NOAA-OAR-SG-2025-29454.pdf

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

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Table of Contents

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Executive Summary Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description II. Award Information III. Eligibility Information IV. Application and Submission Information V. Application Review Information VI. Award Administration Information VII. Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information

Executive Summary Federal Agency Name OAR National Sea Grant College Program (SG) Funding Opportunity Title Sea Grant Programs Only - FY2025 Disaster Preparedness for Coastal Communities Announcement Type Competitive Funding Opportunity Number

NOAA-OAR-SG-2025-29454

Assistance Listing Number(s) 11.417 Dates Deadline: Applications due April 2, 2025 Period of Performance: Projects should have a start date no earlier than September 1, 2025, and no later than December 1, 2025, with an end date no later than two years after the project start date. Project start dates must be the first date of the month and end dates the last day of the month.

Funding Opportunity Description The National Sea Grant College Program was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1966 (amended in 2020, Public Law 116-221) 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 National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) anticipates that approximately $900,000 in FY 2025 federal funds will be available to individual Sea Grant programs in order to support innovative all-hazard preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives for coastal communities.

The most competitive applications submitted for this opportunity will do the following:

• Address a disaster preparedness gap or need of an underserved or vulnerable coastal community;

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• Enable coastal communities to reduce disaster impacts and reach recovery more quickly; and

• Feature innovative techniques, ideas, or solutions.

This opportunity is only open to existing institutional Sea Grant programs. All projects must take place within the United States or territories or their respective waterways.

Applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. These registrations includeSAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin this activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions. NOAA has created a guide to aid applicants format application packages to eRA: Tips and Tricks for Successful eRA Submissions, linked here.

Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicant organizations must first obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov, if needed (refer to Section IV. Applications and Submission Information, Section C). Organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; however, all registrations must be in place by time of application submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.

This document sets out requirements for submitting to NOAA-OAR-SG-2025-29454.

Full Text of Announcement 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 Program Overview The Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP), a program within the National Ocean Service (NOS) Office of Response and Restoration, was formed to ensure NOS, partners, and coastal communities are able to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from all hazards, including coastal disasters. The DPP accomplishes this through focusing on a few key focus areas:

• Capacity building – this includes the use of exercises, training, and workshops to increase NOS and partner readiness for all hazard response and recovery operations,

• Coordination and communication – this involves intra-agency, regional and partner coordination as well as outreach,

• Continuous improvement – this includes a formal review of post-incident lessons learned, documentation and tracking in after-action reports, and resource/tool development,

• Preparedness, response and recovery support – this involves coordination and collaboration on the planning to improve preparedness, response to and recovery from disasters.

Funding Opportunity https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sam.gov/content/home__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jML3HFOGrg$ https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.grants.gov/web/grants/home.html__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jMLXTbXHRA$ https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.era.nih.gov/eracommons-timeline.htm__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jMKhmRSrhg$ https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.era.nih.gov/eracommons-timeline.htm__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jMKhmRSrhg$ https://seagrant.noaa.gov/opportunities/funding/#resources

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The objective of the opportunity is to support innovative all-hazard preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives for coastal communities. The nature of the selected projects could be legal/policy analysis, research and development, training or education, or tool/resource development. The goal is to improve the ability of communities to manage impacts from natural and anthropogenic disasters including (but not limited to) hurricanes, flooding, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, extreme heat, and wildfires. Another desirable outcome is to improve disaster preparedness and communication in underrepresented coastal communities. This is an opportunity to provide resources to communities that do not typically have access to them.

A successful project will address a preparedness gap or need of the community to enable them to reduce disaster impacts and reach recovery more quickly. Projects should directly benefit the coastal communities and natural/cultural resources they are meant to support.

Development and evaluation of a success metric should also be integrated into the project to allow post-project assessment of the outcome.

