NOAA-OAR-CPO-2024-2008024 NOFO Report (4).pdf

Climate Program Office (CPO), Climate Adaptation Partnerships Program FY2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 5 C. Program Authority 8

II. Award Information 8 A. Funding Availability 9 B. Project/Award Period 9 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 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) 17 D. Submission Dates and Times 19 E. Intergovernmental Review 19 F. Funding Restrictions 19 G. Other Submission Requirements 19

V. Application Review Information 19 A. Evaluation Criteria 19 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 23 C. Reporting 29

VII. Agency Contacts 29 VIII. Other Information 30

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 30

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: Climate Program Office (CPO), Climate Adaptation Partnerships Program FY2024

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-CPO-2024-2008024

Federal Assistance Listings Number: 11.431, Climate and Atmospheric Research

Dates: Letters of intent (LOIs) should be received by email by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 30,2023.

Full applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on February 5, 2024.

Funding Opportunity Description: The Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program in the Climate and Societal Interactions (CSI) division of the Climate Program Office is an applied research and engagement program that expands society’s regional capacity to adapt to climate impacts in the United States. The CAP program supports sustained, collaborative relationships that help communities build lasting and equitable climate resilience. Funded by 5-year cooperative agreements with NOAA, the work is accomplished by teams of research institutions, nonprofit organizations, and state/local/Tribal governments in multi-state regions. CAP teams engage in a variety of applied and co-developed research and partnerships with communities. A central tenet of the CAP program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public.

Learning about and doing adaptation happens within social contexts. As such, the CAP program supports networks of people working together to plan for and adjust to change using science and local knowledge.

CAP prioritizes collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities. In addition, CAP supports cutting-edge social science on the impacts of climate change on communities, challenges and opportunities for adaptation, and inclusive methods of engagement. As the adaptation community in the United States advances and evolves, CAP seeks to support new creative, solution-oriented approaches that are both

Notice of Federal Funding Page 2 of 30 responsive to communities and that integrate across silos of scientific knowledge and expertise.

Central to achieving the CAP mission are:

-Regional Relevance, Local Expertise -Integrated Scientific Approaches -Knowledge-to-Action Partnerships -A National Network of Resilience Researchers and Adaptation Science Specialists

Through this NOFO, CAP is soliciting applications for up to one new team in each of the following regions:

1. Upper Northeast - Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, western Massachusetts, and upstate New York

2. Southeast - Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida

Learn more about CAP here: https://cpo.noaa.gov/Divisions-Programs/Climate-and-Societal- Interactions/CAP-RISA.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program resides in the Climate Program Office’s (CPO) Climate and Societal Interactions (CSI) division. The CSI division has traditionally been a home for high-impact science, catalyzing some of the earliest U.S.

government investments in regionally-scaled, societally-relevant, interdisciplinary climate research and engagement focused on reducing vulnerability and risk through the use of climate knowledge and information. Today, CSI continues to work with partners to enhance community and national resilience in the face of climatic changes, through human-centered research and engagement activities designed to connect innovative science directly to complex and dynamic preparedness, adaptation, and resilience challenges. Programs managed by CSI are a key component of NOAA’s cutting-edge research enterprise, which has evolved over time to include the private sector, NGOs, interdisciplinary teams and the social sciences at large. CSI also includes the complementary Adaptation Sciences (AdSci) research program, which helps advance the knowledge, methods, and frameworks needed to move society beyond incremental adaptation toward more widespread, connected, adaptive pathways and resilience strategies with clear economic and societal co-benefits (learn more about AdSci here https://cpo.noaa.gov/Divisions-Programs/Climate-and-Societal- Interactions/The-Adaptation-Sciences-Program).

Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) Program (formerly RISA) The Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program, formally the Regional Integrated Science and Assessments (RISA) program, is an applied research and engagement program that expands society’s regional capacity to adapt to climate impacts in the United States.

The CAP program supports sustained, collaborative relationships that help communities build lasting and equitable climate resilience. Funded by 5-year cooperative agreements with NOAA, the work is accomplished by teams of research institutions, nonprofit organizations, and state/local/Tribal governments in multi-state regions. CAP teams engage in a variety of applied and co-developed research and partnerships with communities. A central tenet of the CAP program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public. Learning about and doing adaptation happens within social contexts. As such, the CAP program supports networks of people working together to plan for and adjust to change using science and local knowledge.

