NOAA-OAR-OAP-2019-2005791 FFO Report updated.pdf

Regional Ocean Acidification Observing Optimization Study (OOS-OA19)

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 8 B. Project/Award Period 9 C. Type of Funding Instrument 9

III. Eligibility Information 11 A. Eligible Applicants 11 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 12 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 12

IV. Application and Submission Information 12 A. Address to Request Application Package 12 B. Content and Form of Application 12 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 19 D. Submission Dates and Times 19 E. Intergovernmental Review 20 F. Funding Restrictions 20 G. Other Submission Requirements 20

V. Application Review Information 21 A. Evaluation Criteria 21 B. Review and Selection Process 22 C. Selection Factors 24 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 25

VI. Award Administration Information 25 A. Award Notices 25 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 25 C. Reporting 29

VII. Agency Contacts 29 VIII. Other Information 29

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 1 of 30

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL 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: Regional Ocean Acidification Observing Optimization Study (OOS-

OA19)

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-OAP-2019-2005791

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.017, Ocean Acidification Program

(OAP)

Dates: The required letters of intent (LOI) for the OOS-OA FFO should be sent by e-mail to Erica.h.ombres@noaa.gov and must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on February 5, 2019. Full applications must be received and validated by Grant.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 15th, 2019. Electronic or paper copies received after the deadline will not be considered, and paper copy applications will be returned to the sender. NOAA will accept paper applications subject to further details described in this Announcement that are postmarked or provided to a commercial carrier with tracking number and receipt on or before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on March 15th, 2019. Private metered postmarks will not be accepted. Applicants submitting by paper are responsible for tracking their applications and should notify the Program Manager in Section VII of this Announcement that they are submitting by paper.

When developing your submission timeline, keep in mind the following information necessary to submit an application on Grants.gov: (1) a free annual registration process in the electronic System for Award Management (SAM) may take between three and five business days or as long as several weeks, as described in Section IV.G. of this Announcement, and (2) if you submit an application via Grants.gov, you will receive a series of email notifications for up to two business days before learning via validation or rejection whether NOAA has received your application.

Funding Opportunity Description: The NOAA/OAR/Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) is soliciting proposals for studies investigating ocean acidification monitoring strategies that would offer an observing system design that best characterizes and tracks ocean acidification within U.S. Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) optimized towards characterizing the conditions most relevant to ecologically and economically important marine species. Funding is contingent upon the availability of Federal appropriations. It is anticipated that projects funded under this

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 2 of 30 announcement will have a September 1, 2019 start date.

Total funding for this research: Applicants should submit proposals not to exceed $500,000 per year for projects generally 2-3 years in duration, with a total multi-year budget not to exceed $1,500,000 (Option 1: $350,000 per year for two years; Option 2: Up to $500,000 per year for three years). Should funds become available for this program, up to approximately $2,000,000 may be available in Fiscal Year 2019 for the first year of about 2-5 projects with expected start dates of September 1, 2019. Funding for this program is contingent upon availability of funds, which may not have been appropriated at the time of this announcement. While projects are expected to be 2-3 years in scope, funding may be spread over 4 federal fiscal years depending on how project timelines align with federal budgets. For proposals which involve a Regional Association of the Integrated Ocean Observing System, NOAA IOOS will contribute additional funding to cover RA costs to participate (up to 10% of the total project budget per year, over and above the OAP funding thresholds described above).

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 3 of 30

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) was established by the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act. OAP coordinates research, monitoring, and other activities to improve our understanding of how the chemistry of the ocean is changing, how variable that change is by region, and what impacts these changes are having on marine organisms, people, and the local, regional, and national blue economies. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the world’s oceans, share that knowledge, and conserve coastal and marine ecosystems. The OAP plays an integral role in NOAA’s mission by monitoring changes in ocean chemistry, measuring the biological response of ecologically and economically important species, assessing the socioeconomic impacts of the ocean chemistry changes and organismal responses, promoting ocean acidification educational opportunities; engaging in national public outreach activities related to ocean acidification and its impacts; and coordinating ocean acidification activities with other agencies and international ocean science bodies.

The overarching purpose of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is to address regional and national needs for ocean information, to gather reliable data on key coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes variables, and to ensure timely and sustained dissemination and availability of these data. U.S. IOOS is a national, regional and private-sector partnership working to enhance the nation’s ability to collect, disseminate, and use ocean information. U.S. IOOS delivers the data and information needed to increase understanding of our oceans and coasts, so decision makers can take action to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect the environment.

