NGWMN_FY2019_ProgramAnnouncement.pdf

FY 2019 NGWMN Program Announcement – G18AS00121

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United States Geological Survey

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program National Ground-Water Monitoring Network

Proposals for Cooperative Agreements – Fiscal Year 2019 Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity G18AS00121

Closing Date: November 30, 2018

4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT: The Paperwork Reduction Act says that the agency must tell you why we are collecting this information, how we will use it, and whether you have to give it to

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

APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY VIA

http://www.grants.gov

SEE INSTRUCTIONS

http://www.grants.gov/

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT CHANGES .................................................................. ii

POINTS TO REMEMBER ................................................................................................ iii

National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Cooperative Agreements

1. Application Submission Closing Date

2. Electronic Application Requirement

3. Award Description

4. National Ground-Water Monitoring Network

5. Eligibility Information

A. Applicant eligibility

B. Topic eligibility

6. Objectives

7. Network Policies, Standards and Procedures

8. Multi-year proposals

9. Unsuitable Proposals

10. In-Kind Services Cost Share

11. Application Preparation Instructions

A. Proposal Information Summary

B. Proposal

Objective 1: Support to become a new data provider or expansion of services/sites by existing data providers

Objective 2: Support persistent data service from existing data providers

Objective 3: Filling gaps in information at NGWMN sites

Objective 4: Well maintenance

Objective 5: Well drilling

C. Overall Budget and Detailed Budget for each Objective

D. Timeline for each Objective

E. Data Management Plan

F. Supporting Letters

12. Rejection of Applications after Initial Review

13. Application Evaluation Procedure and Criteria

14. Involvement of Federal Employees

15. Award Terms and Conditions

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Attachment A - Proposal Information Summary Template

Attachment B – Example budgets

Attachment C - National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Terms and Conditions

Attachment D – Secretarial Priorities for Financial Assistance

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PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT CHANGES

Multiple changes have been implemented in this Program Announcement. The primary changes include:

Front Pages

• Added ‘Table of Contents’

• Added ‘Points to Remember’ section

• Updated the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Cooperative

Agreements section to reference Secretarial Priorities Award Description

• Clarified funding limits for Objective 2

• Added text to address Secretarial Priorities

• Changed range of allowable start dates to July 15th through September 30th

National Ground-Water Monitoring Network

• Added reference to Secretarial Priorities Eligibility Information

• Revised Applicant Availability section to clarify that agencies participating with the USGS through Cooperative Matching Funds are considered data providers and are eligible to apply

• Referenced Secretarial Priorities in terms of program objectives

• Added statements that funding is not allowed for downhole cameras, geophysical logging equipment, or GPS equipment Objectives

• New data provider projects can no longer include work under Objectives 4 or 5

• Clarified statements on equipment purchases in objectives 2-5

• Added paragraph to Objective 1 giving guidance on adding wells to the Well

Registry that do not fulfill the Minimum Data Requirements

• Added statement to Objective 3 about work to fill gaps on new sites before the sites are turned on

• Clarified statement on additional database work supported under Objective 2

• Clarified tasks in Objectives 1 and 2 that are considered ‘IT’ work and do not require match Network Policies

• Added reference to changes that will allow Objective 3 work to be proposed at sites that are in the Well Registry, but not yet turned on

Multi-year proposals

• Updated this section

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In-Kind Services Cost-Share Guidelines

• Renamed from ‘Agency Cost-Share Guidelines’

• Added reminder that in-kind services match should be provided for each objective individually and that the match percentage is used as part of the evaluation criteria for each objective

• Added note that match should be described in detail (staff, task) in the detailed budget for each objective

• Clarified that in-kind services match work must be done on NGWMN sites

• Added statement that equipment purchases used as cost share should be pro-rated by the amount of time they will be used for the NGWMN during the performance period of the project

Application Preparation Instructions

• Added Section F, ‘Supporting Letters’ for proposals which involve work with another agency or with the local USGS Water Science Center

• Clarified that required maps and letters of support do not count towards the page limit

• Added reminder about need for maps to Objectives 1, 3, 4, and 5

• Removed priority for water-level sites in selected aquifers from Objective 1

• Clarified requirement for maps to work under Objectives 1,3,4, and 5

• New paragraph about work under Objective 3 in new data provider projects

• Added notes to Objectives 4 and 5 that this work cannot be proposed as part of a new data provider project

• Added statement about the need for form SF-424D (Assurances – Construction

Programs) for drilling work to Objective 5 Application Evaluation Procedure and Criteria

• Added references to Secretarial Priorities.

