0362 suppt statement 071411 rev

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
SEA GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS,
FOR SEA GRANT FELLOWSHIPS, AND FOR DESIGNATION AS A
SEA GRANT COLLEGE OR SEA GRANT INSTITUTE
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-0362

A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
The objectives of the National Sea Grant College Program, according to the Sea Grant legislation
(33 USC 1121-1131) are to increase the understanding, assessments, development, utilization, and
conservation of the Nation's ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources. The program accomplishes
these objectives by conducting research, education, and outreach programs.
Grant monies are available for funding activities that help attain the objectives of the Sea Grant
Program. Both single and multi-project grants are awarded, with the latter representing about 80
percent of the total grant program. In addition to the SF-424 and other standard grant application
requirements, three additional forms are required with a grant application and are currently approved as
part of this information collection. These are the NOAA Form 90-1, Sea Grant Control Form, NOAA
Form 90-2, Project Record Form, and NOAA Form 90-4, the Sea Grant Budget, used in place of the SF
424a or 424c. Each form provides information needed by the program but not supplied by the standard
application process. The specific information required is described in Question 2 below.
The Sea Grant legislation (33 USC 1126) provides for the designation of a public or private institution
of higher education, institute, laboratory, or State or local agency as a Sea Grant college or Sea Grant
institute. Applications are required for designation of Sea Grant Colleges and Sea Grant Institutes.
Institutions seeking designation as a Sea Grant college or Sea Grant institute must submit an
application in accordance with 15 CFR 918.7. This is a one-time collection required only when a
college or institution first requests to join the Sea Grant program, or when an existing program seeks
to change the scope of its current designation. No forms are used. The data the collection provides
helps the program officers determine the suitability of the applicant for meeting the standards and
conditions for being a Sea Grant College as set forth in 33 USC 1126 and 15 CFR 918.5. These
requirements are currently cleared under OMB Control No. 0648-0362.
Applications are required in order to be awarded a Sea Grant Fellowship, including the Dean John
A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships. The requirements are set forth annually in announcements
published in the Federal Register. These requirements are currently approved under OMB Control
No. 0648-0362.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used.
If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information
that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all
applicable Information Quality Guidelines.
Sea Grant Colleges or Institutes: The application for designation as a Sea Grant college or Sea Grant
institute is required only when a college or university requests to be recognized as a Sea Grant
program. Existing programs may also use the same application process to request a change in the
scope of their current designation. Applications are to provide an outline of the college’s or university’s
capabilities and the reasons why it merits designation. The standards to be met are set forth in 15 CFR
918.3:
To be eligible for designation as a Sea Grant College, the institution of higher education or confederation of
such institutions must have demonstrated a capability to maintain a high quality and balanced program of
research, education, training, and advisory services in fields related to ocean, Great Lakes, and coastal
resources for a minimum of three years, and have received financial assistance as an Institutional program
under either section 205 of the National Sea Grant College Program Act or under section 204(c) of the earlier
National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966.
(b) To be eligible for designation as a Sea Grant College, the candidate institution or confederation of
institutions must meet the qualifications set forth above as evaluated by a site review team composed of
members of the Sea Grant Review Panel, NOAA's Office of Sea Grant, and other experts named by NOAA.
As a result of this review, the candidate must be rated highly in all of the following qualifying areas:
(1) Leadership. The Sea Grant College candidate must have achieved recognition as an intellectual and
practical leader in marine science, engineering, education, and advisory service in its state and region.
(2) Organization. The Sea Grant College candidate must have created the management organization to carry
on a viable and productive Sea Grant Program, and must have the backing of its administration at a sufficiently
high level to fulfill its multidisciplinary and multifaceted mandate.
(3) Relevance. The Sea Grant College candidate's program must be relevant to local, State, regional, or
National opportunities and problems in the marine environment. Important factors in evaluating relevance are
the need for marine resource emphasis and the extent to which capabilities have been developed to be
responsive to that need.
(4) Programmed team approach. The Sea Grant College candidate must have a programmed team approach to
the solution of marine problems which includes relevant, high quality, multidisciplinary research with
associated educational and advisory services capable of producing identifiable results.
(5) Education and training. Education and training must be clearly relevant to National, regional, State and
local needs in fields related to ocean, Great Lakes, and coastal resources. As appropriate, education may
include pre-college, college, post-graduate, public and adult levels.
(6) Advisory services. The Sea Grant College candidate must have a strong program through which
information, techniques, and research results from any reliable source, domestic or international, may be
communicated to and utilized by user communities. In addition to the educational and information
dissemination role, the advisory service program must aid in the identification and communication of user
communities' research and educational needs.
(7) Relationships. The Sea Grant College candidate must have close ties with Federal agencies. State agencies
and administrations, local authorities, business and industry, and other educational institutions. These ties are:
(i) To ensure the relevance of its programs, (ii) to give assistance to the broadest possible audience, (iii) to

