PKG00258293-instructions.pdf

AGENCY: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

TITLE: Community-Scale Air Toxics Ambient Monitoring

ACTION: Request for Applications (RFA)

RFA NUMBER: EPA-OAR-OAQPS-20-05

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NO: 66.034

IMPORTANT DATES

February 13, 2020 RFA OPENS

March 30, 2020 RFA CLOSES – APPLICATIONS DUE

June 1, 2020 ANTICIPATED NOTIFICATION OF SELECTION

September 1, 2020 ANTICIPATED AWARD

The closing date and time for receipt of applications is March 30, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern

Time (ET) in order to be considered for funding. Application packages must be submitted electronically to EPA through Grants.gov (www.grants.gov/) no later than March 30, 2020, at

11:59 p.m. (ET) in order to be considered for funding.

SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications for proposals for projects designed to assist state, local, and tribal air agencies in identifying and characterizing air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), through work that falls into one of four categories. Those categories are: 1) characterizing the impacts of air toxics in a community (community-scale monitoring); 2) assessing impacts of toxics emissions from specific sources (near-source monitoring); 3) evaluating new and emerging testing methods for air toxics; and, 4) analyzing existing air toxics data and developing or enhancing analytical, modeling, and/or implementation tools. Air toxics of particular interest to EPA in this solicitation include ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and metals such as hexavalent chromium, nickel, and arsenic.

To allow for efficient management of the competitive process, EPA requests submittal of an informal notice of an Intent to Apply by March 4, 2020, to watkins.nealson@epa.gov. While submitting an Intent to Apply is optional, doing so will assist EPA in anticipating the total staff time required for efficient review, evaluation, and selection of submitted applications.

FUNDING/AWARDS: The total estimated funding for this competitive opportunity is approximately $5,000,000. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 10 to 20 assistance agreements from this announcement, subject to the availability of funds, the quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations.

http://www.grants.gov/ mailto:watkins.nealson@epa.gov

WHO MAY APPLY:

Projects resulting from this competition will be awarded exclusively with State and Tribal

Assistance Grant (STAG) funds. Therefore, the only entities eligible to submit applications under this announcement are air pollution control agencies, as defined by Section 302(b) of the Clean

Air Act (CAA), that are also eligible to receive grants under Section 105 of the Clean Air Act.

Under this competition, selected applicants may provide subawards to other entities, including to entities that are not eligible to submit an application under this competition, consistent with

EPA’s Subaward Policy (https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients).

NOTE: If you intend to name a contractor (including an individual consultant) or a subrecipient as a project partner or otherwise in your application, EPA recommends that you carefully review, and comply with, the directions contained in the “Contracts and Subawards” clause that can be accessed under the Section IV.E clause for “Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated

Into the Solicitation.”

https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE: Community-Scale Air Toxics Ambient Monitoring

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Background

B. Scope of Work

C. EPA Strategic Plan Linkage, Anticipated Outputs/Outcomes and Performance Measures

D. Statutory Authority

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. What is the amount of funding available?

B. Partial Funding

C. How many agreements will EPA award in this competition?

D. What is the project period for awards resulting from this solicitation?

E. Funding Type

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Eligible Entities

B. Cost Sharing or Matching

C. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

A. Requirement to Submit Through Grants.gov and Limited Exception Procedures

B. Grants.gov Application Submission Instructions (see Appendix A)

C. Content of Application Submission

D. Submission Date and Times

E. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

A. Evaluation Criteria

B. Review and Selection Process

C. Other Factors

D. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

A. Award Notices

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

C. Reporting Requirement

D. Disputes

E. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Solicitation

VII. AGENCY CONTACTS

APPENDIX A - Grants.gov Application Submission Instructions

APPENDIX B – Budget Detail Sample

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Background

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting grant applications for the ambient monitoring of community-scale air toxics compounds as a key component of its overarching air toxics program. Stemming from the National Ambient Air Monitoring Strategy

(http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/monstratdoc.html) and the Agency’s Urban Air Toxics Strategy

(https://www.epa.gov/urban-air-toxics/integrated-urban-air-toxics-strategy), EPA is addressing a common set of needs on behalf of the ambient air monitoring community. The National Ambient

Air Monitoring Strategy has provided a basic framework under which the air toxics program is integrated. The linkage to the national strategy is illustrated by two dominant principles. The first key principle is to have an appropriate balance between national measurements (i.e. trends) and the flexibility to address local issues that are not well handled through a national design, given the diversity of toxics issues across the nation. The balance between having a national network and more localized community monitoring assessments reflects adherence to this principle. The second key principle is establishing multiple measurements across numerous pollutant groups at common locations, recognizing the fact that most air pollution issues are well integrated

(meaning there are multiple interactive factors and influences) from a scientific perspective, and economies of scale are realized from integrating program management efforts across pollutant groups and geographic locations.