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

II. Award Information A. Funding Availability Subject to appropriations, for the FY2025 Disaster Preparedness for Coastal Communities competition, the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) anticipates approximately $900,000 in FY2025 federal funds will be available to individual Sea Grant programs in order to support innovative all-hazard preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives for coastal communities.

Each award will be between $160,000 and $200,000. Applications DO NOT require the standard 50% non-federal match for Sea Grant projects.

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 agreement 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 Projects should have a start date no earlier than September 1, 2025, and no later than December 1, 2025, with an end date no later than two years after the project start date.

Project start dates must be the first date of the month and end dates the last day of the month C. Type of Funding Instrument The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement to an eligible institution. A cooperative agreement is used when substantial involvement of the federal government during performance of the proposed work is anticipated. The nature of the substantial involvement includes: interaction with the DPP coordinator to ensure that the recipient has access to the most up-to-date information on available resources and to allow the DPP coordinator to help the recipient make connections to regional resources to help ensure the success of the project; and coordinating with NOAA on participation in the required meeting/conference to present on the project.

III. Eligibility Information A. Eligible Applicants The following entities are eligible to submit to this opportunity:

Sea Grant College Programs, Sea Grant Institutional Programs, and Sea Grant Coherent Area Programs. For the remainder of this document, these entities are collectively referred to as “Sea Grant Programs.”

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To be eligible to apply or receive an award, applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations; SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. For each, the complete registration process can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants must begin this activity as soon as possible and well before the proposal due date. For more information on how to meet these registration and application submission requirements without errors, we advise all to carefully review relevant Applicant and Grantee Training modules:

https://www.commerce.gov/ocio/programs/gems/applicant-and-grantee-training.

Additionally, we advise that all carefully read ‘Additional Application Package Forms’ within the ‘Full Proposal Required Elements’ section below.

The National Sea Grant College Program champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (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 Share or Matching Requirement Standard Sea Grant cost sharing is not required for this call.

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-2025-29454. 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). Applications must adhere to the provisions under "Required Elements" below. Failure to adhere to these provisions may result in a delay in award processing or rejection of the application, based on the extent of the noncompliance.

The submitting Sea Grant program 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.

NOAA has created a guide to aid applicants format application packages to eRA: Tips and Tricks for Successful eRA Submissions, linked here. Recent applicants have encountered rejected applications for formatting issues, especially:

• All attachments must be in PDF form.

• Do not use “bundling” or “portfolio” features to combine PDFs into a single document. Everything must be visible in the PDF.

• Descriptive filenames may only be 50 characters or less (including spaces).

• Keep attachment file size to 100 MB or less.

• eRA won’t accept any pages larger than the U.S. standard letter paper size (8.5” x

11”).

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sam.gov/content/home__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jML3HFOGrg$ https://sam.gov/content/home https://www.grants.gov/ https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.grants.gov/web/grants/home.html__;!!FiG2giev53vN!6sxfF1sAvFOjycyhk2fdYVMXfZUYW1Ds_UXVaciBtzYJKo3z8ULHyQvQg4Ofc9vYVkBUxe6XLOLToDr9jMLXTbXHRA$ https://www.era.nih.gov/eracommons-timeline.htm https://www.commerce.gov/ocio/programs/gems/applicant-and-grantee-training http://www.grants.gov/

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We strongly recommend that applicants attempt to submit their full proposals at least a few days prior to the due date in case these or other issues impact your submission, as they are not reasons we can extend the deadline. If you have issues during the submission process, please contact theeRA Service Desk.

Required Elements:

Applications must include the following elements. Failure to adhere to these provisions may result in a delay in award processing or rejection of the application, based on the extent of the noncompliance. Please also see Section VIII. Other Information for additional post-application required elements for submission.

1. Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No.

4040-0001)

This form must be completed and include a profile for the Principal Investigator and any co-PI(s). CVs and RELEVANT Current and Pending Support for each person’s profile will also be attached to this form. The biosketch/CV for Senior/Key Persons listed should not exceed five pages. The first listed PD/PI on the application must include their eRA Commons ID in the “Credential, e.g., agency login” field of form.

