NOAA-NOS-ORR-2018-2005333 Full Announcement.pdf

FY2018 Marine Debris Prevention

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 3

A. Program Objective 3 B. Program Priorities 4 C. Program Authority 6

II. Award Information 6 A. Funding Availability 6 B. Project/Award Period 7 C. Type of Funding Instrument 7

III. Eligibility Information 8 A. Eligible Applicants 8 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 8 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 10

IV. Application and Submission Information 10 A. Address to Request Application Package 10 B. Content and Form of Application 10 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 19 D. Submission Dates and Times 19 E. Intergovernmental Review 20 F. Funding Restrictions 20 G. Other Submission Requirements 21

V. Application Review Information 22 A. Evaluation Criteria 22 B. Review and Selection Process 27 C. Selection Factors 29 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 30

VI. Award Administration Information 30 A. Award Notices 30 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 30 C. Reporting 35

VII. Agency Contacts 35 VIII. Other Information 35

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ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: FY2018 Marine Debris Prevention

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NOS-ORR-2018-2005333

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.999, Marine Debris Program

Dates: This funding opportunity requires a letter of intent to be submitted before full proposals will be invited. Letters of intent must be received via e-mail (as an attachment) no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, October 5, 2017. If invited per the instructions in this announcement, full proposals must be received and validated by Grants.gov, postmarked, or provided to a delivery service on or before 11:59 p.m. EST, December 15, 2017.

Funding Opportunity Description: The NOAA Marine Debris Program, authorized in the Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1951-1958), provides funding to prevent the introduction of marine debris into the marine and coastal environment. Projects awarded through this grant competition will encourage changes in behavior of a target audience (such as students, teachers, industries, or the public) to address a specific marine debris issue, and will actively engage these groups in hands-on personal participation. Successful proposals through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. Funding of up to $1,500,000 is expected to be available for Marine Debris Prevention grants in FY2018. Typical awards will range from $50,000 - $150,000.

Funding for this purpose comes through the NOAA Marine Debris Program as appropriations to the Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service.

This solicitation is focused on efforts to prevent marine debris from entering the environment through targeted behavior change. It is not intended for large-scale debris removal projects, deployment of catchment basins, or scientific research.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

Marine debris is defined as "any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes" (15 C.F.R. § 909.1). Marine debris can include land based solid waste items such as plastic bags, cigarette butts, foam take-out containers, or balloons, as well as ocean-based items such as derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels. Marine debris is primarily the result of human actions such as ineffective or improper waste management, dumping and littering, or storm water runoff.

Fishing gear may be lost from storms or accidents and become marine debris. There are many adverse impacts from marine debris, including wildlife injury and death from entanglement or ingestion, exposure to toxic chemicals which attach to or are in plastics, habitat destruction, vessel damage, and economic loss to tourism, fisheries and maritime activities.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP), a division of the Office of Response and Restoration, leads national efforts to address marine debris. The mission of the NOAA MDP is to identify and solve the problems that stem from marine debris through research, prevention, and reduction activities, in order to conserve and protect our nation’s marine environment and coastal economy from the impacts of marine debris as well as ensure navigation safety.

A principal objective of the NOAA MDP is to provide federal financial and technical assistance to organizations with the expertise to identify, evaluate, and execute marine debris prevention projects that improve living marine resource habitats, with the end goal of behavior change (defined as a measurable difference in an observable action). These activities align with NOAA's mission to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources, and promote stewardship and a conservation ethic for NOAA trust resources.

NOAA trust resources include living marine resources and their habitats, including commercial and recreational fishery resources (marine and Great Lakes fish and shellfish);

coastal habitats; diadromous fish species; endangered and threatened marine species; marine mammals and marine turtles; marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, other coastal habitats; Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPCs).

NOAA trust resources can also include marine habitats and resources associated with

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National Marine Sanctuaries, National Estuarine Research Reserves and areas under state coastal management programs, including Areas of Concern within the Great Lakes.

A second objective of the NOAA MDP is to promote marine debris awareness, prevention and tangible project outcomes by collaborating with diverse entities and groups. These include partnerships with public and nonprofit organizations, citizen and watershed groups, anglers, boaters, industry (e.g. commercial and recreational fishing industries, fishing gear manufacturers, other marine industries, and plastic and waste management industries), corporations and businesses, youth groups, students, landowners, academics, and local and state government agencies.

