PKG00252143-instructions.pdf

FY20-21 Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowships for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 5 C. Program Authority 6

II. Award Information 7 A. Funding Availability 7 B. Project/Award Period 7 C. Type of Funding Instrument 7

III. Eligibility Information 8 A. Eligible Applicants 8 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 9 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 9

IV. Application and Submission Information 9 A. Address to Request Application Package 9 B. Content and Form of Application 9 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 20 D. Submission Dates and Times 21 E. Intergovernmental Review 22 F. Funding Restrictions 22 G. Other Submission Requirements 23

V. Application Review Information 24 A. Evaluation Criteria 24 B. Review and Selection Process 26 C. Selection Factors 27 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 27

VI. Award Administration Information 28 A. Award Notices 28 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 29 C. Reporting 31

VII. Agency Contacts 33 VIII. Other Information 33

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 1 of 34

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FEDERAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: FY20-21 Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowships for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NOS-OCM-2020-2006074

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.420, Coastal Zone Management Estuarine Research Reserves

Dates: Proposals must be received by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on December 20, 2019.

PLEASE NOTE: We encourage all fellowship applicants to work with their advisor and the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs, or equivalent, and begin the application process well before the December 20, 2019 deadline. Adequate time must be factored in for the delivery of the application through Grants.gov.

Funding Opportunity Description: The purpose of this notice is to solicit grant proposals for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System’s Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship (Davidson Fellowship) from master’s and doctoral students actively enrolled in a graduate program at an accredited university. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a program of the Office for Coastal Management which has an interest in balancing the needs of the natural environment and coastal economies and is responsible for implementing the Coastal Zone Management Act. The goals of the Davidson Fellowship are to build the next generation of leaders in estuarine science and coastal management by affording qualified graduate students the opportunity to conduct collaborative science within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System; partake in professional development opportunities; and receive mentoring to support professional growth. All Davidson Fellowship projects must be conducted in a research reserve and should be designed to contribute to one of the reserve’s priority management areas, and thus enhance the scientific understanding of the natural or social science aspects of the research subject matter. One fellow will be selected for each of the 29 reserves for a two-year duration.

Mentoring and professional development activities will be provided to build knowledge and skills needed to successfully contribute to the workforce responsible for the coast. These opportunities are also designed to create a strong network among the fellows during their tenure

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 2 of 34 and into the early portion of their careers.

Typically, awards will be made to the fellow's graduate institution through the use of a cooperative agreement. Funds are expected to be available on a competitive basis to qualified graduate students. To be eligible, applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of U.S.

states or territories, and admitted to or enrolled full-time in a master's or doctoral program at a U.S. accredited university. Minority students are encouraged to apply. Additional information about the fellowship may be found at: https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/research/davidson-fellowship.html

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The goals of the Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship are to build the next generation of leaders in estuarine science and coastal management by affording qualified graduate students the opportunity to conduct collaborative science within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System; partake in professional development opportunities; and receive mentoring to support professional growth. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a program of the Office for Coastal Management which has an interest in balancing the needs of the natural environment and coastal economies and is responsible for implementing the Coastal Zone Management Act.

The fellowship is available to graduate students admitted to or enrolled full-time in a M.S. or Ph.D. program. One fellow will be selected at each of the 29 reserves for a two-year duration. Mentoring and professional development will be provided to build knowledge and skills needed to successfully enter the workforce. These opportunities are also designed to create a strong network among the fellows during their tenure and into the early portion of their careers.

The proposed outcomes of this fellowship program include:

-Address critical reserve management priorities through high-quality research directed towards local coastal and estuarine issues and contributing to regional and national efforts.

-Support the next generation of leaders in estuarine science and coastal management and develop a strong network among fellows that continues after the fellowship and into their careers.

NOAA recognizes the need to ensure that student research addresses critical gaps in knowledge about estuarine systems, ecological processes, socioeconomics, and related areas.

