NOFO Information.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 National Weather Service Program Office (NWSPO)

Funding Opportunity Title National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Grant Cycle 2025

Announcement Type Noncompetitive

Funding Opportunity Number

NOAA-NWS-NWSPO-2025-30488

Assistance Listing Number(s) 11.467

Dates Full applications must be received by August 13, 2025.

Funding Opportunity Description Since Federal fiscal year 2008, Congress has authorized NOAA's National Weather Service to offer a grants program to support tsunami preparedness, mitigation, mapping, modeling, and warning coordination activities. Per terms of authorizing legislation, these grants have been made available only to agencies and organizations that have membership on the NTHMP Coordinating Committee as defined in the NTHMP Rules of Procedure. The legislation was updated in 2017 and financial support is available also to local governments and Indian tribes.

Full Text of Announcement I. Funding Opportunity Description A. Program Objective https://weather.gov/media/nthmp/NTHMPRulesofProcedure.pdf

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The focus for FY25 NOAA/NWS Tsunami Activities Grants is support and sustainment of activities described in the NTHMP Strategic Plan for 2024- 2029. Request only what is needed to sustain current levels of activity toward achieving the NTHMP Strategic Plan’s goals and strategies.

B. Program Priorities

• promote the adoption of tsunami resilience, preparedness, warning, and mitigation measures by

Federal, State, territorial, tribal, and local governments;

• support the development of community-based tsunami outreach and education programs to ensure community readiness and resilience;

• support the NWS TsunamiReady® Program for signage, warning support, and outreach;

• support the development and dissemination of guidelines and standards for community tsunami planning, education, and training products, programs, and tools;

• provide funds to initiate tsunami activities that states and territories will sustain with their own funds once begun;

• promote tsunami preparedness and guidance development;

• fulfill the mission, vision, goals, and strategies of the NTHMP to support the nation’s tsunami capabilities to the last mile.

C. Program Authority The NTHMP Strategic Plan for 2024- 2029 governs the priorities and strategies for activities to be funded by grants. This new Strategic Plan was adopted in 2023, and is the only version to be used for grant applications. Suggested alignments with allowable activities and strategies in the plan can be found on the Allowable Activities List.

II. Award Information A. Funding Availability Up to $4,000,000.00 per year will be made available for this award for FY25. The actual annual funding that the awardee receives may be less than the anticipated amount and will depend on the actual projects that are approved by NOAA after the main award beings, the availability of funding, the quality of the deliverables, the satisfactory progress in achieving the stated goals described in project proposals, and continued relevance to program objectives.

B. Project/Award Period The period of performance for these grants is one year: September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026.

Propose only work that can be completed in a 12-month interval.

C. Type of Funding Instrument 100 basic grant

III. Eligibility Information A. Eligible Applicants Financial assistance is provided via NOAA/NWS Financial Assistance for Tsunami Activities to states, territories, and state universities with representatives who serve on the NTHMP Coordinating Committee.

In turn, those eligible recipients may provide sub-awards to local governments and quasi-government agencies.

Tribes with land within a tsunami inundation zone are eligible to participate in the NOAA/NWS Financial Assistance for Tsunami Activities Grant Program directly.

A local government is defined as a county or municipality (borough, city, town, township, or village). Local government status extends to quasi-government entities like a port authority that operates harbor and/or port operations.

https://www.weather.gov/media/nthmp/2025%20NTHMP%20Membership%20Update%20-%20CC%20for%20Website.pdf

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A quasi-government entity is defined as a port or harbor authority or park authority that has a coastline within a designated tsunami inundation zone or a harbor with open ocean access and that operates in the public interest.

A tribe is defined for this grant-making process as being on the list published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs."

B. Cost Share or Matching Requirement No cost sharing is required. Data will be publicly visible and accessible in a timely manner at no cost (or no more than the cost of reproduction), in a format which is machine-readable, and based on open standards, along with metadata necessary to find and properly use data.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility N/A

IV. Application and Submission Information A. Address to Request Application Package The standard application package is available at http://www.grants.gov.

