Geographic Programs - Chesapeake Bay Program General, Technical Assistance, and Small Watershed Grants

The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure and unique as North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary. The objective of the Chesapeake Bay Program's competitive assistance agreements is to fund activities that support achievement of t

The Chesapeake Bay Program's funded projects help achieve the goals and outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and strengthen cooperative efforts to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay.

Beneficiary eligibility is the same as applicant eligibility.

The Chesapeake Bay Program funds cooperative agreements to implement the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and carry out the statutory requirements of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office. This includes coordination support for the partnership; advancement of science, modeling, monitoring, and data analysis activities; development and publication of environmental information and partnership communications; and outreach programs to foster stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay resources. This funding also supports the implementation of subgrant programs designed to support local and regional efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. All funded activities, including activities funded through cost-share, must directly support the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Applicants applying for funding under this program must commit to a cost-share of 5-50%, as determined at the discretion of EPA and as described in competitive funding announcements. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial). This program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. A discretionary award means an award in which the Federal awarding agency, in keeping with specific statutory authority that enables the agency to exercise judgement ("discretion"), selects the recipient and/or the amount of Federal funding awarded through a competitive process or based on merit of proposals. A discretionary award may be selected on a non-competitive basis, as appropriate. For further information, please contact the Headquarters or regional office points of contact listed under Contact Information.

Applicants must adhere to the requirement in the Clean Water Act, Section 117 - Administrative Costs, which requires a 10 percent cap for administrative costs. The term "administrative costs" means the cost of salaries and fringe benefits incurred in administering a grant, which includes but is not limited to, preparation and submission of grant applications, fiscal tracking of grants funds, maintaining project files, and collection and submission of deliverables.

The length of the grant shall be determined at the time of award but generally ranges from 2-6 years. Start dates for assistance agreements are variable and are established at the discretion of EPA.

Cooperative agreements issued under this program may be covered under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." Applications should refer to the competitive announcement for additional information regarding coverage. 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 NOFOs 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 NOFO. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed in the NOFO.

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.

For competitive awards under this assistance listing, information regarding deadlines will be specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). For non-competitive awards, contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines.

Approximately 90 days after deadline for application submission.

Extensions are subject to approval by EPA. The funded cooperative agreements are not eligible for renewal.

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.