NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2007012 NOFO Report.pdf

FY2022 National Sea Grant College Program Special Projects

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

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

II. Award Information 4 A. Funding Availability 4 B. Project/Award Period 5 C. Type of Funding Instrument 5

III. Eligibility Information 5 A. Eligible Applicants 5 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 6 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 6

IV. Application and Submission Information 6 A. Address to Request Application Package 6 B. Content and Form of Application 6 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 11 D. Submission Dates and Times 11 E. Intergovernmental Review 11 F. Funding Restrictions 11 G. Other Submission Requirements 12

V. Application Review Information 12 A. Evaluation Criteria 12 B. Review and Selection Process 13 C. Selection Factors 13 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 14

VI. Award Administration Information 14 A. Award Notices 14 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 14 C. Reporting 18

VII. Agency Contacts 18 VIII. Other Information 18

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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: FY2022 National Sea Grant College Program Special Projects

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2007012

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.417, Sea Grant Support

Dates: Specific due dates are dependent on individual solicitations/competitions, and full applications may be submitted no later than 11:59 PM Eastern time, September 30, 2022.

Funding decisions will be made on a rolling basis depending on when applications are solicited and when appropriate funding becomes available.

Funding Opportunity Description: The National Sea Grant College Program was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1966 (amended in 2008, Public Law 110-394) to support leveraged federal and state partnerships that harness the intellectual capacity of the nation’s universities and research institutions to solve problems and generate opportunities in coastal communities.

The purpose of this notice is to request proposals for special projects consistent with the focus areas outlined in the National Sea Grant College Program’s (Sea Grant) strategic plan, and to provide the general public with information and guidelines on how Sea Grant will select proposals and administer federal assistance under this announcement. This announcement is a mechanism to encourage research or other projects that are not normally funded through Sea Grant national competitions.

This opportunity is open only to: Sea Grant programs (Sea Grant Colleges, Institutions, or Coherent Area Programs). Section III of this announcement describes eligibility requirements in more detail.

Funding has not yet been made available to support applications submitted to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), but such funding may become available during the year. Section II.A. below describes individual competition announcements that will be used to announce when funding is available, any restrictions or requirements such as cost share, and other funding details. Awards will be made under this NOFO only to applications that are responsive to individual competition announcements; unsolicited applications will not be reviewed.

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This document sets out requirements for submitting to NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2007012.

Additional guidance and tips on how best to prepare an application are provided in the Sea Grant General Application Guide available at (https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Guidance/SeaGrantGeneralApplicationGuide.pdf)

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

NOAA provides funding to Sea Grant institutions to increase the understanding, assessment, development, management, utilization, and conservation of the Nation’s ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources by providing assistance to promote a strong educational base, responsive research and training activities, broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and techniques, and multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problems, in accordance with 33 USC 1121(b).

B. Program Priorities

NOAA's priority under this announcement is to support projects that address critical issues that require a more rapid response than can be accommodated by the normal Sea Grant planning and competition cycle to be most effective.

C. Program Authority

Statutory authority for this program is provided under the National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966, as amended (33 USC 1121 et seq.).

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Subject to the availability of funding, this announcement describes how eligible applicants should apply for National Sea Grant College Program 2022 Special Projects.

Direct appropriations are not currently available for applications under this announcement. Funding of any application(s) under this announcement is subject to the availability of appropriations and to NOAA’s selection process as described in this announcement and any individual competition announcements.

Funding availability may change during the time this competition is open. When updated information about funding becomes available, individual competition announcements will be sent by electronic mail to eligible applicants, and posted under "2022 Special Projects Competition" on the Sea Grant website at https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Funding-Opportunities. Individual competition announcements will include the following, as applicable and available:

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- a unique identifying competition title;

- the source and anticipated amount of funding available;

- the expected time period during which preliminary proposals (if any) and full applications will be considered for this funding;

- whether the funding requires matching funds, and if so, how much;

- any geographic or other restrictions placed on the use of the funds;

- any special submission requirements;

- whether the use of the funds is limited to addressing one or more particular goals listed in section I.A.; and

- any deviations from the procedures set out in this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

There is no guarantee that funds will be available to make awards, or that any application will be selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award signed by an authorized NOAA official, it does so at its own risk of not being selected or of these costs not being included in a subsequent award. NOAA and DOC will not be responsible for any incurred project costs if a project fails to receive full funding.

