NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2022-2007354 NOFO.pdf

FY22 Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities, Under the IIJA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 6 C. Program Authority 8

II. Award Information 8 A. Funding Availability 8 B. Project/Award Period 8 C. Type of Funding Instrument 9

III. Eligibility Information 9 A. Eligible Applicants 9 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 10 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 10

IV. Application and Submission Information 12 A. Address to Request Application Package 12 B. Content and Form of Application 12 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 31

VII. Agency Contacts 31 VIII. Other Information 32

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 32

NOTICE OF 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: FY22 Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities, Under the IIJA

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2022-2007354

Federal Assistance Listings Number: 11.463, Habitat Conservation

Dates: The application deadline is October 05, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern time.

Funding Opportunity Description: The principal objective of this solicitation is to support opportunities for underserved communities, tribes, and/or tribal entities to meaningfully engage in coastal habitat restoration activities. Through this funding opportunity, NOAA intends to support capacity building and restoration project activities that have the greatest potential to lead to habitat restoration that enhances resilience of underserved communities in marine, estuarine, coastal, and Great Lakes areas. Meaningful engagement of underserved communities is intended to ensure that communities are integral to the visioning, decision-making, and leadership for coastal habitat restoration projects; to ensure that the scope of such projects are inclusive of the priorities and needs of communities; and/or to ensure that the benefits of such projects flow back to underserved communities. This solicitation is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), 135 STAT. 1356 (Nov. 15, 2021).

Projects that are most responsive to the program priorities will be more competitive. Potential activities include: 1) Capacity building, which may include participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and education; and/or 2) Restoration project activities, including for demonstration projects, which may include engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre- and post-project implementation monitoring. Applicants may apply for funding to support one or more of these activities.

This funding opportunity supports NOAA’s efforts to enhance coastal resilience. Coastal areas support the nation’s largest and often fastest-growing population centers as well as key natural assets. Strengthening coastal resilience means preparing and adapting coastal communities to

Notice of Federal Funding Page 2 of 32 mitigate the impacts of and more quickly recover after extreme events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, flooding, and sea level rise. Habitat restoration and natural and nature-based solutions are critical to doing so by: protecting lives and property, sustaining commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing; recovering threatened and endangered species; and maintaining and fostering vibrant coastal economies and lifestyles. This funding opportunity – along with those for National Oceans and Security Fund Grants, Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants, Coastal Zone Management, and National Estuarine Research Reserves – aims to fund projects that enhance coastal resilience. This funding opportunity in particular focuses on building organizational capacity and/or supporting restoration activities that benefit underserved communities and enhance their resilience to climate hazards.

NOAA is committed to the goals of advancing equity and support for underserved communities.

NOAA encourages applicants to include and demonstrate principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility through proactive, meaningful, and equitable community engagement in the identification, design, and/or implementation of proposed projects. NOAA also encourages applicants to propose projects with benefits to tribal or underserved communities. Applicants should identify if the project is located within tribal or underserved communities and/or whether a portion of the resilience benefits from the proposed work will flow to tribal or underserved communities.

Proposals selected for funding through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. NOAA anticipates up to $10 million will be available under this opportunity in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. NOAA anticipates typical federal funding awards will range from $250,000 to $500,000 over three years. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $75,000 or more than $1 million for the entire award.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

Underserved communities have been systematically denied meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making affecting their communities and are disproportionately located in areas affected by climate hazards, such as flooding and coastal storms. This combination of factors increases the likelihood that underserved communities are impacted by and less resilient to such hazards.

The principal objective of this solicitation is to support opportunities for underserved communities, tribes, and tribal entities to meaningfully engage in coastal habitat restoration activities. NOAA intends to support capacity building activities that have the greatest potential to lead to habitat restoration that enhances the resilience of underserved communities in marine, estuarine, coastal, and Great Lakes areas. Meaningful engagement of underserved communities is intended to ensure that communities are integral to the visioning, decision-making, planning, and/or leadership for coastal habitat restoration projects; to ensure that the scope of such projects are inclusive of the priorities and needs of communities; and/or to ensure that the benefits of such projects flow back to underserved communities.