Increased observations are needed to improve the data and information delivered. To increase the range and quality of observations available, smart investments are needed to foster the development and deployment of observing systems. These investments will, in turn, advance the U.S. IOOS Program’s ability to address seven societal goals: 1. Improve predictions of climate change and weather 2. Improve the safety and efficiency of maritime operations 3. Improve forecasts of natural hazards 4. Improve homeland security 5.

Minimize public health risks 6. Protect and restore healthy coastal ecosystems 7. Sustain living marine resources.

Ocean Acidification:

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rapidly increasing for over 250 years, since the onset of the industrial revolution. The world's oceans act as a sink for a portion of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans, and this absorption is causing changes in

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 4 of 30 ocean chemistry including a reduction in surface ocean pH, otherwise known as ocean acidification. A growing number of laboratory experiments have demonstrated that ocean acidification adversely affects many marine organisms, especially those that construct their shell material from calcium carbonate. Ocean acidification has the potential to threaten the future health of the world's oceans and the ecosystem services it provides.

To address ocean acidification and related ecological, economic, and societal impacts, the U.S. Congress enacted the FOARAM Act in 2009. The FOARAM Act requires NOAA to respond to this pressing issue through research and monitoring. Several states including Washington, Maine, New York and Maryland have also passed legislation to understand the impacts of OA on their resources.

The federal government identifies its priorities for national and regional ocean acidification research in the Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification.

(ftp://ftp.oar.noaa.gov/OA/IWGOA%20documents/IWGOA%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf).

This announcement specifically addresses the priorities listed in Themes 1 (Monitoring) and 3 (Modeling) which include a specific short-term goal to “use models to guide observational sampling strategies” including Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) “to plan the most effective and efficient design for sampling.”

NOAA priorities for ocean acidification research are informed by the NOAA Ocean and Great Lakes Acidification Research Plan (https://oceanacidification.noaa.gov/_iwgoa/ResearchStrategy.aspx). This announcement specifically addresses the priorities for continuing the development of a U.S. National Ocean Acidification Observing Network, which serves as the U.S. contribution to the international Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON; http://www.goa-on.org/) and the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS; http://www.goosocean.org/).

NOAA, OAR, and OAP encourage applicants and awardees to support the principles of diversity and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. 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 research community in which OAP engages.

B. Program Priorities

The NOAA/OAR/Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) is soliciting proposals for studies to evaluate how to optimize sampling strategies to improve observing system design for characterizing ocean acidification (e.g. carbonate mineral saturation state, carbonate ion concentration, pH, etc.) on subseasonal to multidecadal time-scales. NOAA, which is a major contributor to the US National OA Observing Network, currently deploys a portfolio of observing technologies which include both fixed and mobile autonomous assets as well as regional ship-based biogeochemical surveys to track ocean acidification across a range of

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 5 of 30 time-scales in an effort to better inform our understanding of how ocean acidification could impact U.S. living marine resources and the nations blue economy. Given the opportunistic locations of the current observing assets (many deployed to take advantage of leverage from other missions), configuration of the network may be suboptimal for the intended purpose of characterizing the in situ carbonate dynamics most relevant to marine resources.

Ideally an observing network should consider not only surface conditions, but also conditions at depths where sensitive organisms (particularly early life stages) may reside and at time-scales which capture not only long-term trends, but also seasonal dynamics and short-term extremes which can be significant in coastal and estuarine waters. Further development of a U.S. National Ocean Acidification Observing Network will benefit from an objective evaluation of augmentations that would reduce uncertainties in modeled fields of ocean acidification parameters. An optimized design should maximize the usefulness of the data obtained, maximize the synergy with existing observational assets, and minimize the operational costs of deploying and maintaining such a network. Originally developed for optimizing meteorological observations, model-based Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) represent one possible approach for optimizing an ocean acidification observing network. In recent years, the approach has been increasingly applied to ocean observing systems including improving our ability to monitor ocean carbon flux (e.g. Majkut et al., 2014). Other approaches have adopted the methodologies of optimal experimental design (e.g. best linear unbiased estimator, Ripley, 1987) which was employed to optimize fixed observational assets in a coastal observatory (Frolov et al., 2008). Both approaches (or others) may be considered in this call.