The nature of research conducted at the National Estuarine Research Reserves, as well as interactions with reserve staff and partners and academic institutions with similar goals, can help students fulfill their degree requirements through work benefiting not only the reserves but the field and study of coastal management broadly. NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and encourages women and minority individuals and groups to submit applications to this program. In addition, DOC/NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, Federal Funding Opportunity Page 4 of 34 tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas. Additional information about the fellowship may be found at:

https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/research/davidson-fellowship.html

B. Program Priorities

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) consists of estuarine areas of the United States and its territories that are designated and managed for research and educational purposes. Each reserve within the system is chosen to reflect regional differences and to include a variety of ecosystem types in accordance with the classification scheme of the national program as presented in 15 CFR part 921. Each reserve supports a wide range of beneficial uses of ecological, economic, recreational, and aesthetic values that are dependent upon the maintenance of a healthy ecosystem. The sites provide habitats for a wide range of ecologically and commercially important species of fish, shellfish, birds, and other aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. Each reserve has been designed to ensure its effectiveness as a conservation unit and as a site for long-term research and monitoring. As part of a national system, the reserves collectively provide an excellent opportunity to address research questions and estuarine management issues of national significance.

Research conducted by successful applicants will focus on addressing a key management question that helps to understand environmental change and the effects on human or community resilience. Each two-year project should employ the tenets of collaborative research including engaging end-users throughout the project, incorporating multiple disciplinary perspectives, and ensuring outcomes are applicable to local management needs and decision-making. The NERRS Science Collaborative ( http://graham.umich.edu/water/nerrs/resources) and the Collaborative Toolkit provided by the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA) (https://nerra.org/archive/how-we-work/collaborative-project-toolkit/) provide helpful resources and information on collaborative research.

Fellows will be expected to implement the proposed research project as part of their graduate course of study and with the support and engagement of their university faculty sponsor and a reserve mentor. Fellows will also be involved in reserve activities that relate to their project and support the reserve’s community engagement, education, and stewardship efforts. These responsibilities will be determined at the outset of the fellowship.

Research conducted by fellows will support the 2017-2022 NERRS Strategic Plan (https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/nerrs/StrategicPlan.pdf) and the focus areas of water quality, habitat and environmental change. Proposed research projects submitted in response to this announcement must address the research priorities specified by the reserve site.

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Descriptions of the research priorities for each reserve can be found here:

https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/research/davidson-fellowship.html.

Proposals must be conducted within a designated reserve and each proposal must designate the reserve site for the application. Proposals must clearly specify the research priority that is being addressed. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the reserve (see points of contact associated with the research priorities at https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/research/davidson-fellowship.html) prior to submitting a proposal to discuss the feasibility of their project idea and the resources available at the reserve. Applicants may apply to more than one reserve; however, a separate, full application package is required for each submission and should specifically address the reserve priority.

The expectation is that the student will work closely with the faculty advisor and reserve mentor throughout the fellowship to conduct their research and to understand the ecology, mission, and capabilities of the reserve and the reserve system. Graduate student fellows who are selected for funding will be required to work with the faculty advisor and reserve mentor to finalize a work plan relevant to the student’s research based on the submitted proposal. A review and agreement to roles and responsibilities for each party will also be discussed at that time. These discussions should take place no later than three months after the award start. Satisfactory progress must be made toward the completion of a thesis or dissertation. Working with the reserve will also include participation in the reserve’s research, monitoring, stewardship, education, or coastal training programs that support the project work as part of professional development. It is anticipated that the fellow will be working on-site at the reserve for a minimum of six weeks/year (non-consecutive). Any necessary housing or accommodation needed to meet this requirement should be discussed with the reserve prior to submitting an application.

Professional development will include an annual on-site training and quarterly virtual events in areas such as project management, leadership, coastal management skills, and career planning. These trainings will be provided to fellows and offered, as appropriate, to faculty sponsors and reserve mentors. To support the professional development activities and fellowship experience, a travel budget will be provided as part of the award for required attendance at annual meetings of fellows, the NERRS/NERRA Annual meeting during the first year (expected to be Seattle, WA area in 2020), and a professional conference in the second year.