Stemming from the strategies noted above, the EPA ambient air toxics monitoring program goals and objectives are to discern trends and account for program progress by measuring key air toxics in representative locations to provide a basic measure of air quality differences across cities and regions and over time in specific areas; support exposure assessments by providing ambient concentration levels for comparison with personal measurements; and provide basic grounding for models used for exposure assessments, control strategy assessments, and related assessments of program effectiveness. Currently, EPA supports these goals in the ambient monitoring arena by facilitating the National Air Toxics Trends Station (NATTS), supporting community-scale projects to assess conditions at the local level, and supporting existing state and local program monitoring. This request for application is the embodiment of supporting community-scale projects.

A primary objective of this solicitation is to identify and more accurately define the extent of local-scale HAP impacts. To aid in meeting this objective, EPA suggests consideration of the

National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), at least as a starting point, in planning and executing prospective projects. NATA (https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxics-assessment) is a valuable screening tool for identifying those air toxics which are of greatest potential concern in a localized area. The assessment includes compiling a national emissions inventory of air toxics from outdoor sources, estimating population exposures across the contiguous United States, and characterizing potential cancer and noncancer risks to public health due to the inhalation of air toxics. A review of NATA can initially assist in the identification of particular pollutants that may be of interest in an area or community. Although NATA is not exhaustive in and of itself and would not be an exclusive tool for use in the grant proposal review process, it is a highly useful screening tool that can be used across all pollutant source categories. It can be used in a variety of approaches, either alone or leveraged in combination with multiple types and sources http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/monstratdoc.html https://www.epa.gov/urban-air-toxics/integrated-urban-air-toxics-strategy https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxics-assessment of other data. For example, in an investigation of mobile sources, NATA may be best suited for use as an initial screen and, as feasible, could be supplemented by specific local indicators such as traffic intensity (e.g., motor vehicles per day, aircraft landings and takeoffs per year, etc.), proximity of receptors (e.g., residential areas, schools, etc.) to sources (e.g., major roads, airports, rail yards, etc.), and other similar relevant factors. EPA also finds merit in and encourages the additional use of other sources of toxics data, characterizations, and estimates of risk to support work carried out under this solicitation.

Finally, applicants can find additional information on the EPA ambient air toxics monitoring program efforts, including NATTS and information from prior community-scale air toxics ambient monitoring grant solicitations, on the Ambient Monitoring Technical Information Center

(AMTIC) websitehttps://www3.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/airtoxpg.html. The link to the community-scale air toxics page is https://www.epa.gov/amtic/community-scale-air-toxics-ambient-monitoring-csatam.

B. Scope of Work

EPA is soliciting applications for projects designed to assist state, local, and tribal air agencies in identifying and characterizing air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), through work that falls into one of four categories. These categories are:

1) characterizing the impact of air toxics in a community (community-scale monitoring);

2) assessing impacts of toxics emissions from specific sources (near-source monitoring);

3) evaluating new and emerging testing methods for air toxics; and,

4) analyzing existing air toxics data and developing or enhancing analytical, modeling, or implementation tools.

Air toxics of particular interest to EPA in this solicitation include ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and metals such as hexavalent chromium, nickel, and arsenic.

To be considered for funding under this RFA, each application must address one of the four listed scope of work categories. Although applications could address issues pertaining to several scope of work categories, the application must identify only one category as its primary objective. An applicant may submit separate applications in more than one category.

Applications that do not clearly identify one, single primary category will be rejected.

