the following schedule. USGS acknowledges that this annual reporting schedule may not always correspond with a specific budget period.

End Date (year following start date) Annual Interim Report Due Date (90 days after report end date)

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

Final Financial Report

Payment

Payments under financial assistance awards must be made using the Department of the Treasury Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) system (www.asap.gov).

The Recipient agrees that it has established or will establish an account with ASAP. USGS will initiate enrollment in ASAP. If the Recipient does not currently have an ASAP account, they must designate an individual (name, title, address, phone and e-mail) who will serve as the Point of Contact (POC).

a. With the award of each grant/cooperative agreement, a sub-account will be set up from which the Recipient can draw down funds. After Recipients complete enrollment in ASAP and link their banking information to the USGS ALC (14080001), it may take up to 10 days for sub-accounts to be activated and for funds to be authorized for drawdown in ASAP.

b. Inquiries regarding payment should be directed to ASAP at 855-868-0151.

c. Payments may be drawn in advance only as needed to meet immediate cash disbursement needs.

Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System FAPIIS Checks (PPIRS)

Funding Opportunity (2 CFR 200 Appendix I) For awards expected to exceed SAT ($150K), This is to inform applicants that, prior to award, agency is required to review and consider any information in FAPIIS about the applicant.

Pre-Award Review of FAPIIS (2 CFR 200.205) Where Federal share is expected to exceed SAT ($150,000) during Period of Performance, Information must demonstrate satisfactory record of executing programs under Federal grants, agreements, or procurements; and integrity and business ethics.

Agency Contacts Contractual Point of Contact:

Faith D. Graves CESU Contract Specialist U.S. Geological Survey Mail Stop 205G 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192 Phone: (703) 648-7356 Fax: (703) 648-7901 Email: fgraves@usgs.gov