Geographic Programs - Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program

To develop and support the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for coastal watershed restoration. SNEP is a geographically-based program intended to serve as a collaborative framework for advancing ecosystem resiliency, protecting and restoring wa

SNEP's mission is to foster collaboration among regional partners across southeast New England's coastal watersheds to spur investments in regionally significant and landscape scale restoration efforts that protect and restore water quality, ecological health, and diverse habitats by sharing knowledge and resources, promoting innovative approaches, and leveraging economic and environmental investments to meet the needs of current and future generations. Through utilizing innovation and technologies and regional collaboration we envision a resilient ecosystem of safe and healthy waters, thriving watersheds and natural lands, and sustainable communities throughout southeast New England's coastal watersheds by 2050.

Assistance under SNEP is available to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments; institutions of higher education; nonprofit institutions and organizations; intertribal consortia; and interstate agencies. Private businesses and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients, however, they are encouraged to work in partnership with eligible applicants on projects. Federal agencies may be eligible for funding through interagency agreements. Applicants are not limited to the geographic area of southeastern coastal New England, however, those applying from outside the specified region must carry out their projects and have at least one local partner from within the geographic area specified in the competitive funding announcement. Organizations must be capable of undertaking and managing activities that advance SNEP priorities, including managing potentially complex fiscal and administrative requirements. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply; the term interstate agency is defined in Clean Water Act Section 502 as an agency of two or more States established by or pursuant to an agreement or compact approved by the Congress, or any other agency of two or more States, having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator. Intertribal consortia must meet the requirements of 40 CFR Section 35.504. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

Cooperative agreements are available to support recipients' allowable direct costs in approved scopes of work plus allowable indirect costs, in accordance with established EPA policies and regulations. The funds will support projects that prevent, reduce, and eliminate water pollution through partnership and innovation; that promote watershed solutions; and that encourage resilience to the impacts of flooding and extreme weather conditions. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Geospatial information is information that identifies the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features or boundaries on the earth, or applications, tools, and hardware associated with the generation, maintenance, or distribution of such information. This information may be derived from, among other things, GPS, remote sensing, mapping, charting, and surveying technologies, or statistical data. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: https://www.epa.gov/geospatial.

Specific uses and restrictions on funds will be described in detail in the Notices of Funding Opportunity.

The terms of the grant shall be determined at time of grant award.

EPA financial assistance programs and activities subject to intergovernmental review that are subject to review under State single point of contact procedures are identified at https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-financial-assistance-programs-subject-executive-order-12372- and-section-204. Applicants for programs or activities subject to Intergovernmental Review that are not subject to State single point of contact review must provide directly affected State, areawide, regional, and local entities at least 60 days to review their application following notification by EPA that the application has been selected for funding as provided by 40 CFR 29.8(a) and (c). Regarding pre-application assistance with respect to Notices of Funding Opportunity under this assistance listing, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this assistance listing will be described in the NOFO.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the NOFO. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

Deadline information is provided in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Notification of action on applications varies depending on the timing of funds released to the EPA Regional Offices from Headquarters. Interval from submission to notification may vary from 2 months to 8 months.

Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005). Copies of these procedures may also be found at https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-competition-dispute-resolution-procedures. Disputes relating to matters other than the competitive selection of recipients will be resolved under 2 CFR 1500 Subpart E, as applicable.