F24AS00198 Refuge System Enhancement/Non-Infrastructure

New Due/Closing Date - Thank you for your interest in partnering with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).Under this Notice of Funding Opportunity, "refuge" refers to an area designated as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Other items to note in the Notice of Funding Opportunity:The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity is to provide cooperative agreements and grants to enable nonprofit groups and others to partner with a specific FWS site, FWS Regional office, or FWS headquarters to accomplish FWS work.The FWS site/office requesting the work must fund the project. There is no money set aside at headquarters to do these projects. Therefore, the project budget is limited to the amount the FWS site/office has available.The FWS site/office requesting the work must be substantially involved in the project.The FWS site/office requesting the work must collaboratively work with the potential partner to develop the project narrative and budget.The Congressional authority for this Notice of Funding Opportunity does not include the authority to purchase land.FWS uses GrantSolutions to manage financial assistance applications and awards. Applicants must register in and conduct any subsequent award business with FWS in GrantSolutions. To apply, your organization and organization officials must be established in GrantSolutions. For further details, please see section D7 of this Notice of Funding Opportunity. If using Grants.gov rather than GrantSolutions to apply, please consider submitting the application a couple of weeks early because there is often a delay in the transfer of applications from Grants.gov to GrantSolutions.FWS may not make a Federal award to an applicant that hasn't completed theSAM.gov registration.Domestic recipients are required to register in and receive payment through theU.S. Treasury's Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP), unless approved for a waiver by the Service program.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public.FWS origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nation's food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. Today, we are a diverse and largely decentralized organization, employing about 8,000 dedicated professionals working out of facilities across the country, including a headquarters office in Falls Church, Virginia, and eight Regional offices.The National Non-Infrastructure Partnerships initiative encourages US Fish and Wildlife Service field stations to partner with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations, other land management groups, state, and tribal partners, and others to accomplish projects that:promote the stewardship of FWS resources through habitat maintenance, restoration, and improvement, biological monitoring, or research;increase awareness and understanding of FWS programs and resources through the development, publication, or distribution of educational materials and products;advance education concerning the mission of FWS through the use of FWS sites as an outdoor classroom to combine educational curricula with the personal experiences of students relating to fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitat, and to FWS cultural and historical resources, and development of other educational programs;promote the understanding of, education relating to, and the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants, and cultural and historical resources;improve scientific literacy.

We changed quite a bit because the original Non-Infrastructure NOFO appeared to be a repeat of the Infrastructure NOFO which has different requirements. - Thank you for your interest in partnering with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).Under this Notice of Funding Opportunity, "refuge" refers to an area designated as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Other items to note in the Notice of Funding Opportunity:The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity is to provide cooperative agreements and grants to enable nonprofit groups and others to partner with a specific FWS site, FWS Regional office, or FWS headquarters to accomplish FWS work.The FWS site/office requesting the work must fund the project. There is no money set aside at headquarters to do these projects. Therefore, the project budget is limited to the amount the FWS site/office has available.The FWS site/office requesting the work must be substantially involved in the project.The FWS site/office requesting the work must collaboratively work with the potential partner to develop the project narrative and budget.The Congressional authority for this Notice of Funding Opportunity does not include the authority to purchase land.FWS uses GrantSolutions to manage financial assistance applications and awards. Applicants must register in and conduct any subsequent award business with FWS in GrantSolutions. To apply, your organization and organization officials must be established in GrantSolutions. For further details, please see section D7 of this Notice of Funding Opportunity. If using Grants.gov rather than GrantSolutions to apply, please consider submitting the application a couple of weeks early because there is often a delay in the transfer of applications from Grants.gov to GrantSolutions.FWS may not make a Federal award to an applicant that hasn't completed theSAM.gov registration.Domestic recipients are required to register in and receive payment through theU.S. Treasury's Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP), unless approved for a waiver by the Service program.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public.FWS origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nation's food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. Today, we are a diverse and largely decentralized organization, employing about 8,000 dedicated professionals working out of facilities across the country, including a headquarters office in Falls Church, Virginia, and eight Regional offices.The National Non-Infrastructure Partnerships initiative encourages US Fish and Wildlife Service field stations to partner with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations, other land management groups, state, and tribal partners, and others to accomplish projects that:promote the stewardship of FWS resources through habitat maintenance, restoration, and improvement, biological monitoring, or research;increase awareness and understanding of FWS programs and resources through the development, publication, or distribution of educational materials and products;advance education concerning the mission of FWS through the use of FWS sites as an outdoor classroom to combine educational curricula with the personal experiences of students relating to fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitat, and to FWS cultural and historical resources, and development of other educational programs;promote the understanding of, education relating to, and the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants, and cultural and historical resources;improve scientific literacy.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public.FWS origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nation's food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. Today, we are a diverse and largely decentralized organization, employing about 8,000 dedicated professionals working out of facilities across the country, including a headquarters office in Falls Church, Virginia, and eight Regional offices.The National Infrastructure Partnerships initiative of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) encourages National Wildlife Refuge System field stations to partner with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations, other land management groups, state and tribal partners, and others to accomplish projects that:i. Promote the stewardship of Refuge System resources through habitat maintenance, restoration, and improvement, andii. Support the operation and maintenance of the Refuge System through constructing, operating, maintaining, or improving the facilities and services of the Refuge System.The goals of the initiative are to enable local communities to play a more active role in increasing outdoor recreation opportunities on refuge lands and waters, to be more focused and deliberate in using partnerships to help FWS address infrastructure repair and improvement needs such as proactive maintenance and the maintenance backlog, and to enhance wildlife habitat.Additionally, this initiative can help address multiple FWS priorities as a catalyst for:Economic and Conservation EnhancementCareer Training and Mentoring Opportunities for Youth and AdultsEquity and Inclusion in Conservation and RecreationClimate and Wildlife ResilienceCommunity HealthSuccessful projects will address identified FWS priorities or projects at FWS sites that enhance the visitor experience, promote wildlife-dependent outdoor recreation, provide sustainable wildlife habitat, provide career training and mentoring opportunities, and engage the community in opportunities to participate in wildlife-dependent outdoor recreation on FWS lands and waters.Fish and Wildlife Act - Community Partnership Enhancement Authority Overview Notwithstanding the Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements Act, the Fish and Wildlife Act-Community partnership enhancement (16 U.S.C. 742f(d)) authorizes FWS to enter into cooperative agreements with non-Federal partner entities to implement projects or programs for a refuge or complex of geographically related refuges, including carrying out certain construction projects on refuge property. For the purposes of this Act, construction projects include "constructing, operating, maintaining, or improving the facilities". However, there are several restrictions that apply to the special authority when used for construction, including restrictions on partner administrative and operational costs and property ownership.This authority is only available to the National Wildlife Refuge System.Improvements become the property of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.Federal funds may not exceed non-Federal matching funds.Per the Fish and Wildlife Act - Community Partnership Enhancement Authority, FWS cannot provide funding under this program for non-Federal entity operation or administration costs (i.e. indirect costs): "(ii) Use of Federal funds - Any Federal funds used to fund a project or program under a cooperative agreement may be used only for expenses directly related to the project or program and may not be used for operation or administration of any non-Federal entity." See Full Announcement for additional eligibility requirements.