NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005146 FFO Report.pdf

DARRP Restoration Implementation Grants

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 5 C. Program Authority 9

II. Award Information 10 A. Funding Availability 10 B. Project/Award Period 11 C. Type of Funding Instrument 11

III. Eligibility Information 12 A. Eligible Applicants 12 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 12 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 12

IV. Application and Submission Information 13 A. Address to Request Application Package 13 B. Content and Form of Application 13 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 16 D. Submission Dates and Times 16 E. Intergovernmental Review 16 F. Funding Restrictions 17 G. Other Submission Requirements 17

V. Application Review Information 18 A. Evaluation Criteria 18 B. Review and Selection Process 21 C. Selection Factors 22 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 23

VI. Award Administration Information 23 A. Award Notices 23 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 24 C. Reporting 26

VII. Agency Contacts 27 VIII. Other Information 27

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 1 of 28

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: DARRP Restoration Implementation Grants

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005146

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.463, Habitat Conservation

Dates: Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, or received by www.grants.gov by 11:59 PM EST on March 6, 2017. Use of a delivery service must be documented with a receipt. No facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted.

Funding Opportunity Description: The principal objective of the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) 2017 Restoration Implementation Grants is for NOAA to collaborate with non-federal partners to accomplish common marine and coastal habitat conservation and restoration goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages. Successful applicants will support and implement restoration activities authorized under the Oil Pollution Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Clean Water Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and other federal agencies' authorities related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and natural resource damages, such as the RESTORE Act.

The overall focus of the Restoration Implementation Grants is to implement coastal and marine habitat restoration to restore natural resources injured by oil spills, releases of hazardous waste, and, in some instances, vessel groundings. Applicants selected through this federal funding opportunity will be those capable of implementing restoration activities across a wide geographic scale to meet conservation and restoration goals common to the applicant and to NOAA.

Recipients will be implementing activities identified in natural resource damage assessment and restoration plans, or developing or soliciting projects to meet restoration goals. This may include recipients reviewing restoration plans and: collaborating with the trustee to select activities to be contracted or sub-awarded by the recipient; collaborating with the trustee to select projects for which the recipient has direct implementation responsibility; competition management to sub-award projects; and implementing pre- and post-restoration project evaluation and monitoring.

Projects may also include restoration planning activities that further the mutual interests of DARRP and of funding recipient partners, such as environmental compliance analyses or

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 2 of 28 restoration planning for potential, future incidents.

Applications selected for funding through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. As individual settlements and restoration plans can have funds committed for multiple decades into the future, the activities established under this competition may have long term planning goals and objectives common to the programmatic needs of both NOAA and the recipients. As such, the intent of the DARRP is to maintain a long-term partnership with recipients by establishing cooperative agreements in relevant situations as “institutional awards”.

If a cooperative agreement is established as an institutional award, the initial cooperative agreement will be established for no more than five years and NOAA may issue new cooperative agreements to the recipient for similar or related activities through a non-competitive selection process.

Funding is expected to be provided on an as-available basis to maintain the initial cooperative agreement for up to five years, and is dependent upon the level of funding made available by trustee councils and NOAA. Total anticipated funding for initial cooperative agreements under this competition is up to $100 million. NOAA anticipates that a typical, awarded cooperative agreement will range from $2.5 million to $50 million, with a maximum award of $100 million.

NOAA will not accept proposals with a first year budget less than $500,000 or more than $20 million under this solicitation.

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-profits, and commercial (for-profit) organizations. Applications from federal, state, or tribal governments will not be considered, due to their potential role as trustee council members. Applications from local governments will not be considered due to their limited geographic reach. Applications from individuals or employees of federal agencies will also not be considered. Non-eligible organizations are encouraged to work with those that are eligible to apply.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The principal objective of the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) 2017 Restoration Implementation Grants is for NOAA to collaborate with non-federal partners to accomplish common marine and coastal habitat conservation and restoration goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages. Successful applicants will support and implement restoration activities authorized under the Oil Pollution Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Clean Water Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and other federal agencies' authorities related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and natural resource damages.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) acts as a trustee on behalf of the public to protect and restore coastal and marine resources. NOAA established the DARRP in 1992 after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The DARRP provides technical and legal expertise within NOAA to protect and restore injured natural resources. These Restoration Implementation Grants will be administered by the NOAA Restoration Center:

http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/restoration/.