Conducting such an analysis demands that the primary modes of variability of a given system have been sufficiently resolved to generate a high-resolution nature run. A nature run is the output of a model which incorporates the best available knowledge on physics and biogeochemisty, calibrated to the system of interest, and validated against the best available data. The nature run should ideally estimate the dynamic ranges from subseasonal to multi-decadal. The simulated outputs from this nature run then serve as a reference field such that simulated observations using various sampling strategies can be evaluated. This evaluation involves assessing the error characteristics intrinsic to the simulated observations through a comparison of the nature run versus the analyzed field derived from the simulated observations. In some regions, the requisite variability may not be sufficiently constrained from available observing data to derive a suitable nature run. Therefore, this funding opportunity includes two options: 1) a regionally targeted model-based objective assessment of observing system design specific to ocean acidification or 2) a regionally targeted field intensive involving the targeted short-term deployment of observing assets to better characterize the dominant modes of variability (see below).

Applicants must choose ONLY one of the following two project options:

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 6 of 30

Option 1: Observing System Optimization Study: $350,000 per year for up to two years.

Proposals submitted under this option will target U.S. Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) regions for which sufficient data currently exist to allow for a fully consistent three-dimensional analysis of ocean acidification variables for the purpose of evaluating how best to use monitoring assets to optimally characterize regionally integrated fields of interest at subseasonal to decadal time-scales. It should also assess the existing OA observing assets in the region to evaluate potential gaps or redundancies. Examples of OA parameters of interest include 3-D mapped distributions of: carbonate mineral saturation state, calcium carbonate ion activity product, pH, total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, time-of-emergence indicators (time period required to discern a trend amid high-frequency variability), etc. Proposals submitted under this option should directly address one or more of the priority elements (see below). For this call, fields of interest should be optimized for spatial (including vertical) and temporal (e.g. subseasonal to decadal) resolutions that are relevant to species and life-stages that exhibit a vulnerability to ocean acidification and that are regionally important (either economically or socially).

Option 2: Regional Field Intensive: Up to $500,000 per year for no more than 3 years with an overall three year total of no more than 1,500,000. For U.S. LMEs that lack the observational data to allow for the generation of a suitable nature run, the NOAA OAP will consider proposals for a three-year field intensive specifically aimed at characterizing the subseasonal to decadal variability which contributes the dominant error to the ocean acidification parameters of interest. PIs should include a justification for why the field intensive is needed in their region. Such intensives are envisioned to adopt the short-term (not to exceed two years) deployment and subsequent recovery of appropriate observing assets along with data analysis necessary to establish the prerequisites for conducting an OSSE should subsequent funding become available at a later date. In addition, the project should also produce a detailed methodology document (i.e. standard practices guide) detailing the approach adopted. Such a document could generically inform similar studies conducted in other LMEs should similar field intensives be advanced in the future. While the outcomes from projects funded under option 2 fall short of directly delivering on the priority elements (see below), they should be conducted to ensure maximum success of a subsequent OSSE (option 1) carried out under a future opportunity. As such, it’s imperative that the applicants include explicit partnerships with relevant modeling researchers to ensure they are configuring the field intensive and data outputs in a manner that is most readily usable in models relevant to that LME.

Regardless of which option is chosen, all projects are required to convene an Advisory Committee (at least five people) made up of modelers, observing experts, resource managers or other potential end users of the optimized observing system. The Advisory Committee will ensure outcomes of the project are relevant to the users of an optimized observing system.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 7 of 30

Priority Elements The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program is accepting proposals that address one or more of these priority elements:

1. The studies proposed for this call should target one of the following U.S. Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs; www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecosystems/lme/ and www.lmehub.net) and can extend from estuaries and coastal river mouths seaward to the outer margins of major currents or the edge of continental shelves. Specifically, the following U.S. LMEs are of interest: Northeast (NOAA LME 7), Southeast (NOAA LME 6), Gulf of Mexico (NOAA LME 5), Caribbean Sea (NOAA LME 12), California Current (NOAA LME 3), Gulf of Alaska (NOAA LME 2), Bering Sea and the Pacific Islands Ecosystem Complex.

Alternatively, proposals may be considered for high-priority sub-regions of a U.S. LME in cases where model fidelity is best optimized at finer scales such as in important major estuaries (e.g., Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay);

2. Evaluate the capability of existing ocean acidification assets (inclusive of applicable federal and state time-series) within the LME of interest to adequately characterize the magnitude and extent of acidification at regional scales; and

3. Explore alternative configurations of a regional ocean acidification observing network that would minimize errors in 3-D mapped fields of interest, maximize synergies with the existing observational assets, and minimize the operational costs.