B. Project/Award Period

In general, proposed projects should have a start date of no sooner than 90 days after the application submission due date. The start date must be on the first day of a month, and the end date must be on the last day of a month. Unless otherwise noted in the individual competition announcement, projects may have a duration of up to one year.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Applications selected for funding will be funded through grants or cooperative agreements to the appropriate Sea Grant program. Cooperative agreements will be used if the proposed project includes substantial NOAA involvement as described in the award.

Examples of substantial NOAA involvement may include collaboration in research or approval of key stages in the project before subsequent steps are undertaken.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are: Sea Grant Programs (Sea Grant Colleges, Institutions, or Coherent Area Programs). Individual competition announcements may restrict eligibility to a subset of these applicants.

The National Sea Grant College Program champions diversity, equity, and inclusion

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(DEI) by recruiting, retaining, and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving the diverse populations of coastal communities. Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive research, extension, communication, and education programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking.

We encourage Sea Grant program applications to reflect diverse participation with regards to age, race, ethnicities, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, citizenship types, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, income, and socioeconomic status.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Depending on the availability and source of funds, funds for applications under individual competition announcements may have non-federal matching fund requirements. It is expected that most of the funds that might be available will have a non-federal match requirement of 50% of the federal request, as required by the Sea Grant Act at 33 USC 1124(a). However, some competitions may offer funds that have other matching requirements, or no matching requirement.

As noted in Section II.A., above, individual competition announcements will specify the source of funds and whether they have a matching requirement. Applications will only be considered for support if they meet the match requirements of the individual competition announcements.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

None.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Application packages are available online and can be downloaded from www.grants.gov under opportunity NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2007012. Certain required or optional forms described in section IV.B. below are available at:

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Implementation If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions.

B. Content and Form of Application

This section provides an overview of these required proposal elements (and where to locate them).

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The submitting Sea Grant program or applicant must redact all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the application materials prior to final submission to grants.gov. PII that must be redacted from the application includes but is not limited to social security number, date of birth, student identification number (from transcripts) or other information which if lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual. Failure to redact PII will result in rejection of the application without further review.

Applications must adhere to the provisions under "Required Elements" below. Failure to adhere to these provisions will result in rejection of the application without further review.

Additional guidance on Sea Grant-specific form completion can be found here: Sea Grant General Application Guide (https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Guidance/SeaGrantGeneralApplicationGuide.pdf) Unless there is specific information otherwise in an individual competition announcement described in Section II.A., the minimum requirements for any application package to this NOFO are:

Required Elements:

1. Project Narrative Must include the following documents in the following format:

• Project Proposal Narrative of not more than 15 pages, containing as appropriate:

- Introduction/background/justification

- Project objectives

- General work plan and milestones

- Anticipated outcomes

- Coordination with other program elements

- References and literature citations

Include with the Project Narrative the following components which do not count toward the 15-page limit:

- Short CVs (no longer than 2 pages) for each principal and co-principal investigator (as relevant; if included, they do not count against the page limits)

- Letters of Intent/Support (as relevant; if included, they do not count against the page limits)

- Current and pending support

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• Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire (OMB Control No. 0648-0538) A separate NEPA Questionnaire or NEPA Statement must be completed for each individual project in the application.

NEPA Questionnaire The Questionnaire can be found here:

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Implementation.