NOAA’s DARRP has worked to restore natural resources harmed by oil spills, releases of hazardous waste, and, in some instances, vessel groundings. NOAA works with responsible parties (the individuals, companies, or government agencies responsible for an oil spill or hazardous substance release), and trustee councils (teams of state, tribal, and other federal agencies) to respond to a specific spill, release, or grounding.

If an incident diminishes the services that natural resources provide, including human services (e.g., fishing, boating, beach-going, and wildlife viewing) and ecological services (e.g., providing habitat, nutrient cycling, and energy transfer through food webs), the co-trustees will seek to recover funds from responsible parties in order to implement projects to restore those lost services. NOAA and co-trustees have recovered more than $10.3 billion since 1992 from responsible parties to protect and restore coastal resources, including migratory fish, marine mammals, wetlands, reefs, and other coastal habitats.

The overall focus of the Restoration Implementation Grants is to implement coastal and marine habitat restoration to restore natural resources injured by oil spills, releases of hazardous waste, and, in some instances, vessel groundings. Applicants selected through this

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 4 of 28 federal funding opportunity will be those capable of identifying, selecting, implementing and overseeing restoration activities to meet restoration goals common to NOAA and the applicant. This may include implementing activities identified in natural resource damage assessment and restoration plans, or developing or soliciting projects to meet restoration goals. Project identification may include recipients, in collaboration with NOAA and trustees, reviewing established restoration plans and developing restoration planning activities. Project selection many include collaborating with NOAA and trustees to select activities to be sub-awarded by the recipient (e.g., competition management to sub-award projects); and collaborating with NOAA and trustees to select projects for which the recipient has direct implementation responsibility. Project implementation may include direct implementation by the recipient, or by the recipient administering a contract or sub-award. Project oversight may include pre- and post-restoration project evaluation and monitoring and financial and project oversight of activities, contracts and sub-awards while the project is ongoing. Projects may also include restoration planning activities that further the mutual interests of DARRP and of funding recipient partners, such as environmental compliance analyses or restoration planning for potential, future incidents. Selected applicants will not become trustee council members. More information about DARRP is available at http://www.darrp.noaa.gov .

Selected applications may be designated as “institutional awards.” As individual settlements and restoration plans can have funds committed for multiple decades into the future, the activities established under this competition may have long term planning goals and objectives common to the programmatic needs of both NOAA and the recipients. As such, the intent of the DARRP is to maintain a long-term partnership with recipients by establishing the option for cooperative agreements to be “institutional awards.” Institutional award recipients under this competition will be able to apply for future awards for related or similar activities on a non-competitive basis if the results of periodic independent merit reviews validate the effectiveness and continued desirability of the use of institutional awards for the program.

B. Program Priorities

NOAA will support Restoration Implementation Grants in order to implement restoration activities related to natural resource damages, including activities that offset injuries related to specific releases of oil or hazardous substances, or vessel groundings.

NOAA and its co-trustees seek to develop and implement plans and projects to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and services under their trusteeship. Examples of past project types that the selected applicant may need to oversee include: habitat restoration or creation, habitat protection, species protection, public access to coastal properties, land acquisition, removal of debris, removal of

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 5 of 28 invasive/exotic species, enhancing species reproduction, stocking and transplanting target species, and recreational and educational projects. Specifically, actions may include restoration of wetlands and reefs, floodplains and streams, sea grasses, corals, and other fish or shellfish and their habitats, as well as restoring bird and other wildlife populations.

The program priorities for this opportunity primarily support NOAA's "Ecosystems" mission goal of "Protect, Restore, and Manage Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through Ecosystem-Based Management."

1. Desirable Recipient Capabilities

Selected Restoration Implementation Grants are expected to thoroughly address the Evaluation Criteria (Section V.A.) below, and the capabilities outlined in this section.