Attachments

• Added example detailed budgets for each Objective to Attachment B

• Added Attachment with Secretarial Priorities as Attachment D

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POINTS TO REMEMBER

Please contact us if you have questions.

Start submitting your proposal to Grants.gov well in advance of the due date. Do not wait until the due date to begin the submission process.

Ensure that the work you propose is submitted under the proper objective and that the work is eligible under that objective.

For new data provider projects proposing work under Objective 1, make sure you include a map with your potential sites and any existing NGWMN sites in your state along with the Principal aquifers.

For existing data providers proposing work under Objective 1 to expand sites, make sure you include a map with your new potential sites and any existing NGWMN sites in your state along with the Principal aquifers.

Remember that new data provider projects are no longer eligible to do apply for work under Objectives 4 and 5 in their initial proposal. They are eligible to apply for funding under objectives 1, 2 or 3.

If you are proposing work at specific sites for Objectives 3-5, make sure you include a table of the sites you will be working on, the NGWMN ID, and the proposed work you will be doing at each site.

For Objectives 3-5, include a separate map for each objective that shows the sites included and the Principal aquifers. For Objective 5, always show the existing NGWMN sites on the map in addition to any new or replacement wells.

Please use the budget formats described in Section 11.C and depicted in the examples included in Attachment B.

Always include in-kind services match for each objective for which you apply (except for Objective 2 if all the work is IT related). Objectives that have less than 50% match, will be scored lower during proposal evaluation.

Providing costs for individual work tasks under an objective can help us partially fund work within an objective if funding is limited.

Costs for work to be done by contractors should be broken down so that work can be partially funded, if necessary. For example, instead of giving a total cost for a contractor to drill five new wells, include the cost for each well.

Please make sure the Budget Summary and the budget in the SF-424A form are consistent with the detailed budgets for each objective included in the proposal.

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Cooperative funding Agreements to Support National Ground-Water

Monitoring Network Data Providers Fiscal Year 2019

CFDA 15.980

National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Cooperative Agreements

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

Legal authority for this opportunity is provided under Public Law 111-11, Subtitle F—Secure Water: Section 9507 “Water Data Enhancement by the United States Geological Survey.”

Funds will be used to support connecting new data providers to the Network and to support existing data providers to maintain persistent data service and to enhance the NGWMN.

1. Application Submission Closing Date November 30, 2018, at 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

2. Electronic Application Requirement For the FY 2019 funding cycle all proposals shall be submitted electronically via Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). Hard/paper submissions will NOT be accepted. Electronic copies submitted via e-mail will NOT be accepted under any circumstances. All proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov on or before:

November 30, 2018, at 4 pm, Eastern Standard Time

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

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Programs. They may already have completed the registration process and should work with you to submit the application.

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

A question at the top of the grant opportunity in Grants.gov will ask if you would like to receive email notifications of changes to this opportunity. Providing your email address at the prompt ensures you will be notified if changes are made to this program announcement after the original posting.

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

1. Confirmation screen

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

3. Submission Validation (or Rejection with Errors)

4. Agency Retrieval

CONFIRMATION: Submission Confirmation Screen.

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

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

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

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

NOTIFICATION 3: Grantor Agency Retrieval Email Once your application package has passed validation it is delivered to the grantor for award determination and further approval. After the grantor has confirmed receipt of your application, you will be sent a third and final email from Grants.gov. The grantor may also assign your application package an agency specific tracking number for use within their mailto:support@grants.gov?subject=Support

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OF THE CLOSING DATE, PLEASE CONTACT THE GRANT SPECIALIST.