If an applicant does not have internet access or issues accessing grants.gov, an application package may also be requested by contacting: Sarah Rogowski, Tsunami Project Analyst, Analyze, Forecast, and Support Office, NOAA/NWS 125 S State St, Salt Lake City, UT 84138; or at sarah.rogowski@noaa.gov, Google Voice 801-896-4372 .

B. Content and Form of Application The Pre-Application package are sent via email to nws.tsunamigrants@noaa.gov and will include:

1. Project Narrative

2. Budget Explanation

3. Budget workbooks (Prime and Subawards)

4. Data Management agreement

5. Self Evaluation checklist

6. Endorsement Form

7. Applicable NICRAs

8. CVs/Resumes

9. NEPA Statement

Please list your proposed tasks in order of priority with travel to NTHMP meetings as the first task

The final application must be submitted no later than August 13, 2025, to include:

1. Updated Project Narrative

2. Updated Budget Spreadsheet

3. Updated Budget Explanation

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.

Submitted by NWS Tsunami Program

C. Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) mailto:nws.tsunamigrants@noaa.gov

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Each applicant (unless the applicant is an individual or Federal awarding agency that is excepted from those requirements under 2 CFR 25.110(b) or (c), or has an exception approved by the Federal awarding agency under 2 CFR 25.110(d)) is required to: (i) Be registered in SAM before submitting its application;

(ii) Provide a valid unique entity identifier (UEI) in its application; and (iii) Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency. NOAA may not make a Federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable 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 The Pre-Application is due February 24, 2025

The Final Application (including Updated Project Narrative, Budget Spreadsheet, and Budget Explanation, are due August 13, 2025

The NOFO will close on August 13, 2025

E. Intergovernmental Review N/A

F. Funding Restrictions More information on allowable and disallowed activities can be found at https://www.weather.gov/media/nthmp/Allowable.pdf

G. Other Submission Requirements 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.

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.

H. Address for Submitting Proposals

NOAA/NWS

ATTN: Greg Schoor and Sarah Rogowski

1325 East-West Highway, Room 13148

Silver Spring, MD 20910

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V. Application Review Information

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

Maximum Points: 0

2. Technical/scientific merit

3. Overall qualifications of applicants

4. Project costs

5. Outreach and Education

Evaluation Criteria A four-person panel will review all pre-applications under the following criteria:

1. Technical / Scientific Merit

2. Importance / Relevance and applicability of proposal to Program Goals

3. Overall qualification of applicant, including acceptable past performance and financial management

4. Benefit, importance, usefulness relative to cost

5. Ability for tasks to be completed within the performance period

Review and Selection Process Recommendations from the 4-person review panel are submitted to NWS AFS leadership and final budget consideration. Each applicant will be notified of the total funds available, the partner-specific funds granted, and offered assistance in further prioritizing goals to best utilize funding.

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

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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.

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.

Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates September 1, 2025, should be used as the proposed start date on proposals.

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.

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.

http://go.usa.gov/SBYh http://go.usa.gov/SBg4 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf https://www.commerce.gov/oam/policy/financial-assistance-policy

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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.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 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.

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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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, 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.

More information can be found on NOAA’s Data Management Procedures at:

https://nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/documents/Data_Sharing_Directive_v3.0_remediated.pdf and at NAO 212- 15 Management of Environmental Data and Information:

https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-212-15-management-of-environmental-data-and-information

NOAA SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE POLICY. NOAA

requires organizations receiving federal assistance to report findings of sexual harassment, or any other kind of harassment, regarding a Principal Investigator (PI), co-PI, or any other key personnel in the award.

NOAA expects all financial assistance recipients to establish and maintain clear and unambiguous standards of behavior to ensure harassment free workplaces wherever NOAA grant or cooperative agreement work is conducted, including notification pathways for all personnel, including students, on the awards. This expectation includes activities at all on- and offsite facilities and during conferences and workshops. All such settings should have accessible and evident means for reporting violations and recipients should exercise due diligence with timely investigations of allegations and corrective actions.