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Early decades of the program focused on understanding the use of climate information at regional scales (e.g., through experimental seasonal outlooks), improving predictions and scenarios, building capacity for drought early warning, and advancing the science of climate impact assessments. Much of this work is now the focus of other federal programs. More recently, emphasis has shifted to address the growing urgency to advance approaches that tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning, implementation, and building community resilience that incorporate the intersection of multiple natural hazards and social stressors. To do so, CAP continues to prioritize collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities. In addition, CAP supports cutting-edge social science on the impacts of climate change on communities, challenges and opportunities for adaptation, and inclusive methods of engagement. As the adaptation community in the United States advances and evolves, CAP seeks to support new creative, solution-oriented approaches that are both responsive to communities and that integrate across silos of scientific knowledge and expertise. Central to achieving the CAP mission are:

-Regional Relevance, Local Expertise -Integrated Scientific Approaches -Knowledge-to-Action Partnerships -A National Network of Resilience Researchers and Adaptation Science Specialists

Learn more about CAP here: https://cpo.noaa.gov/Divisions-Programs/Climate-and-Societal- Interactions/RISA/About-RISA.

The CAP program encourages applicants and awardees to support the principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) when writing their proposals and while performing their work. Ensuring justice and equity means paying particular attention to populations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which are often low-income communities, historically marginalized communities, indigenous and tribal communities, those already overburdened by pollution, those who lack economic or social opportunity, and people facing disenfranchisement. Diversity here is defined as a collection of individual attributes that together help organizations achieve objectives. Inclusion is defined as a culture that connects each person to the larger organizing structure. Promoting JEDI improves the creativity, productivity, and vitality of the communities in which the program engages.

B. Program Priorities

Through this NOFO, CAP is soliciting applications to support up to one full CAP team

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 30 to conduct research and engagement in each of the following regions:

1. Upper Northeast -Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, western Massachusetts, and upstate New York

2. Southeast- Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida

A maximum of one CAP team will be funded per region. With each team, we are aiming to build on-the-ground expertise, capacity, and trust-building within the specified region. The regions listed below and their states are priorities and guidelines for coverage, i.e. applicants are permitted to go beyond the borders of the states listed below within a region only IF there is strong justification for determining alternative boundaries. For geographic regions with coastal areas, applicants must balance issues for both inland and coastal areas;

proposals focused exclusively on coastal areas will not be deemed relevant. Please see the corresponding information sheet for details on how to determine regional coverage. To be competitive, projects should demonstrate balance between local/community scaled projects and regionally scaled projects, and provide representational coverage across all states included in the region.

Proposals should focus on multiple societal issues relevant to climate adaptation in the applicable region, and develop a set of interconnected projects related to these issues. Teams should aim to balance diverse approaches to scientific inquiry with community engagement and participation. Topical areas of focus for a CAP team should be guided by a collaborative and iterative assessment of opportunities and needs driven by dialogue between CAP team members and regional partners, and should reflect current program objectives described in Section I.A.

Climate adaptation is a complex goal, ultimately requiring significant whole-of-society action to change the status quo in nearly every aspect of society. Progress will often require us to break down these challenges into smaller, more manageable parts. Traditional forms of adaptation often focus on reducing risk or increasing resilience to climate change impacts through incremental changes in existing practices, while transformational adaptation recognizes that some changes may be so substantial and disruptive that they require more profound shifts in societal structures and norms to transform the fundamental drivers of risk and unlock new adaptive capacity. Proposals may include a diversity of projects, where some might support incremental adaptation by informing existing decision making processes, while others might support transformational adaptation outcomes by facilitating lasting shifts in systems, values, and practices.

Proposed projects should be interdisciplinary but rooted in social sciences, ensuring that physical climate analyses are grounded in the understanding of attitudes, behaviors, Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 30 institutional processes, political norms, social barriers, etc. To incentivize change, projects should highlight tradeoffs and co-benefits of adaptation actions given lived socioeconomic context, including social infrastructure, that supports and constrains society’s choices.

Projects should always acknowledge the legacies of justice and equity that underpin this context.

