Application for Designation as a Sea Grant College or Regional Consortium

2022-2023 SEA GRANT OMNIBUS APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2006727
Table of Contents
Summary:
I. Program Description
A. Program Objective
B. Program Priorities
C. Program Authority
A. Funding Availability
B. Project/Award Period
C. Type of Funding Instrument
III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants
B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement
C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility
IV. Application and Submission Information
A. Address to Request Application Package
B. Content of the Application
1. Project Narrative
a) Project Proposal Narrative
b) Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire (OMB Control No.
0648-0538)
c) Data Management Plan
d) Institutional Review Board (IRB) [if applicable]
e) Do not include the following for each project:
2. Budget Narrative
a) Sea Grant 90-4 Form (OMB Control No. 0648-0362)
b) Budget Justification Narrative
3. Overall Omnibus Application
a) SF-424 Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0004)
b) SF-424A Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0006)
c) SF-424B Assurances (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0007)
d) CD-511 (Grants.gov, US DOC)

e) SF-LLL (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 0348-0046) - optional form, include if
appropriate
C. Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)
D. Submission Dates and Times
E. Intergovernmental Review
F. Funding Restrictions
G. Other Submission Requirements
H. Address for Submitting Proposals
V. Application Review Information
A. Evaluation Criteria
B. Review and Selection Process
C. Selection Factors
D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
VI. Award Administration Information
A. Award Notices
B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
C. Reporting
VII. Agency Contacts
VIII. Other Information

Summary:
The National Sea Grant College Program was established by the U.S. Congress in 1966
(amended in 2008, Public Law 110-394) to be a highly leveraged federal and state partnership
to harness the intellectual capacity of the nation’s universities and research institutions to solve
problems and generate opportunities in coastal communities.
Subject to the availability of funding, the purpose of this document is to advise eligible
applicants developing omnibus applications for Sea Grant programs. Pursuant to 33 U.S.C. §
1123(d)(3)(B), the amount of federal funds allocated to each Sea Grant program is set by the
director of the National Sea Grant College Program. Non-federal matching funds must equal at
least 50% of the federal request, as detailed in Section III.B below.
This document sets out requirements for submitting an omnibus application. Additional guidance
and tips on how best to prepare an application are provided in the 2022-2023 ​Companion
Omnibus Guidance Document​ .

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I. Program Description
A. Program Objective
NOAA provides funding to Sea Grant institutions to increase the understanding, assessment,
development, management, utilization, and conservation of the nation’s ocean, coastal, and
Great Lakes resources. These important efforts promote a strong educational base, responsive
research and training activities, broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and techniques,
and multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problems, in accordance with 33 U.S.C. §
1121(b).
B. Program Priorities
Proposals should serve as the implementation plan of approved individual Sea Grant program
strategic plans.
C. Program Authority
Statutory authority for this program is provided under the National Sea Grant College and
Program Act of 1966, as amended (33 U.S.C. § 1121 et seq.).

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II. Award Information
A. Funding Availability
Subject to the availability of funding, this announcement describes the application requirements
for eligible applicants to apply for institutional funding for FY 2022 and FY 2023, referred to as
each Sea Grant program’s omnibus application. Pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1123(d)(3)(B), the
amount of federal funds allocated to each Sea Grant program is set by the director of the
National Sea Grant College Program. The federal funding amount to plan for will be
communicated to eligible applicants in a separate document.
There is no guarantee that funds will be available to make awards, or that any application will be
selected for funding. If an applicant incurs any costs prior to receiving an award agreement
signed by an authorized NOAA official, it does so at its own risk of not being selected or of these
costs not being included in a subsequent award. NOAA and DOC will not be responsible for any
incurred project costs if this program fails to receive funding.
B. Project/Award Period
The anticipated start date is February 1, 2022, with projects to be completed by January 31,
2024. Individual
​
projects in the omnibus application may run the entire duration of the grant, or
any shorter interval. No projects proposed in the omnibus application can start before the
proposed start date of the omnibus or end after the proposed end date.
C. Type of Funding Instrument
The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement to an eligible institution. A cooperative
agreement is used when substantial involvement of the federal government during performance
of the proposed work is anticipated. The recipient can expect substantial collaboration,
participation, and/or intervention in the management of the project by NOAA. Some examples of
substantial involvement by NOAA include, but are not limited to, required NOAA approval before
certain projects can be initiated in grant out-years, the ability of NOAA to halt an activity
immediately if detailed performance specifications are not met; NOAA specifying direction or
redirection of scope of work due to the interrelationships with other projects; and NOAA
involvement in mid-cycle programmatic evaluation and planning processes.