For more information, please visit: https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants/noaa-workplace-harassment-training-for-contractors-and-financial.

https://nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/documents/Data_Sharing_Directive_v3.0_remediated.pdf https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants/noaa-workplace-harassment-training-for-contractors-and-financial https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants/noaa-workplace-harassment-training-for-contractors-and-financial

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SCIENCE INTEGRITY. 1. Maintaining Integrity. The non-Federal entity shall maintain the scientific integrity of research performed pursuant to this grant or financial assistance award including the prevention, detection, and remediation of any allegations regarding the violation of scientific integrity or scientific and research misconduct, and the conduct of inquiries, investigations, and adjudications of allegations of violations of scientific integrity or scientific and research misconduct. All the requirements of this provision flow down to subrecipients. 2. Peer Review. The peer review of the results of scientific activities under a NOAA grant, financial assistance award or cooperative agreement shall be accomplished to ensure consistency with NOAA standards on quality, relevance, scientific integrity, reproducibility, transparency, and performance. NOAA will ensure that peer review of "influential scientific information" or "highly influential scientific assessments" is conducted in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review and NOAA policies on peer review, such as the Information Quality Guidelines. 3. In performing or presenting the results of scientific activities under the NOAA grant, financial assistance award, or cooperative agreement and in responding to allegations regarding the violation of scientific integrity or scientific and research misconduct, the non- Federal entity and all subrecipients shall comply with the provisions herein and NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 202-735D, Scientific Integrity, and its Procedural Handbook, including any amendments thereto. That Order can be found athttp://nrc.noaa.gov/ScientificIntegrityCommons.aspx. 4. Primary Responsibility. The non-Federal entity shall have the primary responsibility to prevent, detect, and investigate allegations of a violation of scientific integrity or scientific and research misconduct. Unless otherwise instructed by the grants officer, the non-Federal entity shall promptly conduct an initial inquiry into any allegation of such misconduct and may rely on its internal policies and procedures, as appropriate, to do so. 5. By executing this grant, financial assistance award, or cooperative agreement the non-Federal entity provides its assurance that it has established an administrative process for performing an inquiry, investigating, and reporting allegations of a violation of scientific integrity or scientific and research misconduct; and that it will comply with its own administrative process for performing an inquiry, investigation, and reporting of such misconduct. 6. The non-Federal entity shall insert this provision in all subawards at all tiers under this grant, financial assistance award, or cooperative agreement.

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 about any information concerning organizational performance listed in the Responsibility/Qualification section of SAM.gov for consideration by the awarding agency.

Executive Order 14173: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity This award term implements Executive Order 14173, 90 FR 8633 (Jan. 21, 2025), Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. By accepting this U.S. Department of Commerce financial assistance award, the recipient:

(1) agrees that compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of Title 31 United States Code;

and

(2) certifies to the Department that it does not operate any programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.

C. Reporting In accordance with 2 CFR 200.328-9 and the terms and conditions of the award, financial reports are to be submitted semi-annually and performance (technical) reports are to be submitted annually. Reports are submitted electronically through eRA.

http://nrc.noaa.gov/ScientificIntegrityCommons.aspx

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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 FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) available at https://www.fsrs.gov/ on all subawards over $30,000. Refer to 2 CFR Part 170.

VII. Agency Contacts NWS Tsunami Grants Program : nws.tsunamigrants@noaa.gov

Sarah Rogowski, NWS Tsunami Program Analyst and NTHMP Administrator sarah.rogowski@noaa.gov

801-896-4372 (Google Voice)

Greg Schoor, Branch Chief, Marine, Tropical and Tsunami Services Branch gregory.m.schoor@noaa.gov

VIII. Other Information More information on NTHMP can be found at https://www.weather.gov/nthmp/

Grant information can be found at https://www.weather.gov/nthmp/GrantResources https://www.fsrs.gov/ https://www.weather.gov/nthmp/ https://www.weather.gov/nthmp/GrantResources