Notice of Funding Opportunity

Applications Due: Thursday, January 21, 2027

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization

FY27 GUIDELINES FOR

BROWNFIELD ASSESSMENT

GRANTS (ASSESSMENT

COALITION GRANTS)

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-03 i

Contents

1. Basic Information

A. Executive Summary B. Key Information C. Key Dates D. Funding Details E. Agency Contact Information

2. Eligibility

A. Eligible Applicants B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

1. Eligibility of Lead and Non-Lead Coalition Members

2. Target Areas

3. Non-lead Member(s) that Never Received an EPA MARC Grant or only Received EPA MARC Grant(s) that Closed in 2015 or Earlier

4. Legal Authority to Expend Grant Funds on Behalf of Non-Lead Coalition Members

5. Coalition Agreement

6. Community Involvement

7. Expenditure of Existing Grant Funds

8. Contractors and Named Subrecipients

C. Cost Sharing

3. Program Description

A. Purpose, Priorities, and Activities

1. Purpose

2. Eligible Uses of Grant Funds

3. Ineligible Uses of Grant Funds

4. Measuring Environmental Results: Anticipated Outputs/Outcomes

5. Leveraging

B. Program Goals and Objectives C. Statutory Authority D. Funding Type

4. Application Contents and Format

A. Application Forms (Submission Checklist) B. Application Information Sheet C. Narrative Criteria Outline D. Applicants Using Contractors and/or Subrecipients

5. Submission Requirements and Deadlines

A. Submission Dates and Times B. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM.gov) C. Submission Instructions D. Technical Issues with Submission E. Intergovernmental Review ii

6. Application Review Information

A. Responsiveness Review B. Narrative Criteria Responses and Review Criteria

1. PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION AND PLANS FOR REVITALIZATION

2. COMMUNITY NEED AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

3. TASK DESCRIPTIONS, COST ESTIMATES, AND MEASURING PROGRESS

4. PROGRAMMATIC CAPABILITY AND PAST PERFORMANCE

C. Review and Selection Process

1. Other Evaluation Factors

D. Risk Review

7. Award Notices

8. Post-Award Requirements and Administration

A. Administrative and National Policy Requirements B. Reporting C. Subaward and Executive Compensation Reporting D. Brownfield Programmatic Requirements E. Build America, Buy America

9. Other Information

A. Additional Provisions for Applicants

1. Basic Information U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)

FY27 GUIDELINES FOR BROWNFIELD ASSESSMENT GRANTS (ASSESSMENT COALITION

GRANTS)

Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Application Resources

A. Executive Summary This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to prevent, inventory, assess, and plan for the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites. Eligible entities include government organizations, Federally recognized Tribes, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

Please see Section 2.A. for the complete list of eligible entities.

Applications must meet all threshold eligibility criteria in Section 2.B. to be considered eligible to receive an Assessment Coalition Grant.

Assessment Grants provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments,1 developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. A portion of the Assessment Grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments. Assessment Grant funds may not be used to conduct cleanup activities.

Assessment Coalition Grants are designed for one “lead” eligible entity to partner with two to four eligible entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own EPA cooperative agreement and otherwise would not have access to Brownfields Grant resources.

The lead entity submits one application on behalf of the coalition members and may request funding up to $1,000,000 to address sites contaminated (or potentially contaminated) by hazardous substances,2 pollutants, or contaminants, including hazardous substances comingled with petroleum, and/or petroleum.3 To be eligible for Brownfield Grant funding, sites must meet the definition of a brownfield

1 Environmental site assessments must be performed in accordance with EPA's All Appropriate Inquiries Final Rule (40 CFR Part 312).

2 Hazardous substance sites eligible for funding are those sites with the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, sites that are contaminated with controlled substances, or that are mine-scarred lands. For more information, please refer to the FY27 Brownfields Frequently Asked Questions.

3 Petroleum sites eligible for funding are those sites that meet the definition set forth in CERCLA § 101(39)(D)(ii)(II), as further described in Section 1.3.2. in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k).

B. Key Information Opportunity Number:

EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-03

Assistance Listing:

66.818

Announcement Type:

Initial

Funding Available:

$13,000,000

Number of Awards:

Approximately 13 http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/part-312 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-sites-eligible-brownfields-funding-under-cercla-ss-104k site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) § 101(39) and site eligibility requirements as described in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k). For the purposes of this funding opportunity, the cost of site-specific activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may not exceed $200,000 per site.4 EPA will determine site eligibility after the grant award and prior to expending grant funds at any site.