C. Program Authority

Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act 33 U.S.C. Sec. 3701- 3708 directs the Secretary of Commerce to conduct research and monitoring and authorizes the Secretary to establish an ocean acidification program in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) consistent with the strategic research plan, including:

(1) the establishment of a long-term monitoring program of ocean acidification utilizing existing global and national ocean observing assets, and adding instrumentation and sampling stations as appropriate to the aims of the research program; and (2) incorporating a competitive merit-based process for awarding grants.

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Applicants should submit proposals not to exceed $500,000 per year for projects generally 2-3 years in duration, with a total multi-year budget not to exceed $1,500,000 (Option 1: $350,000 per year for two years; Option 2: $500,000 per year for up to three years). If funds become available for this program, up to approximately $2,000,000 may be

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 8 of 30 available in fiscal year 2019 for the first year of about 2-5 projects with expected start dates of September 1, 2019. Funding for this program is contingent upon availability of funds, which may not have been appropriated at the time of this announcement. Funding may be spread over 4 federal fiscal years depending on how project timelines align with federal budgets. For proposals which involve a Regional Association of the Integrated Ocean Observing System, NOAA IOOS will contribute additional funding to cover RA costs to participate (up to 10% of the total project budget per year, over and above the OAP funding thresholds described above).

B. Project/Award Period

Full applications may cover a project/award period up to 3 years, but shorter-term project proposals are also encouraged.

Awards may be funded incrementally, generally on an annual basis, but, once awarded, those awards will not compete for funding in subsequent years. Once approved, full applications are not required for the continuation of the award in out years. While applicants are not required to divide Federal assistance project activities into annual increments based on appropriations law, this approach may be constructive given the possibility that funding may not be available in subsequent years.

Funding for each year's activity is contingent upon the availability of funds from Congress, satisfactory performance, and is at the sole discretion of the agency.

During the implementation phase of research projects funded under this announcement, regardless of the funding mechanism used, OAP Program Managers will analyze financial statements and progress reports for each continuing award, and will have dialogue with the Principal Investigators (PI) and Authorized Representatives of the recipient institutions to discuss research progress and expected time lines for the remaining award period. If NOAA experiences budget reductions in future fiscal years, the amount of funding provided in any given fiscal year will be determined on a project-specific basis by the remaining tasks to be completed, the overall pace of the research and the length of time remaining on the award and/or across the board reductions based on the overall funds available.

Regardless of the budget for any given fiscal year, Program Managers will consider the length of time remaining for each project, the amount of funds available, the tasks to be completed in the upcoming fiscal year, the pace of research, and any delayed progress relative to that originally proposed, before determining the funding amount in any given fiscal year.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

In an effort to maximize the use of limited resources, applications from non-Federal, non-NOAA Federal and NOAA Federal applicants will be evaluated in the same competition, with different funding instruments applied depending on the type of applicant.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 9 of 30

The funding instrument for a research application selected for funding from a non-Federal researcher is expected to be a cooperative agreement. A cooperative agreement is appropriate when substantial Federal government involvement is anticipated. This means that the recipient can expect substantial agency collaboration, participation, or intervention in project performance. Substantial involvement exists when: responsibility for the management, control, direction, or performance of the project is shared by the assisting agency and the recipient; or the assisting agency has the right to intervene (including interruption or modification) in the conduct or performance of project activities. "Substantial involvement” will be coordinated and communicated by OAP Program Managers, and can include collaboration and participation by NOAA researchers, as well as OAP Program Manager involvement in PI meetings, setting up management advisory groups, development of management transition plans, and communication of project results.

If the non-Federal applicant is at an institution that has a NOAA Cooperative Institute (CI), it is allowed to submit applications that reference the CI by attaching a cover letter to the application stating its desire to have the application associated with the CI. This letter should specify the name of the cooperative institute, the CI cooperative agreement number, and the NOAA-approved research theme and task that applies to the proposal. The application will use the Facilities & Administrative (F&A, or indirect cost) rate associated with the main CI agreement. If the application is selected for funding, NOAA will notify the university that a separate award will be issued with its own award number. However, the award will include two Specific Award Conditions (SACs): (1) the existing University/NOAA Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) would be incorporated by reference into the terms of the competitive award, and (2) any performance report(s) for the competitive project must follow the timetable of the funding program and be submitted directly to the funding program.

