nrda ffo supplemental instructions fy12.pdf

FFO# NOAA‐NMFS‐HCPO‐2012‐2003241

Important Notice Regarding Proposal Submission Forms and Budget Guidance

Form 424:

Budget Form 424A:

Budget Narrative:

Example Budget Narrative:

Application Checklist for the NRDA Multi-year Implementation Grants

The information provided below is intended to supplement, not replace, the instructions provided in the federal grant application forms and the Federal Funding Opportunity.

This information should decrease common errors and confusion when filling out federal grant applications for the NOAA 2012 NRDA Multi-year Implementation Grants. Please call or email Melanie.Gange@noaa.gov or Julia.Royster@noaa.gov, 301-427-8664 or 301-427-8686, if you have any questions.

Important Notice Regarding Proposal Submission Please register with Grants.gov as soon as possible. This is a one-time, multi-step process that may take several weeks. Instructions are available at http://www.grants.gov under “Get Registered” and at http://www.grants.gov/assets/OrganizationRegCheck.pdf. Please pay special attention to step 4, as we’ve noticed many applicants miss that step.

You must download a compatible version of Adobe Reader to successfully navigate the Grants.gov pages and complete your application on Grants.gov; you can download the program and application before the registration process is complete.

If, due to technical difficulties, you are not able to submit through Grants.gov, please print your Grants.gov application and attachments, sign the forms (at the locations where it says ‘will be completed upon submission’), and submit them by the post-mark deadline.

If you are submitting through Grants.gov, do not wait until after your local post office or delivery service has closed on the due date to submit your online application.

In the event Grants.gov is experiencing technical difficulties, you may need to submit a paper copy of the application and the deadline for submission cannot be extended for you even under such circumstances.

Please remember there is always the possibility for human or computer error during the Grants.gov submission process.

Receipt of reply messages from Grants.gov verifying acceptance or rejection of your application can take up to 48 hours.

Forms and Budget Guidance

Form 424:

Make sure this form reflects the full (up to 7 year) requested award period and the full dollar value requested. Start dates are the first of the month, and end dates are the last day of the month. When asked for your project title (field #15), please choose a short, descriptive name including a geographic region, if applicable. Do not use a generic name such as “Restoration Implementation Grant.” This form asks for two contacts within your organization. The “person to be contacted on matters involving this application” is a project manager or primary investigator (field #8f). The document is signed and submitted by the Authorized Representative (field #21). The Authorized Representative should be the person designated as Authorized Organization Representative in Grants.gov by your organizations’ E-business Point of Contact during the registration process. Only the Authorized Representative will receive official communications concerning your application.

Budget Form 424A:

A complete budget consists of the SF-424A for each year of the award, and a budget narrative that describes cost increases over the life of the award. The form SF-424A for the second through fifth year of the partnership will need to be included with the Other Attachments Form under Optional Documents in your Grants.gov application. The NOAA Restoration Center website includes the additional SF-424A and Budget Guidelines at: http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/darrp.html. Section B (Budget Categories) is the portion of this form most helpful to proposal reviewers; you may choose to include one SF-424A for each year, but we recommend including funding years 2-5 on one SF-424A in Section B columns 1-4. Some versions of this form may auto-fill Section B columns 1-4 from Section A rows 1-4, so make sure to start at the beginning of the form. Please enter whole dollar amounts on this form.

Budget Narrative:

All applications must have a detailed budget narrative explaining and justifying the federal and the non-federal expenditures by object class. The budget narrative must accurately describe the budget breakdown of Section B (Budget Category) of the SF- 424A form. For clarification and simplicity, it is best to discuss each expense by object class in the order they appear on the SF424A. Indicate whether or not expenditures are federal or non-federal in nature. Include the dollar amounts in the discussion and how the dollar amounts were derived. A spreadsheet with federal and non-federal expenditures and their sources can also be included but is not required.

The following are highlights from the Budget Guidelines (see above) to help you formulate your budget narrative.

Object Class:

a. Personnel: include salary, wage, and hours or % of time committed to project of each person by job title

b. Fringe Benefits: should be identified for each individual. Must be described in detail if the rate ≥35 % of the associated salary.

c. Travel: provide a breakdown of travel costs totaling ≥$5,000 or 5 % of award. Include destination, duration, type of transportation, estimated cost, number of travelers, lodging, mileage rate and estimated number of miles, and per diem.

d. Equipment: Equipment is any single piece of non-expendable, tangible personal property ≥$5,000, that has a useful life of greater than one year (i.e. truck, copy machine).

e. Supply: can be any supplies needed for the restoration or administration work. A detailed explanation is required for total supply costs over $5,000 or 5% of the award.