Restoration Implementation Grant applications that incorporate a combination of the capabilities identified below will be a higher priority for funding consideration. NOAA seeks recipients that:

Demonstrate Experience and Technical Knowledge of Marine and Coastal Resources, Restoration Activities and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Process:

• Organizational commitment to achieving marine and coastal conservation and restoration goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages;

• Ability to work across a wide variety of geographies and habitat types;

• Ability to work, and experience working, with a broad array of partners, including trustee councils, state agencies, and federal agencies;

• Ability to solicit restoration projects based on typical NRDA criteria: technical feasibility; extent to which the projects meet goals and objectives the recipient shares with the trustees, that is, in returning the injured natural resources and services to baseline conditions; and/or compensating for interim service losses; likelihood of success of each project; extent to which each project will prevent future injury as a result of the incident, and avoid or minimize collateral injury as a result of implementing a project; extent to which each project benefits more than one natural resource and/or human or ecological service;

cost effectiveness; and effect of each project on public health and safety; and

• Ability to evaluate project success in collaboration with the relevant trustee council.

Project evaluation and/or monitoring may be conducted by the successful applicant, or be sub-awarded.

Demonstrate Effective Ability to Manage Funds:

• Existing staff with federal funds management experience;

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• Organizational history of federal funds management and clean audits;

• Ability to scale administrative costs to maximize restoration (see Evaluation Criteria Section V.A.); and

• Ability to maintain an administrative record to document expenditures of federally awarded funds.

Demonstrate Capacity to Manage Multiple Sub-awards:

• Manage multiple restoration projects (10-15 new projects per year) at a variety of scales (typically $100,000-$3,000,000);

• Complete reporting requirements in a timely fashion, as well as other award conditions;

and

• Capability to award and manage international sub-awards.

Document Experience in Soliciting Projects:

• Ability to solicit proposals through a competitive process; and

• Encourage potential applicants in targeted communities to respond to Requests for Proposals (RFPs).

2. Examples of Existing Injuries and Areas under Active Restoration

The following are examples of past injuries that have occurred that could result in projects to be funded through this grant. Please also see the NOAA DARRP website for other examples (http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/). Applicants should be able to demonstrate shared conservation and restoration goals, and be capable of implementing sub-awards in response to a range of injuries similar to those outlined in the cases below, with priority being placed on organizations with the widest geographic reach.

Northwest Elliott Bay / Duwamish River: The waterfront of downtown Seattle is situated along Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River. These two water bodies receive most of the stormwater runoff from 67 square kilometers of metropolitan Seattle and have become increasingly degraded by channelization and multiple industrial facilities. What was once a wide meandering river with thousands of acres of mudflats is now a highly industrialized area including port facilities, manufacturing plants, chemical and solid waste recycling companies, ship repair yards, and numerous city combined sewer overflows. Contaminants of concern include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals, pesticides, dioxins/furans. The resources at risk include flatfish, salmon and steelhead. In particular, the Chinook salmon and steelhead are listed as threatened under the ESA. To date, more than $30 million in settlements has resulted in 15 restoration projects;

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 7 of 28 and additional funds remain to establish a stewardship program for restoration in the bay.

Southwest Luckenbach: The Luckenbach trustee council was formed in 2002 when state and federal officials identified the tanker Luckenbach as the source of a decade of mystery oil spills which occurred periodically during winter storms off the coast of California. The spills resulted in the oiling of thousands of seabirds from Bodega Bay to Monterey Bay. Impacted, threatened, or endangered species include snowy plover, marbled murrelet and sea otter, as well as waterfowl, loons, grebes, cormorants, brown pelican, gulls and shorebirds. Funding for restoration is provided by the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, managed by the U.S. Coast Guard, to provide clean-up operations and support for restoration projects to ameliorate oil spills. The trustees received $22.7 million to implement projects to restore the impacted seabirds and otters, ranging from British Columbia, Canada, to the Baja California Islands in Mexico and New Zealand, due to the broad home range of some of the impacted species.

Cosco Busan: The Cosco Busan trustee council will use most of the funds from a $36.8 million settlement to restore natural resources injured by the Nov. 7, 2007 oil spill in San Francisco Bay and improve Bay Area recreational opportunities impacted by the spill. The Cosco Busan Oil spill killed an estimated 6,849 birds, impacted 14 to 29 percent of the herring spawn that winter, oiled 3,367 acres of shoreline habitat, and resulted in the loss of more than 1 million recreational user-days. NOAA expects to continue to implement habitat restoration related to native oysters, eelgrass, and rockweed habitat over the next five years.