Assessment Coalitions will be required to assess at least two sites in each coalition member’s geographic boundary.

Before expending or drawing down awarded funds, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) must document the coalition’s site selection process. Coalition members should establish relationships and define roles to achieve the project goals. The purpose of the MOA is for coalition members to agree on the distribution of funds and the mechanisms for implementing the assessment work.

Please carefully review Section 4.D. of these guidelines, Section IV.E. “Coalitions, Contracts, and Subawards” of EPA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Clauses, and Section D. in the FY27 Brownfields Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to ensure that contractors (including individual consultants) are procured in compliance with the fair and open competition requirements. Also, carefully review the EPA Subaward Policy and Subaward Frequent Questions for establishing and managing subawards.

A checklist of mandatory documents is in Section 4.A.

For the purposes of this NOFO, the term “grant” refers to the cooperative agreement that EPA will award to a successful applicant.

C. Key Dates November 9, 2026 1:00 pm ET National Outreach Webinar

January 21, 2027 11:59 pm ET Application Submission Deadline

June 2027 Anticipated Notification of Selection

September 2027 Anticipated Award Notification

D. Funding Details It is anticipated that up to 13 awards will be made under this announcement. The amount of funding is expected to be $13,000,000, depending on Agency funding levels, the quality of applications received, agency priorities, and other applicable considerations. Awards funded under this opportunity are expected to have a 4-year project period. Applicants may apply for up to $1,000,000 of EPA funds. (Note, applicants may also request an amount that is less than $1,000,000.) Funding estimates are approximations that are subject to change.

EPA reserves the right to:

• make additional awards under this funding announcement consistent with Agency policy and guidance if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made. Any

4 As provided in CERCLA § 104(k)(5)(A)(i)(II), EPA may approve a waiver that allows recipients to use up to $350,000 per site based on the anticipated level of contamination, size, or status of ownership of the site.

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-sites-eligible-brownfields-funding-under-cercla-ss-104k https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-sites-eligible-brownfields-funding-under-cercla-ss-104k https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants 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/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources additional selections for awards will be made no later than 6 months after the original selection decisions.

• to make no awards under the funding opportunity.

• partially fund applications by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If a project is partially funded, it will be done in a manner that maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

• incrementally fund applications based on funding availability and/or satisfactory performance.

• adjust funding levels for priorities, set-asides, or other types of funding categories.

• increase or decrease (including decreasing to zero) the total number and amount of awards under each funding category or change the ratio of assistance agreements it awards among the funding categories.

The actual award amounts and number of projects awarded may differ from the estimated amounts.

E. Agency Contact Information Further information, if needed, may be obtained from the EPA contact(s) indicated below.

Technical Contact: Elyse Salinas, brownfields@epa.gov

Eligibility Contact: See Regional Contacts below

Electronic Submissions Contact: Grants.gov, 1-800-518-4726, support@grants.gov

Regional Contact(s): EPA Region 1 (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) Meena Mortazavi, Mortazavi.Meena@epa.gov, (617) 918-1488 EPA Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI) Esmeralda Vargas, Vargas.Esmeralda@epa.gov, (212) 637-4391 EPA Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV) Anthony Geiger, Geiger.Anthony@epa.gov, (215) 814-3367 EPA Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN) Aditi Chakravarty, Chakravarty.Aditi@epa.gov, (404) 562-9515 EPA Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI) Riley Jenkins, Jenkins.Riley@epa.gov, (312) 886-7178 EPA Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX) Mike Kennedy, Kennedy.Michael@epa.gov, (214) 665-7125 EPA Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE) Bobbie Pennington, R7_Brownfields@epa.gov, (913) 551-7209 EPA Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY) Joann Jeplawy, Jeplawy.Joann@epa.gov, (303) 312-6715 EPA Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, Pacific Island Territories) Jennifer Tung, Tung.Jennifer@epa.gov, (415) 972-3698 EPA Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA) Meredith Lightbody, Lightbody.Meredith@epa.gov, (206) 553-6910 mailto:brownfields@epa.gov mailto:support@grants.gov mailto:Mortazavi.Meena@epa.gov mailto:Vargas.Esmeralda@epa.gov mailto:Geiger.Anthony@epa.gov mailto:Chakravarty.Aditi@epa.gov mailto:Jenkins.Riley@epa.gov mailto:Kennedy.Michael@epa.gov mailto:R7_Brownfields@epa.gov mailto:Jeplawy.Joann@epa.gov mailto:Tung.Jennifer@epa.gov mailto:Lightbody.Meredith@epa.gov