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III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants
The following entities are eligible to submit omnibus applications: Sea Grant College Programs,
Sea Grant Institutional Programs, Sea Grant Coherent Area Programs, the National Sea Grant
Law Center, and the National Sea Grant Library. For the remainder of this document, these
entities are collectively referred to as “Sea Grant programs.”
The National Sea Grant College Program champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by
recruiting, retaining, and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving
the diverse populations of coastal communities. Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive
research, extension, communication, and education programs that serve people with unique
backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking. We encourage Sea
Grant program applications to reflect diverse participation with regards to age, race, ethnicities,
national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, citizenship
types, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, income, and
socioeconomic status.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement
Non-federal matching funds equal to at least 50 percent of the federal funding request must be
provided unless a waiver justified by statute is granted. The cumulative match at the end of
each year of the grant must not fall below 50 percent of the cumulative federal request up to that
point. In-kind contributions directly supporting the application may count towards this matching
requirement. See the ​Companion Omnibus Guidance Document​ for more information.
C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility
None.

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IV. Application and Submission Information
A. Address to Request Application Package
Application packages are available online and can be downloaded from www.grants.gov under
opportunity NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2006727.
​
​
B. Content of the Application
The Sea Grant omnibus application comprises an integrated suite of individual research,
extension, education, communication, and management projects that together address the
strategic goals of the program, as well as a series of required grant management forms to
support the proposal. This section provides an overview of these required proposal elements
(and where to locate them). ​Applications must adhere to the provisions under "Required
Elements" below and are responsible for ensuring all required elements are included. Failure to
adhere to these provisions may result in a delay in award processing or rejection of the
application, based on the extent of the noncompliance.
Please see the ​Companion Omnibus Guidance Document​ for more information.
Additional guidance on Sea Grant-specific form completion can be found here: ​Sea Grant
General Application Guide.​

Required Elements​ (please
​
also see VIII.
​
Other Information for additional post-application
required elements for submission)​ ​:
1. Project Narrative
Each individual project included in the application must be assigned a project ID that identifies
the type of project as noted below (see the ​Companion Omnibus Guidance Document​ for more
information). For projects that integrate elements of multiple types of projects, applicants should
choose the project ID that best describes the effort.
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Management/Administration Projects - Support and activities for Sea Grant program
leadership and other administrative or management staff. Management and
administration projects must be given a project ID number that begins with "M/".
Program Development Projects - Program development (PD) is intended to fund rapid
response projects that could not have been anticipated at the time the omnibus was
written or to make investments in seed projects or other small projects. The application
may contain a single program development project whose budget in any year may not
exceed 10% of the total proposal funding in that year. Since the PD project is a
management/administrative resource for achieving the objectives of the omnibus, it must
be given a project ID number that begins with "M/".
Research Projects - Research projects are usually selected through open competition in
accordance with the ​National Sea Grant College Program’s National Competition Policy​.
Research projects, whether selected competitively or without competition via​ a merit
review process, should be given a project number beginning with "R/".
Extension Projects - Projects that provide research-based information, tools, and
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●

●

●

technical assistance to industries, practitioners, decision-makers, and/or communities in
a professional setting to translate science into actionable information, including
workforce development trainings, collaborative processes, industry and community
relationship-building, research gap identification, and other engagement activities, etc.
Extension projects should be given a project number beginning with "A/" (for advisory
services).
Education Projects: Projects/activities that exist to enhance the knowledge, skills, and/or
abilities of P-12 and community (non-professional) audiences; this may include
community science efforts if education, rather than research, is the primary function. It
also includes formalized undergraduate, graduate, and professional education or
workforce development activities, including but not limited to assistantships, internships,
scholarships, fellowships, and certification programs, whose focus is on the education of
participants, rather than some other primary goal, such as supporting research or
expanding program staff capacity. Education projects should be given a project ID
beginning with "E/".
Communication Projects: Activities related to informing a wide variety of Sea Grant
audiences, such as websites, videos, photography, audio products, graphics, written
stories and reports, and other related products and efforts. Communication projects
should be given a project ID beginning with "C/".
Future Competed Projects - This project ID is used for competitive projects not yet
determined by a competition, such as future research competitions for Year 2. In this
round of funding, there may be one or more “Future Competed Projects'' in the omnibus
application. To the extent possible, each known competition should be given its own,
separate future competed project ID that begins with "P/" (for placeholder). These are
the only projects that should be given a “P/” project ID.