Failure to register in eRA Commons and to include a valid PD/PI Commons ID in the Applicant Identifier field will prevent the successful submission of an electronic application. eRA Commons registration can take 2-3 weeks to be approved, so it is encouraged to start the registration process as soon as possible. NOAA is not involved with eRA registration.

Additional personnel included on the form do not need to include this information, however eRA will create a warning recommending those personnel also have valid eRA Commons IDs. Again - it is not required that those additional personnel include valid eRA Commons IDs regardless of the warnings created by the eRA system.

2. Research and Related Budget Form The Research and Related Budget is a form that must be completed covering the entire award by each yearly budget period following the instructions from Grants.gov (e.g., if an award is two years, there needs to be a Budget Period 1 and Budget Period 2 filled out). At the end of the Research and Related Budget form, “Section L” provides space for one attachment titled, “Budget Justification.” The budget narrative for the project must be attached there. The budget narrative should explain the budget items by object class category and by year (for both federal and non-federal/match) in sufficient detail to enable review of the appropriateness of the funding requested.

For the budget narrative, you may reference the budget narrative guidance found at:

NOAA Grants Management Division's Budget Narrative Guidance.

Dollar amounts in this form and narrative must be in whole dollars. Please ensure the numbers in the forms and narrative match.

NEW this year, the substantive project PI must also plan to participate in one in-person meeting/conference during their project period in order to present on the project. Dates and location will be announced at a later date, but is likely to be in connection with a national conference such as the Restore America’s Estuaries Coastal & Estuarine Summit or the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation biennial conference. For budgeting purposes, assume cross-country travel for a three-to-five (3-5) day period for the PI; planning for an additional participant, such as a student, co-PI, collaborator, or community partner, is encouraged but not required.

3. Research & Related Other Project Information Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No.

4040-0001)

This form must be completed for the application, and should also be used to attach the Project Abstract, the Project Narrative, Bibliography & References Cited (if applicable), and any other relevant forms or information as applicable. See form-specific instructions available on Grants.gov for additional instructions as needed.

a. Project Summary/Abstract Attachment https://www.era.nih.gov/need-help https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-_05-24-2017_final.pdf

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Using 4,000 characters or less, the Project Abstract should provide an overview of the application. Ensure the Project Abstract succinctly describes the project in plain language that the public can understand and use without the full proposal. It should be a self-contained description of the application and should contain a general statement of objectives and methods to be employed. It should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and understandable to a technically literate lay reader. Do not include personally identifiable, sensitive or proprietary/confidential information. This project abstract information (as submitted) will be made available on public websites and/or databases including USAspending.gov.

Project Abstract Elements:

• Use the following format:

o Purpose:

o Activities to be performed:

o Expected Outcomes:

o Intended Beneficiaries:

o Subrecipient Activities:

Please note that grant processors must enter information using the above format and any deviation is STRONGLY discouraged.

• Keep the project abstract short. In most cases, each element above should be 2-3 sentences to a paragraph in length.

• DO NOT repeat the Proposal Title. The Proposal Title is always presented with the Project Description, so including it in the abstract is not necessary.

• Include a high-quality description that includes specificity regarding the purpose of the project. Characteristics of strong abstracts include a plain language description of the purpose for the project (which may include specific performance goals, indicators, milestones, or expected outcomes of the project), activities to be performed, deliverables and expected outcomes, intended beneficiary or recipient.

• Keep it simple. Do not use abbreviations, acronyms, technical terminology, or agency-specific terms. The intended audience is Congress and the general public, not specific interested parties and/or federal employees.

b. Project Narrative Attachment The total number of pages in the project description should not exceed eighteen (18) pages (excluding the cover page, any letters of support, or any current and pending support). Excess pages will not be included in the review. Applicants do not need to use the entire 18-page maximum. Depending on the proposed activities, a shorter description may suffice. Any works cited, CVs, letters of support, and current and pending support sections included do not contribute to the suggested page limit.