Northeast Cornell-Dubilier: Cornell-Dubilier Electronics, Inc. manufactured electronic components on a 26-acre property in South Plainfield, NJ from 1936 to 1962. PCBs, metals, and other hazardous substances were released into the surrounding environment, including a stream on the property which flows into Bound Brook, a tributary of the Lower Raritan River, which ultimately discharges to Raritan Bay. PCBs and other hazardous substances have contaminated soils, surface water, sediments, fish, and groundwater at the Cornell-Dubilier site. Impacts extend throughout the Bound Brook corridor, including forested wetlands, marshes, and floodplain soils. Due to elevated levels of PCBs, the state of New Jersey issued a fish consumption advisory along the entire length of Bound Brook and its tributaries. The advisory, banning the consumption of all species of fish has been in effect since 1997. More than $24 million has been recovered from the potentially responsible parties in compensation for injuries to natural resources due to contamination from the Cornell-Dubilier facility.

NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are initiating a restoration planning effort to identify appropriate restoration projects throughout the Raritan River watershed. Potential projects could include dam removal/fish passage to restore anadromous fish populations, wetland restoration, and land

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 8 of 28 acquisition.

Southeast Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion caused the rig to sink and started a catastrophic oil leak from the well. Before it was capped three months later, approximately 134 million gallons of oil had spilled into the Gulf, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The trustees assessed injuries to natural resources—such as fish, bottom-dwelling organisms, nearshore ecosystems, birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals—and lost recreation resulting from the spill. On April 4, 2016, the court approved a settlement with BP for natural resource injuries stemming from the spill. The trustees are now planning and implementing restoration as laid out in the final comprehensive restoration plan.

3. Areas of Highlighted Expertise

In establishing these Restoration Implementation Grants, NOAA seeks to support recipients’ restoration-related efforts and to collaborate with recipients to meet multiple trustee council priorities through the desirable capabilities (see Section I.B) stated above. Restoration Implementation Grant applicants may highlight their expertise in areas such as geographic reach and specific locations, target habitats or coastal communities, project sizes, long-term ecological monitoring or site maintenance, or specific natural resources (i.e. fish, marine mammals, birds, corals).

NOAA intends to select one or more Restoration Implementation Grants applications in anticipation of needs related to existing injuries (see Section I.B.2) and past experience with injuries under the Oil Pollution Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Clean Water Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and other federal agencies' authorities. In addition to considering where existing injuries and restoration needs exist, NOAA intends to select the fewest applicants necessary to fulfill the program priorities described in this FFO to best ensure administrative costs are minimized while still maintaining a high level of preparedness for future unknown injuries. Once applications are approved by NOAA's Grants Management Division, NOAA will distribute funds based on the needs identified by NOAA, trustee councils, and the highlighted areas of expertise stated by the Restoration Implementation Grant recipients. Consequently, funds may not be distributed equally between award recipients.

C. Program Authority

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized under the following statutes to provide grants

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 9 of 28 and cooperative agreements for habitat restoration and conservation: Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 16 U.S.C. 661, as amended by the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970;

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006, 16 U.S.C. 1891a; and Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1535. In addition, restoration activities authorized under the Oil Pollution Act, 33 U.S.C. 2701; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42. U.S.C. 9601; Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251; National Marine Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1431; and other federal agencies' authorities related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and natural resource damages may arise under this program, such as the RESTORE Act, 33 U.S.C 1321(t).

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Funding is expected to be provided on an as-available basis to maintain the initial cooperative agreement for up to five years, and is dependent upon the level of funding made available by trustee councils and NOAA. Total anticipated funding for initial cooperative agreements under this competition is up to $100 million. NOAA anticipates that a typical, awarded cooperative agreement will range from $2.5 million to $50 million. NOAA does not anticipate accepting proposals under this solicitation with a first year budget less than $500,000 or more than $20 million, and with a total five-year budget less than $2.5 million or more than $100 million.

Any funds provided to successful applicants will be at the discretion of NOAA as described in Sections V. and VI. of this Announcement. For reference, between FY07 and FY16, the NOAA Restoration Center used grants to provide approximately $30 million to implement projects selected by 15 trustee councils. There is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to make awards for all top-ranked Restoration Implementation Grants applications.