In developing a scope of work, applicants should consider mechanisms for conducting research under conditions that may change over the five-year period, as well as approaches for team management and decision making that allow for flexibility in adjusting projects in response to emerging regional concerns and events. Every proposal should include evaluation metrics and components both as a research method to identify successful adaptation approaches, but also as a means for ensuring active management to achieve project goals.

Proposals should demonstrate the inclusion of and relevance of their work to frontline communities in order to ensure benefits such as data, tools and other products are equitably produced and received. Applicants should work with a diverse set of community partners to ensure they are involved in and benefit from the project. Projects working with community partners should ensure adequate resources, including financial resources, are available to enable their full participation, including project scoping work.

Proposals should incorporate the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) into their applications. To do so, applicants should consider the following factors when developing their projects:

-The vulnerabilities and disproportionate impacts of climate change on frontline communities including economically disadvantaged communities, historically marginalized communities, indigenous and tribal communities, and rural communities.

-Communities, towns, or neighborhoods under-resourced and underserved by technical, financial, and/or human resources (e.g. communities too small to qualify for FEMA grants) to address climate risks and vulnerabilities.

-The role of researchers and practitioners in carrying out work in ways that acknowledge existing legacies of social and environmental inequities and supporting actions that address them, including but not limited to the inclusion and compensation of frontline community members in setting project priorities.

-Regional diversity expressed in the team structure, roles and responsibilities, team decision making approaches, institutional roles, and broader networks and partnerships.

-Team contributions to a diverse, next-generation climate adaptation workforce through training, mentorship, education, and other means and by engaging with students and early career professionals.

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Collaborative relationships within the region might include community-based organizations, universities serving diverse student populations (for example Minority Serving Institutions, two-year institutions etc.), state and local government entities, non-profit organizations, regional NOAA entities, existing climate networks such as the Regional Climate Centers, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and USDA Climate Hubs, relevant federal agencies, and other groups involved in providing regional climate data and future projections, climate preparedness, adaptation, resilience, and mitigation efforts. Special consideration should be given to partnering with those communities or stakeholders within the regions for whom there is currently less direct engagement with climate information science and service providers, and/or for whom social and economic dimensions make vulnerability to climate impacts high and opportunities for recovery more challenging. NOTE: Teams new to CAP should consider activities early in the project to develop new partnerships, establish trust, and scope and identify opportunities for collaboration within their targeted region. See information sheet for additional details.

As part of CPO, CAP plays a critical role in advancing science and informing decisions for climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation. CPO is expanding previous efforts focused on climate risks to address a suite of climate-driven societal challenges faced by our Nation — including water availability and quality, marine and freshwater ecosystems, coastal changes and inundation, drought and extreme heat and related cascading hazards like wildfire, and air quality, and climate mitigation (more information about CPO Societal Challenges and Risks framework can be found here: https://www.cpo.noaa.gov/Initiatives/Climate-Risk-Areas- Initiative). It is not anticipated that a proposed CAP team would work solely in these topic areas. The program focuses on the complexity of cross-hazard risks and impacts and the development of relevant adaptive approaches. CAP team priorities should be determined, and will be evaluated, based on the unique contexts and collaborators needs of their respective region. In addition, applicants should consider topics in the context of complex societal and climate stressors as well as frequently cascading or concurrent events.

Prior to submitting applications, investigators are highly encouraged to learn more about the CAP program at cpo.noaa.gov/CAP-RISA , as well as program priorities for FY 2024. This information can be found at the following website: https://cpo.noaa.gov/Grants

C. Program Authority

49 U.S.C. 44720(b), 15 U.S.C. 2904, 15 U.S.C. 2931-2934

II. Award Information

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A. Funding Availability

Proposals can request up to $1,100,000/year for core CAP work, for a total of $5,500,000. A minimum of $200,000 within the total budget must be set aside to directly fund community-based organizations or local governments serving under-resourced frontline communities. It is anticipated that a maximum of one CAP team will be funded per region, depending on funding availability. CPO anticipates that funding decisions on applications will be made during spring 2024. Such decisions are contingent upon the final FY24 appropriation for NOAA by Congress and the final allocation of funds to CPO by NOAA.