2. Eligibility Applications must meet all requirements in this section, including the submission of responses to the Section 2.B. threshold eligibility criteria, to be considered eligible. Applicants should direct eligibility questions to the Regional Contact in Section 1.E. well in advance of the application deadline.

A. Eligible Applicants Only these types of organizations may apply as a lead or non-lead member of an Assessment Coalition Grant. Organization types are consistent with definitions at CERCLA § 104(k)(1) and 2 CFR § 200.1:

• General Purpose Unit of Local Government. Local government means a county, borough, municipality, city, town, township, parish, local public authority (including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937), school district, special district, intrastate district, council of governments (whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law), and any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-, regional, or intra-State or local government.

• Land Clearance Authority or another quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a General Purpose Unit of Local Government.

• Government Entity Created by State Legislature.

• Regional Council established under governmental authority or group of General Purpose Units of

Local Government established under Federal, State, or local law (e.g., councils of governments) to function as a single legal entity with authority to enter into binding agreements with the Federal Government.

• Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a State.

• State.5

• Federally recognized Indian Tribe6 other than in Alaska. (The exclusion of Tribes from Alaska, with the exception of the Metlakatla Indian Community as noted below, from Brownfields Grant eligibility is statutory at CERCLA § 104(k)(1). Intertribal Consortia, comprised of eligible Indian Tribes, are eligible for funding in accordance with EPA’s policy for funding intertribal consortia published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2002, at 67 Fed. Reg. 67181. This policy also may be obtained from your Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Section 1.E.)

• Alaska Native Regional Corporation and Alaska Native Village Corporation as those terms are defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 and following) and the Metlakatla Indian Community. For more information, please refer to the FY27 FAQs.

• Nonprofit organization described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)) and exempt from taxation under 501(a) of that title.

• Limited liability corporation in which all managing members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC or limited liability corporations

5 As defined in CERCLA § 101(27), the definition of State for purposes of the Brownfields Program “include[s] the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other territory or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction.”

6 There are currently 575 federally recognized Tribes, and there are many names that these sovereign nations use to describe their culture, history, and geography, including Tribe, Village, Nation, Band, and Pueblo. For the purpose of these guidelines, the EPA Brownfields Program uses “Tribe” and “Tribal Nation” as all-encompassing terms.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200/section-200.1#p-200.1(State) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1#p-200.1(Indian%20Tribe) https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section9604&num=0&edition=prelim https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t26/s501/ https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t26/s501/ whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC.

• Limited partnership in which all general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC.

• Qualified community development entity as defined in section 45D(c)(1) of the IRC.

Note, individuals, for-profit organizations, and nonprofit organizations that are not tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) are ineligible to receive Brownfields Assessment Grants. Organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the IRC may be eligible for a Brownfields Assessment Grant if they also qualify as an eligible entity type listed above and demonstrate that they do not lobby the Federal government.7

B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria Applications must meet the following threshold eligibility criteria to be considered eligible to receive a Community-wide Assessment Grant under this NOFO. The information you submit will be used by EPA solely to make eligibility determinations for Brownfield Grants and is not legally binding for other purposes, including federal, State, or Tribal enforcement actions. Only those applications that pass all the threshold eligibility criteria will be evaluated against the review criteria in Section 6.B. of this announcement.

EPA staff will respond to questions regarding threshold eligibility criteria, administrative issues related to the submission of the application, and requests for clarification about this announcement. For purposes of the threshold eligibility review, an EPA Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program representative, if necessary, may seek clarification of applicant information that is included in the application and/or consider information from other sources, including EPA files. Such communications shall not be used to correct application deficiencies or material omissions, materially alter the application or project proposed, or discuss changes to the applicant’s responses to any review or selection criteria.

