NOAA-OAR-GOMO-2024-2008289 NOFO Report.pdf

GOMO ARP - Enhancing Arctic Data Management and Development of Data-Driven Products and Tools for Climate Resilience under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

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

II. Award Information 8 A. Funding Availability 8 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 18 E. Intergovernmental Review 18 F. Funding Restrictions 18 G. Other Submission Requirements 18

V. Application Review Information 18 A. Evaluation Criteria 19 B. Review and Selection Process 19 C. Selection Factors 21 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 22

VI. Award Administration Information 22 A. Award Notices 22 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 22 C. Reporting 28

VII. Agency Contacts 28 VIII. Other Information 29

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 29

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: GOMO ARP - Enhancing Arctic Data Management and Development of Data-Driven Products and Tools for Climate Resilience under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-GOMO-2024-2008289

Federal Assistance Listings Number: 11.431, Climate and Atmospheric Research

Dates: Letters of intent (LOIs) for all competitions should be received by email by 5:00 p.m.

Eastern Time on January 11th, 2024

Full Applications: Full applications for all competitions must be submitted through and validated by Grants.gov on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, March 1st, 2024. Due to the limited staffing of federal offices, hardcopy applications will not be accepted.

Funding Opportunity Description: The Alaska and Arctic regions are significantly affected by climate variability and change. This presents the region’s community with significant economic, health, safety, and security challenges, and links to the broader United States through impacts on ecosystems, fisheries abundance, national security, and linked economic activities. As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ocean portfolio within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing (GOMO) Program Office’s Arctic Research Program (ARP) addresses climate challenges and ocean changes in Alaskan waters and beyond by managing research programs that support high-priority science needs for NOAA’s mission. The GOMO ARP Enhancing Arctic Data Management and Development of Data-Driven Products and Tools for Climate Resilience funding opportunity under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), is seeking applications for two competitions in FY24. The goal of Competition 1 is to design, develop, and deliver enhanced data management and data systems to achieve Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) (Wilkinson, et al., 2016 - https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18) data compliance for OAR-supported observation data of Alaska, Alaskan waters, and the Arctic, and will encourage interoperability with other NOAA data services and tools. The goal of Competition 2 is to create data-driven products and tools that leverage prior OAR and ARP research data for better climate

Notice of Federal Funding Page 2 of 29 resilience. As authorized by the IRA, P.L. 117-169, Sections 40004, this NOFO aligns with the direction to “accelerate advances in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments, and dissemination of information to the public.” Within this, Competitions 1 and 2 will implement Arctic data management initiatives and data system solutions that will not only facilitate access to data for researchers and the wider community but also enable the utilization of years of OAR- and ARP-supported Arctic research to develop useful and meaningful products for the Arctic community. In Competition 1, GOMO ARP specifically seeks proposals for scoping, planning, designing, and implementing Arctic data management activities and data system solutions towards FAIR data compliance, and in line with NOAA's data governance requirements that will manage OAR-supported data (see “NOAA data strategy: maximizing the value of NOAA data” https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/37529). In Competition 2, we seek proposals for new efforts focused on the development of products, decision-support tools tailored for communities, or activities to enhance models and forecasts for better climate resilience. Projects should foster open science opportunities and equip communities with the knowledge and resources to maintain and evolve these products and tools, ensuring their longevity and utility.

GOMO ARP will provide technical assistance and guidance to successful applicants throughout the process to ensure that the project design aligns with the identified goals and objectives.

GOMO ARP also requires applicants and awardees to support the principles of diversity and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work; indeed, applicants will be evaluated, in part, on how well principles of diversity and inclusion are addressed. Diversity is defined as a collection of individual attributes that together help organizations achieve objectives. Inclusion is defined as a culture that connects each employee to the organization.