Federal funding for future fiscal years may be used to fund awards submitted under this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

B. Project/Award Period

CAP Teams are expected to last for 5 years.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

The funding instrument for awards will be a cooperative agreement. For cooperative agreements, it is anticipated that CAP program managers will be substantially involved in the implementation of these projects. Examples of substantial involvement may include, but are not limited to, collaboration with Federal scientists and the participation of detailed Federal personnel to work on proposed projects, frequent communication on findings and progress between CAP teams and CAP program managers, yearly progress reports per the CAP template and metrics, submissions to the CAP project database, and participation of CAP investigators in CAP cross-network meetings, workshops, and monthly calls. For more information on the role of regional teams in the CAP Network, see the information sheet.

Funding for contractual arrangements for services and products for delivery to NOAA is not available under this announcement.

NOAA will refer to teams by their regional name (e.g., Upper Northeast CAP or Southeast CAP) to ensure consistency of communication and naming conventions across the network.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, other nonprofits, commercial organizations, international organizations, and state, local and Indian tribal governments.

Federal agencies or institutions are not eligible to receive Federal assistance under this

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B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

All CPO programs have no cost sharing or matching requirements.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

None.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Application packages are at grants.gov. For applicants without Internet access, please contact the CPO Grants Manager Diane Brown by mail at NOAA Climate Program Office (R/CP1), SSMC3, Room 12734, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 to obtain an Application Package.

B. Content and Form of Application

1. Letter of Intent (LOI) The purpose of the LOI process is to provide information to potential applicants on the relevance of their proposed project to the competition in advance of preparing a full application. Full applications will be encouraged only for LOIs deemed relevant. Applicants who have not submitted an LOI or have not been encouraged may still submit a full application. LOIs are strongly encouraged.

LOIs should be submitted by email to oar.cpo.risa@noaa.gov by the deadline specified in section IV.C below. The LOI should provide a concise description of the proposed work and a statement regarding its relevance to the targeted competition. The LOI should be no more than two pages in length and should include the items listed below. If these items are not included or the LOI is submitted late, the LOI may not be considered:

Competition name A tentative project title Name(s) and institution(s) of the Lead Principal Investigator(s) and other Principal Investigator(s) Email contact for Lead Principal Investigator Statement of the regional climate issue/s to be addressed Geographic coverage Brief summary of work to be completed and methodologies to be used

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Potential partners Approximate cost of the project Relevance to the competition that is being targeted

A response to the LOI from the Competition Manager (e-mail or letter) will be sent to the investigator within four weeks after the LOI’s due date either encouraging or discouraging a full application based on its relevance to the targeted competition. It is then entirely up to the investigator whether to submit a full application.

2. Full Application Failure to comply with these provisions will result in applications being returned without review.

All proposals must be single spaced, written in plain language, using 12-point font type with one-inch margins on standard 8.5 by 11 inch paper. Proposals must include the following components:

-Title Page -Abstract -Results from Prior Research -Project Narrative/Statement of Work -Associated Figures References -Statement on Integration of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion -Data/Information Sharing Plan -Project Management Plan -Letter of Institutional Commitment -Budget Narrative -Budget Table -Federal Budget Forms -Indirect Cost -Vitae -Current and Pending Support

The full proposal and Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (IDCRA) should be put into one electronic file. The budget table/justification should be submitted in a file labeled budget narrative. The Federal Forms (SF424, SF424A, SF424B, CD511) and other mandated forms should be inserted in separate files when submitted to grants.gov and are not included in the page count.

The following forms and elements are required in each application, unless otherwise noted.

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(1) Title page (one page): The title page must identify the Principal Investigator(s) (PI) and institutional representative, and clearly indicate which competition is being addressed by name and competition number. The title page should also include all co-PIs from Federal Institutions. If more than one investigator is listed on the title page, please identify the lead investigator. The lead PI and institutional representative should be identified by: full name, title, organization, telephone number, email, and address. For paper submissions, the lead PI and the institutional representative must sign the title page. The total amount of Federal funds being requested should be listed for each budget year period.

(2) Abstract (one page): The abstract must be included and should contain the project title, an introduction to the problem, rationale, and a brief summary of the work to be completed.

Abstracts must identify the name of the competition that is being targeted and must also include a paragraph describing the work’s broader impacts and relevance to the competition that is being targeted.

