RFA DRSA - Repair and Replacement of Observing Assets, Real Property, and Equipment in the Gulf of Mexico region.docx

Disaster Relief Supplemental Act (DRSA) - Repair and Replacement of Observing Assets, Real Property, and Equipment in the Gulf of Mexico region

Non-competitive Request for Applications (RFA) - NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2022-2007242 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022

In response to Title II of the Division B of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, 2022, (P.L. 117-43) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service (NOS) U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Office is soliciting applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental. Congressional funding has been approved under Operations, Research, and Facilities (ORF) to repair and replace observing assets, real property, and equipment. Awards will be made for one focus area:

An award will be made for Hurricane Repairs and Replacements that supports repairs and replacements of observing assets, real property, and equipment in the Gulf of Mexico region incurred from hurricane damage. The applicant is requested to identify priority tasks at a funded level of $1,369,149.

Applications will focus on the following repairs and replacements.

a. High Frequency Radar (HFR)

a. $357,782 to replace five (5) damaged oceanographic HFR stations and reinstall them at: Port Fourchon and Southwest Pass in Louisiana; Rollover Pass in Texas; Henderson Beach in Florida; and Pass Christian in Mississippi.

b. Buoy

b. $56,344 to repair the University of Southern Mississippi buoy including, but not limited to, the meteorological station, GPS sensors, and mooring hardware.

c. Coastal stations

c. $908,071 to replace and install six (6) stations, including distribution of data.

d. Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB)

d. $46,953 to repair the sonde electronics and winch cable used to operate the IFCB in Surfside, Texas.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, however the final submission deadline is May 25, 2022.

The Department of Commerce Grants and Cooperative Agreements Manual requires “the merit review for new noncompetitive awards shall consist of an objective merit review by a group of at at least three professionally and technically qualified reviewers”. The merit review must be conducted by an impartial, objective, unbiased individual(s) with the requisite expertise, knowledge, and experience in a technical field who can evaluate or assess the proposal for its value, quality, and likelihood of success. Given this requirement, the reviewers conduct evaluations based on the criteria established by NOAA.

Application and Submission Requirements

The instructions for preparation of full proposals provided below are mandatory. Proposals should be submitted by May 25, 2022, 11:59 ET. Full proposals should be no more than 10 pages long, excluding title page, budget information, and curricula vitae (CVs). Proposals should be submitted electronically in PDF format with 12-point font, single spacing, and one-inch margins. Required content includes:

· Title page, to include:

· Full project title

· Principal Investigator(s) (PI) and affiliation(s)

· Co-investigator(s) and affiliation(s)

· Proposed period of performance

· Proposed total budget

· Project Narrative, including clear objectives, timeline and milestones, and a scope of work.

· Budget Narrative

· Form SF-424A

· Budget Narrative: Here (https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/document/2019/Jun/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-_05-24-2017_final.pdf) is an example of a budget narrative template.

· Applicants are requested to identify their priority tasks at an annual funded level of $1,369,149.

· Short CV for all PIs

· National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

NOAA must analyze the potential environmental impacts, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for applicant projects or proposals which are seeking NOAA federal funding opportunities. Detailed information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the following NOAA NEPA website: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our NOAA Administrative Order 216-17A for NEPA, https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-216-17a-noaa-environmental-compliance-program, and the Council on Environmental Quality implementation regulations, http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NEPA-40CFR1500_1508.pdf. Consequently, as part of an applicant’s package, and under their description of their program activities, applicants are required to provide detailed information on the activities to be conducted, locations, sites, species and habitat to be affected, possible construction activities, and any environmental concerns that may exist (e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous or toxic chemicals, introduction of non- indigenous species, impacts to endangered and threatened species, aquaculture projects, and impacts to coral reef systems). In addition to providing specific information that will serve as the basis for any required impact analyses, applicants may also be requested to assist NOAA in drafting an environmental assessment, if NOAA determines an assessment is required. Applicants will also be required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their proposal. Failure to do so shall be grounds for not selecting an application. In some cases, if additional information is required after an application is selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer under a special award condition requiring the recipient to submit additional environmental compliance information sufficient to enable NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on the environment. selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer under a special award condition requiring the recipient to submit additional environmental compliance information sufficient to enable NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on the environment.