The number of awards to be made as a result of this solicitation will depend on the number of eligible applications received, the areas of expertise proposed by the applicants, the merit and ranking of the applications, and the financial amount of damages anticipated based on documented natural resource injuries at the time of award selection.

The exact amount of funds that may be awarded will be determined in pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA representatives, and multi-year funding requests are expected to be funded on an as-available basis. Publication of this document does not obligate NOAA to award any specific project or obligate all or any portion of any available funds. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for application preparation costs if programs fail to receive funding or are cancelled because of other agency priorities.

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B. Project/Award Period

Applications should cover a project period of five budget years. The earliest start date for Restoration Implementation Grant awards is anticipated to be June 1, 2017. As described in Section II.A. Funding Availability, funding from NOAA will be provided on an incremental basis within the five-year project period.

Pre-award costs are generally unallowable, however, pre-award costs may be considered during pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA. Incurring pre-award costs before NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD) provides an award document is at the applicant's own risk. Permission to extend the period of performance beyond that stated in award documentation should be requested in writing at least 60 days in advance of an award's expiration date. Instructions will be provided in award conditions. Once Restoration Implementation Grant funds are awarded in FY2017, recipients will not need to compete for funding in subsequent years within the timeframe of the award. NOAA expects to, but is not obligated to, provide additional funding in connection with awarded grants in subsequent years. A recommendation to NOAA GMD to continue an award in subsequent years, to extend the period of performance, or to determine annual Restoration Implementation Grants funding levels is at the discretion of the Selecting Official (SO), per Section II.A, above.

Permission to extend the period of performance beyond that stated in award documentation shall be requested in writing at least 60 days in advance of an award's expiration date.

Receipt of funding increments is contingent upon the availability of additional funds, satisfactory performance, continued relevance to program objectives, and will be at the sole discretion of the Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce is not liable for any obligations, expenditures, or commitments which involve any amount in excess of the Federal amount obligated. The recipient will be responsible for any and all termination costs it may incur should prospective funding not become available. No legal liability will exist or result on the part of the Federal Government for payment of any portion of the remaining funds that are not made available under the award. Notifications affecting funding or notice of non-availability of additional funding for prospective years will be made only by the Grants Officer.

NOAA anticipates reviewing the grant program within five years to validate the effectiveness and continued desirability of the use of institutional awards and may elect to continue the program issuing non-competitive award(s), hold a competition, revise the program, or discontinue the program.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

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The words “grant” and “cooperative agreement” are used interchangeably in this announcement for convenience. However, the funding instrument between NOAA and a selected funding recipient will be a cooperative agreement. A “cooperative agreements” is distinguished from a grant in 2 C.F.R. Sec. 200.24, meaning that NOAA expects to be substantially involved in many aspects of the awards. Substantial involvement may include, but is not limited to, collaboration on the scope of work including restoration site selection, providing assistance with technical aspects of the program, review and comment on strategies and plans, review of procurement materials to the extent authorized by 2 C.F.R.

Sec. 200.324, and tracking the progress towards the successful completion of the program and its related projects. As previously described, successful applications may be designated as “institutional awards.”

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-profits, and commercial (for-profit) organizations. Applications from federal, state, or tribal governments will not be considered, due to their potential role as trustee council members. Applications from local governments will not be considered due to their limited geographic reach. Applications from individuals or employees of federal agencies will also not be considered. Non-eligible organizations are encouraged to work with those that are eligible to apply. Organizations with a financial relationship or other conflict with a responsible party may apply, but financial or organizational participation may not be feasible if conflicts of interest are not effectively addressed by recusal, mitigation, divestiture, or other action.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

The overall focus of the Restoration Implementation Grants is to implement coastal and marine habitat restoration to restore natural resources injured by oil spills, releases of hazardous waste, and, in some instances, vessel groundings. Matching funds are not required. Applicants who contribute funds that could be counted as cost share, including waiving receipt of Federal funds for all or part of their Federally approved indirect costs, can document those funds as “leverage.” Leveraged funds will not be included in the award documentation as official match.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

NOAA does not anticipate accepting applications requesting less than $2.5 million or more than $100 million in federal funds from NOAA under this solicitation. Applications must be submitted by the due date and time provided in Section IV.D. Late applications will

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 12 of 28 not be considered for funding. Submission time will be documented by electronic submission to Grants.gov, a U.S. Postal Service postmark, or a delivery service receipt.