Promoting diversity and inclusion improves creativity, productivity, and the vitality of the climate research community in which NOAA OAR engages.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 3 of 29

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean, and coasts, and to share reliable ocean and climate information for planning, adaptation, and resilience decisions and actions. Within this mission, ensuring Arctic data are FAIR is paramount as data and information form the basis of NOAA’s products and services. With the rapid and profound changes happening in the Arctic due to climate change, ensuring open and efficient delivery of high-quality data not only enhances the scientific understanding of these changes but also improves predictive models and facilitates well-informed policy and decision-making. This can also facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, as well as allow researchers to easily find, access, integrate, and reuse Arctic data for various purposes. In support of these efforts, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents one of the most substantial direct investments to date in our nation's ocean- and climate resilience for coastal communities, encompassing advancements in research, observational systems, and the dissemination of information and data to the public. Through this funding opportunity, we plan to improve data systems and data management of the Pacific Arctic data (including Alaska, Alaskan waters, and the Arctic circle) to help enable a comprehensive, holistic understanding of the complex Pacific Arctic multi-disciplinary system and its global implications, as well as empower communities to respond more effectively to environmental challenges.

NOAA’s Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing (GOMO) Program aims to enhance the monitoring and understanding of the ocean's role in climate, weather, healthy oceans, and resilient coastal communities through coordinated and sustained global ocean observations and research. GOMO’s Arctic Research Program (ARP) focuses on delivering robust scientific information about the Pacific and pan-Arctic marine, sea ice, ecosystems, and their interactions to inform decision-making. The ARP strategic plan underscores the need for comprehensive, accessible, and high-quality Arctic data that are compliant with the FAIR principles. The GOMO-ARP Grant Program manages a competitive process through a Notice of Federal Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcement to make awards supporting high-quality research conducted across the United States and internationally on the pressing Arctic climate science questions.

B. Program Priorities

This funding opportunity announcement is being executed through the NOAA OAR

Notice of Federal Funding Page 4 of 29

GOMO ARP in support of Arctic data management initiatives and data system solutions that will facilitate access to data for researchers and the wider community as well as enable the utilization of previous OAR research data to develop useful and meaningful products and tools for the Arctic community. Within the two competitions, the projects will implement Arctic data management initiatives and data system solutions that will not only facilitate access to data for researchers and the wider community but also enable the utilization of years of OAR-supported Arctic research to develop useful and meaningful products for the Arctic community, while supporting interoperability with other NOAA data services and tools.

The two competitions covered by this announcement are as follows:

1) Enhancing Arctic Data Management for FAIR Compliance

This competition will fund one project that supports data management solutions. The goal of this competition is to increase data access, to underpin the future development of products and tools related to NOAA’s mission in Alaska and the Arctic, and to help researchers and local communities understand, prepare for, adapt to, and build resilience to climate challenges. The priority objectives of this competition are as follows:

- Establish a comprehensive data management system that will align with NOAA’s existing web-accessible data systems to support interdisciplinary Arctic research and to promote the development of climate resilience-focused products or services.

- Support the Arctic research community by establishing a range of data management services. These services may include integrated data submission systems, metadata management, quality control solutions, cloud solutions, and other capabilities for Arctic data that will encourage interoperability with other NOAA data, services, and tools.

- Address the needs of local and Indigenous communities in terms of data access, information, products, or services.

- Promote the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in data management endeavors.

The focus is on establishing a comprehensive data management system to support interdisciplinary Arctic research in line with NOAA's data strategy and governance requirements (“NOAA data strategy: maximizing the value of NOAA data,” https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/37529). Proposals should consider implementing established services to facilitate streamlined access, visualization, and dissemination of Arctic data, ensuring researchers and stakeholders can efficiently retrieve and analyze relevant Arctic datasets. One example of widely-used services utilized by NOAA is ERDDAP services (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/erddap/index.html). Proposals can

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 29 also include activities such as a full data submission system for Arctic data that enables robust archiving to the NOAA NCEI, metadata management solutions, quality control solutions, data DOI minting, and cloud solutions for open science that will encourage interoperability with other NOAA and non-NOAA data, services, and tools. This can also include implementing solutions for data access for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, engaging with relevant stakeholders, and assessing fitness for use of key datasets. This competition is about enhancing Arctic data FAIR compliance, increasing the sharing and use of data, providing service to data producers through, for example, a seamless data submission process, making NOAA OAR and ARP data more findable and discoverable through rich descriptions and metadata, and using analytics capabilities for planning and measuring of impact. Projects should include strategies to increase data sharing, provide measurable analytics metrics, and capabilities for gathering user feedback.