If you need help entering your proposal, you can reach the Grants.gov Contact Center at:

1-800-518-4726. Their hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Eastern Time, and they are closed on Federal Holidays.

During the application period an applicant may submit a revised or corrected proposal through grants.gov. Include a cover letter as the first page of the proposal stating that the proposal is revised and indicating that the previous submittal is to be withdrawn from consideration. Such submissions must be completed by November 30, 2018 at 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

See Section 11, Application Preparation Instructions, which describes requirements for the proposal and other application components.

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

Questions:

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

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

For grant issues, contact:

Sara Roser

(703) 648-7357 sroser@usgs.gov

For National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Program issues contact:

Daryll Pope

(609) 771-3933 dpope@usgs.gov http://www.grants.gov/aboutgrants/federal_holidays.jsp http://www.grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jso http://www.usgs.gov.contracts/grants/grantsgov.html mailto:lmahoney@usgs.gov mailto:dpope@usgs.gov

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3. Award Description The funding available for this Program Announcement is expected to be up to $1,800,000 for Federal FY2019. This estimate does not bind the USGS to a specific number of awards or to the amount of any individual award. Congress has not yet authorized FY2019 funds for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network so awards cannot be made until this funding is appropriated. Work performance under these awards must be completed within the two-year cycle from the start date. The timing of funds availability and the signing of the award will determine the start date. Individual applications are restricted to a maximum annual funding level of $150,000. Funding for routine work under Objective 2 to maintain persistent data services is limited to $15,000 per year. However, additional work (as described under Objective 2 in section 6) may be eligible for additional funding. Justification for any additional work under Objective 2 must be provided. The maximum combined funding allowed for objectives 1, 3, 4, and 5 is $135,000 per year. These limits apply to the current proposal but also must include any current projects the agency has with the NGWMN that covers the same year. Substantial involvement of the USGS is anticipated to provide support to new data providers during the site selection and classification process and to establish web services that interact with the NGWMN Data Portal. USGS also will provide guidance to existing data providers on techniques for collection of site information, on well maintenance activities, and on well drilling to support development of the NGWMN. Therefore, these awards will be in the form of cooperative agreements. NGWMN cooperative agreements address the Department of Interior’s Secretarial Priorities to improve State and local groundwater monitoring efforts to more effectively manage groundwater resources at the regional and national scale (Secretarial Priority 1a, Attachment D) and to enhance communication and data sharing between State and local water resource agencies and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Secretarial Priority 3b, Attachment D).

All projects should propose start dates between July 15th, 2019 and September 30th, 2019.

4. National Ground-Water Monitoring Network The National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) is designed to be a compilation of selected wells and springs from existing monitoring efforts to create a network to assess long-term water-level and water-quality trends at a National scale. The Network is a product of the Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) of the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). The design for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network is presented in the document ‘A National Framework for Ground-Water Monitoring in the United States’ and is available at:

http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf. The Network focuses on monitoring groundwater in the Nation’s most productive aquifers. The Network is designed primarily to help answer questions of groundwater availability at a Principal or major aquifer scale (as defined by the USGS). To create a unified network, field and data management techniques need to be as consistent as possible and sites need to be selected and classified in a common manner. In addition, site density in the Network should be consistent at a Principal aquifer scale.

https://acwi.gov/sogw/ https://acwi.gov/ https://acwi.gov/ http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/atlas.html https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/atlas.html

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

The focus of the Network will be on long-term data collected at a sufficient frequency to determine seasonal and long-term effects. Water-level and water-quality data from both wells and springs are included in the NGWMN. The NGWMN program supports the Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Priorities by allowing water managers, primarily State Water Resource Agencies, to share their water-level and water-quality monitoring data to help monitor current conditions and avoid future water conflicts that may result from changes in the environment.

5. Eligibility Information

A. Applicant eligibility

Applicants can be state or local water-resource agencies which collect groundwater data.

Federal agencies are not eligible to apply for NGWMN Cooperative Agreements funding.

Funds from the projects cannot be distributed to Federal agencies to act as a contractor.