Information regarding electronic submission through Grants.gov is contained in Section IV.G. No facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted. Applications submitted via the U.S. Postal Service must have an official postmark; private metered postmarks are not acceptable. Applications received later than seven (7) business days following the closing date will not be accepted. All applications MUST contain ALL required forms; if these forms are not signed via the www.Grants.gov application process, they MUST be signed in ink (SF-424, SF-424b, CD-511). Failure to submit necessary signed forms shall result in disqualification from this competition.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Complete application packages, including required federal forms and instructions, and Supplemental Guidance for Prospective Applicants can be found on Grants.gov (www.grants.gov). If a prospective applicant is having difficulty downloading the application forms from Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov.

B. Content and Form of Application

Applicants should apply through the Grants.gov website (www.grants.gov). A complete standard NOAA grant application package should be submitted in accordance with the guidelines in this document. Each application must include the application forms from the SF-424 form family:

• Application for Federal Assistance: SF-424 (7/03 version or newer)

• Budget Information for Non-construction Programs: SF-424A (prior to award, an SF- 424A for each year of funding will be required)

• Assurances for Non-construction Programs: SF-424B

• Certification Regarding Lobbying: CD-511

• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities: SF-LLL (if applicable)

In addition to the Federal application forms, NOAA recommends the following as part of a complete application package: (1) Summary, Narrative, and Data Management Plan; (2) Detailed Budget Justification; and (3) Supplemental Information. Applications submitted through the www.Grants.gov website should include a maximum of these three files (PDF files only; page limits assume a 12-point font and 1-inch margins). Details:

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(1) Summary, Narrative, and Data Management Plan:

Summary (2 pages) -

• Applicant Organization

• Restoration Implementation Grants Title

• Restoration Implementation Grants Areas of Expertise – Describe organizational commitment to achieving marine and coastal conservation and restoration goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages. Also, state any and all highlighted areas of expertise as described in Sec. I.B.3.

• Project Identification, Selection, Implementation, and Oversight- Briefly describe the process that will be used to identify, select, implement and oversee projects. Project identification may include recipients, in collaboration with NOAA and trustees, reviewing established restoration plans and developing restoration planning activities, such as environmental compliance analyses or restoration planning for potential, future incidents.

Project selection many include collaborating with NOAA and trustees to select activities to be sub-awarded by the recipient (e.g., competition management to sub-award projects); and collaborating with NOAA and trustees to select projects for which the recipient has direct implementation responsibility. Project implementation may include direct implementation by the recipient or by the recipient administering a contract or subaward, and may include meeting National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements as defined in V.D.4.

Project oversight may include pre- and post-restoration project evaluation and monitoring;

and financial and project oversight of activities, contracts and subawards while the project is ongoing. Please include a proposed timeline for project identification, selection, implementation and oversight.

• Example of Funds Management Capabilities - Provide one or two examples of significant awards that your organization has managed. Significance can be determined by the amount of award, complexity of the restoration project(s), importance of the effort, or for a reason of your choosing.

• Summary of Award Management Experience - State the total amount of funds that your organization has managed over the past five years and include the number of projects that those funds supported.

• Federal Funds Requested & Non-Federal Match Anticipated.

• Letters of Support - List those included with the application.

Narrative (10 pages) - The Restoration Implementation Grants narrative should closely follow the organization of the evaluation criteria (see Section V.A Evaluation Criteria) for the application to receive a consistent review. The narrative should:

• Include a description of the applicant's relevant experience and technical capacity related to Program Priorities in Section I.B;

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• Include any assumptions your organization has made related to the total funding available and the number of sub-awards to be managed;

• Project Identification, Selection, Implementation, and Oversight- In detail, describe the process that will be used to identify, select, implement and oversee projects; and

• Respond to all the Evaluation Criteria (below), focusing particular attention on the highest-weighted criteria.