B. Program Priorities

The highest program priorities for this solicitation are projects that change behavior in order to prevent or reduce a specific type of marine debris, or address a specific marine debris issue within the coastal United States and Territories (e.g., a specific derelict fishing gear type, source of land-based debris, microplastics, etc.). Such projects will demonstrate meaningful, measurable, and sustainable ecological benefits to coastal and marine resources by preventing marine debris from entering the marine environment. Highly competitive projects will identify a target behavior to change, describe potential barriers for the behavior change, and provide an outline of the strategy and measurement to demonstrate change in behavior occurred. Behavior change measurements should be clearly identified, justified and quantifiable. Measurement of behavior change should quantify changes in the target audience’s actions as a result of the activities undertaken. Measuring project success and behavior change could involve pre- and post-project assessments, debris monitoring, and/or onsite observations.

Applicants must develop and implement the proposed marine debris prevention project by working with stakeholder groups and target audiences appropriate to the marine debris issue being addressed (e.g. students of all levels, teachers, fishing or tourism industries, elected officials, or the general public in both coastal and non-coastal areas, among others).

Proposals should justify how target audiences were chosen, and how behaviors targeted for change were selected. Outreach strategies should be clear, strategic, and impart key messages, information and experiences to audiences. Any potential benefits from the project beyond the proposed award period should also be described. Since experiential learning techniques have been shown to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the MDP is looking for a hands-on participation component in all project proposals (e.g. a small-scale shoreline cleanup or other hands-on activities).

Projects targeting K-12 and college-level students, fishing communities, and coastal tourism

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 4 of 35 industries are priorities for this competition. Furthermore, projects that target underserved communities may receive greater consideration for funding in this competition. Applicants should explore ways of recruiting and retaining participants from these different groups.

Projects taking place in Sanctuaries, Reserves, or other protected areas (as described in Section I.A above) may receive greater consideration for funding in this competition.

However, projects are not limited to these areas and may even take place in remote or urbanized areas. Despite project location, all proposals must have a primary emphasis on prevention activities that benefit NOAA trust resources described above and must clearly lay out the direct links to such resources. Projects that address a marine debris issue on a national level are eligible for funding under this competition, however, such proposals must demonstrate the merits of a national approach over a regional approach. All proposals should tailor project goals and objectives so that they increase marine debris prevention and are measurable within the geographic area of the project.

The NOAA MDP encourages projects implementing activities that fit into any existing national or regional programs, priorities or strategic plans to address marine debris (e.g.

National Estuary Program or NOAA Habitat Focus Area sites, the Great Lakes Land-based Marine Debris Action Plan, the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan, the Hawai’i Marine Debris Action Plan, the Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan, the Florida Marine Debris Reduction Guidance Plan, etc.) and describe how they do so.

Because funding is limited, proposals requesting support for large equipment purchases, to expand an organization's day-to-day administrative or program management activities or to support strictly administration, salaries, overhead, and travel without being part of a specific project will be a low priority. If a project requires funding for large equipment purchases, collection facilities, or other long-term operations, the application should identify how the overall project will continue into the future and how any equipment operation and maintenance costs will be paid for beyond the award period. Similarly, proposals to develop new marine debris education curricula will be a low priority unless the applicant can demonstrate a clear need for it; proposals that use existing NOAA MDP products, such as existing education curricula, are encouraged (see the NOAA MDP website for resources at:

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/resources). NOAA encourages using digital media as an outreach strategy, however this opportunity seeks unique, innovative approaches and technologies (beyond developing a website or mobile phone application) that engage diverse audiences in marine debris prevention. Projects that are duplicative of those that the NOAA MDP currently supports or those that have been funded by NOAA, partner organizations, and/or other federal agencies may not receive priority.

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This funding opportunity supports efforts to prevent marine debris from entering the environment, as described in this section, and as such it is not intended for large-scale debris removal projects, deployment of catchment basins, or scientific research.

Applicants should also note that the following activities, in general, will not be considered for use of federal dollars under project awards: (1) activities that constitute legally required mitigation for the adverse effects of an activity regulated or otherwise governed by local, state, or federal law; (2) activities that constitute restoration for natural resource damages under federal, state, or local law; and (3) activities that are required by a separate consent decree, court order, statute, or regulation.