(3) Results from prior research (two pages): The results of each prior research project led by the Principal Investigator(s) only during the last three years relevant to the proposed effort should be summarized in brief paragraphs. Because NOAA believes it is important that data sets developed with its support should be shared with the scientific community, PIs should also indicate how and when they have made their data accessible and usable by the community in the past.

(4) Project Narrative/Statement of Work:

The statement of work is limited to 30 pages including references and figures.

The Statement of Work should include:

1. Identification of the problem. Describe the major climate risks and related adaptation challenges in the region, including a justification for its regional relevance. Explain the overarching and integrated approach the CAP team is taking to understand and/or address the identified problem(s).

2. Description of the proposed project(s). Include the goals and objectives for each project, their proposed methodology, community relevance, engagement strategies, partnerships, and their relevance to the CAP program goals (see information sheet). The information sheet can be found at the CPO website under funding opportunities.

3. Expected outcomes of the proposed project(s). Describe the scientific and societal contribution or advancement that each project will enable. How is this project moving

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 30 science and/or adaptation forward? What are the short- and long-term outcomes of this work? What are the metrics of success and how will you evaluate project and team outcomes?

4. Societal benefits of the proposed project(s). Describe how this work will contribute to the well-being of society, particularly in expanding the capacity of people to adapt to climate impacts, and how you will measure or evaluate those contributions. Consider expected changes in behavior, practice, policies, guidance, rules, regulations, standards, understanding, use of information, attitudes, or budget allocations as a result of proposed work. Include direct and indirect benefits to communities and students or early career professionals.

(5) Statement on Integration of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (three pages):

Applicants are required to submit a statement on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion summarizing the role of the research team and the proposed activities in promoting JEDI in order to maximize transparency, accountability, and follow-through with collaborators and research participants. Applicants should show their proposed efforts prioritize frontline communities. Where applicants are working, or are planning to work, with frontline communities, they should provide an overview of anticipated benefits that can be supported by measurable metrics and describe how the identified frontline communities will benefit from the work.

(a) Required Frontline Community Investments:

A minimum of $200,000 within the total budget must be set aside to directly fund community-based organizations or local governments serving under-resourced frontline communities. The purpose of these investments is to directly connect the CAP team’s core expertise with organizations experienced in serving relevant communities. The outcome of each partnership should benefit the community directly through the transfer of funds to build climate adaptation capacity, access to CAP expertise, and the establishment of foundational relationships for future collaboration. The approach to the disbursement of funds may vary, but must follow rules and regulations governing the subawarding of federal funds.

Please integrate a description of these investments into the statement described below. This should include a description of how community partners were selected during proposal writing or the process for selecting them, the sector or climate issue the investment will focus on, goals and objectives of the associated work for enhancing capacity for resilience and adaptation within the region, and plans for evaluating the success of the investments.

(b) Statement Content:

The integrated statement must include:

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1. A summary description of how the project has incorporated the principles of JEDI to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups, consider injustices, remove barriers to action, and create the conditions needed for frontline communities to adapt and thrive.

Summarize where the project has integrated JEDI considerations into team composition, team management, leadership and decision making, focus areas, community partnerships, and approaches employed in the proposed work. Include goals and metrics for assessing and adjusting JEDI efforts.

2. Identification of the frontline communities to which the anticipated project benefits will flow. If communities have already been identified, please be as specific as possible. As a covered Justice40 program, the White House is requiring the use of the Climate and Economic Justice Tool (CEJST) to identify disadvantaged communities to receive benefits.

The tool can be found here: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/. We encourage the use of CEJST if possible but acknowledge that a) identifying a community and building a relationship with them takes time, and b) some communities might not be identifiable via the tool because they are not geographically located or for other reasons. In these cases please give a description and/or justification of the communities with whom you plan to work.

Other tools, such as the Rural Capacity Map (https://headwaterseconomics.org/equity/rural-capacity-map/) and Community Disaster Resilience Zones (https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/products-tools/national-risk-index/community-disaster-resilience-zones) may also be used as a complement to CEJST.