To maintain the integrity of the competition process, EPA staff cannot meet with individual applicants to discuss draft applications, provide informal comments on draft applications, or provide advice to applicants on how to respond to the Narrative Criteria Responses. EPA’s limitations on staff involvement with grant applicants are described in EPA’s Policy for Competition of Assistance Agreements.

i. Number of Applications EPA will Accept:

a. Applicants can only apply for one Assessment Coalition Grant. Entities that are applying for, or are a non-lead member of, an FY27 Assessment Coalition Grant under this NOFO may not also be members of another FY27 Assessment Coalition, nor apply for an FY27 Community-wide Assessment Grant, or an FY27 Community-wide Assessment Grant for States and Tribes. Additionally, non-lead members of an FY27 Assessment Coalition Grant may not submit an application for an FY27 Revolving Loan Fund Grant or an FY27 Cleanup Grant.

7 The Lobbying Disclosure Act (2 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq.) provides requirements for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-order-57005a1-epas-policy-competition-assistance-agreements

b. Entities with an open award (or pending an award for) a Community-wide Assessment Grant for States and Tribes are not eligible to apply for Assessment Grant funding under this funding opportunity or be a non-lead member of an FY27 coalition.

c. Applicants may not submit multiple applications (i.e., submit applications for different projects) under this NOFO. EPA considers departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the same State or city governments to be the same applicant if they are directly supervised or controlled by the same elected/appointed executive (even if they have different Unique Entity Identifier numbers). For example, a corporation formed under State or local law to perform redevelopment activities on behalf of or in support of a local government that is primarily staffed by employees of that local government will be considered an agency or instrumentality of that local government. These eligibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis since State and local laws vary. For Tribes, EPA defers to the Tribe’s interpretation of a department, agency, or instrumentality being the same or a separate entity.

If the same applicant exceeds the number or type of applications allowable, EPA will contact the applicant to determine which application(s) to withdraw from the competition. In the absence of application withdrawal, EPA will accept the first application received in Grants.gov and deem all other applications submitted by that applicant ineligible.

If an applicant submits the same application multiple times, unless told otherwise by the applicant, EPA will review the most recently received application in Grants.gov.

ii. 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.

iii. Substantial Compliance: Applications must substantially comply with the submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section 4 of this announcement or they will be rejected. See Section 4.A. for the application submission checklist.

iv. Risk Review: Applications from entities that are excluded from participation in Federal Assistance programs at the time of selection will be deemed ineligible for funding. To determine this, EPA will check SAM.gov for suspended or debarred entities that apply for this funding opportunity as per 2 CFR § 200.206(d).

For applications from entities that are not suspended or debarred at the time of selection, EPA will conduct a risk review as per Section 6.D. of the NOFO after the selection process and before awards are made.

v. Assessment Coalition Grants:

Assessment Coalition Grants are designed for one “lead” eligible entity to partner with two to four eligible entities (i.e., non-lead members) that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own EPA cooperative agreement and otherwise would not have access to Brownfields Grant resources. The lead member submits an application on behalf of the coalition members.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200/section-200.206#p-200.206(d)

If selected, the lead member will be the point of contact for coalition members and will receive and administer the grant. The lead member is accountable to EPA for effectively carrying out the scope of work and for financial management of the grant. After the application deadline, neither the lead entity nor the non-lead coalition members can be substituted or changed. If selected for funding, the lead member must partner with the coalition members named in the application.

Before expending or drawing down awarded funds, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) must document the coalition’s site selection process. Coalition members should establish relationships and define roles to achieve the project goals. The purpose of the MOA is for coalition members to agree on the distribution of funds and the mechanisms for implementing the assessment work.

vi. Required Eligibility Documentation: Responses to each item below are required and must be included in the application submitted to EPA. Threshold eligibility criteria responses and documentation do not have a page limit.

1. Eligibility of Lead and Non-Lead Coalition Members

The applicant must have at least two, but not more than four, non-lead coalition members.

Applications that include fewer than two eligible non-lead coalition members will be deemed ineligible for an FY27 Assessment Coalition Grant.

a. From the list of eligible entities in Section 2.A. Eligible Applicants, indicate the applicant type for the lead member and each non-lead member. Provide information that demonstrates how the lead member and each non-lead member are eligible entities for an Assessment Grant.

• For entities that are villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States, affirm that the organization is eligible for funding.

• For government entities other than villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States, attach documentation of your eligibility (e.g., resolutions, statutes, etc.).