Applications addressing other types of pollution not fitting the definition of marine debris provided in Section I.A are not priorities for this solicitation and may not be considered.

C. Program Authority

Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1951-1958).

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Funding of up to $1,500,000 is expected to be available for this grant solicitation. The actual funding amount available is contingent upon the availability of Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations. The NOAA MDP will not fund proposals with a budget less than $50,000 or more than $250,000 under this solicitation. Typical project awards range from $50,000 to $150,000.

The NOAA MDP anticipates that between 5 and 10 awards will be made under this solicitation. The exact amount of funds to be awarded and the number of awards made will be at the discretion of NOAA following pre-award negotiations with highly meritorious applicants. NOAA may request that a highly ranked applicant submitting more than one meritorious proposal combine all or parts of its proposals into one award. Publication of this opportunity does not obligate NOAA to award any specific project or obligate all or any part of available program funds. Awards may include funding from other programs or agencies.

There is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to make awards for any or all proposals. The number of awards to be made under this solicitation will depend on the number of eligible applications invited, the amount of funding requested by recommended applicants, the merit and ranking of the proposals, and the amount of funds made available to the NOAA MDP by Congress.

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B. Project/Award Period

Applications should cover a project period of performance from one to three years in duration. However, NOAA expects that all primary project activities would be completed within two years of the start date of the award, and that the third year would be used for monitoring of behavior change only. If behavior change monitoring activities are to be conducted during the project, NOAA may consider applications with a period of performance beyond two years as long as there is reasonable justification provided. The earliest anticipated start date for awards will be August 1, 2018 – applicants should consider this date when developing plans for initiating proposed project activities. Applicants selected to receive funding may be asked to modify the project start date to accommodate any delays in federal appropriations. Applications for renewal or supplementation of previously-awarded NOAA MDP projects are allowed, however any proposal to continue work on an existing project will be subject to the competitive process and will not receive preferential treatment. In some cases NOAA may fund a project with incremental funding, usually in the form of a multi-year award. If incremental or multi-year funding is awarded, in which NOAA only obligates funds initially for the first phase of a project, NOAA has no obligation to provide any additional prospective funding in connection with that award in subsequent time periods; additional funding is contingent upon satisfactory performance, continued relevance to program mission and priorities, and the availability of funds.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Selected applications will be funded through cooperative agreements since NOAA staff will be substantially involved in aspects of the project. Substantial involvement may include, but is not limited to, activities such as engagement with recipient on environmental compliance requirements, hands-on technical collaboration or permitting assistance, support in developing and/or reviewing study approach, methodologies and conceptual models, tracking the progress of prevention efforts through site visits, regular conference calls, and progress report evaluation and milestone approval, developing performance measures to assess project outcomes, reviewing manuscript drafts (if any), and support in developing public-facing communication materials or events to highlight marine debris prevention activities.

Marine debris prevention activities funded through this competition may have long term planning goals and objectives common to the programmatic needs of both NOAA and the recipients. As such, NOAA may seek 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

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 7 of 35 cooperative agreements to the recipient for similar or related activities through a non-competitive selection process.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

In accordance with the Marine Debris Act, eligible applicants are state, local, and tribal governments whose activities affect research or regulation of marine debris and any institution of higher education, nonprofit organization, or commercial (for-profit) organization with expertise in a field related to marine debris. Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. Interested federal agencies may collaborate with eligible applicants but may not receive funds through this competition.

All projects must take place within the United States or territories or their respective waterways. Foreign organizations and foreign public entities are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant but can be listed as a sub-awardee or contractor.

NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of veterans, minority-serving institutions, and entities that work in underserved areas. The NOAA MDP encourages proposals from, or involving any of the above types of institutions.

Applications that have been submitted to other NOAA grant programs or as part of another NOAA grant may be considered under this solicitation.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

A major goal of the NOAA MDP is to fund projects that leverage the investment of federal funds with other contributions from a broad range of public and private partners. To this end, applicants must provide a minimum 1:1 ratio of non-federal matching contributions to NOAA funds requested to conduct the proposed project. In addition to required cost sharing, the NOAA MDP encourages applicants to leverage additional investment where possible.