Purchases less than $5,000 / item are considered by the federal government as a supply.

f. Contractual: list each contract or subgrant as a separate item, give cost breakdown and describe products/services to be obtained by the contractor. Contingencies are not allowed.

g. Construction: only charge construction costs for construction of buildings (i.e. green house, educational center). All other project related construction costs should be contractual labor.

h. Other: list items, cost, and justification for each expense

i. Total direct charges

j. Indirect charges: to use line (j) to claim indirect charges a federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement must already be established. A copy of the indirect cost agreement should accompany your application. If no agreement has been arranged, indirect costs can be incorporated into other line items (e.g., fringe benefits, other) as long as they are justified in the budget narrative and meet all OMB prescribed cost principles including being reasonable, necessary, allocable, and allowable at 2 CFR Chapter II.

k. Totals of direct and indirect charges

Example Budget Narrative:

Personnel (Federal Share), $27,200

John Doe, external programs manager, will provide 520 hours of work (25% of his time) at $35/hr to implement Wetlands Unlimited’s NRDA grants program through one or two project solicitations, collection of progress reports and administrative record documentation, and supervision of the biologist and program assistant’s time. (If more than 2 project solicitations are anticipated in year 1, WU expects to negotiate this level of staff time.) Total: $18,200

Alice James, biologist, will provide 1.5 months at $3000/month of technical support, field work, and project coordination to the Wetlands Unlimited’s NRDA grants program to evaluate project success. Furthermore, Ms. James will spend an additional

1.5 months providing permitting expertise, design review, and approval for the Colesville Marsh Restoration Project. [Applicants: This is representative of information that you will not know at the time of application submission, but is provided as an example of what will be expected during project negotiations for projects in which you might have a more direct supervisory role, based on your organizational expertise.] Total: $9,000

WU anticipates 1.5% increases in staff costs in future years, for a similar level of effort.

Anticipated Budget Amounts for Future Years 2013 2014 2015 2016 5 Year Total $27,608 $28,022 $28,442 $28,869 $140,141

Personnel (Non-federal Leverage), $4,500

Administrative support that includes accounting, filing, and tracking the administrative record documents will be the carried out by Mary Smith, Wetlands Unlimited’s program assistant. Mary will dedicate 300 hours at $15.00/hr to this effort.

Total non-federal in-kind match: $4,500

$4,568 $4,636 $4,706 $4,776 $23,186

Fringe Benefits (Federal Share), $4,080

Wetlands Unlimited’s fringe benefit rate is 15% of salary. Fringe benefits are paid at the same rate for all employees. Fringe benefits go toward FICA, medical and dental insurance, retirement and disability. Total: $4,080

$4,141 $4,203 $4,266 $4,330 $21,020

Fringe Benefits (Non-federal Leverage), $675 Fringe benefits for Mary Smith are 15% to cover health insurance, FICA, retirement and disability. Total: $675

$685 $695 $706 $716 $3,477

Travel (Federal)- none

Travel (Non- federal Leverage) -$1,230

Alice James, biologist, will be presenting papers on the projects’ progress, techniques and completion at a major fisheries restoration conference (to be determined).

Estimated airfare ($800), lodging (2 nights, $100/night, total lodging $200), food ($40/day, total $80), and car rental and gas ($150). Total conference travel: $1,230

$1,230 $1,230 $1,230 $1,230 $6,150

Equipment (Federal) - none

Equipment (Non-federal) – none

Supplies (Federal), $1,500

Monitoring equipment (one-time use items such as sample bags or replacement of damaged field gear) will be purchased to collect data in the field prior to and after completion of selected projects. Total: $1,500

$1,500 $1,500 $1,500 $1,500 $7,500

Supplies (Non-federal Leverage), $4,000

In 2012, Wetlands Unlimited will purchase $2,000 in software to collect and analyze fisheries and wetland survey data. Total: $2,000

Wetlands Unlimited will purchase office supplies necessary for administering the

NRDA Implementation grants. Total: $2,000

$2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $12,000

Contractual (Federal), $2,300,000

Projects will be chosen competitively through one or two customized project solicitations for proposals, based on the requests of NOAA and the relevant Trustee Council. We expect approximately 6 proposals to be awarded.

Total: $1,500,000

Funds for the East-West River Restoration Project will be awarded to Salmon

Recovery Partners, a 501(c)3, as designated by the SS Minnow Trustee Council. Total:

$650,000 [Applicants: This is representative of information that you will not know at the time of application submission, but is provided as an example of what will be expected during project negotiations for projects in which you have only an administrative role.]

A contract to design the Colesville Marsh Restoration Project (per the direction of the SS Minnow Trustee Council) will be awarded by Wetlands Unlimited to Exwhyzee Design Build, Inc. Total: $150,000 [Applicants: This is representative of information that you will not know at the time of application submission, but is provided as an example of what will be expected during project negotiations for projects in which you might have a more direct supervisory role, based on your organizational expertise.]