Strengthening the resilience of coastal ecosystems and coastal communities is critical in addressing the climate crisis. Ecosystem and community resilience are also essential to fulfilling the NOAA Fisheries mission of promoting the recovery of threatened and endangered species and enhancing the sustainability of commercial and recreational fisheries. Improving ecosystem resilience through habitat restoration results in multiple co-benefits to human communities and fish and wildlife species. Increased ecosystem resilience can increase community resilience by alleviating negative effects from extreme weather and climate hazards, which can have significant impacts on human communities. Increased ecosystem resilience also improves the environment’s ability to recover from extreme weather events or climate hazards, while retaining or having the ability to preserve ecosystem structure and ecological function.

This funding opportunity will invest in building organizational capacity and supporting restoration activities that benefit underserved communities and enhance their resilience to climate hazards. Capacity building may include (but is not limited to) participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 4 of 32 education. Restoration project activities, including for demonstration projects, may include engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre- and post-project implementation monitoring. Applicants may apply for funding to support one or more of these activities. This solicitation is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), 135 STAT. 1356 (Nov. 15, 2021).

NOAA is committed to the goals of advancing equity and support for underserved communities. NOAA encourages applicants to include and demonstrate principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and environmental justice through proactive, meaningful, and equitable community engagement in the identification, design, and/or implementation of proposed projects.

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

Underserved communities. This term refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. Underserved communities are defined in Executive Order 13985.

Tribes. For this funding opportunity, this term refers to any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe.

Tribal entities. For this funding opportunity, this term refers to Tribes and any organization that self-identifies as an indigenous or native organization.

Meaningful engagement. This term refers to communities having an opportunity to be an integral part of the visioning, decision-making, or leadership for activities that may affect their environment and/or health and wellbeing. Meaningful engagement relies on the involvement of those potentially affected in a manner that builds trust and addresses barriers to community participation to ensure that the scope of the activities is inclusive of the priorities and needs of communities and that the benefits of the activities flow back to the community.

Community resilience. This term refers to the capacity of a human community to absorb, withstand, respond to, and/or recover rapidly from disturbances linked to extreme weather events and climate hazards. Community resilience can also include the ability to plan and prepare for adverse effects of extreme weather events or climate hazards, and the capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

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Ecosystem resilience. This term refers to the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb, withstand, respond to, and/or recover rapidly from disturbances linked to extreme weather events and climate hazards. Resilient ecosystems can resist damage from extreme weather events or climate hazards, while retaining or having the ability to recover their inherent structure and ecological function.

Habitat restoration. This term applies to techniques or strategies that aim to directly restore ecosystems, for the purpose of supporting the recovery or sustainability of the target species or fisheries and/or improving community and ecosystem resilience. A variety of habitat types are eligible within this funding opportunity, ranging from marine, estuarine, and coastal ecosystems at the land-sea interface (including coastal rivers), to the freshwater coastal ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Example habitats include, but are not limited to: coral reefs; oyster reefs; coastal wetlands and marshes; freshwater or tidal rivers and streams;

shoreline and near-shore ecosystems; seagrass beds; kelp forests and rocky reefs; and mangroves.

Co-benefits of restoration. This term refers to the multiple benefits of restoration that extend beyond biologically relevant benefits to fish and wildlife. This includes contributions to ecosystem and community resilience, increased business opportunities, public community revitalization, recreational opportunities, reduced safety hazards, and/or reduced maintenance costs. Co-benefits are often measured through socioeconomic methods.

Nature-based solutions. This term refers to actions that protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use, and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems.

These solutions effectively and adaptively address social, economic, and environmental challenges, while simultaneously providing benefits for human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience, and biodiversity.