"Cost share or matching" is defined by 2 C.F.R. 200.29 as "the portion of project costs not paid by federal funds (unless otherwise authorized by federal statute)." Any shared costs or matching funds and all contributions, including cash and third party in-kind contributions, will be accepted as part of an applicant's cost share or matching when the contributions meet the criteria listed in 2 C.F.R. 200.306. For example, matching funds may come from a variety of public and private sources and may include third party in-kind goods and services

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(e.g., private boat use, volunteer labor, etc.). In addition, applicants are permitted to combine contributions for allowable costs from non-federal partners when they meet the criteria in Section 200.306, such as not being contributed as match for other projects, and being available within the project period stated in the application. Federal contributions cannot be used as match without a specific legal authority, but can be described in the budget narrative to demonstrate additional leverage. Applicants may also choose to designate part or all of their federally-negotiated indirect costs as match. Refer to Section IV.F.2. "Indirect Costs".

If the match requirement cannot be met, the Marine Debris Act allows the NOAA Administrator to waive all or part of the matching requirement if the applicant can demonstrate the following:

1) No reasonable means are available through which applicants can meet the matching requirement and

2) The probable benefit of such project outweighs the public interest in such matching requirement.

Applicants wishing to waive all or part of this competition’s match requirement must include a request letter or provide other language in the required Budget Narrative as a part of the application package being submitted. The request must contain a detailed justification explaining the need for the waiver, descriptions of attempts to obtain sources of matching funds, how the benefit of the project outweighs the public interest in providing match, and any other extenuating circumstances preventing the incorporation or local availability of matching contributions.

In accordance with 48 U.S.C. 1469a(d), NOAA has waived the requirement for local matching funds (up to $200,000) to applicants in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Applicants should note that cost sharing is an evaluation criterion (See Section V.A. "Project Costs") for this funding opportunity. As such, if available, the inclusion of matching contributions is encouraged.

Applicants whose proposals are selected for funding will be bound by the cost share amount reflected in the award document signed by the NOAA Grants Officer. Successful applicants should carefully document cost sharing, including but not limited to, the computed value of services and/or resources provided by the applicant’s organization or a third party (e.g., real property, equipment, supplies and expendable goods) as well as facilities and administration costs. Letters of commitment for any secured matching contributions expected for an award should be submitted as an attachment to the application.

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The Marine Debris Act also allows the NOAA Administrator to authorize, as appropriate, the non-federal share of the cost of a project to include money paid pursuant to, or the value of any in-kind service performed under, an administrative order on consent or judicial consent decree that will remove or prevent marine debris. See 33 USC 1952(c)(3).

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

For prevention and monitoring activities conducted under an award funded through this competition, recipients of financial assistance from the NOAA MDP involved in the collection, assessment, oversight, or interpretation of scientific information are required to adhere, to the best of their ability, to the principles, policies and codes of conduct identified in NOAA’s Policy on Scientific Integrity (NOAA Administrative Order 202-735D), which is available at:

http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/administrative_orders/chapter_202/202-735- D.html

The intent of the policy is to strengthen widespread confidence (from scientists, decision-makers, and the general public) in the quality, validity, and reliability of NOAA-funded science. Further information on this policy can be found at:

http://nrc.noaa.gov/scientificintegrity.html.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Complete application packages, including required federal forms, general instructions, and supplementary instructions specific to the Fiscal Year 2018 Marine Debris Prevention Grants competition, can be found on Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). If the application forms and instructions cannot be downloaded from Grants.gov, please contact Tom Barry (tom.barry@noaa.gov, 240-533-0425).

B. Content and Form of Application

LETTER OF INTENT:

Applicants must submit a Letter of Intent and receive an invitation from the NOAA MDP before submitting a full proposal. LOIs must be submitted as an e-mail attachment to grants.marinedebris@noaa.gov by 11:59 pm EDT on October 5, 2017 (see Section IV.D.

below). Please put "FY2018 Marine Debris Prevention Letter of Intent (LOI)" in the email subject heading. Do not direct questions to this email address (see Section VII below).

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Applicants must follow the letter of intent (LOI) and full application requirements stated in this announcement, or they may not be considered. The Letter of Intent (LOI) process is a critical step to determine if proposed projects are well-suited for this specific competition.

Applicants must indicate clearly which priorities their project proposes to address, and how.

Those applicants whose LOIs do not strongly align with program objectives and goals, as determined by the NOAA MDP (through the review process described below in Section V.A.), will not be invited to submit full applications. The goal of the LOI process is to streamline the review process by inviting full applications only from those applicants whose projects are most likely to support NOAA's implementation of the Marine Debris Act through the prevention of marine debris.