$1,500,000 $1,500,000 $1,500,000 $1,500,000 $8,300,000

Contractual (Non-federal)- none

Other (Federal) – $16,250 Administrative Charges- Wetlands Unlimited will use 2.5% of the funds designated for the East-West River Restoration Project ($650,000 to be contracted) to cover administration of the award, including reporting and administrative records requirements and administrative salaries during the anticipated 2 year duration of this project. Total:

$16,250 [Applicants: This is representative of information that you may want to provide in reference to projects in which you have only an administrative role, even though specific projects won’t be identified in your proposal.]

Assuming that a similar $650,000 project was identified in 2013- 2016, administrative charges would increase to 3% in 2014 and to 3.5% in 2016.

Anticipated Budget Amounts for Future Years

$16,250 $19,500 $19,500 $22,750 $94,250

Other (Non-federal Leverage), $2,500

Wetlands Unlimited will cover the cost of cell phones and videoconferences for arranging and coordinating the NRDA Implementation grants. These charges are not included in our Indirect Cost Rate Agreement. Total: $2,500

$2,500 $2,513 $2,513 $2,525 $12,551

Indirect Charges (Federal), $12,452 Wetlands Unlimited has an approved indirect cost rate of 32% of the direct costs described in our cost rate agreement (attached). 5% of the direct costs are requested (only including the first $25,000 of each of the 8 contracts) and the remaining 27% will be applied as non-federal match. Total: $12,452

Anticipated Budget Amounts for Future Years 2013 2014 2015 2016 5 Year Total $12,475 $12,539 $12,564 $12,631 $62,660

Indirect Charges (Non-federal), $70,648 Wetlands Unlimited is applying 27% of the federal base funds as match (see above). Total: $67,238

Wetlands Unlimited has an approved indirect cost rate of 32% of the base funds described in our cost rate agreement. 32% of the non-federal base funds are requested.

Total: $3,410

Anticipated Budget Amounts for Future Years

$70,159 $70,536 $70,692 $71,085 $353,121

Total Anticipated Federal Budget Amounts for Future Years

$1,561,974 $1,565,887 $1,566,394 $1,570,322 $8,626,059 Total Anticipated Non-Federal (Leverage) Budget Amounts for Future Years 2013 2014 2015 2016 5 Year Total $81,862 $82,989 $83,225 $84,359 $416,708

2012 Budget Summary Table Personnel Fringe Travel Supplies Contractual Other

Federal $ 27,200 $ 4,080 -- $ 1,500 $ 2,300,000 $ 16,250 Non-Federal $ 4,500 $ 675 $ 1,230 $ 4,000 -- $ 2,500

Total Direct Indirect Grand Total Federal $ 2,349,030 $ 12,452 $ 2,361,482 Non-Federal $ 12,905 $ 71,368 $ 84,273 This number should be on your SF-424A

This number should be on your SF-424

Application Checklist for the NRDA Multi‐year Implementation Grants

Eligibility _____ My organization is NOT a state, local, or tribal government _____ My organization has expended over $500K in federal funds in 3 of the last 5 years _____ I have verified that the A-133 audits were posted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse _____ My requested budget falls between $300K and $5M (for the first year)

Proposal Content Federal Forms:

_____ Application for Federal Assistance: SF-424 (7/03 version or newer) ____ My start and end dates encompass a 5-7 year period ____ My requested federal funds include 3-5 years of requested funding _____ Budget Information for Non-construction Programs: SF-424A _____ Assurances for Non-construction Programs: SF-424B _____ Certification Regarding Lobbying: CD-511 _____ Disclosure of Lobbying Activities: SF-LLL (if applicable)SF-424 Project Summary: (2 pages) ____ Did you address all 8 items listed on page 11 of the FFO?

Project Narrative: (8 pages) _____ Address all Program Priorities including

____ Funds Management Ability ____ Multiple Sub-ward Management Experience ____ Experience Soliciting Projects ____ Technical Knowledge of Coastal Resources, Restoration Activities and the NRDA

Process ____ Describe Highlighted Areas of Expertise

____ Describe assumptions your organization made re: total funding available and number of sub-awards

____ Respond to all the Evaluation Criteria (page 14-17 of the FFO) Budget Narrative: (4 pages) _____ Detailed budget broken out by SF-424A object classes Supplemental Information (max 15 pages) _____ 1-page resumes of up to 5 key staff _____ Additional SF-424A (or several) to indicate requested funds in future years _____ Support letters _____ Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable) _____ Other documents that support your application

Submission Process (Either submission method may be used, but Electronic is preferred) Electronic:

_____ Complete all actions on the Grants.gov registration checklist _____ Verify receipt of 3 emails from Grants.gov (including one that says your application was delivered to NOAA) Hard Copy:

_____ Did you SIGN all the federal forms (where it says “signed by Grants.gov”)?

_____ Did you include a CD with your application saved to it?

Did you call your NOAA contacts (Melanie or Julia) to get answers to all your questions?

http://www.grants.gov/assets/OrganizationRegCheck.pdf