Agencies that are partnering with the USGS to collect water-level or water-quality data as part of a Cooperative Matching Funds project are considered to be current data providers and are eligible for funding under Objectives 3-5 to enhance the NGWMN. Discussion and coordination with the Subcommittee on Ground Water members and the USGS NGWMN USGS staff is encouraged; however, USGS personnel are prohibited from helping an organization prepare its application for competitive funding.

Application announcement date: September 4, 2018 Applications must be submitted by the closing date of November 30, 2018

B. Topic eligibility

Several objectives have been identified and prioritized to meet the overall goal of building a Network that covers the Nation with data from well-defined sites and using accepted data-collection and data-management techniques. These objectives support the DOI Secretarial Priorities by enhancing communication and data sharing between State and local water resource agencies and the U.S. Department of the Interior and improving State and local groundwater monitoring efforts to more effectively manage groundwater resources at the regional and national scale.

The highest priority of the NGWMN is to support persistent data services from existing data providers to the NGWMN Portal. The next priority is to add new data providers to build a robust network. Existing data providers also may request funds for additional activities to enhance their NGWMN sites. These activities can include: filling site information gaps, performing maintenance activities at existing sites in the Network, or drilling new wells for the

NGWMN.

https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/

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The following objectives will be supported for funding by the NGWMN:

1. Support to become a new data provider or expansion of services/sites by existing data providers

2. Support persistent data service from existing data providers

3. Filling gaps in information at NGWMN sites

4. Well maintenance

5. Well drilling

Agencies cannot propose work under Objectives 4 or 5 in a proposal to become a new data provider.

Funding cannot be used to:

• Purchase software or software maintenance license fees that are used for routine processing of water-level or water-quality data. Software required for setup or maintenance of the web services for new data provider projects is allowed.

Software required to analyze data collected under objectives 3 or 4 is allowed

• Purchase or lease vehicles to be used to support data collection efforts

• Purchase equipment or supplies for water-level monitoring

• Purchase equipment or supplies for water-quality sampling

• Purchase equipment to support telemetry at NGWMN sites

• Purchase downhole cameras or supplies

• Purchase geophysical logging equipment or supplies

• Purchase GPS equipment

• Develop new agency databases

• Contract with USGS or other Federal agencies to perform work on the project

6. Objectives The NGWMN is providing financial support for the five objectives listed above and described below. The type of work supported under each objective is described in this section. The requirements that need to be addressed in the proposal for each objective are described in section 11.B, part c of this program announcement. Proposed work outside these objectives will not be funded.

If an agency is applying as a new data provider, then the ‘Support to become a new data provider’ objective must be completed before work can begin on any other objectives.

During the second year of a new data provider project, the applicant can propose work under Objectives 2 and 3 that begins once the Objective 1 work is planned to be completed. New data provider proposals are not permitted to propose work under objectives 4 or 5 in their initial proposal.

Agencies who have an active project to become a new data provider or who are already a data provider may apply for any of the other objectives under this Program Announcement.

Agencies that have completed the ‘New Data Provider’ objective previously may use that

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Objective 1: Support to become a new data provider or expansion of services/sites by existing data providers

This objective provides funding to perform work necessary to become a data provider to the NGWMN. The agency will select and classify sites from their existing networks for inclusion in the NGWMN. They will provide data from agency databases to the NGWMN Portal by creating new web services or repurposing existing web services.

They will document field and data management practices specific to their agency so that users of the NGWMN data have information on the quality of data from the varied sources. A brief report summarizing the work to become a new data provider is required.

Ideally, work to become a new data provider would be completed in year one of a two-year project but may continue into a second year if necessary. Note that no other objectives may be initiated on the project until the ‘Support to become a new data provider’ objective is complete.

The expected total costs (including agency in-kind services match) to become a new data provider should range from $60,000 to $120,000. Costs may vary depending on Information Technology (IT) costs, security issues, the number of sites that need to be reviewed and classified, and indirect rates.

Work can also be proposed under this objective to expand services/sites for existing data providers. This can include adding new web services that were not originally set up when the agency became a data provider. For example, an agency that currently provides only water-level data could use this objective to add a web service to serve water-quality data. This can also support adding a significant number of new sites (more than 25) to the Network that were not previously selected. This may include selecting sites for a Principal aquifer that was not part of the data provider’s original project.