Applicants can positively impact their potential application score if they are able to engage communities in the planning and/or execution of their project. This could include the engagement or inclusion of community-based organizations, demonstrating community support for the proposed project, and building or supporting partnerships across multiple stakeholder groups. Further, the specific effort to address the needs and concerns of communities or populations that have faced or are facing environmental justice concerns can positively impact application scores. These communities or populations are those that have been adversely, disproportionately and/or historically impacted by environmental issues and problems than other communities because of race, color, national origin, or income, including tribal and indigenous communities. Factors potentially indicating disproportionate impacts to communities with environmental justice concerns include, but are not limited to: differential proximity and https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/airtoxpg.html https://www.epa.gov/amtic/community-scale-air-toxics-ambient-monitoring-csatam https://www.epa.gov/amtic/community-scale-air-toxics-ambient-monitoring-csatam exposure to environmental hazards; greater susceptibility to adverse effects from environmental hazards due to genetic predisposition, age, chronic medical conditions, lack of health care access, or poor nutrition; unique environmental exposures because of practices linked to cultural background or socioeconomic status (e.g., subsistence fishing or farming); cumulative effects from multiple stressors; reduced ability to effectively participate in decision-making processes due to language barriers, inability to access traditional communication channels, or limited capacity to access technical and legal resources; and degraded physical infrastructure, such as poor housing, poorly maintained public buildings (e.g., schools), or lack of access to transportation. Applicants should consider partnering with impacted communities in planning activities to ensure that communities are meaningfully involved in the proposed project.

1. Community-Scale Monitoring

This category is intended to assist state, local and tribal agencies in assessing the degree and extent to which air toxics impact their respective communities. Successful applications will demonstrate a clear and compelling need or justification, examples of which may include, but are not limited to:

a. Identifying and characterizing local HAP concentrations, either for a certain set of compounds or a more comprehensive assessment, that are unique to certain communities. Characterization could include identification of the presence or absence of a wide range of HAP compounds, temporal and spatial evaluations, gradient delineation across the area, among other concepts.

b. Supporting health effects assessments. Air toxics ambient air monitoring data can, in some situations, provide a valuable database for health scientists to investigate the relationship between ambient air toxics concentrations and health impacts. While direct linkage to a health study is not a precondition for project selection, in some instances, opportunities may arise for health studies to be conducted in conjunction with such ambient monitoring efforts. If a linkage to an ongoing or upcoming health study exists, it would be beneficial for an applicant to highlight any such linkage.

c. Developing an air quality data set to support estimates of community exposure and provide the baseline for long term measurement of progress related to a planned emissions reduction strategy program. An example could be the characterization of base concentration levels to inform the Residual Risk assessment process

(https://www.epa.gov/fera/residual-risk-report-congress-1999) and provide a basis for measuring improvements for promulgated Residual Risk standards. This could also cover the evaluation of potentially increased exposure to air toxics from a new facility, expanded facility capacity, or other increase or change in local-scale air toxics emissions.

2. Near-Source Monitoring

This category is intended to assist state, local, and tribal air agencies in assessing the degree and extent to which air toxics from specific sources impact the communities and areas in which they are situated. Examples efforts could be characterization of fence-line pollutant levels, concentration gradients, pollutant transport patterns, the assessment https://www.epa.gov/fera/residual-risk-report-congress-1999 of emissions reduction measures (e.g., accountability), and collecting data that could enhance the understanding of risk on nearby populations due to a source or sources.

Examples of sources include transportation facilities, refineries, oil and gas facilities, chemical facilities, or other industrial or agricultural facilities and areas. Efforts to obtain information regarding substantially elevated ambient concentrations of toxics relevant to the source(s) being investigated, or pollutant profiles/source signatures would be highly valuable. These data could assist regulators in efforts to assess emissions, better understand and potentially assess the impact of emission reduction measures (i.e., accountability), and to characterize risk and its causes for the most highly impacted populations. Successful applications will demonstrate a clear and compelling need or justification, and projects in this category are required to identify a specific source, set of sources, or source sector. Several examples of near-source characterization efforts are, but are not limited to:

a. Conducting monitoring to delineate local scale HAP concentration gradients and characterizing concentration dependency on proximity to a target source or set of sources. An example could be focused on concentration gradients around transportation facilities (e.g., near roads, airports, sea ports, railyards, or other transportation facilities or corridors). While source specific gradient delineation may be a purpose unto itself, its usefulness is enhanced if it is in support of a larger purpose such as conducting an exposure assessment, or it has potential to support the assessment of nearby community impacts.

b. Measurements that are optimized for characterizing a specific source or set of sources in support of increasing the understanding of localized health effects assessments.

Ambient air toxics monitoring data can in some situations provide a valuable database for health scientists to investigate the relationship of ambient toxic concentrations and health impacts. Although direct linkage to an ongoing health study is not a precondition for project selection, in some instances, opportunities may arise for health studies to be conducted in conjunction with such ambient monitoring efforts. However, if a linkage to an ongoing or upcoming health study exists, it is in the applicant’s best interest to highlight any such linkage.