Applicants must ensure that the questionnaire is completed in full and includes detailed information regarding project location, methodology, and permits. Copies of all permits required for project activities should be included with application materials. If a permit is pending or planned, please provide this information. Guidance on how to complete the Questionnaire and example Questionnaires for different types of projects can be found here:

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Implementation.

(https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Guidance/SeaGrantGeneralApplicationGuide.pdf).

The NEPA Questionnaire is required for ALL research projects (those whose project ID starts with “R/”) even if the project is fully lab-based or relies on social science. The NEPA Questionnaire is also required for any project that meets the following criteria:

- Environmental permits, authorizations or waivers

- Biological take and/or release

- Environmental sampling

- Hazardous or toxic substances and waste

- Permanent or temporary environmental effects

- Endangered or threatened species and/or protected areas

- Known or unknown risks to human health or the environment

- Controversial environmental subject matter

NEPA Statement The NEPA Statement can be used instead of the NEPA Questionnaire for certain low-impact projects. If none of the project’s activities will take place in the environment and the project is not research, you may include the NEPA Statement in place of the NEPA questionnaire.

Please use the following format when applicable:

“This project’s activities include [list the activities]. Because no part of this project will take place in the environment, the NOAA Environmental Compliance Questionnaire is not needed” Some examples of projects that can use the NEPA Statement are:

- Program management (i.e., any projects be assigned the “M/” project ID)

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- Placeholder projects (e.g., "Future Competed Projects"; these projects will have a Special Award Condition on the grant and undergo environmental compliance review at that time)

- Workshops or conferences that do not involve the list of actions in the previous section

- Communication activities that do not involve the list of actions in the previous section

- Fellowships where the Sea Grant Program does not have discretion over the fellow’s externally funded research

• Data Management Plan (See also Section VI. B. (8)) For more information on NOAA’s data sharing requirements as well as the definition of environmental data please reference:

https://nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/documents/Data_Sharing_Directive_v3.0.pdf

If this project will generate environmental data:

All applications should include a Data Management Plan. If a proposal responding to this competition will not generate environmental data, the data management plan should say, “This project will not generate environmental data, therefore a data management plan is not required.”

For reference: https://nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/documents/Data_Sharing_Directive_v3.0.pdf

If the project will not generate environmental data:

This announcement is not seeking proposals that generate environmental data. Therefore, a Data Management Plan is not required as part of the proposal.

2. Budget Narrative Each individual project included within the application must also include the following budget documents (Sea Grant 90-4 Forms and Budget Justification Narratives) in the following format:

• Sea Grant 90-4 Form (OMB Control No. 0648-0362) A required form used to provide budget breakdowns and budget justifications by year and object class for the overall proposal and each project in this application. Guidance on filling out the form is located in the Sea Grant General Application Guidance Document. The following are required:

- Completed Sea Grant 90-4 Forms describing the yearly and total budgets of the proposal overall (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, and Years 1-4).

- A completed Sea Grant 90-4 Form covering the full duration of each project in the application.

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- A completed Sea Grant 90-4 Form covering each year of each project in the application.

- Completed Sea Grant 90-4 Forms for the yearly and total budget of any sub-awards associated with each project in the application (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year, 4, and Years 1-4).

• Budget Justification A budget justification narrative for each year of each project in the application that explains budget items in sufficient detail to enable review of the appropriateness of the funding requested. This document should be attached as a PDF to each Sea Grant 90-4 Form, as appropriate. Guidance on completing the justifications is located in the Sea Grant General Application Guidance Document (https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Guidance/SeaGrantGeneralApplicationGuide.pdf).