3. Identification of Applicable Benefits for frontline communities. For the purpose of this initiative, which centers on engaged and collaborative research, direct benefits refer to those benefits directly received by communities including, but not limited to, financial resources, capacity building, plans, assessments, technical assistance, etc. Indirect benefits refer to those “spillover” benefits that have the potential to inform practices and policy that positively impact frontline communities, but are not received directly by them. These might include methods of data collection or engagement that more equitably involve frontline community members, uses of data and other information that include and/or highlights injustices within frontline communities, regional assessments that include frontline communities, etc. Benefits should be measurable and trackable.

4. A description of how anticipated benefits are expected to flow to frontline communities, with consideration of both direct and indirect benefits. For example, if a direct benefit is a risk assessment or a communications plan, how will that be made available and usable to the specific community? If the project generates indirect benefits, like new information on how

Notice of Federal Funding Page 14 of 30 to better include frontline communities in adaptation planning, how will that information flow from the project and potentially influence how other frontline communities engage in adaptation planning?

See section I.B. for more information on JEDI considerations in the CAP program.

(6) Data/Information Sharing Plan (two pages):

Proposals submitted in response to this announcement must include a data management plan.

See section VI.B Administrative and National Policy requirements below for additional information of what the plan should contain.

(7) Project Management Plan (3 pages) The Project Management Plan should (1) describe the organizational relationships and reporting structure related to the specific goals and objectives of the CAP team, including JEDI components, (2) describe the processes used to prioritize team activities, and (3) articulate how the management and leadership of the team will have mechanisms in place to allow projects to evolve as regional and partner needs emerge. The project management plan should include no more than two pages of text describing the plan and a graphic depicting team structure and decision making.

We strongly encourage a full time position dedicated to the coordination, integration, and reporting across the team’s activities. This position is usually in addition to the lead-principal investigator, and is normally called a team “program manager.”

(8) Letter of Institutional Commitment Include a letter describing how the host institution(s) are committed to CAP team efforts. As part of broader goals of the CAP network, host institutions themselves are considered regional partners in this work, therefore the program is interested in understanding how the institution sees their role in hosting and supporting a CAP team as a regional collaborator.

The letter should describe anticipated advantages of hosting or participating in the CAP team, types of additional support for people, processes, or products during or after the CAP award, and any plans for other parts of the institution to collaborate with or complement CAP efforts.

Additional Letters of Support Letters of Support are not required. However, up to 10 letters may be submitted and can be used to supplement information included in the Full Proposal, and they will be taken into consideration when evaluating the proposal if submitted as part of the application. When

Notice of Federal Funding Page 15 of 30 collecting letters of support, applicants should prioritize partners whose terms of engagement and participation are already well developed or in the process of developing. Potential partners or partners at the very early stages of engagement should be described in the narrative as part of the proposal's engagement strategy. Please see the information sheet for further competition-specific instructions.

(9) Budget Table and Narrative:

Budget Table: An itemized budget for all years and a total itemized budget must be included as a separate spreadsheet that breaks down the budget per object class category. Travel must be itemized to include destination, airfare, per diem, lodging, and ground travel.

Budget Narrative: A brief description of the expenses listed on the budget table and how they address the proposed work must be included. Item justifications must include salaries, equipment, publications, supplies, tuition, travel, etc. Investigators who will not be requesting funds for salaries must also be listed, indicating their estimated time of commitment. Purchases of equipment greater than $5,000 must include a purchase versus lease justification.

Duplicate work with different federally funded projects, commonly referred to as "double dipping", is not permitted. As stated in the Code of Federal Regulations, more specifically, Subpart E- Cost Principles, 200.430 (i-vii), Standards for Documentation of Personnel Expenses. "Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed." The regulations additionally state that the work, "Reasonably reflects the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non- Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities.

The budget table and budget narrative should be submitted in a separate file labeled “Budget Narrative.”

(10) Federal Budget Forms: The Federal Budget Forms (SF424, SF424A, SF424B, CD511) and other mandated forms are required for all non-federal applicants, including all nonfederal co-applicants and subwardees.

Budget numbers corresponding with the descriptions contained in the budget narrative and budget table must be included. In addition to including the total budget on the SF424, the application must include the total budget and budgets for years each year in separate columns in Section B on page 1 on the SF424A. Submit two SF424A forms, one for years 1- 4 and the second for year 5 and the budget total. This is necessary because the NOAA budget forms are designed for 4 years or less.

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(Note that this revised 424A Section B format is a NOAA requirement that is not reflected in the Instructions for the SF 424A). All budget items need to be rounded up to the nearest dollar to avoid discrepancies.