3. Evaluating New and Emerging Testing Methods for Air Toxics

This category is intended to assist state, local, and tribal agencies in evaluating emerging alternative sampling and analysis and/or monitoring methodologies that could be used in near-source and wide scale applications that are of potential applicability to their interests, as well as to regional and/or national issues. Successful applications will demonstrate a clear and compelling need or justification, examples of which may include, but are not limited to:

a. Assessing new methods for sampling and analysis of select priority HAPs (i.e., those that emerged as national or regional drivers as a result of the 2014 National Air Toxics

Assessment [released in August 2018]). HAPs for which methods development work is most critical are those which (1) account for a significant contribution to risk, and (2) often have, (a) measurement limitations due to sensitivity being less than that needed to confidently determine concentrations at the associated risk-based screening levels; (b) uncertainties exceeding commonly accepted data quality limits; or (c) onerous and/or unduly expensive sampling or analysis methodologies.

b. Evaluate available advanced speciated HAP monitoring technologies that can operate in an automated and continuous fashion and generate improved ambient air toxics measurement data as compared to standard ambient monitoring methods. The target result of such projects could be to ascertain the cost-effectiveness (i.e., practical value) of existing innovative monitors, samplers, sensors, or analytical methods in comparison to standard air toxic measurement methods. Improvements in measurement techniques may include the capability to generate higher time-resolution data, improved sensitivity or detection limits, greater cost-effectiveness, improved data quality (e.g., accuracy, precision) or more comprehensive air toxic speciation.

4. Analyzing Existing Air Toxics Data and Developing or Enhancing Analytical, Modeling, and/or Implementation Tools

This category is aimed at state, local and tribal air agencies that have already collected a significant amount of air toxics monitoring data and that need support to analyze and interpret their results via existing tools, by improving those tools, or by developing new tools. It is intended that the grant recipients working under this category will increase their knowledge of air toxics data analysis, thus empowering them to become more proficient with tools and procedures needed to conduct viable statistical and trends analysis which meet the needs of their agency. It is likewise intended that, where possible, the analysis may be useful to other state, local, or tribal agencies, and may become an integral part of EPA’s national data analysis effort. Successful applications will demonstrate a clear and compelling need or justification, examples of which may include, but are not limited to:

a. Example objectives of a data analysis project could utilize data collected under pretenses consistent with those examples listed under the community-scale or near-source monitoring categories but have not been previously analyzed.

b. Data analysis project quantifying multi-year trends in HAP concentrations. Efforts could relate changes to trends in local emissions and contributions to potential transport of these pollutants. Analysis of monitoring data can be used as a measure of air program progress and accountability. Alternately, data analysis may help identify problem emissions sources that remain to be addressed. HAP sources can be identified using source apportionment techniques including meteorological analysis and receptor modeling.

c. Developing or improving air quality models used for exposure assessments. In this example, it is noted that air quality models utilize supporting observations to improve confidence in model results or to direct needed improvement in the underlying model formulations or related emission inventories. Efforts intended to support air quality model evaluation or improvements should include underlying data and associated metrics to that effect.

Any tools that are improved or developed under this program, and the associated analyzed data, shall be made available for other agencies to use for their data analysis needs. For this category, applicants should also attempt to address the following topics described below so that the relevance and potential utility of the data analysis with existing tools, or the development of new data analysis tools, can be assessed. When utilizing existing data for projects in this category, applicants should consider fulfilling the following:

1. Describing the of the origin of the data to be analyzed and the connection to and current project objectives (trends study, local scale screening or risk assessment, source characterization, source apportionment, etc.).

2. Provide details regarding the HAP data including, but not limited to:

a) Target analytes (what HAPs were measured) and the reason they were chosen

(sources of concern, etc.).

b) Associated sampling and analysis methodologies employed. Note any issues observed with either or both the sampling and/or analysis equipment.

c) Sample frequency and duration; for the latter, provide both per sample (i.e., two-minute grab samples versus 24-hour integrated samples) as well as monitoring record dates and length (e.g., one month, six months, one year, three years, etc.).

d) Number of samples collected and any data quality issues (i.e., flagged or voided), etc.

e) Associated detection limits and data reporting practices (e.g., whether zeros or some fraction of the Method Detection Limit (MDL) were substituted for values below the MDL).