• For Intertribal consortia, attach documentation that meets the requirements in 40 CFR §

35.504(a) and (c). All members of the Intertribal consortium must authorize the submission of an application.

• For nonprofit organizations, or organizations comprised of nonprofit organizations, provide documentation as an attachment to the Narrative Criteria Responses demonstrating tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC.

• For qualified community development entities, provide documentation as an attachment to the Narrative Criteria Responses certifying the organization’s status.

b. All applicants: Indicate if the lead member’s organization or any of the non-lead members’ organizations are exempt from Federal taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the IRC. Note, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR7560dab1b022383/section-35.504 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR7560dab1b022383/section-35.504 villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States should respond N/A. All other entities must indicate yes or no.

• If yes, indicate if the organization(s) lobbies the Federal government. Note, if a 501(c)(4) organization lobbies the Federal government, the organization is ineligible for an EPA Brownfields Grant.

• If yes, but the organization(s) does not lobby the Federal government, attach a legal opinion that states that the organization does not engage in lobbying activities.8 Note, organizations with 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status that do not lobby the Federal government must also qualify as an entity type listed in Section 2.A. to be eligible as a lead or non-lead member of an Assessment Coalition Grant.

The non-lead coalition members may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with the lead member (for example, a county and the redevelopment authority of the same county), except for coalitions in which the State is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a State legislature through a charter or another official action.

A non-lead member may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with another non-lead member in the same coalition. The non-lead members must be separate legal entities. For example, the following may not be members of the same coalition:

1. Different departments within the same unit of government;

2. A unit of government and an affiliated nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC that the city controls; or

3. Affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations (e.g., nonprofit organizations that have the same board of directors or staff). This does not preclude separately incorporated chapters of a national nonprofit organization from being non-lead members of coalitions in different geographic areas. For example, an organization that is a national nonprofit could have local chapters that are separately incorporated and have their own board of directors and staff. Local chapter “A” conducts programming in the State of “Y.” Local chapter “B” conducts programming in the State of “Z.” Both chapters may be non-lead members of different FY27 Assessment Coalition Grant applications.

2. Target Areas In the Narrative Criteria Responses, the applicant must identify a target area for each coalition member (i.e., the lead and non-lead members). The target areas may not overlap, and the target areas must be in at least three distinct municipalities or jurisdictions (e.g., town, city, or Tribe).

Provide a response to Section 4.B.5. in the Application Information Sheet to address this threshold criterion. On the Application Information Sheet, identify the lead member’s target area and the target area of each non-lead member.

8 The Lobbying Disclosure Act (2 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq.) provides requirements for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government.

3. Non-lead Member(s) that Never Received an EPA MARC Grant or only Received EPA MARC Grant(s) that Closed9 in 2015 or Earlier The coalition must include at least one non-lead member that has never received an EPA Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup (MARC) Grant, or at least one non-lead member whose most recent EPA Brownfields MARC Grant closed in 2015 or earlier.

Indicate which non-lead coalition member(s) has never received an EPA Brownfields MARC Grant, or whose most recent EPA Brownfields MARC Grant closed in 2015 or earlier. Applicants may search the Brownfields Grant Fact Sheet Tool to obtain information on entities selected to receive an EPA Brownfields MARC Grant. Applicants may contact their Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Section 1.E. to confirm whether a non-lead coalition member received an EPA Brownfields MARC Grant that closed in 2015 or earlier.

4. Legal Authority to Expend Grant Funds on Behalf of Non-Lead Coalition Members The lead member must have legal authority to expend grant funds on behalf of the non-lead members to conduct the proposed grant activities.

a. Attest that the lead member has legal authority to expend grant funds on behalf of the non-lead members to conduct the proposed grant activities.

b. For an entity (i.e., a city, town, etc.) with a geographic boundary10 that does not encompass the geographic boundaries of the non-lead members, identify the relevant law(s), ordinance(s), or other documentation to demonstrate the lead member has legal authority to expend grant funds outside of their geographic boundary.

5. Coalition Agreement

Each non-lead coalition member must submit a signed letter to the grant applicant (the lead coalition member) in which they agree to be part of the coalition. An active Memorandum of Agreement that includes a description and role of each coalition member may serve in place of the individual coalition members’ letters. Include the document(s), as an attachment, in your application. Documentation that is not included with the application will render that non-lead member ineligible from participating in the coalition, and potentially render the entire application ineligible if there are fewer than two non-lead members.