Report(s) will be copied to the CI's administrator when due, to be attached to the main cooperative agreement progress report as an appendix. This will allow the CI to coordinate all the projects submitted through the CI, since the terms of these awards will specify that this is a CI project via the MOA.

If the non-Federal applicant is at an institution that has a NOAA approved Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU), it is allowed to submit applications that reference the CESU. If the applicant is a member of one of these CESUs and is interested in using its CESU status, it may state its wishes in a cover letter to the application stating its desire to have the application associated with the CESU. This letter should specify the name of the CESU. Of the seventeen CESUs across the nation, NOAA is a member of ten: North and West Alaska, California, Hawaii-Pacific Islands, South Florida-Caribbean, Gulf Coast, Piedmont-South Atlantic Coast, Chesapeake Watershed, North Atlantic Coast, Pacific Northwest, and Great Plains. If an applicant is associated with a CESU NOAA is not a member of, the application must be submitted through their institution without reference to CESU status.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 10 of 30

The following criteria must be met for NOAA to use the established partnerships with CESUs:

The proposed funding opportunity must fit within the objectives of the National CESU Network Program outlined below:

• To provide research, technical assistance, and education to federal land management, environmental, and research agencies and their partners in biological, physical, social, cultural, and engineering disciplines needed to address natural and cultural resource management issues at multiple scales and in an ecosystem context.

• The proposed funding opportunity must fit the intent of the Cooperative and Joint Agreements, which means:

• The research partnership will carry out or stimulate an activity (data, products or services) for a public purpose; and

• NOAA will be significantly involved in the work.

Previous research completed by a local CI will be considered in decisions made to issue an award to a CESU.

The funding instrument for a selected application from an eligible NOAA Federal applicant will be an intra-agency transfer of funds.

The funding instrument for a selected application from a non-NOAA Federal applicant will be through an inter-agency transfer of funds, provided legal authority exists for the Federal applicant to receive funds from another agency. Non-NOAA Federal applicants that intend to be the lead institution must call Erica Ombres 301-734-1072 to discuss technical details.

PLEASE NOTE: Before non-NOAA Federal applicants may be funded, they must demonstrate that they have applicable legal authority for an interagency transfer of funds.

Because this announcement is not proposing to procure goods or services from applicants, the Economy Act (31 USC 1535) is not an appropriate legal basis. Support may be solely through OAP or partnered with other Federal offices and agencies.

The intra- and inter-agency transfers of funds are not Federal assistance (grants or cooperative agreements), and the policies described in this Announcement applicable to Federal assistance awards do not apply to Federal entities receiving intra- and inter-agency transfers of funds. Refer to the Agency Contact officials in Section VII. for more information.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants for Federal financial assistance in this competition are institutions of higher education, other non-profits, state, local, Indian Tribal Governments, for-profit organizations, U.S. Territories and Federal agencies that possess the statutory authority to

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 11 of 30 receive transfers of funds. DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and encourages applications involving women and minority individuals and groups. In addition, DOC/NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas. DOC/NOAA encourages applications involving any of the above institutions to apply.

Please note that:

(1) PIs should be employees of an eligible entity listed above; and applications should be submitted through that entity. Non-Federal researchers should comply with their institutional requirements for application submission.

(2) Non-NOAA Federal applicants will be required to submit certifications or documentation showing that they have specific legal authority to accept funds for this type of research.

(3) Foreign researchers must apply as subawards or contracts through an eligible US entity.

(4) Non-Federal researchers affiliated with NOAA-University Cooperative/Joint Institutes will be funded through cooperative agreements.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

None

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

Letters of intent (LOIs) are required. A full proposal that did not submit a LOI on time will not be considered and will be returned to the proposer without review.

Each application must substantially comply with the sixteen elements listed under Content and Form of Application, Required Elements, (1) - (16), or it will be returned to sender without further consideration. A checklist with the required and requested application elements can be found in Section VIII

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Erica Ombres 1315 East West Highway

SSMC3 12806

Silver Spring MD 20910 email: erica.h.ombres@noaa.gov

B. Content and Form of Application

1. Letter of Intent (LOI)

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 12 of 30

LOIs are required. Any full proposals submitted without a prior timely LOI submission will not be considered. The purpose of the LOI process is to provide information to potential applicants on the relevance of their proposed project and the likelihood of it being competitive in advance of preparing a full application. LOIs should be emailed to Erica.h.ombres@noaa.gov by 11:59pm Eastern time January 7, 2019. Full applications will be encouraged only for LOIs deemed relevant; however, the final decision to submit a full proposal is made by the investigator. If you plan on working with a regional IOOS association please contact the regional association well in advance of the LOI or proposal deadline (no less than three weeks before) to allow for appropriate coordination and collaboration. The LOI should provide a concise description of the proposed work and its relevance to program priorities. The LOI should be no more than two pages (front only) in length, single spaced in 12-point font with 1-inch margins and should include in order the components listed below. If all these components are not included, the LOI will not be considered.