The LOI must be no more than two (2) pages in length. It should be single-spaced, use 11-or 12-point font, with one-inch margins, and should provide a concise description of the proposed work and its relevance to the competition’s priorities. If the LOI is incomplete, or is submitted late, the LOI may not be considered.

The LOI should include each of the components listed below:

a) Applicant Organization;

b) Project Title;

c) Principal Investigator(s) Name, Address, Telephone Number and Email Address.

d) Project Location: list the geographic area(s) in which the project will be implemented.

e) Project Description: clearly state the purpose of the project and the specific marine debris issue being addressed, summarize planned activities, duration of project, target audience, NOAA trust resources that are likely to benefit, and the duration of the project.

f) Project Outcomes: briefly describe the anticipated products and outcomes the project may be expected to produce and an associated timeline. Describe the targeted behavior the project is trying to change, how the project will change the behavior, and how the behavior change will be empirically measured.

g) Funding: approximate federal funds requested and non-federal match anticipated

FULL PROPOSAL (only if invited):

APPLICANTS MAY ONLY SUBMIT A FULL PROPOSAL IF INVITED TO DO SO

AFTER THE LETTER OF INTENT PROCESS.

Please visit http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/proposal-submission-guidance-applicants for

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 11 of 35 helpful information on developing and submitting proposal documents/information.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply through the Grants.gov website.

Applicants are also encouraged to minimize the number of files uploaded to an application by combining the proposal’s files as much as possible. Adobe PDF is the preferred file format for electronic submissions.

If Grants.gov cannot reasonably be used, or internet access is not available to the applicant, a paper-copy application must be mailed to the NOAA MDP (see Section IV.G. "Other Submission Requirements" for complete mailing information). Forms SF-424, SF-424B, and CD-511 paper-copy submissions must be signed by the Authorized Representative (or appropriate designee) listed in the application. IF PAPER COPY APPLICATIONS ARE

NOT SIGNED BY THE AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE, THE APPLICATION

WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR REVIEW. Paper applications should be printed on one side only, on 8.5" x 11" paper, and should not be bound or stapled in any manner.

Applications must adhere to page limits and any pages that exceed the limit for each section may not be reviewed. Files that cannot be opened or downloaded will not be reviewed. Full proposals will not be accepted if sent via fax or email.

Applications should be sufficiently detailed in accordance with the guidelines and information requirements listed below and elsewhere in this announcement, and should be able to be completed within the proposed period of performance. Each full proposal application must contain the following required federal application forms (available from Grants.gov)(and adhere to page limits indicated for each category), unless otherwise noted below:

- SF-424 - Application for Federal Assistance

- SF-424A - Budget Information, Non-construction Programs

- SF-424B - Assurances, Non-construction Programs

- CD-511 - Certifications Regarding Lobbying

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

- Project Summary (described below, 2 pages or less);

- Project Narrative (described below, 10 pages or less);

- Data Sharing Plan (described below, 2 pages or less);

- Budget Narrative (described below, 4 pages or less);

- Curriculum vitae or résumé of each of the primary project personnel (10 pages or less);

- Maps with site location(s) highlighted (no page limit);

- Letter(s) documenting partner support (no page limit);

- Indirect cost rate agreement, if applicable (no page limit); and

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- Other relevant attachments important to the overall understanding and evaluation of the proposed project, such as summaries of regional marine debris action plans or project site photographs, or documentation about any permits necessary to perform the project (20 pages or less).

1. Project Summary (2 pages or less):

A brief project summary must include the following components:

a) Applicant Organization;

b) Project Title;

c) Principal Investigator(s) Name, Address, Telephone Number and Email Address.

d) Project Location: list the geographic area(s) in which the project will be implemented.

e) Project Description: clearly state the purpose of the project and the specific marine debris issue being addressed; summarize planned activities; identify the target audience;

identify NOAA trust resources that are likely to benefit; and indicate the duration of the project.

f) Funding: approximate federal funds requested and non-federal match anticipated

g) Project Outcomes: briefly describe the anticipated products and outcomes the project may be expected to produce and an associated timeline. Describe the targeted behavior the project is trying to change, how the project will change the behavior, and how the behavior change will be empirically measured.