6. Community Involvement

Provide information that demonstrates how you intend to inform and involve the community and other stakeholders in the planning, implementation, and other brownfield assessment activities described in your application.

7. Expenditure of Existing Grant Funds

Indicate which, if any, of the coalition members (i.e., the lead and non-lead members) have an open11 EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant or Multipurpose Grant.

9 For the purposes of this requirement, the term “closed” refers to a grant period of performance that has ended.

10 The geographic boundary may be the jurisdiction of a unit of government.

11 For the purposes of this requirement, the term “open” refers to a grant period of performance that has not ended.

https://java.epa.gov/acrespub/gfs/

Current EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant recipients and Multipurpose Grant recipients must demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA (also known as “drawn down”), and drawn down funds have been disbursed for at least 70.00% of the funding for each Assessment and Multipurpose cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2026, in order to apply for Assessment Grant funding under this funding opportunity.

To demonstrate this, applicants must attach a copy of a financial record displaying the amount of cooperative agreement funds drawn down and corresponding dates (e.g., a report from the Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) or general ledger entries documenting receipts for funds drawn down from ASAP or the required State financial system). If necessary, applicants may contact the assigned EPA Project Officer for the cooperative agreement(s) or Elyse Salinas (brownfields@epa.gov) to obtain draw down information from EPA’s grant financial database (Compass Data Warehouse). Non-State applicants should be aware that if they receive an award, they must comply with EPA’s General Terms and Conditions, including the requirement that funds must be substantially disbursed within 5 business days of draw down.

8. Contractors and Named Subrecipients

Provide information about contractors and named subrecipient eligibility as described below.

Applicants that plan to use contractors and/or subrecipients in their application or the subsequent award should review Section 4.D. to ensure they comply with all applicable competitive procurement and/or subaward requirements.

• Contractors.

State, territory,12 Tribal, and eligible Tribal entity applicants must disclose whether they have already selected/hired a contractor that will be compensated with EPA funds made available under this NOFO and whether they followed the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds.13 If such policies and procedures do not exist, the applicant must also respond to the requirements below.

Applicants (other than State, territory, Tribal, and eligible Tribal entity applicants that followed the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds) must disclose whether they have already selected a contractor that will be compensated with EPA funds made available under this NOFO and the procurement procedures that were followed to hire the contractor(s). If a contractor(s) has been selected prior to submitting the application to EPA (including when a contractor(s) has been selected

12 As defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, the definition of State for purposes of federal procurement standards applicable to the Brownfields Program “means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any agency or instrumentality thereof exclusive of local governments.”

13 Consistent with 2 CFR § 200.317, State and Tribal applicants (including eligible Tribal entities) must follow the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds, as well as the requirements in 2 CFR §§200.321, 200.322, 200.323, and 200.327 and 40 CFR Part 33. If such policies and procedures do not exist, then the federal procurement standards at 2 CFR §§ 200.318 through 200.327 apply and must be followed.

mailto:brownfields@epa.gov http://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-terms-and-conditions https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.317 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.321 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.321 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.322 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.323 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.327 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/part-33 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d?toc=1 under a “dual procurement process” for both grant proposal writing and grant implementation services), applicants must describe:

- information on where and when the solicitation document (e.g., Request for

Proposals/Request for Qualifications) was posted;

- the length of time the RFP/RFQ was advertised;

- the number of firms solicited and the number of offers received and considered; and

- the name(s) of the firm(s) the applicant entered into contract(s) with.

Provide a copy of (or link to) the solicitation document(s) and the signed executed contract(s).

Alternatively, state ‘n/a’ or ‘not applicable’ if a contractor has not been procured at the time of application submission.

• Named Subrecipients.

All applicants, describe how the named subrecipient is eligible for a subaward (e.g., is a nonprofit organization or unit of government). Alternatively, state ‘n/a’ or ‘not applicable’ if a subrecipient is not named at the time of application submission.

Failure to provide the requested information will result in rejection of the application. EPA staff may contact the applicant to clarify issues or obtain additional information before making a final eligibility determination.

Please see Section 6 for additional information on threshold eligibility review.

