Geographic Programs - Columbia River Basin Restoration (CRBR) Program

To support the protection and restoration of the Columbia River Basin, Congress established the Columbia River Basin Restoration Program (CRBRP) per Clean Water Act Section 123, implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). CRBRP pro

This program is intended to improve water quality across the Columbia River Basin, through specific actions to reduce toxics, increase monitoring, and/or increase public education and outreach. The Columbia River Basin Restoration Program (CRBRP) will assist tribal, state, and local governments; non-government entities, and others as they implement work funded in accordance with Clean Water Act Section 123 to improve water quality across the Columbia River Basin.

The work must be for the purpose of environmental protection and restoration activities within the Columbia River Basin and may include programs, projects, and studies in accordance with Clean Water Act Section 123, which calls for: eliminating or reducing pollution, cleaning up contaminated sites, improving water quality, monitoring to evaluate trends, reducing runoff; protecting habitat, or promoting citizen engagement or knowledge. 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. 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.

The estimated length for awards resulting from this solicitation is two-five years. Projects funded with Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds were awarded, and the project periods will also be for two-five years.

This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs," when proposed financial assistance involves land use planning, construction of infrastructure or stabilization, cleanup or remediation of land contaminated with mining wastes. 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 competitive funding opportunities 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 as "Agency Contact(s)" in the competitive announcement.

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, deadlines will be specified in the (Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance if the State has selected the program for review.

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). You can also view the procedures by visiting the following website: 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.