C. Program Authority

Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended CZMA, 16 U.S.C. 1461, establishes the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). 16

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U.S.C. 1461 (e)(1)(B) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to any coastal state or public or private person for purposes of supporting research and monitoring within a National Estuarine Research Reserve that are consistent with the research guidelines developed under subsection (c).

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Total anticipated funding for all awards is approximately $1,740,000 per year and is subject to the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations. The anticipated federal funding per award is approximately $60,000/year with a 24-month project period (multi-year awards). The anticipated $60,000/year is intended to provide $34,000 to cover a combination of stipend, tuition, and other student-related costs as needed, approximately $7,000 for travel including required travel, and any overhead costs. The anticipated total number of awards is 29, one award designated for each of the 29 reserves, and will be adjusted based on available funding.

Funding in FY 2021 for the second year of the fellowship is subject to appropriation.

There is no guarantee that funds will be available to make awards for this federal funding opportunity or that any proposal will be selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement signed by an authorized NOAA official, the applicant does so at their own risk of these costs not being included in a subsequent award. Proposal preparation costs shall not be included within the project application budget. In addition, NOAA and DOC will not be responsible for project costs if this program fails to receive funding. Recipients and subrecipients are subject to all federal laws and agency policies, regulations, and procedures applicable to federal financial assistance awards.

Applicants must be in compliance with all existing NOAA grants or cooperative agreements and otherwise eligible to receive federal awards in order to be considered for funding under this competition.

B. Project/Award Period

The performance period for projects funded in FY 2020 cannot exceed 24 months. The start date on proposals shall be on August 1, 2020 or September 1, 2020.

Funding in year two is contingent upon the availability of funds from Congress, satisfactory performance, and is at the sole discretion of the agency.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

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The funding instrument for Davidson Fellowship awards will be a cooperative agreement, which allows for substantial federal involvement in the planning and implementation of funded projects. Examples of substantial federal involvement may include: consultation on project focus; facilitating communications among university, reserve, and partners if needed; and assuring student mentoring is occurring. The specific involvement will depend on each student and project needs.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Typically awards will be made to the fellow's graduate institution through the use of a cooperative agreement. Funds are expected to be available on a competitive basis to qualified graduate students for research within a reserve(s) leading to a graduate degree. To be eligible, applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of U.S. states or territories, and admitted to or enrolled full-time in a master's or doctoral program at a U.S. accredited university. It is recommended that applicants should have completed a majority of their graduate coursework prior to the beginning of their fellowship in order to fully participate in the activities. Students in the final year of their graduate program are not advised to apply for this fellowship.

Federal agencies and employees are not allowed to receive funds under this announcement but may serve as project partners. If federal agencies are collaborators, applicants are expected to provide details on the planned level of federal engagement in the application.

Examples might include, but are not limited to participating in an advisory capacity or providing facilities for research.

National Estuarine Research Reserve staff are ineligible to submit an application for a fellowship under this announcement.

DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and encourages women and minority individuals and groups to submit applications to this program. In addition, DOC/NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas. DOC/NOAA encourages applications involving any of the above institutions to apply.

The lead applicant on any proposal will be responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the purposes of, and in a manner consistent with this program, including any funds awarded to an eligible sub-awardee.

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B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

There is no cost sharing or matching requirement.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

None.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

The standard SF-424 application package is available online at http://www.grants.gov. If this is not feasible, an application package may be requested from:

Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship Attn: Christopher Katalinas (on contract for) NOAA Office for Coastal Management 2234 South Hobson Ave. Charleston, SC 29405 or e-mail OCM.Davidsonfellowship@noaa.gov

B. Content and Form of Application

A complete standard NOAA financial assistance application package should be submitted in accordance with the guidelines in this document.

All application materials should use a legible 11- or 12-point font with 1-inch margins on all sides.

The complete application package should include the following forms and documents and should be grouped in two separate files: the main body of the proposal (components 1 - 4 below) and the appendix file.

A project description, as described in the application components section below, should be limited to no more than 5 pages. The proposal should also include a title page and table of contents but these pages (title and table of contents) will not count towards the project description 5-page limit.