Web services established in this objective are how agency data are shared with the NGWMN Data Portal. Guidance for setting up the web services is available in the Web Service Development tip sheet. The web services must return the minimum data elements as described in the Minimum Data Elements Tip Sheet. The service must return the data in XML format. We encourage, but do not require the use of data standards for the XML web services that are established. These include: WaterML2 for water-levels, GWML2 for lithology and construction information, and WQX for water quality data.

For water-level network sites, separate web services are required to serve water-level, well-construction, and lithology data.

https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WebServices_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Minimum_Data_Elements_Tip_Sheet.pdf http://www.waterml2.org/ http://docs.opengeospatial.org/is/16-032r2/16-032r2.html https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/storage-and-retrieval-and-water-quality-exchange

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For water-quality network sites, water-quality data can be provided by either setting up new web services or by making the data available through the USEPA Water Quality Exchange New data providers are encouraged to provide data through the Water Data Exchange as this then makes the data available to the NWQMC Water-Quality Data Portal, which can be used to provide the data to the NGWMN. If web services are used to serve the water-quality data, they should follow the guidelines in the Water-Quality Web Services Tip Sheet and use of the WQX standard is encouraged. In either case, separate web services are required for water-level, well construction, lithology, and water-quality data (if not provided through the USEPA Water Quality Exchange).

If using the USEPA Water Data Exchange, data providers would need to regularly upload their data to ensure that recent data are available.

During the site selection and classification portion of the project, providers should identify sites that would be beneficial to the NGWMN but are missing some required data elements. These sites should be added to the NGWMN Well Registry but should not yet be displayed on the Portal (Display Flag set to ‘N’). These sites will then be eligible for funding under Objective 3 to fill the site information gaps. If all sites have missing data elements, work to fill those gaps for selected wells may be proposed under objective 3 in a project to become a new data provider.

Objective 2: Support persistent data service from existing data providers This objective provides funding to perform activities necessary to maintain persistent data services from agency databases to the NGWMN Portal. The goal of this objective is to support data providers to keep the sites and information in the NGWMN current and to maintain the database connections (web services) to the NGWMN Data Portal.

Activities include: maintaining the web services that provide data to the Portal, keeping the list of sites in the NGWMN Well Registry current, performing routine updates to site information at Network sites, and updating web services to meet the current requirements.

In general, routine support for persistent data service and database support should range from $5,000 to $15,000 per year to cover the activities listed in the previous paragraph. Agencies may also apply for funding to support additional work under certain circumstances. This additional work may include upgrading web services needed for major database upgrades, adding new fields to existing services that have recently been requested for the NGWMN data portal, upgrading existing services to provide data using established XML data standards (WaterML2, GWML, or WQX), or modifying existing water-quality services to meet guidelines in the Water-Quality Web Services Tip Sheet. This can also cover modifications to existing databases to store fields required as Minimum Data Elements by the NGWMN and modifications to existing web services to serve these new fields.

Water-level monitoring or water-quality data collection is not supported under this objective. Purchase of monitoring equipment or supplies is not supported. Quality assurance of routinely collected data is not supported.

https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/storage-and-retrieval-and-water-quality-exchange https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/storage-and-retrieval-and-water-quality-exchange https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/storage-and-retrieval-and-water-quality-exchange http://www.waterqualitydata.us/ http://www.waterqualitydata.us/ https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_WebServices_TipSheet.pdf

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Objective 3: Filling gaps in information at NGWMN sites

This objective provides funding to perform work necessary to fill metadata gaps in the required data elements listed in the NGWMN Minimum Data Requirements tip sheet.

The work may include data entry from available sources or field data collection efforts that fill metadata gaps.

For existing data providers, work to fill site information gaps can only be proposed for sites that are in the NGWMN Well Registry at the time of the proposal due date.