involve a broad pool of talent in providing this assistance (including universities and other administrative
entities outside the Sea Grant College), and (iv) to assist others in developing research and management
competence. The extent and quality of an institution's relationships are critical factors in evaluating the
institutional program.
(8) Productivity. The Sea Grant College candidate must have demonstrated the degree of productivity (of
research results, reports, employed students, service to State agencies and industry, etc.) commensurate with
the length of its Sea Grant operations and the level of funding under which it has worked.
(9) Support. The Sea Grant College candidate must have the ability to obtain matching funds from non-Federal
sources, such as state legislatures, university management, state agencies, business, and industry. A diversity
of matching fund sources is encouraged as a sign of program vitality and the ability to meet the Sea Grant
requirement that funds for the general programs be matched with at least one non-Federal dollar for every two
Federal dollars.
(c) Finally, it must be found that the Sea Grant College candidate will act in accordance with the following
standards relating to its continuing responsibilities if it should be designated a Sea Grant College:
(1) Continue pursuit of excellence and high performance in marine research, education, training, and advisory
services.
(2) Provide leadership in marine activities including coordinated planning and cooperative work with local,
state, regional, and Federal agencies, other Sea Grant Programs, and non-Sea Grant universities.
(3) Maintain an effective management framework and application of institutional resources to the achievement
of Sea Grant objectives.
(4) Develop and implement long-term plans for research, education, training, and advisory services consistent
with Sea Grant goals and objectives.
(5) Advocate and further the Sea Grant concept and the full development of its potential within the institution
and the state.
(6) Provide adequate and stable matching financial support for the program from non-Federal sources.
(7) Establish and operate an effective system to control the quality of its Sea Grant programs.

The data collected helps the program officers to determine the suitability of the applicant for meeting
the standards and qualifications for being a Sea Grant college or institute as set in the authorizing
legislation.
Sea Grant Fellowships: Applications for Sea Grant Fellowships, including a Dean John A. Knauss
Marine Policy Fellowship, must include a resume or curriculum vitae; a personal education and/or
career goal statement; up to three letters of recommendation, including one from the student’s major
professor or student advisor; and copies of undergraduate and graduate student transcripts. Depending
upon the nature of the Sea Grant Fellowship, additional information may be required including a letter
of endorsement from the sponsoring state Sea Grant Director; a letter of endorsement from a required
partner, if any; a project description if the fellowship is research related; and information about the
student’s remaining degree requirements. This information is used by program officers to evaluate the
applicants and to determine which applicants will be most likely to forward the goals of the Sea Grant
Program during and after the fellowship. The program seeks to support not only the best students but
ones who intend to pursue related goals in the future.

Sea Grants:
The NOAA Form 90-1, Sea Grant Control, is used primarily to identify the organizations and personnel
who would be involved in the proposed grant. A goal of the Sea Grant program is to maximize the
number of graduate students working on research projects. For funded grants, the information is used
by the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) to collate accurate information on the number of students
supported with Sea Grant funds and to summarize the impact of Sea Grants on the academic
community. In addition, the form provides information on collaborations between governmental
organizations, industry, and the Sea Grant program. The data supplied in this document form the basis
for many of our responses to the Administration, the Congress, other agencies, and to the public about
the scope of Sea Grant activities. Certain minimal summary financial data are also required to help
evaluate whether the resources proposed are sufficient to achieve the goals. Much of this information is
similar to biographical and other information contained in OMB Circulars A-102 and A-110, but
NOAA has found it more efficient to use a form to gather this and related information.
The NOAA Form 90-2, Project Record Form, requires information on the investigators involved, as
well as the overall funding, objectives, methodology, and rationale for the project. The information is
used by both the NSGO and the state Sea Grant programs to help determine the value of each
individual project to the total program, whether matching costs are allowed, the rationale for funding
and the methodology used, as well as administrative controls. The summary helps the NSGO evaluate
the proposals during its funding decisions. The information is also placed on a database where both
Sea Grant personnel, potential grant applicants and the public can see what other projects have been
funded. This speeds the review process and reduces the chance of applicants wasting time making
proposals that duplicate an existing or past project. It also provides the basic data for the next project
summary for an on-going project, so that the data only has to be updated rather than resubmitted. The
information required on this form is now produced with and provided to Sea Grant in various electronic
software formats (Word, Rich Text Format, and Adobe PDF) that more efficiently collect the
information required to monitor and evaluate the programs. The programs send this information to the
NSGO, where it is added to project summary information in our database.
The NOAA Form 90-4, Sea Grant Budget, is required in place of the SF 424a or SF 424c. The SF-424
provides only a summary of costs for the entire award. It does not give a detailed breakdown of costs
associated with each project in a multi-project award, and such a breakdown is necessary for these
applications because the Sea Grant program awards large multi-institution omnibus grants. The Form
90-4 gives the program officer a detailed breakdown of costs for each project funded by Sea Grant and
allows the officer to determine whether or not the cost of a project is reasonable based on the level of
effort stated in the proposal. Without these breakdowns, it would be impossible for the program officer
to efficiently monitor the use of resources or the costs associated with each project funded by the
National Sea Grant College Program. The Form 90-4 contains all information required on a SF 424a, so
that a SF 424a is not also required when a Form 90-4 is used.
In response to Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year
2001 (Public Law 106-554), NOAA has issued guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality of
information disseminated by the agency. Information submitted to the National Sea Grant Office in
grant applications is regularly subjected to internal NSGO review as part of the grant award process. Of
the various types of information collected (described above) some of the information will be
disseminated to the public or used to support publicly disseminated information. Sea Grant has