Project descriptions that exceed the 5-page limit will be shortened by removing pages at the end of the proposal narrative before it is forwarded to merit reviewers for evaluation. Pages

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 9 of 34 excised from lengthy applications will not be reviewed or considered. Applications that are incomplete, unclear, or contain numerous typographical errors may not be understood effectively by reviewers, resulting in lower evaluation scores, so applicants are advised to review their application materials closely before they are submitted to the agency for consideration.

Federal forms from the SF-424 Form family, available at (https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms.html) should include the following forms as applicable:

--Application for Federal Assistance: Form SF-424 --Budget Information for Non-construction Programs: Form SF-424A (prior to award, a separate Form SF-424A will be required for each year of funding) --Assurances for Non-construction Programs: Form SF-424B --Certification Regarding Lobbying: Form CD-511 --Disclosure of Lobbying Activities: Form SF-LLL (if applicable)

Appendices should be limited to materials that directly support the main body of the proposal (e.g., resumes, references, lists of relevant work products or reports, data sources, detailed budget narrative, letter of support, lists of data sources, and maps). Applicants should include page numbers in their proposal and any appendices. Appendices should not total more than 15 pages excluding forms, information to complete forms, detailed budget narrative, and NEPA and environmental compliance information.

Federal forms and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) information, and information provided (e.g., Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement) to complete the federal forms can be separately submitted or combined and submitted as one PDF document.

Please keep in mind that the total electronic file size of the proposal narrative and appendices combined shall not exceed 5 megabytes. Files that are larger than five megabytes may not be properly downloaded, uploaded, or received by the agency or the reviewers. Files that cannot be opened or downloaded will not be reviewed.

All applications should contain the following 9 components:

1.Title Page (Proposal Cover Sheet)

a. Project title

b. Name of reserve at which the project will be conducted and the priority management need to be addressed by the project

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c. Proposed project period (start date must be August 1 or September 1, 2020 and end dates)

d. Applicant (name, organization, and contact information)

e. Student’s university and degree being sought

f. Anticipated graduation year

g. Faculty advisor or University sponsor (name, organization, and contact information)

h. Recipient name (must match registered name in Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS)). This is typically the University at which the student is enrolled.

Recipient DUNS number (must match applicant information in SAM.Gov)

i. Financial representative (names, organization, and contact information)

j. Requested funding by year

k. If the project is intended to be administered under an existing NOAA Cooperative Institute, state which Institute will administer the award

2. Statement of Interest.

One-page statement from the applicant indicating current academic status, research interests, career goals, how the proposed research fits into their degree program, and interest in the professional development opportunities.

3. Project Summary.

Provide a one-page summary of the proposed project. The summary should contain the following sections:

a. Project title

b. Name of reserve at which the project will be conducted

c. Brief project summary including priority management need, project objectives, expected results, and intended benefits and outcomes

4. Project Description.

The project description (a maximum of 5 pages) should clearly define research goals and demonstrate the technical knowledge needed for the research area. The project will be evaluated on the alignment with reserve priorities, project feasibility, and technical understanding and clarity of the approach. Sufficient detail should be provided to enable reviewers to evaluate the relevance and applicability of proposed work to program priorities described in Section I.B of this announcement; to determine the technical/scientific merit of

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 11 of 34 the proposed work; and to assess whether the proposed scope of work raises any concerns with regard to federal policy considerations, such as those related to the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Historic Preservation Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

All project descriptions should include the following sections:

a. Problem Statement and Background Information. Describe the research problem in relation to relevant coastal management issues with emphasis on how the project will address the specific reserve management needs identified. It should include a brief review of pertinent literature.

b. Project Approach. Identify the core research question(s) and a description of how the approach addresses the question(s). Clearly state the research objectives and/or hypotheses and proposed methods to conduct the work. Describe the technical approach supported by literature references. The proposal should indicate by way of discussion how any data are to be collected, synthesized, interpreted, and integrated into the final work products. The proposals should indicate intended end-users of the research and an approach to collaborating with end-users throughout the project.

c. Expected Outcomes. Identify and describe the anticipated project products or outcomes.