3. Indication of whether a Quality Assurance Project Plan was developed and approved for the collection of these data.

4. Detailed description of modeling protocols, if used, and source(s) of supporting meteorological data.

5. Explanation of why the data have not been analyzed prior to this application.

6. Discussion of how results will be used to address original monitoring study goals.

Note: Prior CSATAM awardees may not use this grant mechanism to perform the data analysis that should have been completed under a previous award.

C. EPA Strategic Plan Linkage, Anticipated Outputs/Outcomes and Performance

Measures

Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7A1, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance

Agreements,” EPA must align proposed assistance agreements with the Agency’s Strategic Plan.

EPA also requires that grant applicants and recipients adequately describe environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements (see EPA Order 5700.7A1, Environmental Results under Assistance Agreements, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-

03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf).

1. Linkage to EPA Strategic Plan: The activities to be funded under this announcement support EPA’s FY 2018-22 Strategic Plan. Awards made under this announcement will support Goal 1, “A Cleaner, Healthier Environment,” Objective 1.1, “Improve Air Quality.”

Under this objective, EPA will “work with states and tribes to accurately measure air quality and ensure that more Americans are living and working in areas that meet high air quality standards.” Applicants must explain in their application how their project will further this objective.

Please see EPA’s FY 2018-2022 Strategic Plan (www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan) for more information.

EPA also requires that grant applicants adequately describe environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements (see EPA Order 5700.7A1, Environmental Results under Assistance Agreements, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf).

Applicants must include specific statements describing the environmental results of the proposed project in terms of well-defined outputs and, to the maximum extent practicable, well-defined outcomes that demonstrate how the project will contribute to the priorities described above.

2. Outputs: The term “output” means an environmental activity, effort, and/or associated work product related to an environmental goal and objective that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance agreement funding period.

Expected outputs from the projects to be funded under this announcement include, but are not limited to:

o Publicly available HAP data that can be uploaded into a central repository (such as EPA’s Air Quality System database) o Source profiles associated with transportation, refineries, and other industry facilities or sectors, particularly those related to areas identified in the latest

NATA release (released August 2018) as potentially having elevated risk from air toxics (See https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxis-assessment) o Community-specific assessments of air toxics problems o Identification of select new ambient HAP sampling and analysis methods https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-03/documents/epa_order_5700_7a1.pdf https://www.epa.gov/national-air-toxis-assessment o Risk or health assessments o Community involvement activities and information (e.g., website or outreach materials) o New or improved analysis, modeling, or implementation tools

Progress reports and a final report will also be required outputs, as specified in Section VI.C.

“Reporting Requirement,” of this RFA.

3. Outcomes: The term “outcome” means the result, effect or consequence that will occur from carrying out an environmental program or activity that is related to an environmental or programmatic goal or objective. Outcomes may be environmental, behavioral, health-related or programmatic in nature, but must also be quantitative. It is understood that in some cases, the outcomes may not necessarily be achievable within an assistance agreement funding period.

Expected outcomes from the projects to be funded under this announcement include, but are not limited to:

o Short-term outcomes

- Problem identification

- Increase community awareness (to include responsible parties/industry)

- Improve measurement techniques

- Evaluate and/or improve air quality models o Mid-term outcomes

- State or local policy action(s)

- Responsible parties/industry mitigation action(s)

- Wide-scale deployment of new measurement technique

- Community action to mitigate HAP emissions o Long-term outcomes

- Reduce HAP emissions

- Reduce ambient HAP concentrations

- Reduce human exposure to HAPs

- Support reduction in adverse health effects from HAPs

- Improved understanding of select new ambient HAP sampling and analysis methods

Each project application must carefully consider and list explicit, project-specific anticipated outcomes, particularly for short- and mid-term outcomes. Further, explicit links between the short-, mid-, and long-term outcome(s) should be considered, developed and clearly articulated.

NOTE: Each grant arising from this competition will be required to submit an interim final report and a final report, the latter to be submitted within 90 days of the end of the grant. The interim final report must be provided by the grant recipient at the conclusion of the project output phase and must include documentation regarding the degree to which the project output goals and objectives were met as well as a description of, or prognosis for, achieving the short- and mid-term project outcomes. The final report1 will include the material from the interim final and include documentation regarding the degree to which the short- and mid-term project outcomes were achieved as well as a description of, or/ prognosis for, achieving the mid- and long-term outcomes.