Each individual project included within the omnibus application must include documents ​in the
following order and format:​
a) Project Proposal Narrative
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●
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Project title
Introduction and rationale
Project objectives
Anticipated outcomes
Methodology/approach
A timeline with key milestones for conducting the project and delivering the scientific
and technical results throughout the course of the project
Coordination with other program elements
References and literature citations (as relevant)
Short CVs (no longer than 2 pages) for each principal and co-principal investigator (as
relevant)

b) Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire (OMB Control No. 0648-0538)
A separate questionnaire must be filled out for each action in the application that
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involves any of the below categories of activities. If an individual project in the omnibus
application includes multiple sub-projects or actions (i.e., a competition), then a
questionnaire must be completed for each sub-project or action. Sea Grant programs
can work with their federal program officer to determine what constitutes a discrete
action requiring a stand alone questionnaire.
The Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire, guidance on how to
complete the questionnaire, as well as examples of completed questionnaires can be
found here: ​https://seagrant.noaa.gov/insideseagrant/Implementation.​
Applicants must
​
ensure
​
that the questionnaires are completed in full and include
detailed information regarding project location, methodology, and permits. Copies of all
permits required for project activities should be included with application materials. If a
permit is pending or planned, please provide this information. If detailed information is
not provided, NOAA via the federal program officer, may request additional information
or place a specific award condition on the omnibus award prohibiting specific activities, if
permits or other environmental compliance documentation is not currently available.
Categories for which a questionnaire must be completed:
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●

Research--all research projects (those whose project ID starts with "R/") and all
other projects that include a component of research (including social science
research)
Environmental permits, authorizations, or waivers
Biological take and/or release (including tagging)
Environmental sampling
Hazardous or toxic substances and waste
Permanent or temporary environmental effects
Endangered or threatened species and/or protected areas
Known or unknown risks to human health or the environment
Controversial environmental subject matter

Exceptions - Projects or actions that fall into the below categories do not need an
abbreviated environmental compliance questionnaire. If an applicant believes a
proposal responding to this competition meets one of the exceptions listed below, the
applicant should state in the materials, “This project does not require an Abbreviated
Environmental Compliance Questionnaire, as it is covered under the [INSERT
EXCEPTION] exception in the federal funding opportunity.” ​NOAA has final
responsibility to determine whether a project or action requires environmental
compliance review. If NOAA determines that a project or action needs an
environmental review, staff may request the abbreviated questionnaire.
●

Program management (i.e., projects assigned the “M/” project ID)
• Program Development projects (these projects may need to undergo
environmental compliance review when the program identifies project
activities; please work with your federal program officer during
implementation of these projects).
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●

●
●
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Placeholder projects (e.g., "Future Competed Projects;" these projects will have
a specific award condition on the grant and will undergo environmental
compliance review when the program submits an award action request to satisfy
that specific award condition)
Workshops or conferences that do not involve the above list of actions requiring a
questionnaire
Communication activities that do not involve the above list of actions
Fellowships where the Sea Grant program does not have discretion over the
fellow’s externally funded research

●

Hiring actions

●

Purely administrative actions (e.g., purchase of office supplies)

c) Data Management Plan
A NOAA
​
Data Sharing Directive,​ effective January 1, 2013, requires all grant and
cooperative agreement recipients to make environmental data and information collected
and/or created under NOAA grants/cooperative agreements visible, accessible, and
independently understandable to general users.​ ​This shall be done at no or low cost, in a
timely manner (typically no later than two years after the data are collected or created),
except where limited by law, regulation, policy, or by security requirements. An additional
Data Sharing Plan FAQ​ is also available for reference.

All omnibus applications must include a data management plan.​ The data management
plan should be a written narrative that briefly describes the parameters for projects in the
omnibus that produce environmental data. This requirement also applies to any data
developed as part of sub-awards.
A typical plan should include:
●
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●

Descriptions of the types of environmental data and information expected to be
collected or created during the course of the project;
The tentative date by which data will be shared;
The standards to be used for data/metadata format and content;
Procedures for providing access, data, and security;
The approximate total volume of data to be collected;
The type of collection method (e.g. aircraft, ship, satellite);
Your program’s policies addressing data stewardship and preservation;
Your program’s prior experience with publishing such data; and
A point of contact for questions about the data covered by the plan.

Applicants can satisfy this requirement in one of two ways:
1) Applicants may choose to provide an individual data management plan for each
project in the omnibus application that generates data, or
2) Applicants may choose to submit an overall data management plan covering the
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entire omnibus application. If none of the projects in the omnibus application will
generate environmental data, you can use this second approach and include the
following sentence – “These projects will not generate any environmental data.”

d) Institutional Review Board (IRB) [if applicable]
Any proposals intending to use human test subjects for research purposes should be
identified and include an anticipated timeline for when IRB approval will be obtained and
when the activities involving human test subjects are expected to occur. ​No work
involving human subjects may be undertaken, conducted, or costs incurred and/or charged
for human subjects research, until the appropriate documentation is approved in writing by
the NOAA grants officer.

e) Do not include the following for each project:
Omnibus applications should not include competitive ​or merit review documents
(competitive and merit external peer review documents, letters of intent, and letter of
concurrence documents). These documents are to be emailed directly to your federal
program officer. See Section IV.G. for additional information on the ​competitive and
noncompetitive merito review process.