New data providers can propose work that they know will need to be done at all sites prior to entry into the NGWMN. The specific sites do not need to be listed, since they have not been selected yet. Selected sites should be entered into the Well Registry but not turned on to display until the required metadata is available.

Examples of supported site information gap-filling activities include:

• Data collection to fill metadata gaps o Sounding wells to determine depth o Well logging to determine well construction details including screen intervals, casing diameter and depth, etc. Logging can include downhole camera surveys o Well logging to determine lithology o GPS or leveling of land surface altitude and/or measuring points at wells o GPS update of Latitude/Longitude o Entry of data collected under this objective into agency databases and the NGWMN Well Registry

• Data entry to fill metadata or NGWMN data gaps o Entry of lithologic data from paper files o Entry of well construction data from paper files o Entry of historical water-level or water-quality data for NGWMN sites into current agency databases objective. Purchase of monitoring equipment or supplies is not supported. Purchase of downhole cameras, geophysical logging equipment, or GPS equipment is not supported. Equipment rental costs are allowed.

Objective 4: Well maintenance This objective provides funding to perform maintenance work on wells in the NGWMN to ensure that data are of high quality. The work may include well redevelopment, well rehabilitation or repair, periodic pumping to ensure connection to the aquifer, or testing of the well to ensure performance. Other routine well-maintenance activities may also be supported including replacing shelters or installing protective casing.

https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Minimum_Data_Elements_Tip_Sheet.pdf

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For existing data providers, well maintenance tasks can only be done at sites that are in the NGWMN Well Registry at the time of the proposal due date.

Examples of supported Well Maintenance activities include:

o Well redevelopment o Periodic pumping of observation wells to assess/maintain connection to aquifer o Well-integrity testing o Well rehabilitation o Well repair o Installation of protective surface casing at wells objective. Purchase of monitoring equipment or supplies is not supported.

Quality assurance of routinely collected data is not supported.

Routine site visits to collect data are not considered well maintenance.

Objective 5: Well drilling

This objective provides funding to install wells to enhance or maintain the NGWMN.

Well installation may include replacement wells for existing NGWMN sties and installation of wells at new locations that fill spatial gaps in the NGWMN Trend Networks. Preference will be given to projects with direct cost-sharing of the well drilling costs.

Drilling can be done by qualified and licensed agency staff or by using a contract driller. All state drilling requirements must be met. Well drilling activities cannot be contracted to the USGS. In addition, USGS staff cannot be contracted to serve in any role in the drilling operations using NGWMN cooperative agreement funds.

Water-level monitoring or water-quality data collection is not supported under this objective. Purchase of monitoring equipment or supplies is not supported. Supplies needed for well drilling are allowed.

7. Network Policies, Standards and Procedures The requirements for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network are described in the National Ground-Water Management Framework Document, which is available online at:

http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf

More information on the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network can be found on the web page for the Subcommittee on Ground-Water (SOGW) of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) available at: http://acwi.gov/sogw/index.html http://acwi.gov/sogw/ngwmn_framework_report_july2013.pdf http://acwi.gov/sogw/index.html

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“Tip Sheets” are available to provide guidance related to the NGWMN and can be found at:

https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/learnmore.jsp under the ‘Data Provider’ tab. The tip sheets are a quick reference for data providers on the following topics:

• Well Selection Criteria for Water Levels

• Well Selection Criteria for Water Quality

• Defining the Subnetwork

• Defining Monitoring Categories

• Populating the Well Registry

• Minimum Data Requirements for Candidate sites

• Web Service Development

• Water-Quality Web Services

These tip sheets should be used as guidance during a project to become a new data provider.

They contain information on well selection and classification, minimum requirements for NGWMN sites, adding sites to the NGWMN, and guidelines on web services.

In most cases, sites should not be added to the NGWMN (added to the Well Registry and have Display of the site turned on) until the Minimum Data Elements for the sites are available. As of this Program Announcement, work under Objective 3 to fill site-information gaps can be done on wells that are not yet active in the NGWMN, if they have been added to the Well Registry and have the Display Flag set to ‘N’.