4. Performance Measures. Applicants should also develop performance measures they expect to achieve through the proposed activities and describe them in their application. These performance measures will be the mechanism to track progress concerning successful processes and output and outcome strategies and will provide the basis for developing lessons to inform future recipients. The description of performance measures must directly relate to the project outcomes and outputs. The following are questions to consider when developing output and outcome measures of quantitative and qualitative results:

o What are the measurable short-term and long-term results that the project will achieve?

o How does the plan measure progress in achieving the expected results (including outputs and outcomes), and how will the approach use resources effectively and efficiently?

D. Statutory Authority

The statutory authority for this action is the Clean Air Act, §103(b)(3), which authorizes the award of grants for research, investigations, experiments, demonstrations, surveys, and studies related to the causes, effects, (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and control of air pollution

Ambient air monitoring, specifically local-scale efforts to better characterize the distribution and sources of HAPs, as well as improved ambient air monitoring methods to achieve characterization and human exposure assessment goals, is consistent with this authority.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

A. What is the amount of funding available?

The total estimated funding expected to be available for awards under this competitive opportunity is approximately $5,000,000. The amount of federal funding requested by an applicant must not exceed $750,000. Funding is dependent upon agency appropriations, funding availability, and other applicable considerations.

B. Partial Funding

In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund applications by funding discrete portions of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund an application, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the

1 Final reports must be a 508 compliant PDF file suitable for posting on the Agency’s web site.

application was evaluated and selected for award, thereby maintaining the integrity of the competition and selection process.

C. How many agreements will EPA award in this competition?

EPA anticipates awarding 10 to 20 grants under this announcement, which is subject to the availability of funds, the quantity and quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations.

EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with

Agency policy and other applicable considerations, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months from the date of the original selections.

In addition, EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and make no awards under this announcement or to make fewer awards than anticipated.

D. What is the project period for awards resulting from this solicitation?

The estimated project period for awards resulting from this solicitation is expected to begin on

September 1, 2020, with a project period up to 3 years.

E. Funding Type

The funding for selected projects will be in the form of a grant.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Eligible Entities

Consistent with the Applicant Eligibility Section of CFDA 66.034, “Surveys, Studies, Research, Investigations, Demonstrations, and Special Purpose Activities Relating to the Clean Air Act” and EPA’s Assistance Agreement Competition Policy (EPA Order 5700.5A1), competition under this announcement is being limited to a subset of eligible applicants. Specifically, as projects resulting from this competition will be awarded exclusively with State and Tribal Assistance

Grant (STAG) funds, the only entities eligible to submit applications under this announcement are air pollution control agencies, as defined by Section 302(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), that are also eligible to receive grants under section 105 of the Clean Air Act, and/or federally recognized tribes.

Under this competition, selected applicants may partner with and provide subawards to other entities, including to entities that are not eligible to submit an application under this competition, consistent with EPA’s Subaward Policy (https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-

16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients).

https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients

B. Cost Sharing or Matching

No matching funds are required under this competition. Although cost sharing/matching is not required as a condition of eligibility under this competition, under Section V. of this announcement EPA will evaluate applications based on a leveraging criterion.

Leveraging is generally when an applicant proposes to provide its own additional funds/resources or those from third-party sources to support or complement the project they are awarded under the competition which are above and beyond the EPA grant funds awarded. Any leveraged funds/resources, and their source, must be identified in the application (See Section IV of the announcement). Leveraged funds and resources may take various forms as noted below.

Voluntary cost share is a form of leveraging. Voluntary cost sharing is when an applicant voluntarily proposes to legally commit to provide costs or contributions to support the project when a cost share is not required. Applicants who propose to use a voluntary cost share must include the costs or contributions for the voluntary cost share in the project budget on the SF-

424. If an applicant proposes a voluntary cost share, the following apply:

o A voluntary cost share is subject to the match provisions in the grant regulations 2

CFR Part 200 as applicable.

o A voluntary cost share may only be met with eligible and allowable costs.

o The recipient may not use other sources of federal funds to meet a voluntary cost share unless the statute authorizing the other federal funding provides that the federal funds may be used to meet a cost share requirement on a federal grant.

o The recipient is legally obligated to meet any proposed voluntary cost share that is included in the approved project budget. If the proposed voluntary cost share does not materialize during grant performance, then EPA may reconsider the legitimacy of the award and/or take other appropriate action as authorized by 2 CFR Part 200 as applicable.