2. Project Narrative (10 pages or less).

When writing the project narrative, applicants should understand the components of the evaluation criteria (see Section V.A. "Evaluation Criteria" in this announcement), as they explain how proposals will be scored for the application to be competitive. The project narrative must not be more than 10 pages long and should give a clear presentation of the proposed work. Generally, the project narrative should include:

a) Introduction: A summary of why the prevention priority chosen for the grant is important. Please discuss how the proposed project will prevent marine debris, change behavior, and make broader contributions to the marine debris field. Include the type(s) of marine debris to be addressed (e.g., specific derelict fishing gear type, source of land-based debris, microplastics, etc.), and/or the types of behavior to be changed. Include a justification for the chosen target audience, as well as for the study area/region of interest.

b) Description: a description of the type of marine debris to be addressed (e.g., derelict

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 13 of 35 fishing gear, land based litter, derelict or abandoned vessels, etc.), any education and/or outreach method(s) to be implemented, the target audience, and the identified behavior to be changed. Proposals should include a robust evaluation plan to assess changes in the target audience’s actions as a result of the project’s activities. Clearly demonstrate the benefits expected to living marine resources, habitat, and/or navigation safety as a result of the project’s activities. Demonstrate why the selected behavior change will benefit marine resources and what the current barriers are to the change. Describe how the project is innovative. The Project Description should also clearly describe the potential benefits the project may have on NOAA trust resources and coastal communities.

Applicants should note, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires NOAA to analyze a project's potential environmental impacts, hence applicants are required to provide as much detailed information as is reasonable on the project's activities in this section. To this end, and to support NOAA's analysis, applicants should include details about site locations, species and habitat(s) to be affected, on-the-ground project activities and processes proposed, the time of year that work will take place, and any environmental concerns that may exist (e.g., the use of and/or disposal of hazardous or toxic substances, potential introduction of non-indigenous species, impacts to endangered and threatened species, impacts to coral reef systems). See Section VI.B.10 for further detail on the NEPA process and requirements for applicants.

Describe the community involvement in the project, such as contributions from community partners, volunteer opportunities, citizen participation, education/outreach/stewardship plans, and efforts to disseminate information on project goals, results, and/or the sources of project funding and support. Community participation may include direct involvement in project activities, involvement in marine debris prevention and education activities, hands-on training, cash contributions, or donation of in-kind goods and services such as boat time, and/or monitoring activities undertaken by volunteers or work crews. Letters demonstrating such participation should be included in the application.

Applicants should indicate whether the proposed project is part of a larger, ongoing effort or is otherwise prioritized in any existing regional or national, publicly vetted programs, priorities or strategic plans (e.g. National Estuary Program or NOAA Habitat Focus Area sites, the Great Lakes Land-based Marine Debris Action Plan, the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan, the Hawai’i Marine Debris Action Plan, the Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan, the Florida Marine Debris Reduction Guidance Plan, etc.). Proposal narratives should explicitly list or otherwise cite such documents for verification purposes, including the page number if referencing a specific action or issue within the plan.

c) Project Location: Provide maps, exact coordinates of any on-the-ground work, and the

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 14 of 35 time of year that on-the-ground activities will take place in each location. Be as specific as possible. If exact locations are unknown at the time of application, describe project locations in as much detail as possible.

d) Project Implementation Timeline and Milestones: Describe the anticipated project duration and the timeline and milestones for completing all project objectives.

e) Objectives and Goals: Describe short- and long-term objectives and goals including the expected results and potential performance measures that will be used to track the success of the project. Describe how the project will benefit NOAA trust resources. If the project uses an existing educational curriculum, describe the focus of the curriculum and how it will be used in the project. Indicate whether the proposed project is part of an ongoing marine debris regional action plan (if so, cite which plan).

Proposals with a behavior change monitoring component should clearly describe the post-project evaluation plan.

f) Permits and Consultations: Applicants must demonstrate that they have the legal authority to conduct the project activities within the proposed project area, and understand what permitting requirements exist for work to be conducted as described in the proposal. To provide assurance that the project will expeditiously meet environmental compliance and permitting requirements, projects that would require permits and consultations should list all necessary permits required to complete the project. This should include the appropriate contact information for each permitting agency, permit status, and documentation of all secured permits.

Letters of commitment are required from relevant landowners for projects on private land or from relevant resource agency personnel for projects on public, permanently protected land.