2) Building Climate Resilience through Data-Driven Products and Tools

This competition will fund two innovative projects to develop data-driven products and/or data tools for Arctic communities utilizing existing NOAA, OAR, and ARP publicly available observational data of Alaska and the Arctic region (defined below). Proposed work can also include collaborative science activities and engagement with communities when developing the products and tools. The primary objectives of this competition are as follows:

- Leverage the wealth of available data and information from years of OAR-funded research to stimulate the development and industry adoption of products and services to enhance coastal resilience in the Arctic.

- To create sustainable, practical, and user-friendly products and tools that foster open science opportunities and empower communities with the knowledge and resources to maintain and evolve these tools, ensuring their effectiveness and relevance.

- Encourages active collaboration between data scientists, local communities, and other rightsholders, ensuring solutions are grounded in actual needs.

- Upholding the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) throughout all data management endeavors.

The focus is to empower Arctic communities with the means to understand, anticipate, and adapt to the climatic changes affecting the region. By transforming decades’ worth of NOAA datasets into actionable climate resilience solutions, the ultimate goal is to facilitate informed decision-making and bolster community preparedness. The impact we seek is to help improve the quality of life for Arctic communities as they leverage these products and tools to navigate and mitigate the effects of climate change. Priority will be given to relevant products and tools such as: interactive mapping platforms that display real-time or near real-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 29 time environmental data such as sea ice movement or permafrost melt, to aid in navigation and resource planning; mobile applications that provide climate forecast, traditional knowledge insights, and wildlife migration patterns to support hunting and fishing activities;

decision-support systems that utilize machine learning or artificial intelligence to predict community-level impacts of climate change, helping to prepare for and mitigate risks;

community-driven databases that compile both scientific and Indigenous Knowledge on climate patterns that offer holistic views of environmental changes; among others. We encourage applicants to think broadly and creatively about how NOAA datasets can be used to build climate resilience in the Arctic.

For purposes of these two competitions, the following definitions are provided:

Arctic is defined in “NOAA’s Arctic Vision and Strategy” (2011, https://arctic.noaa.gov/arctic-news/noaas-arctic-vision-and-strategy/) and as used in this document refers to all United States and foreign territory north of the Arctic Circle and all United States territory north and west of the boundary formed by the Porcupine, Yukon, and Kuskokwim Rivers; all contiguous seas, including the Arctic Ocean and the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi Seas; and the Aleutian chain.

Data Management refers to the processes that handle the acquisition, validation, processing, and storage of data to ensure accessibility, reliability, and timeliness for its users. Data management can include a wide range of activities such as standardizing data from various sources, metadata management, and ensuring that the data is stored in a way that can be easily accessed and used by others, now and in the future. In essence, it is about having proper controls and procedures over the lifecycle of data.

Data Products are data sets or information assets that have been transformed into a more usable format, and include additional value beyond just the observational data itself. These are created and designed to be directly used by end-users, decision-makers, or systems.

Data Systems are defined as the technological tools, platforms, or infrastructure used to store, process, and retrieve data. This can include databases, data lakes, and tools that enable better management and usage of data.

Data Tools refer to software, applications, or platforms that enable users to interact with, manipulate, or analyze data. These can range from simple mobile applications to sophisticated software programs that perform complex data analyses, simulations, or modeling. Tools may also include user interfaces for exploring data, algorithms for processing data, or frameworks that support the development of further data products and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 7 of 29 analyses.

Climate resilience is the ability of a community to prepare and plan for, absorb impacts of, recover from, and/or adapt to extreme weather events and longer-term climate impacts.

Climate resilience solutions are products and/or services that integrate data and information services into solutions that address specific climate resilience challenges.

For questions and information about these competitions, please contact the competition managers: Cynthia Garcia (cynthia.garcia@noaa.gov) and Sandy Lucas (sandy.lucas@noaa.gov).

C. Program Authority

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

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

In FY24, approximately $980,000 of available funding for three (3) projects. It is anticipated that most of the awards will be at funding levels between $50,000 and $225,000 per year. Current or previous grantees are eligible to apply for a new award that builds on, but does not replicate, activities covered in existing or previous NOAA awards. Current grantees should not apply for supplementary funding through this announcement.