Explain how they will meet the reserve needs related to management, research, training, education, or stewardship. The narrative should include information on dissemination of the findings/results to resource managers, local communities, and other stakeholders as appropriate. The project narrative also should include information on how the project will be evaluated for success.

d. Milestone Schedule. Display timelines for major tasks, target milestones for important intermediate and final products, and key project outcomes.

5. Budget Narrative and Justification

The amount of each fellowship multi-year award is expected to be $60,000 annually for two years, which is intended to provide a combination of stipend, travel, tuition, or other costs as needed, including overhead costs. The intent is to provide $34,000 annually to cover a combination of stipend, tuition, travel to and from the reserve, housing, or other student-related costs as needed. The budget should allocate approximately $7,000 annually to travel expenses to include required travel to an annual Fellow Meeting (time and place to be

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 12 of 34 determined), the NERRS/NERRA Annual meeting expected be held in the Seattle, WA area in November 2020, and a professional conference where the student is expected to present the results of their research during the second year (time and place to be determined). Under a separate award, funding estimated at $7,000 will be provided to each reserve to support the fellowship project.

The applicant is strongly encouraged to work with their institution's sponsored programs office to develop their budget. The applicant may request funds under any of the following categories as long as the costs are reasonable and necessary: personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, other, and indirect. The budget should contain itemized costs with appropriate narratives justifying proposed expenditures.

In order to allow reviewers to evaluate the appropriateness of all costs, applications should include a detailed budget narrative and a budget justification broken out by individual task.

The budget narrative submitted with the final application should match the dollar amounts included on all required forms and clearly link to the project narrative. Please explain each calculation and provide a narrative justification to explain expenditures for each budget category. The budget narrative should describe, by category of expenditure, the total funding needed to accomplish the objectives described in the project narrative for the entire award period. Please explain how categorical costs are derived in sufficient detail to enable reviewers to determine if costs are 'allowable and reasonable' according to the cost principles referenced in 2 CFR 200, Subpart E. Budget narrative categories should correspond to the standard object class categories listed in Section B of the SF-424A. For additional details, please review the budget guidance provided at:

https://coast.noaa.gov/funding/_pdf/forms/budget-narrative-guidance-for-NOAA-grants.pdf.

Applicants should include detailed budget information regarding all known contracts and sub-awards, and indicate the basis for the cost and price estimates in the narrative.

Applicants should describe activities to occur or products or services to be obtained and indicate the applicability or necessity of each to the project. Each sub-award should include form SF-424A. Detailed budget information includes:

a. Name of identified qualified sub recipient or contractor, affiliation, contact information, and method of selection. For “to be determined,” describe plans for selection. Information must include the name and location (city, state, and Congressional district) of the entity receiving the funds and the location of the primary place of performance under the contract or sub-award.).

b. Period of Performance. Include the dates for the performance period. If it involves a

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 13 of 34 number of tasks, include the performance period for each task.

c. Scope of Work. List and describe the specific activities or tasks to be performed.

d. Criteria for Measuring Accountability: Include an itemized line item breakdown as well as total contract/award amount. If applicable, include any indirect costs paid under the contract/award and the indirect cost rate used.

e. Itemized Budget. Include categories used in program budget for subrecipients or cost-based contractors. If applicable, include any direct cost paid under the sub-award or contract and the indirect cost rate used.

All sub-awards and contracts must be made consistent with the requirements of 2 CFR 200.330-200.332 for sub-awards, and 200.317-200.326 for procurements.

For any equipment, a description of the item and associated costs or price is required, including a description of how it will be used in the project. Note that equipment is defined as tangible personal property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which equals or exceeds the lesser of the capitalization level established by the non-federal entity for financial statement purposes, or $5,000. See 2 CFR 200.33 Equipment, 2 CFR 200.313, and 2 CFR 200.317-326.