Letters of commitment should provide assurance that the project is supported, and will be maintained for its intended purpose, if applicable. Documentation of plans for long-term project management should also be included, if applicable.

g) Organizational Structure and Project Staff: Describe the organizational structure of the applicant, and the qualifications of project staff. Describe the level of staff experience and qualifications in managing grants and implementing projects that address marine debris; this includes any relevant sub-contractors conducting project work. Include a CV for all key personnel. If applicable, describe any previous NOAA involvement in and/or support for the project and include name(s) of any relevant NOAA staff. Examples of successfully implemented past projects, or the organization’s experience successfully managing federal

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 15 of 35 grants should be provided. If project staff have no specific examples to provide, applicants will be evaluated on their potential to effectively manage and oversee all project phases, demonstrated by the level of education, training, and/or experience of primary project participants.

h) References Cited: This section should include all references to source materials cited within the Project Narrative, if applicable. Please follow any accepted scholarly format for citations that includes authors’ names, year of publication, article and journal (or chapter and book) title, volume number, and page numbers. The Reference Cited section is not included in the 10-page limit but should include bibliographic references only (i.e., no additional parenthetical information).

3. Data Management Plan (2 pages or less)

Proposals must include a Data Management Plan of up to two pages describing how environmental data and information collected or created under an award made through this competition will be made discoverable by and accessible to the general public. Such data must be made available in a timely fashion (typically within two years), and should be free of charge or at no more than the cost of reproduction.

The Data Management Plan should be aligned with the Data Management Guidance provided by NOAA in Section VI.B.9. below. The contents of the Data Management Plan (or absence thereof), and past performance regarding such plans, will be considered as part of proposal review. 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.

A sample Data Management Plan may be found at: http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/proposal-submission-guidance-applicants

4. Budget Justification (4 pages or less)

Applicants are highly encouraged to follow NOAA’s Budget Narrative Guidance document to ensure the appropriate content and format is provided with the proposal. This document can be found at: http://www.ago.noaa.gov/grants/training.html.

The Budget Justification should include both a narrative and a summary budget table that lay out and describe each line item’s various costs in as much detail as is reasonable. For

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 16 of 35 clarification and simplicity, the Budget Justification should be organized using the object classes in the order that they appear on the SF424A. Include detailed descriptions of all cost justifications for both federal funds and any cost sharing or matching funds (cost share or matching funds should be described in the same level of detail as the federal funds). The amounts described in the Budget Justification narrative and summary table must match the dollar amounts on all required forms. The summary budget table does not count toward the 4 page limit.

The Budget Justification narrative should also indicate if the proposal has been submitted for funding consideration elsewhere, what amount has been requested or secured from other sources, and whether the funds requested/secured are federal or non-federal. The source of any matching funds, including applicant or third party in-kind contributions, should be explained. If funding will be used to complete part of a larger project, the Budget Justification should describe the overall budget for the entire project to allow NOAA to make an informed determination of a project’s readiness and cost-benefit ratio. Any funding other than the federal funds requested and proposed cost share or match should be considered additional leverage.

Applicants should ensure personnel roles (including hours and costs by task) are clearly explained and allocable to the project. For projects that will monitor behavior change, applicants should separate out monitoring or post-project evaluation costs so that NOAA can evaluate the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of those activities.

If sub-awards are part of the proposal, describe the process that will be used to identify recipients and justification for that process.

The Budget Justification narrative should also indicate if the applicant is requesting a waiver of all match requirements, as outlined above in Section III.B. "Cost Share or Matching Requirement." As previously stated, in accordance with 48 U.S.C. 1469a(d), NOAA has waived the requirement for local matching funds to the insular areas (up to $200,000) defined above in Section III.B.

NOAA assesses budgets to determine the reasonableness, necessity, and adequacy of proposed costs for accomplishing the project objectives, and performs a cost analysis to assure that costs are reasonable, allowable, and allocable in accordance with applicable federal cost principles.

Requests for equipment (any single piece of equipment costing $5,000 or more) should be strongly tied to achieving the project’s stated goals, and a comparison with rental costs

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 17 of 35 should be provided to justify the need to purchase. In general, funding requests for equipment purchases such as vehicles, boats, and similar items will be a low priority.

Refer to Section IV.F.2. regarding indirect costs in the budget.