Funding availability for FY24 competition is provided below:

1. Enhancing Arctic Data Management for FAIR Compliance - Proposals total budget should be no more than $500,000. It is expected that project Years 1 and 2 will be used for scoping, development, and establishment of the data system, and project Years 3 and 4 will be maintenance of the data system, outreach, and interaction of these capabilities to work with NOAA’s existing data systems. The budget in Years 1 and 2 should reflect the significant investment of time and funds in the scoping, development, and establishment of the data system. It is crucial that the funded project under this NOFO is designed to align with NOAA’s existing data management standards and protocols from the outset. Collaboration with NOAA data experts is encouraged to guide the development process, ensuring that the projects adhere to best practices in data management and contribute to a unified NOAA data enterprise. The budget for Years 3 and 4 should reflect the focus on refining the developed data management systems through community feedback and testing. These years can

Notice of Federal Funding Page 8 of 29 concentrate on creating comprehensive documentation and engaging with outreach activities to ensure widespread adoption and usability. A total of 1 award is anticipated.

2. Building Climate Resilience through Data-Driven Products and Tools - Proposals should budget for no more than $140,000 (on average) per year over 2 years. The Year 1 budget should reflect investments on the design and development of innovative, data-driven tools and products that facilitate climate resilience for Arctic communities. Year 2 can focus on enhancing the deliverables through community engagement, user testing, and the establishment of mechanisms for long-term community-driven stewardship and use.

Collaboration with NOAA scientists and data experts and alignment with NOAA’s strategic data initiatives are encouraged throughout the project duration. A total of 2 awards is anticipated.

B. Project/Award Period

1. Enhancing Arctic Data Management for FAIR Compliance - It is anticipated that the award will be 4 years in duration.

2. Building Climate Resilience through Data-Driven Products and Tools - It is anticipated that the awards will be 2 years in duration

C. Type of Funding Instrument

The funding instrument for awards will be a grant. If, however, it is anticipated that NOAA will be substantially involved in the implementation of the project, a cooperative agreement may be awarded. Examples of substantial involvement may include, but are not limited to, applications for collaboration between NOAA scientists and a recipient scientist or contemplation by NOAA of detailing Federal personnel to work on proposed projects.

NOAA will make decisions regarding the use of a cooperative agreement on a case-by-case basis. Funding for contractual arrangements for services and products for delivery to NOAA is not available under this announcement.

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 NOFO. There are no additional funds available from GOMO-ARP for the support of federal partners, however leveraging existing work funded through GOMO-ARP or other sources is

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 29 allowed.

Collaborations and partnerships with NOAA laboratories, cooperative institutes, and centers are encouraged but not required. Federal employees are not eligible to be Lead-PIs.

However, federal employees could be co-PI, co-I, and/or collaborators using in-kind contributions from their agency or existing work funded through other sources. A letter of support acknowledging participation in the proposed project by federal employees or federal contractors must be included in the application.

Due to NOAA’s shortage of high-performance computing and storage for research, investigators are strongly encouraged to seek computing resources, including cloud computing resources, from other sources and should be aware that NOAA resources will most likely not be available for their project. The project description should clearly state whether the project intends to leverage computing resources from NOAA.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

All OAR programs and competitions listed in this NOFO do not have any cost sharing or matching criteria.

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 been encouraged may still submit a full application. While LOIs are strongly encouraged, applicants are not required to submit them and may submit a full application

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 29 even if they have not submitted a LOI.

LOI submission to the identified NOAA Competition Managers should be done by the deadline specified in Section IV.D. below. Competition managers: Cynthia Garcia (cynthia.garcia@noaa.gov) and Sandy Lucas (sandy.lucas@noaa.gov).

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 (2) 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:

- A tentative project title.

- Name(s) and institution(s) of the Lead Principal Investigator(s) and other Principal Investigator(s).

- Statement of the problem.

- Brief summary of work to be completed, methodology to be used, data sets needed or to be collected.

- Approximate cost of the project.