For ALL non-federal applicants including for multiple applications associated with the same project, each application requesting funding from NOAA needs to complete the Federal Budget Forms (SF424, SF424A, SF424B, CD511) for their specific institution.

SF-424B: Assurances – Non-Construction Programs - The SF-424B is required for all applicants that have not updated their System for Award Management (SAM.gov) entity registration since February 2, 2019 to include the Federal financial assistance certifications and representations (certs and reps). If an applicant has updated their SAM.gov entity registration since February 2, 2019 to include the certifications and representations, then the SF-424B is not required.

Reminder: These Federal Forms should be submitted as separate files and are not included in the page count.

(11) Indirect Costs: A copy of the institution’s current Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (IDCRA) must be included. The IDCRA does not, however, count as part of the required page limit. To obtain an indirect cost rate if your institution does not already have one, a grantee must submit an indirect cost proposal to its cognizant agency and negotiate an indirect cost agreement. If an applicant has not previously (ever) established an indirect cost rate with a Federal agency they may choose to negotiate a rate with the Department of Commerce or use the de minimis indirect cost rate of 10% of MTDC (as allowable under 2C.F.R. 200.414). This document is not part of the page limit.

(12) Vitae: curriculum vitae of no more than two pages each are requested with each application for lead Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators, in addition to senior personnel, core staff and investigators included on the team. Reference lists should be limited to all publications in the last three years with up to five other relevant papers.

(13) Current and pending support: For each lead Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator(s), submit a list of all current and pending Federal support that includes project title, supporting agency with grant number, investigator months per year, dollar value, and duration. Requested values should be listed for pending support.

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

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Excerpt 2 CFR 200 Appendix I.D.3: Each applicant (unless the applicant is an individual or Federal awarding agency that is excepted from those requirements under 2 CFR 25.110(b) or (c), or has an exception approved by the Federal awarding agency under 2 CFR 25.110(d)) is required to: (i) Be registered in SAM before submitting its application; (ii) Provide a valid unique entity identifier (UEI) in its application; and (iii) 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 UEI 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.

In order to submit an application through Grants.gov, an applicant must register for a Grants.gov user ID and password. Note that this process can take between three to five business days or as long as four weeks if all steps are not completed correctly. To avoid delays, applicants are strongly encouraged to start early and not wait until the approaching application deadline before registering, logging in, reviewing the application instructions, and applying. Information about the Grants.gov registration process for organizations can be found at http://grants.gov/applicants/organization_registration.jsp.

Please note that organizations already registered with Grants.gov do not need to re-register;

however, all registered organizations must keep their Grants.gov password and SAM database (which now incorporates CCR) registration up-to-date or their applications will not be accepted by Grants.gov. Note that your CCR username will not work in SAM. You must create a new SAM user account to renew or update your registration. Registration on SAM is a requirement. To obtain additional information and to verify that all required registrations are current, please visit www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM.

If you experience a Grants.gov systems issue (technical problems or glitches with the Grants.gov website) that you believe threatens your ability to complete a submission before the application deadline, please do all of the following:

-Print any error message received -Call the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 for immediate assistance -Contact NOAA using the contact information in section VIII. of this NOFO prior to the close of the competition -Ensure that you obtain a case number regarding your communications with Grants.gov

In the event of a confirmed systems issue, NOAA reserves the right to accept an application

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 30 in an alternate format prior to the application deadline. Problems with an applicant organization’s computer system or equipment are not considered systems issues. Similarly, an applicant’s failure to do the following are not considered systems issues:

-Complete the required registration -Ensure that a registered Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) submits the application -Read an email message with guidance from Grants.gov

D. Submission Dates and Times

Letters of intent (LOIs) should be received by email by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 30,2023

Full applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on February 5, 2024.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Applications under this program are not subject to Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.

F. Funding Restrictions

Fees and profits are disallowed.

G. Other Submission Requirements

All applications should be submitted through grants.gov. If an applicant does not have Internet access, CPO Grants Manager Diane Brown should be contacted by mail at NOAA Climate Program Office (R/CP1), SSMC3, Room 12734, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 for hard copy submission instructions.

Faxed or emailed copies of applications will not be accepted.