Non-federal applicants should identify, if this information is known when submitting the grant application, who they plan to request that NOAA transfer equipment or property ownership titles to after the project ends. The decision on grant ownership requests will be made by the Grants Officer during the grant closeout process.

The cost or price, purpose, and method of selection for identified and planned acquisition contracts should be thoroughly justified in the Budget Narrative. Describe products or services to be obtained and indicate the applicability or necessity of each to the project.

Procurements are subject to the policies described in 2 CFR 200.317 - .326. For “to be determined,” describe plans for selection.

The budget narrative should also provide, to the extent possible, detailed information on travel, including costs, a description of anticipated travel, destinations, the number of travelers, and a justification of how the requested travel is directly relevant to the successful completion of the project. If actual trip details are unknown, applicants should state the basis for the proposed travel charges. Applicants should allocate travel funds for any coordination meetings at regional or national levels. If a foreign air carrier is anticipated to be used for

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 14 of 34 any portion of travel, prior approval is required under the DOC Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions, Section G.05.c.,, http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/grants_management/policy/documents/Department%20of%20 Commerce%20Standard%20Terms%20Conditions%2030%20April%202019.pdf, and therefore, such travel should be included in the proposal to avoid having to request prior approval after the project starts. Applicants may factor in travel costs for participation in an annual NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD) workshop for recipients.

Refer to item 8 below in this Section regarding treatment of Indirect Costs in the Budget Narrative.

6. Appendices

Appendices should be limited to materials that directly support the main body of the proposal (e.g. resumes, references, lists of relevant work products or reports, detailed methodologies, data sources, detailed budget narrative, letters of support, lists of data sources, and maps) and should not exceed a maximum of 15 pages (excluding forms, supplementary information to complete forms, a detailed budget narrative, and NEPA and environmental compliance information). Applicants should number the pages in their proposal and any appendices.

As a standard practice, NOAA requires that resumes for Principal Investigators (PIs) of competitive awards be on file and maintained in the grants processing system used by the Department of Commerce, Grants Online. Recipients of any award (competitive or non-competitive) are required to designate PIs in Grants Online within 30 days of receiving award offers.

Appendices for this Notice of Funding Opportunity should include:

a. Signed letter of support and recommendation from the applicant’s faculty advisor or sponsor. The letter should include an assurance that the student is in good academic standing, has completed the majority of their academic course work, provide an indication of support for the project as part of the course of study, acknowledgment of the requirement to share data collected as part of the award with reserve staff (see IV.C. Reporting) , acknowledgement of the requirements for the fellow’s participation at the reserve and in professional development events (see I.B. Program Priorities), and any other information, support, or recommendations the advisor offers for the applicant.

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b. Additional letters of support and recommendation from faculty or professional colleagues (maximum of two letters). The letter should describe their familiarity with the applicant’s work, address the applicant's ability to succeed in the program, and any other information, support, or recommendations the writer offers for the applicant.

c. Resume. A resume for the student should be provided. Include all graduate and undergraduate institutions (department or area of study, degree, and year of graduation), all publications (including undergraduate and graduate theses), awards or fellowships, and related work/research experience. Please limit resume to a maximum of two pages.

d. Transcripts. Unofficial copies of transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate institutions. Transcripts from the current institution should indicate the enrollment status.

e. Data Sharing Plan.

The Data Management Plan should address the requirements in this section of the Announcement.

i. Environmental data and information collected or created under NOAA grants or cooperative agreements must be made discoverable by and accessible to the 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 be accompanied by machine-readable documentation (metadata), preferably based on widely used or international standards.

ii. 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 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.

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. The NOAA Program is not offering specific data management technical guidance. Proposals are to describe their proposed approach. Use of open-standard formats and methods is

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 16 of 34 encouraged. For more information about data sharing in this program, contact the agency official listed in Section VII. of this funding announcement.

iii. 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.

iv. 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.

v. NOAA's Administrative Order on the Management of Environmental Data Management and Information is available under:

http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/administrative_orders/chapter_212/212- 15.html

vi. Principal Investigators should indicate how and when they have made their data accessible and usable by the community in the past.

vii. More information about the NOAA Data Sharing Policy is available on NOAA’s Environmental Data Management Committee website at:

www.nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/PD.DSP.php

f. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Environmental Compliance Under (NEPA) NOAA must analyze the potential environmental impacts of projects or proposals seeking funding from NOAA.