Project Narrative Elements:

• Cover page (does not count towards page limit) o Project title and names, titles, affiliations, and contact information (email and phone) of co-PIs.

o Budget overview - Total cost of requested funding by partner.

• Project introduction/justification o Explain the specific problem(s) this project seeks to address and justify its importance.

• Project objectives

• Provide a list of clearly defined objectives. For each objective, provide a concise statement explaining how it is aligned with the goals and priorities of this funding opportunity.

• Project details

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• Provide an explanation of the methods that will be used to address the project objectives. Explicitly explain how this project leverages the expertise of both researchers and stakeholders.

• NEW this year, the substantive project PI must also plan to participate in one in-person meeting/conference during their project period in order to present on the project. Dates and location will be announced at a later date, but is likely to be in connection with a national conference such as the Restore America’s Estuaries Coastal & Estuarine Summit or the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation biennial conference. Planning for an additional participant, such as a student, co-PI, collaborator, or community partner, is encouraged but not required.

• Anticipated outcomes and deliverables o What are the expected outcomes and results related to the preparedness of coastal communities?

o What are the expected outcomes and results related to the creation of data products, tools, technologies, and improvements to management or other practices?

• Project timeline

• Provide a timeline for accomplishing the proposed work, which covers the entire duration of the project. Include approximate dates for key milestones related to the proposed work, including the accomplishment of anticipated outcomes and release of deliverables.

• Outreach and engagement plan o Provide a cohesive strategy to ensure that end users across the project’s geographic region, beyond those who actively participate in the proposed work, will learn about the project’s outcomes.

• Applicants submitting proposals that involve the use of human test subjects should state so clearly in their application. These proposed research activities require approval of the applicant’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) before such research can proceed. Applicants are responsible for obtaining IRB approval from their institution or appropriate entity and providing that documentation to NOAA once the approval is obtained and prior to any NOAA-funded human subject testing. Proposals intending to use human test subjects should specify clearly in the timeline approximately when IRB approval will be obtained and when the testing is expected to occur.

• Diversity statement

• NSGO recognizes it has a particular and unique opportunity to support NOAA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion by taking an intentional step that encourages applicants to consider diversity and inclusion as part of their scientific projects. This action has the potential to make an impact on not only the diversity and inclusion in science at NOAA, but also in the equity of services provided by NOAA. In this section, describe how the proposed activity incorporates the input of underrepresented groups (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender identities, sexual orientation, disability, geography, etc.) and how these groups benefit from its outcomes. Applicants are encouraged to review the resources and best practices compiled by NSGO related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Resources for Applicants & Reviewers section found here: https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/.

• Curriculum vitae (CV) for any supporting personnel not already captured in the Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile Form (does not count towards page limit) o Each co-PI’s CV should not be longer than five pages.

• Letters of support (if included, does not count towards page limit)

• All letters of support should be included here. Required if a Sea Grant program is applying on behalf of a partnership of multiple Sea Grant programs; otherwise, recommended but optional.

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/

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c. Bibliography & References Cited Attachment (if applicable) If applicable, provide a bibliography of any references cited in the Project Narrative.

Each reference must include the names of all authors (in the same sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article and journal title, book title, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication. Include only bibliographic citations.

Applicants should be especially careful to follow scholarly practices in providing citations for source materials relied upon when preparing any section of the application.

d. Other Required Attachments

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

NEPA Questionnaire (OMB Control No. 0648-0538)

• Applicants must ensure that the questionnaire is completed in full and includes detailed information regarding project location, methodology; and permits, authorizations, or approvals. Copies of all permits/authorizations/approvals required for project activities should be included with application materials. If a permit/authorization/approval is pending or planned, please provide this information.