5. Other Application Submission Information

Applicants should not assume NOAA has any prior knowledge relative to the merits of the project described in the proposal. As such, proposals should be written with an appropriate level of detail. Inclusion of supplementary materials (e.g., photographs, summaries of project designs, key diagrams, copies of secured permits) are strongly encouraged and do not count toward the project narrative page limit, although supplementary materials should not exceed 20 pages. Letters of support from partners, local and state governments, and Congressional representatives are also helpful in demonstrating support for the project. Such supplementary information should be combined and submitted as a single file in the Grants.gov application.

Participant safety is critically-important during project implementation. Proposals should demonstrate meaningful consideration for the safety of project participants during project activities. It should be noted that all funded projects will be required to have a written safety plan governing all project-related activities, especially regarding the safety and management of interns and volunteers. The safety plan should consider safety at all project sites during and after project implementation and take into account potential safety concerns for current and future uses of the project site.

If a project requires scuba diving or the use of surface-supplied air, it is the responsibility of the recipient organization to ensure that divers are qualified and trained to a level commensurate with the type and conditions of the diving activity being undertaken. The organization must describe their capacity (appropriate insurance, safety policies, etc.) to effectively oversee all proposed diving activities in the proposal. All diving activities must meet, or be specifically exempted from, OSHA guidelines. Assuming all other relevant safety conditions are satisfied, divers that are not advanced divers may perform only simple activities, such as underwater surveys and/or removal of light, non-entangling objects.

Advanced divers are divers with advanced diving training for the proposed tasks and in compliance with OSHA guidelines. Snorkeling activities are similarly restricted, in that snorkelers should complete only simple activities such as surveys and removal of light, non-entangling objects. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that any diving activities under this award meet, at a minimum, all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to the type of diving being undertaken.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 18 of 35

Activities that should be performed only by advanced divers include but are not limited to the following:

-Using hand tools or moving or lifting heavy objects where the tools or objects weigh more than 25 pounds underwater;

-Performing underwater tasks that require substantial physical exertion;

-Using lift bags; and -Underwater removal of potentially entangling debris, such as nets, crab or lobster pots, or fishing line.

Files uploaded to Grants.gov should not have any special characters in the filename (example: &,¿,*,%,/,#', -), and filenames should be limited to less than 50 characters.

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

Applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) in order to apply via Grants.gov and to be funded by NOAA. Applicants must: (1) Be registered in the federal 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.

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 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. The applicant organization's Employer Identification Number (EIN) will be needed on the application form.

Applicants should allow a minimum of several weeks to complete each of these registration processes. Registrations may need to be periodically renewed.

D. Submission Dates and Times

WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND APPLICANTS BEGIN THE APPLICATION

SUBMISSION PROCESS EARLY. THE NOAA MDP WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE

SUBMISSIONS. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

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Letters of Intent must be submitted as an e-mail attachment to grants.marinedebris@noaa.gov by 11:59 pm EDT on October 5, 2017. Please put "FY2018 Marine Debris Prevention Letter of Intent (LOI)" in the email subject heading. Do not direct questions to this email address; see Section VII below.

Full Proposals may only be submitted if invited by the NOAA MDP. Full proposals must be received and validated by Grants.gov, postmarked, or provided to a delivery service on or before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, December 15, 2017.

Please keep in mind that acquiring a DUNS number, and the registration processes for SAM.gov and Grants.gov may take as long as several weeks and may impact the submission timeline (see Sections IV.C. and IV.G. of this announcement).

No fax or email applications will be accepted. Applications submitted via the U.S. Postal Service must have an official postmark; private metered postmarks are not acceptable.

PAPER APPLICATIONS RECEIVED LATER THAN 5 BUSINESS DAYS FOLLOWING

THE CLOSING DATE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Applicants are responsible for tracking their own applications.

Applicants are strongly advised to submit in advance of the deadline. For all applicants, adequate time must be factored into applicant schedules for delivery of the application.

Volume on Grants.gov is at times extremely heavy. Applicants may submit in paper format according to the requirements of this announcement. Applicants submitting a paper application should allow adequate time to ensure it will be received on time.

Applications that have been submitted to other NOAA grants programs or as part of another NOAA grant may be considered under this solicitation.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Applications for federal financial assistance are subject to the provisions of Executive Order (EO) 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." All applications for funding under this competition are required to complete item 19 on the SF-424 regarding…