For your information, after the application is submitted, NOAA may require additional information to fulfill NEPA and other compliance requirements. If NOAA determines that an environmental assessment is required, applicants may also be requested to assist in drafting the assessment. Applicants may also be required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying and implementing feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their proposal. The failure to do so shall be grounds for the denial of 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

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 17 of 34 to enable NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on the environment.

The applicants selected for funding must complete questions 1 - 13 of the Environmental Compliance Questionnaire for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Federal Financial Assistance Applicants accessible at https://www.nepa.noaa.gov/docs/NOAA- Grants-Questionnaire-final.pdf 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). Questions 14 - 58 are not required initially because NOAA anticipates that most projects funded through this competition would not have impacts related to damage assessment and restoration or fisheries sampling and analysis.

Detailed information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the following NOAA NEPA websites: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/ including NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6.pdf and the Council on Environmental Quality implementation regulations under https://www.coast.noaa.gov/funding/_pdf/CEQ%20Regulations%20for%20Implementing%2 0the%20Procedural%20Provisions%20of%20NEPA.pdf

g. Mandatory detailed budget information.

i. Standard Form 424 (SF-424): Application for Federal Assistance (7/2003 version or newer). Applicants requesting Federal funding under this program must submit a copy of SF- 424, 'Application for Federal Assistance'. If the applicant submits a hard copy of the final application, the SF-424 must be signed and dated by the organization's authorized representative and used as the cover page for the final application. An electronic signature and date stamp will automatically be included on SF-424 forms submitted via Grants.gov.

ii. Standard Form 424A (SF-424A): Budget Information for Non-construction Programs (includes a separate form for each year of funding and for each proposed sub-award of $25,000 or more). Applicants are required to submit a SF-424A Budget Form to summarize the budget for the proposed scope of work. The first column of Sections A and B shows the federal funds requested, while the second column of Sections A and B shows any non-federal matching funds provided for the project. Total award funding is shown in the final column of Section B. Non-federal funding is broken out by source in Section C. Forecasted cash needs in Section D should be inclusive of all funding for the project. Federal and non-

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 18 of 34 federal funds should be expended at a similar rate throughout the course of the project.

Section E may be left blank. Section F summarizes the direct charges in line 21 and lists the indirect charges requested; please show the rate used in line 22. Please note that completion of the SF-424A form as described above represents NOAA's preference and may not be consistent with the instructions that accompany the SF-424A form. All budget figures should match the funding requested on the application cover sheet and correspond with the descriptions contained in the project and budget narratives. Each proposed sub-award of $25,000 or more should be accompanied by a separate SF-424A form to fully document the proposed subaward budget.

iii. Standard Form 424B (SF-424B): Assurances for Non-Construction Programs Applicants are required to submit a signed SF-424B, 'Assurances for Non-Construction Programs'.

iv. Form CD-511: Certification Regarding Lobbying Applicants are required to submit a Form CD-511, 'Certifications Regarding Lobbying.

v. Standard Form LLL (SF-LLL): Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (if applicable).

7. Permits and Approvals

If applicable, it is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain all necessary federal, state, and local government permits and approvals for the proposed work. Applicants must provide a list of all known permits that will be required to perform the proposed work and an indication of the status of any permits needed (e.g., not yet applied, permit application submitted/pending, permit granted, etc.). If no permits are required, the applicant should include a statement indicating that no permits are necessary.

Failure to apply for and/or obtain federal, state, and local permits, approvals, letters of agreement, or failure to provide environmental analyses where necessary (i.e., NEPA and environmental assessment) will delay or prevent the award of funds for projects that have been preliminarily selected for funding.

8. Match waiver request (if applicable)

Matching funds are not required.