(1) Tentative project title.

(2) Name(s) phone number(s), email address(s) and institution(s) of all Principal Investigator(s), and specification of which individual is the Lead Principal Investigator.

(3) Approximate cost of the project.

(4) Statement of which option the proposers will pursue and why it is the best option for that region.

(5) Brief summary of work to be completed, methodology to be used, and the plan for engaging the user community, especially modelers.

The OAP Program Manager will review each LOI to determine whether it is responsive to the Program's goals, as advertised in this notice. Letters or emails to encourage or discourage a full application are scheduled to be sent out three weeks after the LOI due date.

Late LOIs will not be considered and any associated full applications will not be considered.

2. Full Applications Required Elements:

Collaborative Proposals - If more than one institution is collaborating in a project awarded funds, the lead institution will be responsible for distributing funds to the partner institutions with the exception of Federal partners. Federal partners will be funded with either intra- or inter- agency agreements initiated by OAP. Collaborating institutions expected to receive funds must be budgeted as sub-awards or contracts. Unfunded collaborators may also participate.

Each application must substantially comply with the following sixteen elements to be forwarded for merit review. The Summary, Title page, Abstract, Project Description, References, Biographical Sketch, and Budget Justification must be single spaced in 12 point

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 13 of 30 font with 1-inch margins. The Collaborators List must be an Excel spread sheet. The sixteen elements are as follows:

(1) Standard Form 424. The applicant must submit the Standard Form, SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance,” to indicate the total amount of funding proposed for the whole project period. This form is to be the cover page for the original application and is the first required form in the grants.gov application package.

(2) Summary title page. One-page maximum. The Summary title page identifies the project's title, starting with the brief identifier: OOS-OA19 and the PI’s name and affiliation, complete address, phone and E-mail information. The requested funding amounts for each fiscal year should be included on the Summary title page.

(3) One-page abstract/project summary. The summary (abstract) should appear on a separate single page, headed with the proposal title, institution(s), investigator(s), total proposed cost, and budget period. It should be written in the third person. The summary is used to help compare proposals quickly and allows the respondents to summarize their key points in their own words. Project summaries of applications that receive funding may be posted on program-related websites. The project summary should include an introduction of the problem, rationale, scientific objectives and/or hypotheses to be tested, and a brief summary of work to be completed.

(4) Project Description. The description of the proposed project must include narratives of the Proposed Research (elements i through iv), The Advisory Committee structure and function (element v), and the Data Management Plan (element vi). The description of the proposed project must not be more than 15 pages for elements (i) through (v) and an additional 2 pages for the Data Management Plan (vi). The Proposed Research Narrative should be thorough and explicitly indicate its relevance to the program goals and scientific priorities by:

(i) Identifying the topic that is being addressed by the proposal, the region proposed for work, and the relevance of the work to advancing/optimizing OA observing systems;

(ii) Describing the proposed scientific objectives and research activities in relation to the present state of knowledge in the field and in relation to previous and current work by the proposing principal investigator(s);

(iii) Discussing how the proposed project lends value to the program goals;

(iv) Identifying the function of each PI. The Lead PI (s) will be responsible for communicating with the Federal Program Manager on all pertinent verbal or written information. He/She may also be a primary liaison to the Advisory Committee;

(v) Identifying who will serve on the Advisory Committee, their expertise and role in advising on the project. All projects will be required to stand up an Advisory Committee (at least five people) made up of modelers, observing experts, resources managers or other potential end users of the optimized observing system. At least one of the members must be a NOAA scientist with expertise in the work proposed.

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(vi) Providing a detailed Data Management Plan that describes how metadata and data collected as part of the project will be disseminated to the broader community, and plans for longer term archiving of these data. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) serves as the data management focal point for the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/oceanacidification/index.html). All data resulting from NOAA OAP-funded projects must be archived and accessible through NCEI. Costs associated with use of data centers, or data archiving, should be included in the application budget. See the section on the NOAA Data Reporting requirements below (Section VI. C.).