C. Cost Sharing Consistent with CERCLA § 104(k)(10), cost sharing and matching funds are not required to be eligible to apply to this funding opportunity. As provided in 2 CFR § 200.1, voluntary committed 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. Please note only Federal funds should be listed on the SF- 424, SF-424A, and Budget Detail. Voluntary cost share will not be accepted under this competition.

3. Program Description A. Purpose, Priorities, and Activities

1. Purpose EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program provides funds to empower States, Tribal Nations, communities, and nonprofit organizations to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites.

A brownfield site is defined in CERCLA § 101(39) as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=3e88d9d4557754bcb781241135d934ae&mc=true&node=se2.1.200_11&rgn=div8 pollutant, contaminant, controlled substance, petroleum, or petroleum product, or is mine-scarred land.14

A critical part of EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program is to ensure that residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and environmental contamination have an opportunity to benefit from brownfields redevelopment. EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program is committed to helping communities revitalize brownfield properties, mitigate potential health risks, and restore economic vitality.

As described in Section 6 of this announcement, applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant demonstrates: a vision for the reuse and redevelopment of brownfield sites and a strategy for leveraging resources to help accomplish the vision; the environmental, social, health, and economic needs and benefits of the target areas; strong community engagement; reasonable costs, eligible tasks, and appropriate use of grant funding; the capacity for managing and successfully implementing the cooperative agreement; and other factors.

2. Eligible Uses of Grant Funds Assessment Coalition Grant funds can be used for the direct costs associated with the inventory, site prioritization, community involvement, site reuse planning, assessment, and cleanup planning for brownfield sites. A portion of the Assessment Grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments.15 For examples of grant project accomplishments across the country, please see the EPA Brownfield Grant Recipients Success Stories.

Site Eligibility The Assessment Coalition may address sites contaminated (or potentially contaminated) by hazardous substances,16 pollutants, or contaminants, including hazardous substances comingled with petroleum, and/or petroleum.17 To be eligible for Brownfield Grant funding, sites must meet the definition of a brownfield site under CERCLA § 101(39) and site eligibility requirements as described in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k). For the purposes of this funding opportunity, the cost of site-specific activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may not exceed $200,000 per site.18 EPA will determine site eligibility after the grant award and prior to expending grant funds at any site. Assessment Coalitions will be required to assess at least two sites in each coalition member’s geographic boundary.

Conducting Brownfields Planning & Developing Site Reuse Plans

14 The Understanding Brownfields Fact Sheet Series is available at www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields.

15 Environmental site assessments must be performed in accordance with EPA's All Appropriate Inquiries Final Rule (40 CFR Part 312).

16 Hazardous substance sites eligible for funding are those sites with the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, sites that are contaminated with controlled substances, or that are mine-scarred lands. For more information, please refer to the FY27 FAQs.

17 Petroleum sites eligible for funding are those sites that meet the definition set forth in CERCLA § 101(39)(D)(ii)(II), as further described in Section 1.3.2. in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k).

18 As provided in CERCLA § 104(k)(5)(A)(i)(II), EPA may approve a waiver that allows recipients to use up to $350,000 per site based on the anticipated level of contamination, size, or status of ownership of the site.

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success-stories https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success-stories https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-sites-eligible-brownfields-funding-under-cercla-ss-104k http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-J/part-312 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants

Successful brownfields reuse and redevelopment often depend on early consideration of the range of potential future uses for each brownfield site. Local community priorities, market conditions, infrastructure availability, environmental contamination, public health issues, and local ordinances shape brownfield site reuse opportunities. Having a site reuse plan grounded in these local conditions will directly influence how that site is characterized, assessed, and cleaned up.

Where multiple sites are connected through location, infrastructure, economic, social, and environmental conditions, EPA encourages communities to take an area-wide approach to planning for the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of these brownfield sites. This focus on multiple brownfield sites will result in more coordinated strategies for cleanup and area revitalization versus a site-by-site focus. For more information on site reuse plans and examples of eligible planning activities, please refer to the FY27 FAQs and Planning Program Fact Sheets.

Participant Support Costs Participant support costs, as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, are allowable under Assessment Grants.

Examples of potentially allowable participant support costs include stipends for attendees at community meetings, attendee travel to community meetings, or childcare expenses to encourage attendance at community meetings. Please refer to the FY27 FAQs for additional details on the use of participant support costs.