1. A separate questionnaire must be completed for each relevant action/project in the proposal.

2. The questionnaire can be found in the Resources for Applicants & Reviewers section under the NEPA tab here: https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/.

3. Guidance on how to complete the questionnaire, including how to describe work that will not involve any environmental impact, can be found in the Resources for Applicants & Reviewers section under the NEPA tab here:

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/. Examples of questionnaires can also be found by following that link.

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 Projects or actions that fall into the below categories do not need a questionnaire. If a program believes that a project in the application meets one of the exceptions, the program should include the following NEPA Statement directly after the relevant project narrative. Please use the following format for the NEPA Statement:

“This project’s activities are exclusively composed of [choose applicable activities from the bulleted list below] and therefore no NEPA Questionnaire is being submitted, as allowed by NSGO guidance.”

NOAA has final responsibility to determine whether a project or action requires environmental compliance review. If NOAA determines that a project or action needs an environmental review and the NEPA Statement is not sufficient, staff may request that a NEPA Questionnaire be provided instead.

Some examples of projects that can use the NEPA Statement are:

https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/ https://seagrant.noaa.gov/funding/ https://seagrant.noaa.gov/Portals/1/Forms/NEPA%20Questionnaire%20-%20Guidance.pdf

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• Workshops or conferences that do not involve the above list of actions in the previous section;

• Communication activities that do not involve the above list of actions in the previous section;

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

• Hiring actions;

• Purely administrative actions (e.g., purchase of office supplies).

4. Additional Application Package Forms

In addition to the forms required above, standard federal forms and assurances are required and can be found with the application package on Grants.gov. These include:

a. SF-424 R&R Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0001)

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 any 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. Total federal and non-federal amounts listed in the SF-424 R&R, the Cumulative Budget of the Research and Related Budget form, and budget narrative must be the same.

The proposed start date must be the first day of a month and the proposed end date must be on the last day of a month.

Applicants will be required to enter their organization’s Congressional District in the SF424 R&R form. For tips on finding and entering your Congressional District correctly, please review the information found here:

https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/how-to-find-your-congressional-district-for-the-sf-424-form/

b. 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.

c. CD-511 (Grants.gov, US DOC) The form, titled “Certification Regarding Lobbying,” must be completed and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee.

d. SF-LLL (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 0348-0046) - optional form, include if appropriate

This form, titled “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,” is an optional form and should be included if appropriate. If included, it must be completed and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee.

Data Management Plan Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement must include a Data Management Plan (See Section VI.B., Administrative and National Policy Requirements, below) that is compliant with NOAA’s Public Access to Research Results Plan. The Data Management Plan should not exceed 2 pages and should be included at the end of the Project Narrative (after the NEPA Questionnaire or NEPA Statement). The Data Management Plan should include descriptions of the types of metadata and data expected to be created during the course of the project, plans for disseminating the metadata and data to the broader community, and plans for long-term archiving of the metadata and data.

https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/how-to-find-your-congressional-district-for-the-sf-424-form/ https://grantsgovprod.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/how-to-find-your-congressional-district-for-the-sf-424-form/

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If proposed activities will not generate any environmental data, please include the following statement at the end of the Project Narrative (after the NEPA Questionnaire or NEPA Statement): “Because this project will not generate environmental data, a Data Management Plan is not required.”

Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement must include a Data Management Plan (up to 2 pages). See Section VI.B., Administrative and National Policy Requirements, below for additional information on what the plan should contain.

C. Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) Each applicant (unless the applicant is an individual or Federal awarding agency that is excepted from those requirements under 2 CFR 25.110 is required to: (i) Be registered in SAM before submitting its application; (ii) Provide a valid unique entity identifier (UEI) in its application; and (iii) Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency. NOAA may not make a Federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable unique entity identifier and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time NOAA is ready to make a Federal award, NOAA may determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant.

D. Submission Dates and Times Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov and accepted by eRA by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on April 2, 2025.