3. Overall Application In addition to the forms required above, standard Federal Forms and Assurances are required for the overall application and can be found with the Application package on Grants.gov or on the Sea Grant website (links found below). These include:

a) SF-424 Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0004) This form, titled “Application for Federal Assistance,” must identify the entire funding period, as well as the federal funding amount being requested by the applicant and the non-federal matching fund amount. The form must be completed with the institution’s accurate EIN and DUNS and Point of Contact, and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee.

b) SF-424A Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0006) This form, titled “Budget Information - Non-Construction Programs,” must describe the entire funding period (broken out by year if multi-year) in federal and non-federal dollars, for the entire application. Fill out Section B of this SF-424A form to show the overall budget breakdown by object class by year with separate columns for each year of federal funding as well as each year of non-federal funding. If there is insufficient space, an additional SF- 424A Form, Extra Section B should be used (see below).

c) Additional SF-424A Form, Extra Section B (https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Implementation, OMB Control No. 4060-0006) The SF-424A Form described above only includes space to report the applicant’s yearly federal and non-federal dollars over two years. If the application includes more than two years of federal and non-federal dollars, please complete the Additional SF-424A, Extra Section B to report the yearly non-Federal matching fund budget of the grant. Guidance on filling out the form is located in the Sea Grant General Application Guidance Document

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(https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Guidance/SeaGrantGeneralApplicationGuide.pdf). This form is an outlier and will be added to the “Budget Narrative Attachment” section on Grants.gov, as described in Section IV. C. 2.

d) SF-424B Assurances (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0007) The form, titled “Assurances – Non-Construction Programs,” must be completed and signed by the institution's authorized representative or designee.

e) CD-511 (Grants.gov, US Department of Commerce) The form, titled “Certification Regarding Lobbying,” must be completed and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee. In some instances, the SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities form may also be required. See the instructions on the CD-511 for further information.

f) SF-LLL (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 0348-0046) The form, titled “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,” must be completed and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee, if appropriate.

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

To enable the use of a universal identifier and to enhance 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 proposal 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/SAM/. Applicants are also required to use the Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System, as identified in OMB guidance published at 2 CFR Parts 25, which may be accessed at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr25_main_02.tpl.

D. Submission Dates and Times

See Section II.A., Funding Availability, for information on obtaining individual funding announcements. In any case, applications will not be accepted after 11:59 PM Eastern time on September 30, 2022.

E. Intergovernmental Review

Applications under the National Sea Grant College Program are not subject to Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs."

F. Funding Restrictions

(1) There is no direct level of Congressional funding available for this opportunity.

Funding of any project is completely at the discretion of NOAA, and is subject to available appropriations, including any restrictions present on the funds used. Funds available in FY

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2021, 2022 or subsequent years (if available) may be used to fund applications in response to this opportunity.

(2) The Sea Grant Act at 33 USC 1124(d)(2) states:

“No payment under any grant or contract under this section may be applied to:

(A) the purchase or rental of any land; or

(B) the purchase, rental, construction, preservation, or repair of any building, dock, or vessel; except that payment under any such grant or contract may be applied to the short-term rental of buildings or facilities for meetings which are in direct support of any Sea Grant Program or project and may, if approved by the Secretary, be applied to the purchase, rental, construction, preservation, or repair of non-self-propelled habitats, buoys, platforms, and other similar devices or structures, or to the rental of any research vessel which is used in direct support of activities under any Sea Grant Program or project.”

G. Other Submission Requirements

Proposals must be submitted through Grants.gov. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions.

V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

Unless specified otherwise in an individual competition announcement described in Section II.A., all evaluation criteria have equal weights.

1. Importance/relevance and applicability of proposed projects to the program goals: This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, state, or local activities: i.e., how does the proposed activity enhance NOAA and Sea Grant strategic focus areas and mission goals? This includes how well the proposed activity addresses the goals of the individual competition announcement, and any geographic, programmatic, or other restrictions placed on available funds.

2. Technical/scientific merit: This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear project goals, objectives, and data management considerations.

3. Overall qualifications of applicants: This criterion ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and administrative

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4. Project costs: This criterion evaluates the budget to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time frame.

5. Outreach and Education: This criterion assesses whether the project provides a focused and effective education and outreach strategy regarding NOAA's mission to protect the Nation's natural resources.