B. Program Priorities

Proposals may include: 1) Capacity building, which may include participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and education; and/or 2) Restoration project activities, including for demonstration projects, which may include engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre-and post-project implementation monitoring. Applicants may apply for funding to support one or more of these activities.

For both activity types, successful proposals will be those that meet the evaluation criteria (Section V.A) most strongly, including those criteria related to the program priorities

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 32 described here. Applicants should address the following program priorities:

1) Enhancing habitat in support of ecosystem and community resilience.

NOAA is seeking proposals that describe the project activities and how the benefits from the proposed work will strengthen the resilience within the ecosystem and flow to underserved communities and tribes. Proposals should be as specific as possible in identifying the anticipated benefits to habitats and species that will result from the proposed activities and why those benefits are of importance to the relevant underserved community. This may include how these actions will increase resilience to the climate hazards that are of highest priority to the local communities. The applicant should describe the approach to provide for meaningful engagement of underserved communities, including past activities and future plans to engage the community in ways that are integral to the vision and execution of all phases of the project activities. Applicants may also describe how the proposed work will enhance the ability to plan and prepare for adverse effects of extreme weather events or climate hazards or provide additional co-benefits to the community (e.g., economic vitality, increased access to natural resources).

2) Increasing organizational and technical capacity of underserved communities, tribes, and/or tribal entities to lead and/or participate in habitat restoration activities.

Proposals should identify activities that build capacity of underserved communities to lead and/or participate in habitat restoration activities. The applicant should fully describe the community’s capacity needs and how their capacity will be increased. Options for increasing capacity may include, but are not limited to: funding paid positions (including contracts) to support the community’s leadership or engagement in the project; contracting for technical expertise to advance the community’s habitat restoration goals; funding paid internships, educational opportunities, or partnerships and mentoring to support the community’s engagement in current and/or potential future projects; funding office or meeting space needed to engage the community; etc.

Habitat restoration activities might include, but are not limited to, participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project scoping and goal-setting, project planning, project location evaluation and selection, design plan review and comment, and/or management of multi-faceted habitat restoration project design and construction. Activities might also include providing public feedback on all phases of habitat restoration scoping and implementation through such mechanisms as public meetings, public site visits, etc.

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C. Program Authority

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized under the following statutes to provide grants and cooperative agreements for habitat restoration and conservation: Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 16 U.S.C. 661, as implemented 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. The NOAA Administrator is authorized under the America COMPETES Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 893a, to support formal and informal educational activities at all levels. This funding opportunity announcement is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58).

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

NOAA anticipates up to $10 million will be available under this opportunity in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. NOAA anticipates typical federal funding awards will range from $250,000 to $500,000 over three years. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $75,000 or more than $1 million for the entire award. NOAA may choose to combine funding available in FY22 and FY23 for this opportunity. If combined, the total amount available will be up to $20 million. This decision will be solely at NOAA’s discretion, but will be based on the timing of the award process, and funding needs as expressed through the number of applications received and amount of funds requested.

Funds will be administered by the Community-based Restoration Program within the NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation. The exact amount of funds that may be awarded will be determined in pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA. Any funds provided to successful applicants for subsequent-year funding requests will be determined by progress towards stated milestones and availability of funding at the discretion of the NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation and the NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD).

NOAA or the Department of Commerce are not responsible for direct costs of application preparation. Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds. The number of awards to be made as a result of this funding opportunity announcement will depend on the number of eligible applications received, the amount of funds requested, and the merit and ranking of the applications.

B. Project/Award Period

NOAA encourages a period of performance of up to three years, with the potential for up

Notice of Federal Funding Page 8 of 32 to five years, if necessary. The earliest anticipated start date for awards will be January 1, 2023. Both federal and non-federal match pre-award costs will be considered during pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA. Incurring pre-award costs before NOAA GMD offers a grant is at the applicant's own risk.