Other leveraged funding/resources that are not identified as a voluntary cost share. This form of leveraging may be met by funding from another federal grant, from an applicant's own resources, or resources from other third-party sources. This form of leveraging should not be included in the budget, and the costs do not need to be “eligible and allowable” project costs under the EPA assistance agreement. While this form of leveraging should not be included in the budget, the grant workplan should include a statement indicating that the applicant is expected to produce the proposed leveraging consistent with the terms of the announcement and the applicant's application. If applicants propose to provide this form of leveraging, EPA expects them to make the effort to secure the leveraged resources described in their applications. If the proposed leveraging does not materialize during grant performance, then EPA may reconsider the legitimacy of the award and/or take other appropriate action as authorized by 2 CFR Part 200 as applicable.

C. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

These are requirements that must be met by the time of application submission to be considered for funding. Only applications from eligible applicants (see Section III.A. of this RFA) that meet all these threshold eligibility criteria will be evaluated against the ranking criteria in Section V of this RFA. If necessary, EPA may contact applicants to clarify threshold eligibility questions prior to making an eligibility determination. Applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration as a result of the threshold eligibility review will be notified within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

1. Application Content and Submission

a. Applications must substantially comply with the application submission instructions and application content requirements set forth in Section IV and Appendices A and B of this

RFA or else they will be rejected.

b. Where a page limit is expressed in Section IV of this RFA with respect to the project narrative, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed. The page limit of the project narrative is 10 pages.

c. Applications must be submitted through the Grants.gov website as stated in Section IV of this announcement (except in the limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed, as explained in Section IV) on or before the application submission deadline published in Section IV of this announcement.

Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV of this announcement to ensure that their application is timely and properly submitted.

Applications submitted after the submission deadline will be considered late and deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that it was late due to EPA mishandling or because of technical problems associated with

Grants.gov or relevant System for Award Management (SAM) system (SAM.gov) system issues. An applicant’s failure to timely submit their application through Grants.gov because they did not timely or properly register in SAM.gov or Grants.gov will not be considered an acceptable reason to consider a late submission.

2. Applications must further EPA’s current priorities for improving air quality, which focus on improving air quality to ensure more Americans are living and working in areas that meet high air quality standards. (See Section I.C)

3. Ineligible activities: If an application is submitted that includes any ineligible tasks or activities, that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

4. Applications that do not clearly identify one, single primary category from Section 1.B will be rejected.

5. Applications which request EPA assistance funds in excess of $750,000, as specified in

Section II.A of this RFA, are not eligible and will not be reviewed.

http://www.grants.gov/ https://grants.gov/ https://www.sam.gov/SAM/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.sam.gov/SAM/ https://grants.gov/

6. Applications must include a statement on quality assurance, as specified in Section IV.C.3 of this RFA. Applications that do not include a statement on quality assurance are not eligible and will not be reviewed.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

A. Requirement to Submit Through Grants.gov and Limited Exception Procedures

Applicants, except as noted below, must apply electronically through Grants.gov under this funding opportunity based on the Grants.gov instructions in this announcement and Appendix A.

If an applicant does not have the technical capability to apply electronically through Grants.gov because of limited or no internet access which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials to Grants.gov, the applicant must contact OMS-ARM-

OGDWaivers@epa.gov or the address listed below in writing (e.g., by hard copy, email) at least

15 calendar days prior to the submission deadline under this announcement to request approval to submit their application materials through an alternate method.

Mailing Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Jessica Durand

USEPA Headquarters

William Jefferson Clinton Building

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N. W.

Mail Code: 3903R

Washington, DC 20460

Courier Address:

OGD Waivers c/o Jessica Durand

Ronald Reagan Building

1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Rm # 51278

Washington, DC 20004

In the request, the applicant must include the following information:

o Funding Opportunity Number (FON) o Organization Name and Unique Entity Identifier (e.g., DUNS) o Organization’s Contact Information (email address and phone number) o Explanation of how the applicant lacks the technical capability to apply electronically through Grants.gov because of 1) limited internet access or 2) no internet access which prevents them from being able to upload the required application materials through

Grants.gov.

https://www.grants.gov/ mailto:OMS-ARM-OGDWaivers@epa.gov mailto:OMS-ARM-OGDWaivers@epa.gov

EPA will only consider alternate submission exception requests that are based on the two reasons stated above and will timely respond to such requests. All other requests for alternate submission will be denied. If an alternate submission method is approved, the applicant will receive documentation of this approval and further instructions on how to apply under this announcement. Applicants will be required to submit the documentation of approval with any initial application submitted under the alternative method. In addition, any submittal through an alternative method must comply with all applicable requirements and deadlines in the announcement including the submission deadline and requirements regarding application content and page limits. The documentation of approval of an alternate submission method will not count against any page limits.