B. Review and Selection Process

Upon receipt of a complete application, an initial administrative review will be conducted to determine whether it meets the minimum eligibility requirements, compliance with the requirements of this NOFO and the individual competition announcement, and any restrictions on available funding. This review includes determining whether or not:

a. Statutory authority exists to provide financial assistance for the project or organization;

b. The complete application package has been submitted by an eligible applicant;

c. The Project Description addresses one or more of Sea Grant goals listed in Section I.A.;

d. Funding has been announced for projects to support activities described in the application, and the application meets the requirements specified in the individual competition announcement, including whether match is required.

If an application does not meet the above requirements, it will be rejected.

For applications that meet minimum requirements and pass the initial administrative review, the application will be individually rated based on the evaluation criteria listed in Section V.A. by individual reviewers.

The proposals, supplemented with information from the Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire, will also be reviewed by the program manager to assess the environmental compliance of the proposed actions. The program manager, NEPA staff lead, or grants specialist may contact the applicants to discuss questions about the environmental effects, merit, or administrative correctness of the application, and may delay approval of the application, or impose conditions on the award preventing funding or execution of certain activities, until all questions are satisfactorily answered.

C. Selection Factors

The Selecting Official shall recommend awarding in the rank order unless the proposal

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• Availability of funding.

• Balance/distribution of funds:

- geographically

- by type of institution

- by type of partners

- by research priority

- by project types

• Duplication of other projects funded or considered for funding by NOAA/Federal agencies.

• Program priorities and policy factors.

• Applicant’s prior award performance.

• Partnerships with/Participation of targeted groups.

• Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA staff to make a NEPA determination and draft necessary documentation before recommendations for funding are made to the Grants Officer.

Consequently, awards may not necessarily be made to the highest-scored applications.

Investigators may be asked to answer questions; and/or modify objectives, work plans, and/or budgets (including overall funding level) to address the issues raised by the reviewers, the competition manager, the Selecting Official, or the Grants Officer before an award is made. Subsequent administrative processing will be in accordance with current NOAA grants procedures.

D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

Subject to the availability of funds, awards are expected to be made two to four months after the application due date given in the individual competition announcement described in Section II.A.

VI. Award Administration Information

A. Award Notices

Successful applicants will receive notification when the Application has been recommended for funding to the NOAA Grants Management Division. This notification is not an authorization to begin performance of the project. Official notification of funding, signed by the NOAA Grants Officer, is the authorizing document that allows the project to begin. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified that their proposal was not selected.

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

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(1) Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements For Grants And Cooperative Agreements - The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register notice of December 30, 2014 (79 FR 78390) are applicable to this solicitation and may be accessed online at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf.

(2) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements - Through 2 C.F.R. § 1327.101, the Department of Commerce adopted Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 C.F.R. Part 200, which apply to awards in this program. Refer to http://go.usa.gov/SBYh and http://go.usa.gov/SBg4.

(3) Department of Commerce Terms and Conditions - Successful applicants who accept a NOAA award under this solicitation will be bound by Department of Commerce Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions. This document will be provided in the award package in NOAA’s Grants Online system at https://grantsonline.rdc.noaa.gov/flows/home/Login/LoginController.jpf and is also available at http://www.ago.noaa.gov/grants/external_links.html , as well as https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2020- 11/DOC%20Standard%20Terms%20and%20Conditions%20- %2012%20November%202020%20PDF_0.pdf

(4) Limitation of Liability - Funding for programs listed in this notice is contingent upon the availability of appropriations. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds may not have been appropriated yet for the programs listed in this notice. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for proposal preparation costs. Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds.

(5) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - NOAA must analyze the potential environmental impacts, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for applicant projects or proposals which are seeking NOAA Federal funding opportunities.