Once funds are awarded, recipients of multi-year awards will not need to compete for funding in subsequent years for the same award. NOAA expects, but is not obligated, to provide additional funding to multi-year awards in subsequent years. Adding funds to multi-year awards is contingent on the availability of funds and satisfactory performance, and is at the sole discretion of NOAA. Award periods may be extended, at the discretion of NOAA and based on project needs, up to five years.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Selected applications will be funded through cooperative agreements, as described in 2 C.F.R. Sec. 200.1, 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, providing assistance with technical aspects of the habitat restoration project, review and comment on design plans, and review of procurement materials to the extent authorized by 2 C.F.R. Sec. 200.325.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, or state, local, or tribal governments that can demonstrate status as an underserved community, or that partner with underserved communities or tribes or tribal entities, in coastal areas. See the definition of Underserved Community in Section I.A. As part of their applications, applicants must demonstrate their status as, or connection to, an underserved community. This status or connection will be reviewed by NOAA as part of the initial eligibility review, and through the application merit review process. NOAA will validate the applicant’s description against publicly available demographic and economic data.

A partnership with an underserved community may involve proposed subawards, contracts, informal collaboration, or other engagement with, or approval of, one or more underserved communities, including tribes or tribal entities. The application will be evaluated based on the strength of the partnership with the underserved community or communities. The partner submitting the application is required to provide supporting documentation in the application

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 32 demonstrating that they have support from one or more underserved communities for the specific work proposed. The documentation may be provided in the form of letters of support from one or more underserved communities or tribes or tribal entities for the specific work proposed, and should be attached with other Supplemental Materials.

Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered.

However, federal agencies or employees may serve as unfunded collaborative project partners.

Applicants must propose work in coastal, marine, estuarine, or Great Lakes areas. Coastal areas are defined as those within coastal shoreline counties (or parishes), or within coastal watershed counties (or parishes). Coastal shoreline counties are directly adjacent to the open ocean, estuaries, or the Great Lakes. Coastal watershed counties are located along inland rivers and streams with a significant impact on coastal and ocean resources. Eligible applicants for Great Lakes projects must propose work within one of the eight U.S. Great Lakes states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). Applications that propose projects in the Commonwealth and Territories of the United States, for this solicitation defined as American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, are eligible, but those in the Freely Associated States are not eligible to submit an application.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

There is no non-federal matching requirement for this funding. NOAA desires cost sharing to encourage partnerships among government, community, industry, and academia.

NOAA encourages applicants whose proposed initiatives exceed the budgetary limits for this competition to apply to this competition and also for other, complementary federal funding for separate components of their larger initiatives. In these situations, NOAA will coordinate as necessary with other agencies to assure that funding is not duplicated and that the complementary components will support completion of the larger initiative.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $75,000 or more than $1 million during the award period.

Applications submitted through Grants.gov must be submitted by the due date and time provided in Section IV.D. Late applications will not be considered for funding. Paper applications submitted by the deadline must be received by NOAA no later than seven business days following the post-mark due date and time or they will not be accepted.

Submission time will be documented by electronic submission to Grants.gov, a U.S. Postal

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Service postmark, or a delivery service receipt. Applicants should consider the possibility of unforeseen impacts from natural hazards that could affect internet access and use of Grants.gov on or before application due dates. Applicants should be aware that localized hazardous weather, monthly scheduled Grants.gov weekend maintenance, or other situations that impact the ability to submit application packages may not result in changes to the application deadline. Information regarding electronic submission through Grants.gov and regarding submitting paper applications is contained in Section IV.G. All applications MUST contain ALL required forms. Failure to submit forms may result in disqualification from this competition. See Section IV.G for more details.

The following information describes ineligible project proposal types and activities:

1) Proposals that focus solely on marine debris prevention and removal are not eligible. To find out more about funding opportunities related to marine debris, please check those provided by the NOAA Marine Debris Program at https://www.marinedebris.noaa.gov and by the National Sea Grant College Program at https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Funding.

2) Proposals that focus solely on acquisition of real property are not eligible.