Data Sharing Plan (2 pages) - Proposals submitted in response to this FFO should include a Data Management Plan of up to two pages describing how data management requirements will be satisfied. The Data Management Plan should be aligned with the Data Sharing Plan examples provided by NOAA at: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/applicantresources.html. A typical plan should include descriptions of the types of environmental data and information expected to be created during the course of the project; the tentative date by which data will be shared;

the standards to be used for data/metadata format and content; methods for providing data access; approximate total volume of data to be collected; and prior experience in making such data accessible. The costs of data preparation, accessibility, or archiving may be included in the proposal budget unless otherwise stated in the Guidance. Accepted submission of data to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is one way to satisfy data sharing requirements; however, NCEI is not obligated to accept all submissions and may charge a fee, particularly for large or unusual datasets. Final Data Management Plans will be developed in coordination with NOAA as part of NOAA’s substantial involvement, as described in Section II.C. NOAA’s Data Sharing Policy is further described in Section VI.B.5. of this Announcement.

(2) Budget Justification (not to exceed 4 pages):

The narrative budget justification must include a detailed breakdown by cost categories (object classes on the SF-424A) separated into federal and non-federal shares as they relate to specific aspects of the project, with appropriate narrative justification for both the federal and non-federal (if applicable) shares. The object classes should match those found in the SF-424A. While an SF-424A for each of the anticipated five years of work is required, NOAA does not expect the description of expenditures to change significantly between funding years, and recommends a full narrative for the first year, accompanied by a table that shows how costs might increase in future years (e.g., annual salary and benefits increases).

Additional budget development guidance under “Financial and Administrative Guidance” is available at: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/applicantresources.html .

The NOAA Restoration Center and Grants Management Division staff will review budget

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 15 of 28 information for recommended applications to determine if costs are allowable, allocable, reasonable, and realistic. The narrative budget justification should be sufficiently detailed to enable a clear understanding of the cost breakdown and calculations used to derive the line item subtotals in each object class of the 424A budget form.

(3) Supplemental information (not to exceed 20 pages):

Supplemental information may include brief curriculum vitae or resume for up to five (5) key Restoration Implementation Grants personnel (maximum of 1 page per person); and any other relevant supporting materials such as letters of support, indirect cost rate agreements, restoration planning or prioritization documents, etc.

C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

Applicants should: (1) Be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) before submitting an application; (2) provide a valid Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number on an application; and (3) continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a federal awarding agency. The federal awarding agency may not make a federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable DUNS and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time the federal awarding agency is ready to make a federal award, the federal awarding agency may determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a federal award to another applicant.

Applicants should allow a minimum of five (5) days to complete the SAM registration;

registration is required only once but must be periodically renewed. If problems arise, it may take several weeks to resolve them, and applicants are urged to start the process early.

Applicants can receive a DUNS number at no cost by calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS Number request line at 1-866-705-5711 or online at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. Your organization's Employer Identification Number (EIN) will be needed on the application form.

D. Submission Dates and Times

Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, or received by www.grants.gov by 11:59 PM EST on March 6, 2017. Use of a delivery service must be documented with a receipt. No facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 16 of 28

Executive Order 12372 is not applicable to this solicitation as state and local governments are not eligible applicants.

F. Funding Restrictions

Pre-award costs are generally unallowable in this program, however, pre-award costs may be considered and discussed during pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA representatives. Incurring pre-award costs before the NOAA GMD provides an award document (generally via NOAA Grants Online on Form CD-450) is at the applicant's own risk. The earliest date for receipt of awards for this funding opportunity is anticipated to be June 1, 2017.

The budget may include indirect (facilities & administrative [F&A]) costs if the applicant has an established indirect cost rate with the federal government. As defined at 2 C.F.R.

200.56, indirect (F&A) costs are incurred for a common or joint purpose benefiting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved (e.g. lights, rent, water, and insurance). A copy of the current, approved negotiated indirect (F&A) cost agreement with the federal government should be included with the application. In accordance with 2 C.F.R.

200.414(f), an applicant that has never received a negotiated indirect cost rate, may elect to charge a de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs (MTDC), describe all costs as direct costs in the budget narrative, or establish a new rate through the Department of Commerce by contacting Lamar Revis, Grants Officer at the NOAA Grants Management Division, at lamar.revis@noaa.gov. Applicants may elect to propose all or part of indirect costs as leveraged funds.

G. Other Submission Requirements

Applicants should submit applications electronically through www.Grants.gov. Users of Grants.gov will be able to use an online Workspace, or download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and then submit the application via the Grants.gov site. If an applicant has problems downloading the application forms or using the Workspace, contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@Grants.gov.