- Relevance to the NOFO 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 (4) weeks after the LOI’s due date 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. Full applications are limited to 35 pages, single spaced, using 12-point font type with one-inch margins on standard 8.5 by 11 inch paper. For full applications with three or more Principal Investigators, the page limit is 40 pages.

The page limit includes:

- Title page

- Abstract

- Results from prior research

- Project Narrative

- Budget narrative

- Budget table

- Vitae

Notice of Federal Funding Page 11 of 29

- Current and pending support

- Associated figures

- References

- Data/Information Sharing Plan

- Statement of Diversity and Inclusion

The full proposal and Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) 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 and are not included in the page count.

The following forms and elements are required in each application.

(1) Title page: The title page shall 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 period. If there are several institutions submitting separate applications (i.e. co-applicants) associated with the same project, the names of all component institutions, along with their lead PI name, e-mail, and amount requested per year must also appear on the title page of all applications that anticipate being funded under the same project.

(2) Abstract: A one-page abstract must be included and should contain the project title, an introduction to the problem, the 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, as well as NOAA’s mission and goals stated in section I.A. For multiple applications associated with the same project, the abstract must be identical in all applications. Failure to include this paragraph can result in the application being denied without additional review.

(3) Results from prior research: The results of each prior research project led by the Principal Investigator(s) during the last three years relevant to the proposed effort (not limited to NOAA funding only) should be summarized in brief paragraphs.This section can be used to describe prior projects related to the competition topics that might not be considered

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 29 traditional western research. 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.

This section should not exceed two pages. For multiple applications associated with the same project, this section must be identical in all applications.

(4) Project Narrative: The proposed project must be completely described, including identification of the problem, objectives, proposed methodology, and relevance to the Competition to which you are submitting the proposal and to NOAA’s mission and goals.

Benefits of the proposed project to the general public and the scientific community should be discussed. The statement of work, including references, figures, and other visual materials, must not exceed 20 pages of text. Applications from three or more investigators may include a statement of work containing up to 25 pages of overall project description. For multiple applications associated with the same project, all applications must have an identical statement of work, including a clear statement of the roles and responsibilities of each applicant.

(5) Data/Information Sharing Plan: 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 on what the plan should contain.

The Responsible NOAA Officials for questions regarding this guidance and for verifying accessibility of data produced by funding recipients: Cynthia Garcia (cynthia.garcia@noaa.gov) and Sandy Lucas (sandy.lucas@noaa.gov).

Data Accessibility: Programs require that public access to grant/contract-produced data be enabled in one of the following ways (select one):

- Funding recipients are planning to submit data to NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which will provide public access and permanent archiving. NCEI supports the creation of adequate metadata and data ingest into long-term repository holdings using tools such as Send2NCEI (www.nodc.noaa.gov/s2n, for small volume, one-time only data collections) and Advanced Tracking and Resource tool for Archive Collections or ATRAC (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/atrac, for recurring and/or large volume data collections).

- An existing publicly accessible online data server at the funded institution is to be used to host this data (described in the proposal).

- Data are to be submitted to a public data repository appropriate to this scientific domain (described in the proposal).

- Proposal may request permission not to make data publicly accessible (proposal to

Notice of Federal Funding Page 13 of 29 explain rationale for lack of public access, and if funded, approval to be obtained from Responsible NOAA Officials listed above).

- Archival of data at an established Cloud Computing facility, if cost-effective and reliable.

Technical recommendations: Programs require the following data format(s), data access method(s), or other technical guidance:

- Data must be made available in a common machine-readable non-proprietary format with appropriate metadata and clear labels and descriptors. Use of netCDF is encouraged.

- Data should be available via public and discoverable data portals, as described above, under ‘Data Accessibility’.

- At a minimum, investigators should plan to archive and make available modeling data used in producing any figures in publications from research supported by their grants, as well as data that support conclusions reached in papers or stated publicly. Only those data which are necessary for demonstrating reproducibility and permits verification of published results need to be archived and made public unless otherwise required as part of the solicitation.

- Data should be accompanied by ISO metadata with all mandatory elements completed, including any additional information, such as data quality, acquisition software settings, etc., necessary for an end user to completely understand the dataset and be able to use it.