V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

1.a. Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Application to the Program Goals (Relevance Review Weight = 70%) (Final Weight= 28%) This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and relevance to CSI/CAP program goals, our partners and decision makers across any of the following levels: federal, tribal, regional, state, or local. This includes: 1) importance and relevance to the priorities of the competition the proposed work is applying to; 2) the regional

Notice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 30 significance of the project or the intellectual contribution; 3) the PI’s record of making their data accessible and useable by the scientific community in the past, and the procedures described in Section IV.B Data/Information Sharing Plan; 4) the applicant’s approach for engaging with decision makers,building networks of relationships to help support decision makers with scientific information, delivering benefits for communities, and proposed project management, and 5) the institutions’ commitment for hosting the CAP team.

1.b. Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, JEDI (Relevance Review Weight = 30%,) (Final Weight= 12%) This criterion also includes a separately scored assessment of the proposed project’s integration of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion principles. This includes how the proposals have incorporated inclusion, diversity, equity and justice into their research team, project management, research projects, methods, engagement process, and/or expected benefits. This also should include the regional significance of the approach, the process for identifying and broadening participation of underrepresented groups, and the projects’ consideration of inequalities and barriers related to climate impacts, resilience, and adaptation in vulnerable communities, and anticipated benefits for the project for frontline communities. Finally, approaches to ensuring transparency, developing metrics of success, and designing evaluation plans for inclusion, diversity, equity and justice will be considered.

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (Technical Review Weight = 70%) (Final Weight =42%) This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether the goals of the competition, including justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion components, will be realized through clear project goals and objectives. This also includes an assessment of how projects are integrated across the CAP for a unified approach, approach to interdisciplinary science, inclusion of social science, plans for moving the scientific results into actionable and implementable products, and an approach for evaluating the societal/regional impact of the CAP team’s activities. The above stated merit score will also include the applicant’s approach to capacity-building and proposed methods for engagement with collaborators and decision-makers.

3. Overall Qualifications of Applicants (Technical Review Weight =20%) (Final Weight = 12%) This criterion assesses whether the applicant team possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and/or administrative resources to accomplish the project. The above stated qualifications score will also include the PIs’ record of collaborating with decision-making communities.

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4. Project Costs (Technical Review Weight = 10%) (Final Weight =6%) This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time frame.

B. Review and Selection Process

Once a full application has been received, an administrative review will be conducted to determine compliance with requirements and completeness of the application. Each competition will be evaluated separately based on criteria provided in section V.A. For each competition, proposals will be reviewed by a panel of experts who will score them for technical merit and relevance. Panels may consider independent peer mail reviews and panelists may consist of both Federal and/or non-Federal experts. Panels will not give consensus advice. We protect the identities of reviewers to the extent permitted by law.

The technical and relevance scoring is done as part of the same panel review with final ranking based on a combined technical/relevance score for each proposal. Proposals with a final score below 3.0 (out of a possible high score of 5) will not be considered for funding.

Each Technical reviewer will provide one score for each of three criteria: technical/scientific merit, overall qualifications of applicants, and project costs for each application. The scores from the Technical reviewers for each application will be combined using the weighting averages to produce a single numerical score. Each relevance reviewer will provide one score for each of the two relevance criteria: a) Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Application to the Program Goals and b) justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

If a mail review and a panel review are both conducted as part of the evaluation, the mail reviews will be provided to the the review panel for use in its deliberations prior to providing its ratings, but the Competition Manager will use only the numerical rank order of the peer review panel to determine the average score for each proposal.

The panel review weighting of scores for the individual criteria is shown in the following table:

Criterion Technical Review Relevance Review Final Weight Weight Weight Importance and Relevance/Applicability 0% 70% 28%

-JEDI 0% 30% 12%

Technical/Scientific Merit 70% 0% 42% Overall Qualifications of Applicants 20% 0% 12% Project Costs 10% 0% 6% Stage Total 100% 100% 100%

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Final weighting for each total score 60% 40% 100%

To determine the final score, the scores from the Technical Review and the Relevance Review will be combined, with a weighting of 60% for the Technical Review score and 40% for the Relevance Review score, leading to the overall weightings for each criterion reported in section V.A above. The final score for each application will be used to determine the numerical rank order of proposals within each Competition.