3) Proposals that focus solely on beach renourishment for recreational purposes are not eligible.

4) Proposals addressing hard infrastructure only for water quality improvement are not eligible. Ineligible activities include, but are not limited to, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, elimination of combined sewer outfalls, replacement of failing septic systems, and implementation of agricultural animal waste management plans. However, projects that improve water quality through the creation or enhancement of fisheries habitat are eligible, as are projects that increase the amount of streamflow (i.e., storage and forbearance).

5) Activities that are required by a separate local, state, or federal consent decree, court order, statute, or regulation are not eligible. Applicants planning to combine grant or matching funds with mitigation should review the Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources; Final Rule at 73 Fed. Reg. 19594 (April 10, 2008). NOAA plans to follow the approach adopted by some other Federal agencies on Page 19636 that describes scenarios where mitigation credits may or may not be obtained in association with federal financial incentives.

6) Effectiveness monitoring and research are not eligible project types. The NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation values effectiveness monitoring and research, but funds are not

Notice of Federal Funding Page 11 of 32 included within this solicitation to support monitoring and research-focused projects.

Effectiveness monitoring is longer-term than implementation monitoring, and often requires detailed field investigations of multiple physical, biological, and geochemical processes. To find out more about effectiveness monitoring and regional contacts with which to discuss ideas, visit https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/habitat-conservation/monitoring-and-evaluation-restoration-projects.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Complete application packages, including required federal forms and instructions, can be found on www.Grants.gov. If a prospective applicant is having difficulty downloading the application forms from www.Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800- 518-4726 or support@Grants.gov. Instructions for these forms are available at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html. Information about the recommended format for applications is contained in Section IV.B.

B. Content and Form of Application

A complete, standard NOAA financial assistance application package should be submitted, as described below. Each proposal must include the following Federal application forms. The

Standard Form (SF)-424 family may be downloaded from https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms.html.

1) SF-424: Application for Federal Assistance

2) SF-424A: Budget Information for Non-construction Programs

3) SF-424B: Assurances for Non-construction Programs

4) CD-511: Certification Regarding Lobbying

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

In addition to the Federal application forms, NOAA recommends the following components as part of a complete application package. Page limits assume an 11- or 12-point font and 1-inch margins. If possible, components should be organized into a maximum of three (3) PDF files outlined below:

PDF 1. Proposal Summary and Project Narrative (18 page limit) PDF 2. Budget Narrative (6 page limit)

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PDF 3. Supplemental Materials (25 page limit)

PDF 1. PROPOSAL SUMMARY and PROJECT NARRATIVE (18 page limit)

PROPOSAL SUMMARY (2 page limit)

1) Proposal Title

2) Applicant Organization and relationship to tribe or underserved community or communities.

3) Underserved community (as defined in Section I. A.) or tribe. Please describe the community(s) or tribe(s) that are included in the proposal and how they have been historically underserved.

4) Location. Include the nearest town or watershed and, when available, include the geographic coordinates of the restoration activities. Describe the relationship of the project location to the underserved community. If multiple sites are proposed, please include a map or description of all sites.

5) Brief Project Description. Describe the extent to which the proposed work aligns with the stated program objective (Section I.A) and program priorities (Section I.B). The description should outline the expected role of underserved and tribal communities, benefits for the underserved and tribal communities, and how ecosystem and community resilience will be strengthened. Describe the proposed work within the context of the local watershed, or other geographically defined boundary, and if the proposed actions are high priority for underserved communities and tribes.

6) Timeline. Provide a timeline of all proposed activities.

7) Funding Request. Include the total request for NOAA funds for each year of the project.

Project Narrative (16 page limit).

Proposals are evaluated based on the criteria described in Section V.A. Please review the Evaluation Criteria for a full description of topics to include in the project narrative, and the types of detail reviewers will evaluate your proposal against. The application should follow the organization of the evaluation criteria to receive a consistent review against competing applications. The information provided below may help you address the evaluation criteria.