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 19 of 34

9. Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable)

The proposed budget may include an amount for indirect or “Facilities and Administrative” (F&A) costs if the applicant has an established indirect cost rate with the federal government. Indirect costs are essentially overhead costs for basic operational functions (e.g., utilities, rent, and insurance) that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified specifically within a particular project. See 2 CFR 200.56 -57 and 200.412-415.

A copy of the current, approved negotiated indirect cost agreement with the federal Government should be included with the application package. If an award recipient has never established an indirect cost rate with any federal agency, the recipient may request to use the de minimis rate (10% of modified total direct costs) described at 2 CFR 200.414.

Alternatively, the negotiation and approval of a new rate is subject to the procedures required by NOAA and the DOC. The U.S. Department of Commerce, Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions require that recipients within 90 days of the award start date, submit to the address listed below documentation (indirect cost proposal, cost allocation plan, etc.) necessary to perform the review.

Lamar Revis, Grants Officer NOAA Grants Management Division 1325 East West Highway, 9th Floor Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Lamar.Revis@noaa.gov

The de minimis indirect cost rate should be used for all federal awards. Non-federal entities may use this rate indefinitely, but may choose to negotiate an indirect (F&A) cost rate at any time. This de minimis rate option is not available to state and local governments, and Indian tribes.

In addition to the 8 standard elements described above, applicants may upload additional supporting documentation by using the 'Optional Form' box under 'Other Attachments' in Grants.gov during the application submission process.

For applications submitted in electronic format, acceptable formats are limited to Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) or Microsoft Word files.

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

To enable the use of a universal identifier and to enhance the quality of information

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 20 of 34 available to the public as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, 31 U.S.C. 6101 Note, to the extent applicable, any proposal awarded in response to this announcement will be required to use the System for Award Management (SAM), which may be accessed online at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Applicants are also required to use the Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS), as identified in OMB guidance published at 2 CFR Parts 25 at http://go.usa.gov/x9PYd.

Applicants should: (1) Be registered in the federal SAM before submitting an application;

(2) provide a valid DUNS number on an application; and (3) 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. The federal awarding agency may not make a federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable DUNS and SAM requirements. If an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time the federal awarding agency is ready to make a federal award, the federal awarding agency 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.

Applicants should allow a minimum of seven days to complete the SAM registration, although complete registration for SAM may take several weeks if problems arise.

Registration is required only once but must be renewed once a year.

Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the application deadline date to begin the application process through www.grants.gov.

D. Submission Dates and Times

Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, or received by and validated by Grants.gov by 11:59 PM Eastern time December 20, 2019 (one or the other -hard copy or electronic, but not both).

We encourage all fellowship applicants to begin the application process several weeks before the December 20, 2019 deadline as they are expected to work with their advisor and university’s Office of Sponsored Programs, or equivalent, to obtain necessary approvals and information, complete the required forms, and submit the application within the necessary timeline. All applicants should be aware that adequate time must be factored into schedules for delivery of the application through Grants.gov.

If for any reason applicants are unable to submit their application through Grants.gov or are

Federal Funding Opportunity Page 21 of 34 concerned about possible problems associated with the Grants.gov system, they may provide a paper copy of their full application by mail. Applications submitted by mail must include all relevant application elements described above, must include a SF-424 form with original ink or valid electronic signature and date from an authorized recipient organization representative, and must be stamped with an official U.S. Postal Service postmark or provided to a commercial carrier with tracking number and receipt on or before 11:59 pm Eastern on December 20, 2019; private metered postmarks are unacceptable. Please address all mailed applications to:

Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship Attn: Christopher Katalinas (on contract for) NOAA Office for Coastal Management 2234 South Hobson Ave., Charleston, SC 29405

No email or fax copies will be accepted. Paper applications received more than 3 business days after the deadline will not be reviewed, and applicants submitting by paper are responsible for tracking their applications.

Applicants should consider the possibility of storms and other unforeseen impacts from natural hazards that could affect their Internet access and use of Grants.gov on or before application due dates. Applicants should be aware that localized hazardous weather or other situations beyond their control impacting their ability to submit packages before deadlines may not result in changes to the application…