Please note: validation or rejection of an application by Grants.gov and eRA may take up to two business days after submission. Eligible Sea Grant programs should consider this process in developing their submission timeline. For eligible applications submitted through Grants.gov and eRA, a date and time receipt indication is included and will be the basis of determining timeliness. NOAA has created a guide to aid applicants format application packages to eRA: Tips and Tricks for Successful eRA Submissions, linked here.

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 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 Applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. These registrations include SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin this activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions.

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Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicant organizations must first obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov, if needed (refer to Section IV. Applications and Submission Information, Section C). Organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; however, all registrations must be in place by time of application submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.

The first PD/PI listed on the application must include their eRA Commons ID in the "Credential, e.g. agency login" Applicant Identifier field on the SF424 form. Failure to register in the Commons and to include a valid PD/PI Commons ID in the Applicant Identifier field will prevent the successful submission of an electronic application.

After submission to Grants.gov, the PI listed on the application will receive an email notification from the eRA email address era-notify@mail.nih.gov. This email will either confirm a successful submission to eRA or list errors and warnings associated with the application. Errors must be addressed, the application resubmitted via Grants.gov, and an email received by the listed PI indicating a successful submission to eRA for an application to be successfully received by NOAA.

V. Application Review Information

1. Importance/relevance and applicability of proposed projects to the program goals

Maximum Points:

This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, state, or local activities.

For this opportunity, this criterion includes:

• improving the ability of communities to manage impacts from natural and anthropogenic disasters, including (but not limited to) hurricanes, flooding, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, extreme heat, and wildfires; and,

• improving disaster preparedness and communication in vulnerable or underserved coastal communities.

2. Technical/scientific merit Maximum Points: 30 This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear project goals and objectives.

For this opportunity, this criterion includes:

• whether the proposal clearly identifies goals and objectives, and whether the timeline for the project is reasonable and in line with the award period guidelines;

• whether the project will deliver tangible, specific results that are attainable and measurable within the proposed time frame;

• whether the proposed methods and approaches to be used in the project are valid to achieve the project goals; and

• whether the project is innovative and/or unique in its approach, solutions, or application.

3. Overall qualifications of applicants Maximum Points: 10 This criterion ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education, experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to accomplish the project.

For this opportunity, this criterion includes:

• subject matter expertise in the proposed field;

• established connections to coastal communities; and

• capabilities to execute the proposed project.

4. Project costs Maximum Points: 10 mailto:era-notify@mail.nih.gov

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

For this opportunity, this criterion includes:

• good cost to value/benefit ratio; and

• inclusion of costs for participation in the required meeting/conference to present on the project.

5. Outreach and Education Maximum Points: 10

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.

For this opportunity, this criterion includes:

• the quality of the outreach plan;

• efforts to solicit the input and/or participation of underserved or vulnerable communities in the project;

• plans to participate in the required meeting/conference to present on the project.

Evaluation Criteria Review and Selection Process Once a full proposal application has been received by NOAA, an initial administrative review is conducted to determine compliance with requirements and completeness of the application. Applications that are missing required elements listed in Section IV. B. above, or applications coming from ineligible applicants may be rejected without further review. NOAA in its sole discretion may continue review of applications with minor deficiencies that may be easily rectified or cured.

Applications that pass administrative review will receive at least three written reviews assessing its merits with regard to the evaluation criteria in Section V. from reviewers in a range of disciplines that are relevant to the focus area. These reviews will be averaged to produce a rank order. The selecting official shall recommend awarding in the rank order unless the application is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon any of the selection factors provided below. The selecting official shall make final recommendations for awards to the Grants Officer who is authorized to obligate the funds and execute the award.

Applicants should be aware that, based on past competitions, not all highly rated projects may be able to be funded.

The program manager, NEPA staff lead, or grants specialist may contact the applicants to discuss questions about the 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.

