[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 90328-90330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29926]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XF072
Gulf of Mexico Coast Conservation Corps (GulfCorps) Program
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of funding availability.
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SUMMARY: The principal objective of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
[[Page 90329]]
Administration's Gulf of Mexico Coast Conservation Corps
(``GulfCorps'') Program solicitation is to develop a Gulf-wide
conservation corps that will contribute to meaningful Gulf of Mexico
ecosystem restoration benefiting coastal habitat and water quality in
each of the Gulf states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and
Florida), while economically benefiting coastal communities through
education, training, and employment opportunities. NOAA's GulfCorps
Program grant recipients will recruit, train, and employ workers to
work on habitat restoration projects and develop skills in support of
long-term Gulf coast restoration. See the full GulfCorps Federal
Funding Opportunity (FFO), located on Grants.gov as described in the
ADDRESSES section, for a complete description of program goals and how
applications will be evaluated.
DATES: Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service,
or received by www.Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 2,
2017. Use of a delivery service must be documented with a receipt. No
facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted. See also
Section III.C of the GulfCorps FFO.
ADDRESSES: Complete application packages, including required Federal
forms and instructions, can be found on www.Grants.gov by searching for
Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005141. If a
prospective applicant is having difficulty downloading the application
forms from www.Grants.gov, contact www.Grants.gov Customer Support at
1-800-518-4726 or Grants.gov">support@Grants.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact
Melanie Gange at (301) 427-8664, or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Statutory Authority: Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 16 U.S.C.
661, as amended by the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970; Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of
2006, 16 U.S.C. 1891a; the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability,
Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States
Act (RESTORE Act), Public Law 112-141, Subtitle F.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA): 11.463.
Program Description
As noted above, the principal objective of NOAA's GulfCorps Program
solicitation is to develop a Gulf-wide conservation corps that will
contribute to meaningful Gulf of Mexico ecosystem restoration
benefiting coastal habitat and water quality in each of the Gulf states
(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida), while
economically benefiting coastal communities through education,
training, and employment opportunities. The GulfCorps Program grant
recipients will recruit, train, and employ workers to work on habitat
restoration projects and develop skills in support of long-term Gulf
coast restoration. This program is funded under the RESTORE Act.
Information on the RESTORE Act, including more information on the
funding provided to establish this conservation corps, and the other
initiatives included on the Funded Priorities List (FPL) can be found
online at www.restorethegulf.gov/council-selected-restoration-component/funded-priorities-list. Applications selected for funding
through this solicitation will primarily be funded through cooperative
agreements.
Section IV.B. of the FFO describes the suggested information to
include in the application narrative. Supplemental Guidance regarding
application writing, a checklist to submit a complete application, and
FAQs about this solicitation can be found at www.restoration.noaa.gov/partnerresources and www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/gulfcorps.html,
respectively. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact
NOAA Restoration Center staff before submitting an application to
discuss their GulfCorps proposals with respect to technical merit and
NOAA's objectives. NOAA will make every effort to respond to
prospective applicants on a first come, first served basis. These
discussions will not include review of draft proposals or site visits
during the application period.
Funding Availability
Total anticipated funding for all awards is up to $7 million,
subject to the availability of funds under the RESTORE Act. NOAA
anticipates typical awards will range from $1 million to $7 million.
NOAA will not accept applications requesting less than $1 million or
more than $7 million in Federal funds from NOAA under this solicitation
and the exact amount of funds that may be awarded will be determined in
pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA. Funding may be
provided in annual increments without further competition, and the
period of performance for most awards is expected to be 36 months,
although 48 months will be considered. Any funds provided to successful
applicants will be at the discretion of the NOAA Office of Habitat
Conservation and the NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD). In no event
will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for application
preparation costs if programs fail to receive funding or are cancelled
because of other agency priorities. Publication of this notice does not
oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available
funds and there is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available
to make awards for all top-ranked applications. The number of awards to
be made as a result of this solicitation will depend on the number of
eligible applications received, the amount of funds requested for
GulfCorps proposals, and the merit and ranking of the applications.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-
profits, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, and
state, local and Native American tribal governments. Applications from
individuals, Federal agencies, or employees of Federal agencies will
not be considered. Individuals and Federal agencies are strongly
encouraged to work with states, non-governmental organizations,
municipal and county governments, and others that are eligible to
apply. Cost sharing is not required, however, match is included in the
evaluation criteria as listed in the full FFO announcement in
www.Grants.gov (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-
2005141). Applications selected for funding will be bound by the
percentage of cost sharing reflected in the award document signed by
the NOAA Grants Officer.