A community liaison can serve as a key resource to help ensure the community members’ goals and interests are reflected in the planned reuse of individual brownfield sites as well as the revitalization of the areas in which they live, work, play, learn, and pray. In addition to the eligible uses of participant support costs described above, recipients may use a portion of the Assessment Grant for eligible participant support costs associated with a community liaison(s) who is not an employee of the grant recipient or an employee of a non-lead member’s organization. This may include reasonable stipends to compensate an individual community member’s time and travel costs for participating in project-related meetings (e.g., meetings with the community, meetings held by a brownfields advisory board, etc.) and time associated with other specific tasks that are directly tied to related community engagement efforts. Note that stipends may only be paid for actual time spent working on tasks associated with the project and must not duplicate support provided through other Federal, State, Tribal, or local programs.

In their project descriptions, applicants should describe the process they will follow for determining the amounts of allowable stipends, procedures for accounting for participant support cost payments (including receipts), and procedures for documenting that the costs are allowable and do not duplicate other support for the individual(s). Additional information on participant support costs is available in EPA’s Guidance on Participant Support Costs.

In addition to direct costs associated with the inventory, site prioritization, community involvement, site reuse planning, assessment, and cleanup planning for brownfield sites, Assessment Grant funds may be used for:

i. Direct costs associated with programmatic management of the grant, such as required performance reporting and environmental oversight.

All costs charged to Assessment Grants must be consistent with the requirements at 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E.

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-eligible-planning-activities https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/documents/epa-guidance-on-participant-support-costs.pdf https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E

ii. A local government (as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, Local Government, and summarized in Section 2.A.

of these guidelines and the Health Monitoring Fact Sheet) may use up to 10% of its grant funds for the following activities:

a. health monitoring of populations exposed to hazardous substances from a brownfield site;

and

b. monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance from a brownfield site.

iii. A portion of the Brownfields Grant may be used to purchase environmental insurance. (See the

FY27 FAQs for additional information on purchasing environmental insurance.)

3. Ineligible Uses of Grant Funds Grant funds cannot be used for the payment of:

i. Site cleanup activities;

ii. Direct costs for proposal preparation;

iii. a penalty or fine;

iv. a federal cost share requirement consistent with 2 CFR § 200.306(b)(5) (i.e., a cost share required by other federal funds unless there is authority in another Federal statute to use Federal funds for cost share);

v. administrative costs, including all indirect costs and direct costs for grant administration, in excess of five (5) percent of the total amount of EPA grant funding, with the exception of financial and performance reporting costs (which are considered allowable programmatic costs and not subject to the 5% limitation);

vi. a response cost at a brownfield site for which the recipient of the grant or a subaward is potentially liable under CERCLA § 107;

vii. a cost of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup; or

viii. unallowable costs (e.g., lobbying) under 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E.

See the FY27 FAQs for additional information on ineligible grant activities and unallowable costs.

4. Measuring Environmental Results: Anticipated Outputs/Outcomes EPA requires that applicants adequately describe environmental outputs (performance measures) and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements.19 Applicants must include specific statements describing the environmental results of the proposed project in terms of well-defined outputs and, to

19 EPA Order 5700.7, EPA’s Policy for Environmental Results under EPA Assistance Agreements is available at www.epa.gov/grants/epa-order-57007a1-epas-policy-environmental-results-under-epa-assistance-agreements.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/public-health#health-monitoring https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200#p-200.306(b)(5) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants http://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-order-57007a1-epas-policy-environmental-results-under-epa-assistance-agreements the maximum extent practicable, well-defined outcomes that will demonstrate how the project will contribute to EPA’s goals and objectives described below in Section 3.B.

Applicants are required to describe how funding will help EPA achieve environmental outputs and outcomes in their Narrative Criteria Responses in Section 6.B. Outputs and outcomes specific to each project will be identified as deliverables in the negotiated workplan if the application is selected for award. Recipients will be expected to report progress toward the attainment of expected project outputs and outcomes during the project performance period. Outputs and outcomes are defined as follows:

i. Outputs

The term “outputs” refers to an environmental activity, effort, and/or associated work product(s) related to an environmental goal or 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 the project period. The expected outputs for the grants awarded under these guidelines may include, but are not limited to, the number of brownfield sites identified in inventories, development of an area-wide plan, number of Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, number of community meetings held, and number of Analysis of Brownfields Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA)…