Selection Factors The Selecting Official shall award in the rank order unless the proposal is justified to be selected out of rank order based on one or more of the following factors:

1. Availability of funding.

2. Balance/distribution of funds:

a. geographically

b. by type of institution

c. by type of partners

d. by research priority

e. by project types

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

4. Program priorities and policy factors.

5. Applicant’s prior award performance.

6. Partnerships with/Participation of targeted groups.

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7. 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.

Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates NOTIFICATIONS TO UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS. It is anticipated that successful applicants will be notified in May 2025 that the Selecting Official is recommending them for funding to the NOAA Grants Officer. Subject to the availability of funds, projects are expected to start no earlier than September 1, 2025. The anticipated start date for awards made under this competition will be dependent on funding availability, acceptable completion of all NOAA/applicant negotiations including NEPA and environmental compliance analysis and permit requirements, and the provision of other supporting documentation as requested.

Unsuccessful applicants will be notified by e-mail that their application was not recommended for funding no later than the time the final selection package has been approved by the NOAA GMD, which is expected in Summer 2025. Unsuccessful applications submitted to this competition will be retained for three years and then destroyed.

VI. Award Administration Information A. Award Notices PRE-AWARD COSTS. Per 2 CFR 200.458, NOAA authorizes award recipients to expend pre-award costs up to 90 days before the period of performance start date at the applicant’s own risk without approval from NOAA and in accordance with the applicant’s internal policies and procedures. Such costs are allowable only to the extent that they would have been allowable if incurred after the date of the Federal award. This does not include direct proposal costs (as defined at 2 CFR 200.460). In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for direct proposal preparation costs. Pre-award costs will be a portion of, not in addition to, the approved total budget of the award. Pre-award costs expended more than 90 days prior to the period of performance start date require approval from the Grants Officer. This does not change the period of performance start date.

GRANTS OFFICER SIGNATURE. Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are not considered awards until the Grants Officer has signed the grant agreement. Only Grants Officers can bind the Government to the expenditure of funds. The Grants Officer’s digital signature constitutes an obligation of funds by the federal government and formal approval of the award.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. Funding for programs listed in this notice is contingent upon the availability of funds. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds may not have been appropriated yet for the programs listed in this notice. Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds.

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

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 applies to awards in this program. Refer to http://go.usa.gov/SBYh and http://go.usa.gov/SBg4.

http://go.usa.gov/SBYh http://go.usa.gov/SBg4

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RESEARCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS. For awards designated on the CD-450 as Research, the Commerce Terms, and the Federal-wide Research Terms and Conditions (Research Terms) as implemented by the Department of Commerce, currently, at https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/rtc.jsp, both apply to the award. The Commerce Terms and the Research Terms are generally intended to harmonize with each other;

however, where the Commerce Terms and the Research Terms differ in a Research award, the Research Terms prevail, unless otherwise indicated in a specific award condition.

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 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (DOC) TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Successful applicants who accept a NOAA award under this solicitation will be bound by the DOC Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions. This document will be provided in the award package in eRA at http://www.ago.noaa.gov and at https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy.

BUREAU TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Successful applicants who accept an award under this solicitation will be bound by bureau-specific standard terms and conditions. These terms and conditions will be provided in the award package in NOAA’s Grants Online system. For NOAA awards only, the Administrative Standard Award Conditions for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Financial Assistance Awards U.S. Department of Commerce are applicable to this solicitation and may be accessed online at https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants/financial-assistance HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH. For research projects involving Human Subjects an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or an exemption determination will be required in accordance with DOC Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions Section G.05.i “Research Involving Human Subjects” found at https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy.

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 for any required impact analyses, applicants may also be requested to assist NOAA in drafting an environmental assessment, if NOAA determines an assessment is required.

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.

https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/rtc.jsp http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants/financial-assistance https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/ http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6.pdf http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NEPA-40CFR1500_1508.pdf http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NEPA-40CFR1500_1508.pdf

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. Department of Commerce regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act…