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1) Importance of the proposed work

- Describe the community and/or tribe targeted by the project. Explain how this community qualifies as an underserved community (see the definition in I.A) and how it will benefit from these capacity building or restoration funds. Include demographic and economic data where possible.

- Explain how the project’s outcomes will strengthen ecosystem and/or community resilience in the short and long term.

- Explain how the project engages the community and/or tribe throughout the project period, and explain how the project will enhance a community’s technical capacity to prepare for and recover after extreme weather and climate events in the long term.

2) Technical Merit

- Describe the project’s activities and goals, including a timeline with key milestones, deliverables, and relevant details about permitting and environmental compliance.

- Describe the project(s) expected outcomes and their associated performance measures.

Applicants should describe the habitat-based metrics or other quantitative performance measures that will be used to evaluate the success of the proposed restoration actions.

Specifically on the ground restoration projects should include ecological targets that can be evaluated within approximately one-year post-implementation.

3) Qualifications

- Describe the applicant(s) and their background, including the relevant experience and training needed to successfully carry out the project. This may include a hiring plan.

- Describe the administrative resources associated with managing a grant award. This may include a hiring plan.

4) Project Cost

- Describe the budget and explain how funds will be used to efficiently carry out the project’s activities.

- Include a rough estimate of estimated costs per task to justify the funding request.

5) Outreach and education

- Explain the project’s outreach and education strategy, including plans for formal and informal education within the community and/or tribe.

- Explain other educational opportunities such as workforce development initiatives or training opportunities that the project will provide.

- Describe all partnering stakeholders and how the project will be integrated into the community and/or tribe and the surrounding area.

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PDF 2. Budget Narrative (6 page limit) Reviewers will evaluate project costs by reviewing your budget narrative. Your budget narrative should describe project costs in the following categories, also referred to as SF- 424A Object Classes: Personnel, Fringe Benefits, Travel, Equipment, Supplies, Contractual, and Other. The sum of funds requested under these Object Classes should be described as Total Direct Costs.

The costs required for organizational operation that cannot be easily associated with an individual project or program should be described as Indirect Costs. Organizations with a federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) should include a copy of the approved NICRA in Supplemental Materials (PDF 3). Organizations without a NICRA may claim the 10% de minimis rate for calculating indirect charges on the Modified Total Direct Costs (see 2 C.F.R. 200.1 for definitions). Refer to Sections IV.F. of this announcement for more information about indirect costs. These totals should also be recorded on the SF-424A.

Award costs should be divided into annual funding requests for up to three years in duration.

If NOAA funding will be used to complete part of a larger project, a budget overview for the entire project should be provided to demonstrate how the NOAA request relates to the overall project budget and is needed for successful project implementation.

NOAA staff will review budget information in recommended applications to determine if costs are allowable, allocable, reasonable, necessary, and realistic.

If a project has been submitted for funding consideration elsewhere, the amount(s) requested or secured from other funding sources, and whether the funds requested/secured are federal or non-federal, should be included. Please indicate if you are using federal funds, non-federal funds or a combination of both as match or leverage.

The NOAA Restoration Center has provided guidance regarding the level of detail required to determine if costs are allowable, allocable, and reasonable in the “Supplemental Instructions” at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/habitat-conservation/resources-noaa-restoration-center-applicants#restoration-budget-guidance.

PDF 3. Supplemental Materials

All supplemental attachments are optional. NOAA prefers the documents be combined into one file which includes a cover page that lists the documents and associated page numbers.

The cover page does not count toward the 25 page limit. If provided, this should be uploaded under the “Other Attachments Form” in Grants.gov.

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1) Include a map or aerial photo with nearby towns and/or roads labeled and with the site location(s) highlighted.

2) Include resumes or descriptions of past project management experience for up to five (5) key personnel (approximately 5 pages) including examples of similar scale projects as applicable.

3) Include letters of support as described under III.A Eligible Applicants and V.A Evaluation Criteria for Outreach and Education.