- In situ observational data collected during the field campaign should be made freely available to the public in a timely fashion, preferably within one year, but no later than the publication of a peer-reviewed article based on the data, or two years after the data are collected and verified, or two years after the original end date of the grant, whichever is soonest unless a delay has been authorized by GOMO ARP.

- Model data should be made available for at least 3 years after it is initially published or made otherwise publicly available.

Resources: Proposals are permitted to include the costs of data sharing and/or archiving in their budgets within solicitation-specified proposal cost limit.

(6) Statement of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I): GOMO ARP recognizes that it has a particular and unique opportunity to support NOAA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion by taking an intentional step that encourages program applicants to consider diversity and inclusion as part of their scientific projects. This action has the potential to make an impact on not only the diversity and inclusion in science at NOAA, but also beyond the agency. In this section, describe how well the proposed activity broadens the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.), including, but

Notice of Federal Funding Page 14 of 29 not limited to, how the project advances the organization or institution’s commitment to diversity and advances full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

If funded activities aligned with diversity and inclusion are being proposed, please include the description of those within the project narrative and budget justification. Examples could include ways in which the project will specifically: recruit or retain under-represented groups, collaborate with minority-serving institutions, foster an inclusive and safe environment, and share data and/or information in ways that it is accessible to minority-serving institutions. Applicants are also encouraged to highlight past work in D&I and the value those experiences will add to the proposal.

(7) Budget Table and Narrative:

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

For multiple applications associated with the same project, the Lead Principal Investigator should include a table that displays the total budget for all partners. All partners, including the Lead Principal Investigator and any co-PIs from Federal Institutions, should include a separate budget for their portion of the project.

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, specifically Subpart E- Cost Principles,2 CFR 200.430 (i)(1)(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 reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non- Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities."

(8) Federal Budget Forms: Budget numbers corresponding with the descriptions contained in the statement of work 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 1, Notice of Federal Funding Page 15 of 29

2, 3, and 4 in separate columns in Section B on page 1 of the SF424A. (Note that this revised 424A Section B format is a NOAA requirement that is not reflected in the Instructions for the SF 424A). Note that these forms are not part of the required page limit. All budget items need to be rounded up to the nearest dollar to avoid discrepancies.

For multiple applications associated with the same project, each application requesting funding from NOAA needs to complete the federal budget forms for their specific institution.

(9) 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 a part of the page limit.

(10) Vitae: Abbreviated curriculum vitae are requested with each application for PIs and Co- PIs. Reference lists should be limited to all relevant publications in the last three years with up to five other relevant papers. For multiple applications associated with the same project, each application should include an identical vitae for all applications.

(11) Current and pending support: For each 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. The list of support will be included in the page limit for the proposals.

For multiple applications associated with the same project, each application should include identical current and pending support information for all applications.

Letters of Support are not required. However, they may be used to supplement information included in the Full Proposal if submitted as part of the application, they will be taken into consideration when evaluating the proposal. For example, unfunded collaborations should be documented in the body of the Full Proposal (the sections included in the page count), and a Letter of Support from the unfunded collaborator could be included as a supplement. In another example, if the proposal includes key stakeholders or users, this should be documented in the Full Proposal, and a supplementary letter of support could be included to

Notice of Federal Funding Page 16 of 29 convey the value of the project to the stakeholder or user.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Questionnaire: This program does not require any NEPA questions to be answered as part of the application.

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

As stated in the Code of Federal Regulations, 2 CFR 200 Appendix I.D.3: “Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) — Required… each applicant (unless the applicant is an individual or Federal awarding agency that is exempted 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

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Grants.gov website) that you believe threatens your ability to complete a submission before the application deadline, please do all 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 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) for all competitions should be received by email by 5:00 p.m.

Eastern Time on January 11, 2024.

Full Applications: Full applications for all competitions must be received by 5:00 p.m.

Eastern Time, on March 01, 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 not permitted.

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.