Evaluation and Selection Procedures
The general evaluation criteria and selection factors that apply to
full applications to this funding opportunity are summarized below.
Further information about the evaluation criteria and selection factors
can be found in the full FFO announcement in www.Grants.gov (Funding
Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005141).
Evaluation Criteria
Reviewers will assign scores to applications ranging from 0 to 100
points based on the following five standard NOAA evaluation criteria
and respective weights specified below. Applications that best address
these criteria will be most competitive.
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1. Importance and Applicability (18 points): This criterion
ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or
relevance to the priorities presented in the solicitation.
2. Technical/Scientific Merit (28 points): This criterion assesses
whether the project activity or approach is technically sound, if the
methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear goals and
objectives.
3. Overall Qualifications of Applicant (24 points): This criterion
ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education,
experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to
support the proposed award.
4. Project Costs (20 points): This criterion evaluates the budget
to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project's
needs and time-frame.
5. Outreach and Education (10 points): NOAA assesses whether the
recipient can deliver a focused and effective training and community
outreach strategy for the GulfCorps.
Review and Selection Process
Applications will undergo an initial administrative review to
determine if they are eligible and complete, per Section III of the
full FFO posted at www.Grants.gov. Eligible applications will be
evaluated by three or more merit reviewers as part of a panel review
process to determine how well they meet the program priorities and
evaluation criteria of this solicitation. The Selecting Official
anticipates recommending applications for funding in rank order unless
an application is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon
one or more of the following selection factors: (1) Availability of
funding; (2) Balance/distribution of funds: (a) by geographic area, (b)
by type of institutions, (c) by type of partners, (d) by research
areas; or (e) by project types; (3) Whether the project duplicates
other projects funded or considered for funding by NOAA or other
federal agencies; (4) Program priorities and policy factors set out in
section I.A. and I.B. of the FFO; (5) An applicant's prior award
performance; (6) Partnerships and/or participation of targeted groups;
and (7) Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA staff to make a NEPA
determination and draft necessary documentation before recommendations
for funding are made to the NOAA GMD. Hence, awards may not necessarily
be made to the highest-scored applications. Unsuccessful applicants
will be notified that their application was not among those recommended
for funding. Unsuccessful applications submitted in hard copy will be
kept on file in accordance with NOAA records requirements and then
destroyed.
Intergovernmental Review
Applications submitted under the FFO are subject to the provisions
of Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Programs.'' Any
applicant submitting an application for funding is required to complete
item 16 on Form SF-424 regarding clearance by the State Single Point of
Contact (SPOC). To find out about and comply with a State's process
under Executive Order 12372, the names, addresses and phone numbers of
participating SPOC's are listed on the Office of Management and
Budget's home page at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_spoc.
Limitation of Liability
In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible
for proposal preparation costs if these programs fail to receive
funding or are cancelled because of other agency priorities.
Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any
specific project or to obligate any available funds.
National Environmental Policy Act
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 funds. Further details
regarding NOAA's compliance with NEPA can be found in the full Federal
Funding Opportunity.
Administrative and National Policy Requirements
The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for
Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register
notice of December 30, 2014 (79 FR 78390) are applicable to this
solicitation. Additional administrative and national policy
requirements are described in the full Federal Funding Opportunity.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This document contains collection-of-information requirements
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The use of Standard Forms
424, 424A, 424B, and SF-LLL has been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under the respective control numbers 4040-
0004, 4040-0006, 4040-0007, and 4040-0013. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, no person is required to, nor shall a person be
subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of
information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless that
collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
Executive Order 12866
This notice has been determined to be not significant for purposes
of Executive Order 12866.
Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)
It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies
with implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 13132.
Administrative Procedure Act/Regulatory Flexibility Act
Prior notices and an opportunity for public comment are not
required by the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for rules
concerning public property, loans, grants, benefits, and contracts (5
U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). Because notice and opportunity for comment are not
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical
requirements for the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not
been prepared.
Dated: December 8, 2016.
Carrie Selberg,
Deputy Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-29926 Filed 12-13-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P