Detailed information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the following NOAA NEPA website: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6.pdf, and the Council on Environmental Quality implementation regulations, http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NEPA- 40CFR1500_1508.pdf. Consequently, as part of an applicant's package, and under their description of their program activities, applicants are required to provide detailed information on the activities to be conducted, locations, sites, species and habitat to be affected, possible construction activities, and any environmental concerns that may exist (e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous or toxic chemicals, introduction of non-indigenous species, impacts to endangered and threatened species, aquaculture projects, and impacts to coral reef systems). In addition to providing specific information that will serve as the basis

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Applicants will also be required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their proposal. Failure to do so shall be grounds for not selecting an application. In some cases if additional information is required after an application is selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer under a special award condition requiring the recipient to submit additional environmental compliance information sufficient to enable NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on the environment.

(6) Review of Risk - After applications are proposed for funding by the selecting official, the Grants Office will perform administrative reviews, including an assessment of risk posed by the applicant under 2 C.F.R. 200.206. These may include assessments of the financial stability of an applicant and the quality of the applicant’s management systems, history of performance, and the applicant’s ability to effectively implement statutory, regulatory, or other requirements imposed on non-Federal entities. Special conditions that address any risks determined to exist may be applied. Applicants may submit comments to the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) about any information included in the system about their organization for consideration by the awarding agency.

(7) Data Sharing Plan - 1. Environmental data and information collected or created under NOAA grants or cooperative agreements must be made discoverable by and accessible to the general public, in a timely fashion (typically within two years), free of charge or at no more than the cost of reproduction, unless an exemption is granted by the NOAA Program. Data should be available in at least one machine-readable format, preferably a widely-used or open-standard format, and should also be accompanied by machine- readable documentation (metadata), preferably based on widely used or international standards. 2. Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement must include a Data Management Plan of up to two pages describing how these requirements will be satisfied. The Data Management Plan should be aligned with the Data Management Guidance provided by NOAA in the Announcement. The contents of the Data Management Plan (or absence thereof), and past performance regarding such plans, will be considered as part of proposal review. A typical plan should include descriptions of the types of environmental data and information expected to be created during the course of the project; the tentative date by which data will be shared;

the standards to be used for data/metadata format and content; methods for providing data access; approximate total volume of data to be collected; and prior experience in making such data accessible. The costs of data preparation, accessibility, or archiving may be included in the proposal budget unless otherwise stated in the Guidance. Accepted submission of data to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is one way to satisfy data sharing requirements; however, NCEI is not obligated to accept all submissions and may charge a fee, particularly for large or unusual datasets. 3. NOAA may, Notice of Federal Funding Page 16 of 19 at its own discretion, make publicly visible the Data Management Plan from funded proposals, or use information from the Data Management Plan to produce a formal metadata record and include that metadata in a Catalog to indicate the pending availability of new data. 4. Proposal submitters are hereby advised that the final pre-publication manuscripts of scholarly articles produced entirely or primarily with NOAA funding will be required to be submitted to NOAA Institutional Repository after acceptance, and no later than upon publication. Such manuscripts shall be made publicly available by NOAA one year after publication by the journal.

(8) Indirect Cost Rate - If an applicant does not have a current 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 Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) (as allowable under 2 C.F.R. §200.414). The negotiation and approval of a rate is subject to the procedures required by NOAA and the Department of Commerce Standard Terms and Conditions. Do not include participant support costs when determining the indirect cost base.

Additionally, applicants should be aware that most indirect cost rate agreements require that participant support costs be excluded from the Modified Total Direct Cost base when calculating indirect costs. Applicants should reference their official agreements. The NOAA contact for indirect or facilities and administrative costs is: Lamar Revis, Grants Officer, NOAA Grants Management Division, 1325 East West Highway, 9th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or lamar.revis@noaa.gov.

(9) Minority Serving Institutions - The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC NOAA) is strongly committed to increasing the participation of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), i.e., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian institutions, and institutions that work in underserved communities.