4) If applicable, and not included in the Project Narrative, include an Implementation Monitoring Plan (2 page limit), as described in Section V.A. Evaluation Criteria for Scientific and Technical Merit.

5) Include any other relevant supporting materials, such as federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements, site photos, project designs, etc.

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

Applicants should: (1) be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) before submitting an application; (2) provide a valid unique entity identifier 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. NOAA may not make a federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable unique entity identifier and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time NOAA is ready to make a federal award, NOAA 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 two weeks to complete the SAM registration; registration is required only once but must be periodically renewed.

D. Submission Dates and Times

The application deadline is October 05, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern time. See Section III.C. for more information.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Applications submitted by state and local governments are subject to the provisions of Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." Any applicant

Notice of Federal Funding Page 16 of 32 submitting an application for funding is required to complete item 19 on SF-424 regarding clearance by the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) established as a result of EO 12372.

To find out about and comply with a State's process under EO 12372, contact the official listed in Section VII of this announcement for referral information.

F. Funding Restrictions

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. § 200.1, indirect (F&A) costs are incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefited, 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 does not have 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 NOAA Grants Management Division, 1325 East-West Highway, 9th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or lamar.revis@noaa.gov.

G. Other Submission Requirements

Applicants are encouraged to submit applications electronically through www.Grants.gov. Users of Grants.gov will be able to create an online application workspace to submit the application. If an applicant has problems accessing the online workspace at Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@Grants.gov. Applications must be submitted by the due date and time provided in Section IV.D. Late applications may not be considered for funding. We highly recommend that applicants do not wait until the application deadline to begin the application process through Grants.gov, as registration with SAM is required (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 automated responses (the first confirms receipt; the second validates that the submission is acceptable and timely; and the third confirms that the application has been forwarded to NOAA for further processing).

If all notifications are not received, applicants should contact the Grants.gov help desk to confirm the application was successfully submitted. After submitting the application package, applicants should download a copy of the submitted application for offline record-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 17 of 32 keeping and to verify the contents of the submission zip file. Grants.gov recommends downloading the submitted application via the Details tab of the workspace and verifying the contents of each file in the zip.

Submission time will be documented by electronic submission to Grants.gov. All applications MUST contain ALL required forms. Failure to submit forms may result in disqualification from this competition. Applicants are responsible for tracking their own applications. Please notify the contact official in Section VII of this announcement by email if you are experiencing difficulties with Grants.gov or your organization is not able to use this system.

Electronic applications are strongly encouraged; however paper applications will also be considered.

Paper applications should be sent to: NOAA Restoration Center, NOAA Fisheries (F/HC3),1315 East West Highway, Rm. 14853, Silver Spring, MD 20910. ATTN: FY22 Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities. All applications MUST contain ALL required forms. Failure to submit forms may result in disqualification from this competition. Applicants are responsible for tracking their own applications. Please notify the contact official in Section VII of this announcement by email if you are experiencing difficulties with Grants.gov, your organization is not able to use Grants.gov, or if you are submitting by paper.

V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

Reviewers will assign scores to applications ranging from 0-100 points based on the following five evaluation criteria. The maximum score for each criterion is indicated in parentheses. Each criterion also includes the factors the reviewers will consider to determine how well an application meets the criterion. We encourage applicants to make explicit connections to the evaluation criteria in their applications. Applications that best address these criteria will be most competitive.

1. Importance and Applicability of Proposal (40 points): This criterion ascertains the extent to which there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, tribal, state or local activities. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on alignment with Program Priorities (Section I.B):

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- Enhancing habitat in support of ecosystem and community resilience. To what extent does the proposal describe how the project activities and the benefits from the proposed work will strengthen the resilience within the ecosystem and flow to underserved communities, tribes, and/or tribal entities? Is the proposal identifying the anticipated benefits to habitats and species that will result from the proposed activities and why those benefits are of importance to the relevant underserved community? To what extent does the proposal describe the approach to provide for meaningful engagement of underserved communities, including past activities and future plans to engage the community in ways that are integral to the vision and execution of all phases of the project activities? Does the proposal describe how the proposed work will enhance the ability to plan and prepare for adverse effects of extreme weather events or climate hazards or provide additional co-benefits to the community?