8. Multi-year proposals All agreements will be for a maximum period of two years. The total funding to an agency for any year cannot exceed $150,000 even if the funds come from different awards. All work must be completed by the end of the two-year cycle (dependent upon actual project period of performance) and final reports (Attachment C 5.b.2) generated within 90 days of completion.

For two-year projects, a progress report (Attachment C 5.b.1) should be submitted 60 days prior to the end of the 1st year of the project.

9. Unsuitable Proposals The following proposals are ineligible for consideration under this Announcement:

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

• Proposals from Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC)

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

• Proposals that contract with U.S. Government Agencies to provide funding to perform work on the project https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/learnmore.jsp https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WL_Criteria_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WQ_Criteria_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Subnetwork_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Monitoring_Categories_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Well_Registry_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_Minimum_Data_Elements_Tip_Sheet.pdf https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/doc/NGWMN_WebServices_Tip_Sheet.pdf

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10. In-Kind Services Cost Share While no specific match rate is required, a 50-50 match of agency in-kind services to USGS funding is suggested. Agencies providing less than 50% match on non-Information Technology parts of a project will be scored lower when the proposals are evaluated. There is no need to match the Information Technology (IT) work on a project, so the match percentage for IT work will not be used as part of the proposal evaluation criteria.

Examples of in-kind resource match are: salaries, contract support, travel expenses, software purchase, equipment or supplies used for the project, and indirect costs or overhead charges.

Agency activities related to operation and maintenance of NGWMN sites that are a part of their current (local agency) network can be used as in-kind services match. This can be either the collection of water-level data for a NGWMN site or sampling of a NGWMN site. Purchase of water-level monitoring equipment or water-quality supplies to be used at NGWMN sites can be used as match. If equipment purchases will not be exclusively used on the project or at NGWMN sites, the cost of the equipment should be pro-rated based on how much the equipment will be used for the NGWMN during the performance period of the project. Work to perform quality assurance of data at NGWMN can also be used as in-kind services match. These activities must occur during the performance period of the project.

Since each objective is scored independently during review, in-kind services should be provided for all objectives that are part of a proposal.

In-kind services match should be included in the detailed budget for each objective and have similar details like that required for work that is funded. This should list the individuals who will be doing the work and the tasks they will be doing.

All contributions, including cash and third party in-kind, will be accepted as part of the recipient’s in-kind match when such contributions meet all the following criteria:

o Verifiable from the recipients’ records.

o Not included as contributions for any other federally-assisted project or program.

o Necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of project or program objectives.

o Allowable under the applicable cost principles.

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

o Provided for in the approved budget when required by the Federal awarding agency.

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

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

Page | 13 either case, paid fringe benefits that are reasonable, allowable, and allocable may be included in the valuation.

Third-party in-kind services can include work done by another agency in support of your project.

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

11. Application Preparation Instructions Your electronic submission shall consist of forms SF-424, SF-424A, and SF-424B, and SF- 424D (for proposals that include work under Objective 5) plus the items described below in items A through F. No additional documents or materials may be submitted. Failure to comply with the required application components listed below may result in the proposal being rejected.

Items A through F as described below shall be combined in one document, in the order noted below, and submitted through Grants.gov in either MS Word or Adobe PDF format.

The application shall not exceed 20 single-spaced pages (including figures, references, etc.), and the type size shall not be smaller than 12 point. All pages of the application shall be numbered. All text, figures, and tables shall be sized to fit on 8½” by 11” paper with 1-inch margins. The SF forms, negotiated rate agreement, required tables, detailed budgets for objectives, timelines for objectives, required maps, letters of support, and the Data Management Plan do not count toward the page limit.

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

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

A. Proposal Information Summary B. Proposal C. Detailed Budget for each objective D. Timeline for each objective E. Data Management Plan F. Supporting Letters

A. Proposal Information Summary Provide a summary for the proposal using the format shown in Attachment A. The project title should not exceed 80 characters. The project title should be the same as that used in the title box of Form SF-424. Please list only one Technical Contact/Principal Investigator for the proposed work. Provide a start date for the proposed work sometime in the period from July 15th, 2019 through September 30th, 2019.