(5) References cited. Reference information is required. Each reference should include the names of all authors in the same sequence they appear in the publications, the article title, the journal or book title, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication. While there is no established page limitation, this section should include bibliographic citations only and should not be used to provide parenthetical information outside of the Project Description.

(6) Milestone chart. Provide time lines of major tasks covering the duration of the proposed project.

(7) Biographical sketch. All PI(s) co-PI(s) must provide summaries of up to 2 pages that include the following:

(a) A listing of professional and academic credentials and mailing address;

(b) A list of up to five publications most closely related to the proposed project and five other significant publications.

(8) Current and pending support. Describe all current and pending Federal financial/funding support for all PI(s) and co-PI(s). Continuing grants must also be included. You should respond to this element whether or not you have any current and/or pending support, e.g., by indicating “not applicable.”

(9) A list of all known applicable permits that will be required to perform the proposed work. You should respond to this requirement element whether or not permits are required.

(10) Accomplishments from Prior Federal Support. If any PI or co-PI identified on the project has received Federal funding in the past five years addressing OA or observing systems, information on the award(s) is required. Each PI and co-PI who has received more than ONE award (excluding amendments) must report on the award most closely related to the proposal. This section should not exceed two pages per award in addition to the 15 pages for the Project Description. The following information should be provided:

a) the Federal agency, award number, amount and period of support;

b) the title of the project;

c) a summary of the results of the completed work;

d) publications resulting from the award;

e) a brief description of outputs and outcomes; and

f) as appropriate, a description of the relation of the completed work to the proposed work. When applicable, this information will be considered by reviewers in the evaluation of

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 15 of 30 overall qualifications of applicants. You should respond to this element whether or not you have accomplishments from prior Federal support; e.g. by indicating “no prior Federal research on OA or observing systems.”

(11) Budget narrative/justification. In order to allow reviewers to fully evaluate the appropriateness of costs, all applications must include a detailed budget narrative and a justification to support all proposed budget categories for each fiscal year. Personnel costs should be broken out by named PI and number of months and percentage of time requested per year per PI. Support for each PI should be commensurate with their stated involvement each year in the milestones chart (see Required Elements (6) Milestone chart). Any unnamed personnel (graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, technicians) should be identified by their job title, and their personnel costs explained similar to PI personnel costs above. The contribution of any personnel to the project goals should be explained. Travel costs should be broken out by number of people traveling, destination and purpose of travel, and projected costs per person. Equipment costs should describe the equipment to be purchased, and its contribution to the achievement of the project goals. Each subaward should be listed as a separate item in the budget justification. Provide separate budget justifications for each subaward and indicate the basis for the cost estimates. Describe project activities for subawards and products/services to be obtained for acquisitions, and indicate the applicability or necessity of each to the project.

For additional information concerning each of the required categories and appropriate level of disclosure please see http://www.ago.noaa.gov/grants/docs/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-_05-24- 2017_final.pdf.

If more than one institution is collaborating in a project awarded funds, a separate budget justification is required for each subaward. Signed approval from each identified subaward institution is also required. The lead institution is responsible for sending funds to their subaward institutions. For acquisition contracts, the purpose and cost or price must be fully justified and the contract must fully comply with 2 C.F.R. 200.317-.326.

An applicant requesting funds for indirect costs in its proposal budget that has a current Federally approved rate should submit documentation of the indirect cost rate agreement as an attachment to its application submission. An applicant without a Federally approved rate should refer to Section IV.F. of this Announcement regarding options.

(12) CD 511. Certification Regarding Lobbying. Lead institutions can submit these forms through the grants.gov CD511 document placeholder without a hard signature because electronic signatures are allowed on documents from the submitting institution.

(13) Standard Form 424B. Assurances - Non-Construction Programs. Lead institutions can submit these forms through the grants.gov SF 424B document placeholder without a hard signature because electronic signatures are allowed on document from the submitting institutions.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 16 of 30

(14) Standard Form 424A. All applicants are required to submit a SF-424A Budget Form that identifies the budget for each fiscal year of the proposal. Place each fiscal year in separate columns in Section B of page 1 on the SF424A by filling in the fiscal years 1 to 3 in Section A Budget Summary - Grant Program Function or Activity column. (Note that this revised 424A Section B format is a NOAA requirement that is not reflected in the Instructions for the SF 424A). The budget figures must correspond with the descriptions contained in the proposal. Each subaward should provide a SF424A listing each year of funding being requested. List total subaward costs under line item 6.h. other on the SF-424A.