- Increasing organizational and technical capacity of underserved communities to lead and/or participate in habitat restoration activities. Does the proposal identify activities that build capacity of underserved communities to lead and/or participate in the habitat restoration activities? To what extent does the proposal describe the community’s capacity needs and how the capacity will be increased? Potential options for increasing capacity or implementing restoration actions are described in Section I.B.

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (20 points): This criterion assesses whether the proposed activities are technically sound, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear goals and objectives. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant has described a realistic and thorough plan that includes:

- Project Detail. To what extent does the proposal completely describe the proposed restoration goals and actions, including a well-conceived approach for achieving the anticipated results, a realistic timeline, key milestones to be achieved, and the status of relevant permitting and environmental compliance? Outcomes and Performance Measures.

To what extent does the proposal identify and quantify expected outcomes and their associated performance measures? To what extent does the proposal describe an effective plan for tracking and measuring its progress toward achieving the expected outcomes?

- Project Monitoring. If on-the-ground restoration is proposed, to what extent does the proposed work measure near-term implementation success following the restoration monitoring and assessment guidance? See the NOAA Restoration Center Implementation Monitoring (Tier 1) Guidance for more information:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/habitat-conservation/resources-noaa-restoration-center-applicants#restoration-monitoring-and-data-management.

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* For proposals that solely include pre-implementation activities and/or capacity building, is developing a monitoring plan for future implementation included in the proposal?

*If no pre- or post-restoration implementation monitoring will be developed or performed, the applicant should explain the rationale for the lack of monitoring.

3) Overall Qualification of Applicant (10 points): This criterion ascertains whether the applicant and their project management team possess the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to support the proposed work. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the following (as demonstrated by attached resumes, or descriptions of the applicant or key partner and staff’s past experience):

- Does the applicant/project team possess, or propose hiring, the necessary experience and training to successfully carry out the scale and scope of the work? Does the applicant describe past work and experience with environmental efforts or community engagement?

Proposals will receive equal weight if resources are in place, or if the proposal provides adequate information to ensure the resources will be put in place if award funding is received.

- Does the applicant/project team possess, or propose hiring, the necessary administrative resources to successfully fulfill the responsibilities associated with managing a grant award, including managing the requested amount of funds and fulfilling management and reporting requirements described in 2 CFR 200? Proposals will receive equal weight if administrative resources are in place or if the proposal provides adequate information to ensure the resources will be put in place if award funding is received.

4) Project Costs (15 points): This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project(s) needs and time-frame. For this competition, applications will be evaluated on the following:

- Funding Allocation and Cost-effectiveness. Does the budget allocate the majority of direct costs within the federal funding request to support technical assistance, capacity building, and/or restoration projects within the community, tribe, and/or tribal entity to build support for currently planned or eventual habitat restoration actions (e.g., project planning, feasibility, engineering and design)? If funds are requested for capacity-building, does the applicant demonstrate how these efforts will support restoration activities?

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- Has the applicant demonstrated a realistic understanding of costs by providing a budget (broken down by SF-424A object classes) that provides sufficient detail for each major activity or corresponding milestones, and clearly states the NOAA funding request per year requested? If funds are requested for a project with multiple sites or phases, the proposal should include a rough breakdown of estimated costs per task to justify the funding request.

5) Outreach and Education (15 points): NOAA assesses whether the project is based on broad community support and the award can deliver a focused and effective outreach strategy regarding NOAA's mission to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. For this competition, applications will be evaluated based on the following:

- Stakeholder Support. Does the proposal demonstrate stakeholder and community support?

Has the applicant provided support letters from actively contributing partners, underserved communities being supported (as…