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B. Proposal Please prepare a proposal that includes background information about your agency and network, a summary of your planned project, and a detailed description of the project with a separate section for each objective that is part of the project (see guidance below).

Existing data providers should include a summary of their involvement with the NGWMN.

Tables of sites at which field work is proposed must be included and should reference sites using the NGWMN site number. These tables should be included in an Appendix and do not count towards the page limit for the proposal.

Maps of sites where specific work is proposed need to be included, but do not could towards the page limit. If maps do not show the entire state, please include an index map.

Include the USGS National Aquifers on the map(s). Data layers with the Principal aquifers and Aquifers of Alluvial and Glacial Origin are available at:

Principal Aquifer of the United States Aquifers of Alluvial and Glacial Origin

Do not include links to any data or information on a web site as part of your proposal. If the content is important, include it in the proposal. We will not consider any information from referenced websites as part of the proposal evaluation process.

Please include references for any methods used to perform work on NGWMN sites or describe the methods you will be using in detail.

A separate budget is required for each objective proposed. The detailed budget for each objective should be for the entire period of the project.

a. Background information

Provide supporting information about your agency, monitoring networks, and your database and IT infrastructure. Because membership on the NGWMN Program Board that evaluates the proposals may change from year to year, all proposals should have this information included so that it is available during proposal review.

Please describe your network and your involvement with the NGWMN in sufficient detail so that new Board members have the necessary background to evaluate your current proposal. Each proposal should stand on its own and not rely on background information included in previous proposals. The following items should be addressed:

i. Description of Agency and purpose of monitoring. Give a brief description of your agency, its role, and the purpose for which the monitoring data are being collected. Identify the USGS Principal or major aquifers and areas that are monitored.

ii. Description of the Agency’s existing monitoring networks. Provide a detailed description of existing monitoring networks relevant to the needs of the NGWMN. Describe how the data are used to support your agency monitoring goals.

https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/atlas.html https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/map.html https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/principal/aquifrp025_nt00003.tar.gz https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquifer/alluv-glac/alvaqfp025_nt00171.tar.gz

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iii. Describe previous projects with the NGWMN. If applicable, briefly describe any past projects with the NGWMN. Summarize your involvement with the Network. Indicate the number of sites your agency is currently providing to the NGWMN.

iv. Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure. Describe the databases used to store data at your agency and the web server infrastructure if applicable. Briefly describe any current data sharing applications, services or web sites. Describe IT staff experience and availability. Discuss any security requirements or limitations. Please describe any planned database updates that may affect your ability to provide data to the NGWMN during the next 2-3 years.

b. Project Summary

Generally describe the work that is proposed for the project. Describe which objectives will be included in the project and the overall timeframe of the project.

c. Project Description

For each objective for which you are applying, please provide a separate section that includes the work plan, detailed budget, and timeline.

Describe each objective in detail in a work plan so that individual objectives (and tasks within objectives) can be considered for funding separately.

• Work Plan. Provide a work plan that describes the tasks necessary to accomplish the objective. Describe the need for the proposed work and the benefits to the NGWMN. The work plan should include the items listed below for the corresponding objective. Identify the personnel involved and their expertise related to the objective. For each task, justify the need for the work and the methods that will be used to do the work.

Please include either detailed descriptions of the methods that are proposed or provide references for the methods you will be using.

• Budget. Provide a budget for each objective in using the format shown in section 11.C. Example detailed budgets for each objective are provided in Attachment B. Provide the total cost to accomplish the objective (including overhead). List the in-kind services that will be used to match the work for this objective. For all objectives, in-kind services can include data-collection activities at NGWMN sites that occur during the performance period of the project. In-kind services can also include database support at NGWMN sites.

• Time Line. Provide a time line describing the planned timeframe for work that will be done for the objective. A table listing all the tasks in the objective and what project month they will occur in is satisfactory. An example time line for a new data provider project (Objective 1) is shown in section 11.F

Refer to section 6 above for guidance on what work is allowable under each objective.

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Objective 1: Support to become a new data provider or expansion of services/sites by existing data providers

For both proposals for new data providers and for existing data providers who are proposing to add…