If an exception is granted, it is valid for any competitive or non-competitive application submission to EPA for the remainder of the entire calendar year in which the exception was approved. For example, if the exception was approved on March 1, 2020, it is valid for any competitive or non-competitive application submission to EPA through December 31, 2020.

Applicants need only request an exception once in a calendar year and all exceptions will expire on December 31 of that calendar year. Applicants must request a new exception from required electronic submission through grants.gov for submissions for any succeeding calendar year. For example, if there were a competitive opportunity issued on December 1, 2019, with a submission deadline of January 15, 2020, the applicant would need a new exception to submit through alternative methods beginning January 1, 2020.

Please note that the process described in this section is only for requesting alternate submission methods. All other inquiries about this announcement must be directed to the Agency contact listed in Section VII of the announcement. Queries or requests submitted to the email address identified above for any reason other than to request an alternate submission method will not be acknowledged or answered.

B. Grants.gov Application Submission Instructions (see Appendix A)

Your organization’s authorized official representative (AOR) must submit your complete application electronically to EPA through Grants.gov no later than March 30, 2020, 11:59 PM

Eastern Time.

C. Content of Application Submission

The application package must include all of the following materials, except Number 4, Optional

Attachments:

1. Grant Application Forms (All required).

a. Standard Form 424, Application for Federal Assistance. Please note that the organizational Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number must be included on the SF-424. Organizations may obtain a DUNS number at no cost by calling the toll-free DUNS number request line at 1-866-705-5711.

b. Standard Form 424A, Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs

c. EPA Form 4700-4, Pre-Award Compliance Review Report for All Applicants

Requesting Federal Financial Assistance

d. EPA Form 5700-54 Key Contacts Form

2. Project Narrative (Required, 10-page limit). The project narrative must explicitly describe how the proposed project meets the guidelines established in Sections I-III of this announcement (including the threshold eligibility criteria in Section III.C) and must address each of the evaluation criteria set forth in Section V. The project narrative (a through g below) must not exceed a maximum of 10 single-spaced typewritten pages, including the summary page, as excess pages will not be reviewed. Supporting materials, such as resumes and letters of support, can be submitted as attachments and are not included in the 10-page limit.

a. Summary Information Page (recommended not to exceed one page).

i. Project Title

ii. Applicant Information. Include applicant (organization) name, address, contact person, phone number, fax and e-mail address.

iii. Funding Requested. Specify the amount you are requesting from EPA.

iv. Total Project Cost. Specify total cost of the project. Identify funding from other sources, including cost share or in-kind resources.

v. Project Period. Provide beginning and ending dates. (Projects are anticipated to begin by date and end no later than date.)

vi. DUNS Number

b. Project Summary/Approach. The summary shall contain the following components:

i. Detailed project summary, description of specific actions and methods to be undertaken and the responsible institutions, including estimated time line for each task.

ii. Description of the associated work products to be developed.

iii. Explanation of project benefits to the public, and specifically the potential audience(s) served.

iv. Description of the roles of the applicant and partners, if any.

v. Description of the applicant’s organization and experience related to the proposed project.

vi. Description of staff expertise/qualifications, staff knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the goals of the proposed project.

vii. Discussion of how the project promotes community benefits, engagement, and partnerships.

c. Environmental Results—Outcomes, Outputs and Performance Measures.

Identify the expected quantitative and qualitative outcomes and outputs of the project

(See Section I.C.), including what performance measurements, timeline of milestones, or other means will be used to track and measure your progress towards achieving the expected outcomes and outputs and how the results of the project will be evaluated.

d. Programmatic Capability and Past Performance. Submit a list of federally funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include federal grants and cooperative agreements but not federal contracts) that are similar in size, scope and relevance to the proposed project that your organization performed within the last three years (no more than five agreements, and preferably EPA agreements). Describe (1) whether, and how, you were able to successfully complete and manage those agreements, and

(2) your history of meeting the reporting requirements under those agreements including whether you adequately and timely reported on your progress towards achieving the expected outputs and outcomes of those agreements ( if not, explain why not) and whether you submitted acceptable final technical reports under the agreements. In evaluating applicants under these factors in Section V, EPA will consider the information provided by the applicant and may also consider relevant information from other sources, including information from EPA files and from current/prior grantors (e.g., to verify and/or supplement the information provided by the applicant).