administrative mechanisms in place to ensure that a basic level of quality of information products is
maintained. These include procedures for competitive peer review of all research grants, and
performance-based evaluations of all university Sea Grant programs according to guidelines set by the
NSGO.
Sea Grant is a science and education organization. It does not have regulatory responsibilities. In
general, the NSGO provides summary information to the public about the grants it awards.
Information is publicly disseminated through the publication of reports describing Sea Grant’s
university-based research, education, and outreach activities. These reports are widely distributed in
both print and web-based formats. All reports and supporting data are reviewed for objectivity, utility
and integrity, as required by the NOAA guidelines, before they are disseminated. Previously
disseminated information is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the information is current and
continues to comply with the NOAA guidelines.
3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of
information technology.
The NOAA Form 90-1, Sea Grant Control, NOAA Form 90-2, Project Record Form, and NOAA
Form 90-4, are available in electronic format. The NSGO maintains a relational database to store,
archive, and retrieve information provided on these forms.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
There is no similar data available from other sources.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the
methods used to minimize burden.
These requirements have no significant impact on small businesses or entities.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not
conducted or is conducted less frequently.
The grant and fellowship application information is required as part of the annual grant application
process and cannot be collected less frequently. The request for Sea Grant College or Sea Grant
Institute designation or change in designation is a one-time action at the respondent’s discretion.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a
manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
The collection is consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide information on the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the
information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in
response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those
comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on
the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping,
disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or
reported.
A Federal Register Notice soliciting comments on this information collection was published on
March 24, 2011 (76 FR 16622). No comments were received.
9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than
remuneration of contractors or grantees.
No payments or gifts are made.
10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for
assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
No confidentiality is promised.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual
behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered
private.
No sensitive questions are asked.
12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
The estimated number of hours for each requirement is as follows:
Form 90-1, Sea Grant Control
Estimated Number of respondents - 111 (31 institutions and 80 individuals at those institutions)
Estimated Total Responses - 680 (600 for institutions*, 80 for individuals)
Average response time - 30 minutes
Total Annual response time - 340 hours
Project Record Form (90-2)
Estimated Number of respondents - 111
Estimated Total Responses - 680
Average response time - 20 minutes
Total Annual response time - 227 Hours
Form 90-4, Sea Grant Budget
Estimated Number of respondents - 111
Estimated Total Responses - 680
Average response time - 15 minutes
Total Annual response time - 170 hours
* Institutions respond to multiple grant solicitations.
Application for Designation as a Sea Grant College or Regional Consortia
Estimated Number of respondents - 1
Estimated Total Responses - 1
Average response time - 20 hours
Total Annual response time - 20 hours
Application for Sea Grant Fellowships
Estimated Number of respondents - 50
Estimated Total Responses - 50
Average response time - 2 hours
Total Annual response time - 100 hours
Collection Totals: 162 respondents, 2,091 responses, 857 hours.
The time estimates were determined from a sample of the Sea Grant Programs who are required to
submit these forms regarding the length of time each form takes to complete.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection.
Because 95 per cent of the forms are filled out and submitted electronically, the total annual cost
for copying and mailing by respondents resulting from the collection is estimated to be less than
$1000: for transmission via FEDEX or similar services, at $9.50 for 2-day delivery. The
estimated cost is thus 105 (5% of 2,091) x $9.50 = $997.50 ($998).
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
The total cost burden to the government for conducting the collections and handling the information
submitted is estimated at $65,928. This does not include costs for secondary uses of the information.
This estimate is based on staff time per response of 5 minutes for the 90-1 and 15 minutes each for the
Project Record Form and Sea Grant Budget. An application for designation takes about 200 man-hours
to review. A fellowship application takes about 12 hours to review (4 persons at 2 hours each). A salary
cost of $41/hr was used.
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.
There are no changes or adjustments.
16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and
publication.
The NSGO provides summary information to the public about the grants it awards. Information is
summarized and disseminated through the publication of reports describing Sea Grant’s universitybased research, education, and outreach activities. These reports are widely distributed in both print
and web-based formats.
17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the
information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.
N/A.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the OMB 83-I.
There are no exceptions.

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
This collection does not employ statistical methods.