Signed approval from the institution of each identified subaward should be provided.

(15) Provide one list that includes all (U.S. and Foreign) collaborators, advisors, and advisees for each investigator (PI(s) and co-PI(s), post-docs, and subawardees), complete with corresponding institutions. Submit only one, combined and alphabetized list per application in an excel spreadsheet using First Name, Last Name and Institution for the column headings. Collaborators are individuals who have participated in a project or publication within the last 48 months with any investigator, including co-authors on publications in the resumes. Collaborators also include those persons with which the investigators may have ongoing collaboration negotiations. Advisees and Advisors do not have a time limit. Advisees are persons with whom the individual investigator has had an association as thesis advisor or postdoctoral sponsor. Advisors include an individual’s own graduate and postgraduate advisors. Unfunded participants in the proposed study should also be listed (but not their collaborators). This information is critical for identifying potential conflicts of interests and avoiding bias in the selection of reviewers.

(16) Key Contacts form. All applicants must submit the Key Contacts form. This form identifies the official applicant contacts.

Applications should not contain extra documents or appendices.

Application format and assembly. Applications submitted via Grants.gov APPLY should follow the format guidelines below:

Attachments must be submitted in Adobe Acrobat PDF, text document or Microsoft word or excel format to maintain format integrity. Please submit the required documents as described below. Follow the instructions found on the Grants.gov web site for application submission into the Grants.gov system. All required forms that do not have specific placeholders in the Mandatory Document box must be submitted in the Optional Form box as Other Attachments and labeled with the document name: i.e. collaborator list, budget narrative, milestone chart etc. For a collaborative application: The documents for each additional institution should be combined into one file. The lead institution should label the file with the name of the institution and upload the file into the Optional Form box as Other Attachments. Repeat this procedure for each collaborating institution. Save your completed

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 17 of 30 application package with two different names before submission to avoid having to re-create the package should you experience submission problems. If you experience submission problems that may result in your application being late, send an email to support@grants.gov and call the Grants.gov help desk. Their phone number is posted on the Grants.gov web site.

The Program Manager associated with this FFO will use programmatic discretion in accepting applications due to documented electronic submission problems. Please note: If more than one submission of an application is performed, the last application submitted before the due date and time will be the official version.

In addition to the sixteen required elements, applicants may provide the following:

(1) A list of potential merit reviewers on a page after the Summary Title Page.

(2) Letters from unfunded collaborators, verifying their contribution to the project, and advisory committee members, verifying their willingness to serve. These letters do not count against the page limit for the Project Description. Letters of support may also be included, but they count against the page limit for the Project Description. These elements can be uploaded in to the Optional Form box under Other Attachments in Grants.gov.

Applications containing known subawards must provide - SF424A, Budget Justification, Current and Pending Support, and Key Contacts from each subaward. Signed approval from the institution of each subaward and contractor should be provided. We also request submission of the indirect rate agreement for subawards, if applicable. Applicants should provide Key Contacts for acquisition contracts and may provide additional information similar to that requested in this section for an acquisition contract if it may help NOAA assure compliance of the contract with 2 C.F.R. 200.317-.326. Permits, accomplishments, Biographical sketches and the collaborators lists should be supplied to the lead institution in order for them to be combined within the lead application information.

It will be the applicant's responsibility to obtain all necessary Federal, state and local government permits and approvals where necessary for the proposed work to be conducted.

Applicants are expected to design their proposals so that they minimize the potential adverse impact on the environment. If applicable, documentation of requests or approvals of environmental permits should be received by the Program Manager prior to funding.

Applications will be reviewed to ensure that they have sufficient environmental documentation to allow program staff to determine whether the proposal is categorically excluded from further National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis, or whether an Environmental Assessment is necessary in conformance with requirements of the NEPA. For those applications needing an Environmental Assessment, affected applicants will be informed after the peer review stage, and will be requested to assist in the preparation of a draft of the assessment (prior to award). Failure to apply for and/or obtain Federal, state, and local permits, approvals, letters of agreement, or failure to provide environmental analysis where necessary (e.g. NEPA environmental assessment) may delay the award of funds if a

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 18 of 30 project is otherwise selected for funding.

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

To enable the use of a universal identifier and to build the quality of information available to the public as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, 31 U.S.C. 6101. Note, to the extent applicable, any applicant awarded in response to this Announcement will be required to use the System for Award Management (SAM), which may be accessed online at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.