V. Application Review Information

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A. Evaluation Criteria

1. Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Application to the Program Goals (Stage 1 Weight=0%) (Stage 2 Weight=100%) (Final Weight=25%)

This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, state, tribal, or local activities. For the GOMO ARP grant program competitions in this NOFO, this includes importance and relevance to the program objectives in Section I.A., program priorities of the selected Competition(s) in Section I.B., the Statement of Diversity and Inclusion described in Section IV.B(6), the PI’s record of making their data accessible and usable by the scientific community in the past, and the present Data Sharing Plan described in Section IV.B(5) will also be considered when evaluating the importance and relevance of the application.

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (Stage 1 Weight=70%) (Stage 2 Weight=0%) (Final Weight=52.5%)

This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative and if the methods are appropriate. The criterion also assesses whether the goals of the Competition will be realized through clear project goals and objectives. (i.e., What is the intrinsic value and maturity of the subject and the project proposed as they relate to the specific priorities?)

3. Overall Qualifications of Applicants (Stage 1 Weight=20%) (Stage 2 Weight=0%) (Final Weight=15%)

This criterion assesses whether the applicant team possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and/or administrative resources to accomplish the project.

4. Project Costs (Stage 1 Weight = 10%) (Stage 2 Weight = 0%) (Final Weight =7.5%)

This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time frame, and the degree of return of investment (i.e., useful results versus proposed costs).

B. Review and Selection Process

Once a full application has been received, an administrative review will first be conducted to determine compliance with requirements and completeness of the application.

The selection reviews will then take place in two stages. In Stage 1, independent peer mail reviewers and/or independent peer panel reviewers consisting of both Federal and/or non-

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Federal experts will evaluate applications using three of the four criteria described above:

technical/scientific merit, overall qualifications of applicants, and project costs. Relevance will be assessed separately in Stage 2. The panel will not give consensus advice. We protect the identities of reviewers to the extent permitted by law.

During Stage 1, each 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 reviewers for each application will be combined using the weighting averages to produce a single numerical score for Stage 1. Occasionally a reviewer may, due to lack of familiarity in a particular area, choose not to score a particular application. Proposals that score a 2.5 or higher (out of a possible high score of 5) in Stage 1 will proceed to Stage 2.

If only a mail peer review is conducted for stage 1, proposals that score a 2.5 or higher (out of a possible high score of 5) in Stage 1 will proceed to Stage 2.

If a mail review and a panel review are both conducted for Stage 1, the mail reviews will be provided to the Stage 1 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. Proposals that score a 2.5 or higher (out of a possible high score of 5) in Stage 1 will proceed to Stage 2.

In Stage 2, scores for Importance/Relevance and Applicability of Application to the Program Goals will be determined by a second panel composed of either Federal or a combination of Federal and non-Federal partners. The applications and their associated scores from Stage 1 will be provided to the Stage 2 panel. Each panel reviewer will provide a relevance score for each application that moved forward from Stage 1. The Stage 2 panel will not give consensus advice.

Mail Reviewers and Panelists will use the following standardized scoring rubric.

5 - Excellent - Probably will fall among top 10% of proposals in the subfield; highest priority for support. This category should be used only for truly outstanding proposals.

4 - Very Good - Probably will fall among top 1/3 of proposals in this subfield; should be supported 3 - Good - Probably will fall among middle 1/3 of proposals in this subfield; worthy of support.

2 - Fair - Probably will fall among lowest 1/3 of proposals in this subfield.

1 - Poor - Proposal has serious deficiencies; should not be supported.

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The Stage 1 and Stage 2 weighting of scores for the individual criteria are shown in the following table:

Criterion Stage 1 Weight Stage 2 Weight Final Weight Importance and Relevance/Applicability 0% 100% 25% Technical/Scientific Merit 70% 0% 52.5% Overall Qualifications of Applications 20% 0% 15% Project Costs 10% 0% 7.5% Final Score Stage Total 100% 100% 100%

To determine the final score, the scores from Stage 1 and Stage 2 will be combined, with a weighting of 75% for the Stage 1 score and 25% for the Stage 2 score, leading to the overall weightings for each criterion shown in the table above. The final score for each application will be used to determine the numerical rank order of proposals within each Competition.

The Competition Manager will recommend applications to the Selecting Official in numerical rank order unless a recommendation out of rank order is justified based upon any of the factors listed in the following section.