We highly recommend that applicants do not wait until the application deadline to begin the application process through Grants.gov, as registration with SAM and DUNS are required, as described in Section IV.C.

After electronic submission of the application, applicants will receive an automatic acknowledgment from Grants.gov that contains a Grants.gov tracking number. Applications submitted through Grants.gov will be accompanied by THREE (3) automated responses (the

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 17 of 28 first confirms receipt; the second confirms that the submission is acceptable and timely; and the third validates that the application has been forwarded to NOAA for further processing).

If ALL notifications are not received, applicants should follow up with both the Grants.gov help desk and the NOAA Restoration Center to confirm NOAA receipt of the complete submission.

PLEASE NOTE: It may take Grants.gov up to two business days to validate or reject the application. Please keep this in mind in developing your submission timeline. Applicants should allow themselves sufficient time to register with SAM.gov and to submit their application to Grants.gov in advance of the deadline to ensure applications have been submitted successfully, as waivers of the submission deadline will not be granted. Late applications will not be accepted.

If an applicant is unable to use the preferred submission method (Grants.gov) or is unsure about the success of their submission to Grants.gov, a signed hard copy application must be postmarked, or provided to a delivery service and documented with a receipt, by the deadline under "Submission Dates and Times" in Section IV.D and sent to: NOAA Restoration Center, NOAA Fisheries, 1315 East West Highway, Rm. 14853, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

ATTN: DARRP Restoration Implementation Grants. Mandatory requirements regarding signatures, the maximum transit time, and the format of hard copy applications are described in Section III.C.

V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

Reviewers will assign scores to applications ranging from 0 to 50 points based on the following five standard NOAA evaluation criteria and respective weights specified below.

Applications that best address these criteria will be most competitive. Except as otherwise specified, the subcriteria are viewed holistically rather than receiving sub-weights.

1. Importance and Applicability (10 points):

This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, state or local activities. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the following:

• Organizational commitment to, and experience with, achieving marine and coastal conservation and restoration goals related to oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and other natural resource damages.

• Ability to identify, select, implement (directly or through a subaward or contract), and oversee coastal and marine habitat restoration projects similar to those project types outlined

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 18 of 28 in Section I.A and I.B;

• Capacity to act across wide geographic areas, especially in areas with a history of existing injuries and established trustee councils, both those listed as examples in section I.B.2, and those listed on the NOAA DARRP website (http://www.darrp.noaa.gov); and

• Complete description of any highlighted area(s) of expertise that your organization possesses, per section I.B, including experience with direct implementation and oversight of contracts and subawards, and experience with coordination with multiple trustee councils and federal agencies.

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (10 points):

This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear project goals and objectives. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant has described a realistic and thorough implementation plan which includes:

• The adequacy of proposed strategies for coordination with NOAA throughout all phases of project selection, design, implementation and monitoring, including a plan for the timely submission of project specific progress reports and outputs;

• Thorough description of past coastal restoration and conservation project successes, including how your organization represents the capabilities described in section I.B.1, including project identification, selection, implementation and oversight. This may include funds management, project tracking and reporting for multiple simultaneous efforts, project solicitation, and technical expertise;

• Thorough description of the process that will be used to identify, select and implement high-quality projects including a proposed time line for solicitation, contracting of sub-awards, initiation of on-the-ground implementation, and post-project evaluation; and

• Thorough description of the process that will be used to provide oversight of restoration projects, including a description of in-progress oversight as well as pre- and –post project evaluation, and/or monitoring.

• The ability to provide public access to data, including whether the application includes a Data Management Plan including descriptions of the types of environmental data and information created during the course of the project; the tentative date by which data will be shared; the standards to be used for data/metadata format and content; policies addressing data stewardship and preservation; procedures for providing access, sharing, and security;

and prior experience in publishing such data.

3. Overall Qualifications of Applicant (10 points):

This criterion ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to support the proposed award.

For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the following, as demonstrated

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 19 of 28 by attached resumes, past project experience, and accomplishments of the key technical and financial staff:

• Financial Management Skills:

• Organization employs staff with administrative skills to manage contracts and financial aspects, and is prepared to adhere to requirements including reporting award conditions for invoicing and the Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act;

• Organization has a…