(10) Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) - In the event that an Application contains information or data that you do not want disclosed prior to award for purposes other than the evaluation of the Application, mark each page containing such information or data with the words "Privileged, Confidential, Commercial, or Financial Information - Limited Use" at the top of the page to assist NOAA in making disclosure determinations. DOC regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C 552, are found at 15 C.F.R.

Part 4, which sets forth rules for DOC to make requested materials, information, and records publicly available under FOIA. The contents of funded Applications may be subject to requests for release under the FOIA. Based on the information provided by the applicant, the confidentiality of the content of funded Applications will be maintained to the maximum extent permitted by law.

(11) NOAA Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response Policy - If NOAA-operated, leased, or owned facilities are involved in any awards funded under this announcement, such awards are subject to the NOAA Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment

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Prevention and Response Policy Applicable to Financial Assistance Awards Involving NOAA-Operated Facilities (May 2018) found at:

https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/document/2020/Mar/202-1106_SASH.pdf

C. Reporting

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (31 U.S.C. 6101 Note) includes a requirement for awardees of applicable Federal grants to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards. All awardees of applicable grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) available at https://www.fsrs.gov/ on all sub-awards over $30,000. Refer to 2 CFR Parts 170.

VII. Agency Contacts

Special Projects Competition Manager; oar.hq.sg.competitions@noaa.gov Write “attention Special Projects” in the subject line.

VIII. Other Information

Once the applicants have been selected, Programs will need to provide the information requested in the Sea Grant 90-2 into the PIER project database. Once the project is approved and funded, that information will be publicly available and searchable on the National Sea Grant College Program public website (http://seagrant.noaa.gov).

Recipients are required to use the National Sea Grant Planning Implementation and Evaluation Reporting (PIER) project database to communicate with the National Sea Grant Office on activities relating to this award. This includes tracking progress and impacts, in addition to performance metrics.

The grant application and final report of all funded grants are public documents, except for privileged information or material that is personal, proprietary or otherwise exempt from disclosure under law. Appropriate labeling in the application will aid identification of what may be specifically exempt. The applicant acknowledges and understands that information and data contained in applications for financial assistance, as well as information and data contained in financial, performance and other reports submitted by applicants, may be used by the Department of Commerce in conducting reviews and evaluations of its financial assistance programs. For this purpose, applicant information and data may be accessed, reviewed and evaluated by Department of Commerce employees, other federal employees, and also by federal agents and contractors, and/or by non-federal personnel, all of whom enter into appropriate conflict of interest and confidentiality agreements covering the use of such information. As may be provided in the terms and conditions of a specific financial

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 19 assistance award, applicants are expected to support program reviews and evaluations by submitting required financial and performance information and data in an accurate and timely manner, and by cooperating with Department of Commerce and external program evaluators. In accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.303(e), applicants are reminded that they must take reasonable measures to safeguard protected personally identifiable information and other confidential or sensitive personal or business information created or obtained in connection with a Department of Commerce financial assistance award.

In addition, Department of Commerce regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552, are found at 15 C.F.R. Part 4, Public Information. These regulations set forth rules for the department regarding making requested materials, information, and records publicly available under the FOIA. Applications submitted in response to this Notice of Funding Opportunity may be subject to requests for release under the Act. In the event that an application contains information or data that the applicant deems to be confidential commercial information that should be exempt from disclosure under FOIA, that information should be identified, bracketed, and marked as Privileged, Confidential, Commercial or Financial Information. In accordance with 15 CFR § 4.9, the Department of Commerce will protect from disclosure confidential business information contained in financial assistance applications and other documentation provided by applicants to the extent permitted by law.

There is no guarantee that funds will be available to make awards for this federal funding opportunity or that any proposal will be selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement signed by an authorized NOAA official, they do so at their own risk of these costs not being included in a subsequent award. NOAA or the Department of Commerce are not responsible for any direct costs of proposal preparation. Recipients and sub-recipients are subject to all federal laws and agency policies, regulations, and procedures applicable to federal financial assistance awards.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 19