2. Budget Narrative
Each individual project included
​
within the omnibus application must include the following
budget documents (Sea Grant 90-4 forms and budget justification narratives) ​in the following
order and format. Additional
​
budget narrative guidance provided by NOAA Grants
Management Division can be found at
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/gmd_budget_narrative_guidance_-_05-24-2
017_final.pdf.​
a) Sea Grant 90-4 Form (OMB Control No. 0648-0362)
A required form used to provide budget breakdowns and budget justifications by year
and object class for the overall omnibus and each project in this application. Please
download the most up-to-date ​Excel version of the 90-4 form​ when preparing the
omnibus applications. The Excel version should be used in the creation of the 90-4 and
should then be turned into a PDF to include with the budget narrative package. ​When
printing the Excel form to PDF, please ensure the full sheet is captured and no
information is cut-off. ​The following are required in the omnibus application package:
●
●

A completed Sea Grant 90-4 form describing the yearly and total budgets of the ​overall
omnibus (i.e.,
​
Year 1, Year 2, and Years 1-2).
Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms describing the yearly and total budget of ​each project
in the omnibus (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, Years 1-2).
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●

Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms for the yearly and total budget of any sub-awards
associated with each project in the omnibus (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, and Years 1-2).

b) Budget Justification Narrative
A budget justification narrative for each year of each project in the omnibus that explains
budget items in sufficient detail to enable review of the appropriateness of the funding
requested. The budget narrative for each project should follow its associated 90-4 form
in the budget narrative package to facilitate fiscal and administrative review.

Please place documents in the following order in your budget narrative attachment:
●
●
●

●
●
●

●

A completed Sea Grant 90-4 form describing the yearly and total budgets of the ​overall
omnibus (i.e.,
​
Year 1, Year 2, and Years 1-2).
Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms describing the yearly and total budget for ​Project 1
(i.e., Year 1, Year 2, Years 1-2).
Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms for the yearly and total budget of any sub-awards
associated within Project
​
1​ of the omnibus (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, and Years 1-2) - if
applicable.
Budget justification narrative for Project
​
1
Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms describing the yearly and total budget for ​Project 2
(i.e., Year 1, Year 2, Years 1-2).
Completed Sea Grant 90-4 forms for the yearly and total budget of any sub-awards
associated within Project
​
2​ of the omnibus (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, and Years 1-2) - if
applicable.
Budget justification narrative for Project
​
2

3. Overall Omnibus Application
In addition to the forms required above, standard federal forms and assurances are required for
the overall omnibus and can be found with the application package on Grants.gov or on the ​Sea
Grant website.​ These include:
a) SF-424 Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0004)
This form, titled “Application for Federal Assistance,” must identify the entire funding
period (February 1, 2022 - January 31, 2024), as well as the federal funding amount
being requested by the applicant and the non-federal matching fund amount. The form
must be completed with the institution’s accurate EIN and DUNS and point of contact,
and signed by the institution’s authorized representative or designee. ​Total federal and
non-federal amounts listed in the SF-424, SF-424A, and Sea Grant 90-4 and 90-2 forms
(See Section VIII for more information on 90-2 forms) ​must be the same.​
b) SF-424A Form (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0006)
This form, titled “Budget Information - Non-Construction Programs,” must describe the
entire two-year funding period in federal and non-federal dollars, for the entire
10

application. Fill out Section B of this SF-424A form to show the overall budget
breakdown by object class by year. Federal and match years ​must ​each have their own
column, and ​total federal and non-federal amounts listed in the SF-424, SF-424A, and
Sea Grant 90-4 and 90-2 forms must
​
be the same.​
c) SF-424B Assurances (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 4040-0007)
The form, titled “Assurances – Non-Construction Programs,” must be completed and
signed by the institution's authorized representative or designee.
d) CD-511 (Grants.gov, US DOC)
The form, titled “Certification Regarding Lobbying,” must be completed and signed by the
institution’s authorized representative or designee.
e) SF-LLL (Grants.gov, OMB Control No. 0348-0046) - optional form, include if appropriate
This form, titled “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,” is an optional form and should be
included if appropriate. If included, it must be completed and signed by the institution’s
authorized representative or designee.
C. Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)
To enable the use of a universal identifier and to enhance the quality of information available to
the public as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, 31 U.S.C. §
6101 note, to the extent applicable, any proposal awarded in response to this announcement
will be required to use the System for Award Management (SAM), which may be accessed
online at https://www.sam.gov/SAM/. Applicants are also required to use the Dun and
Bradstreet Universal Numbering System, as identified in OMB guidance published at 2 C.F.R.
pt. 25, which may be accessed at
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr25_main_02.tpl.
D. Submission Dates and Times
Applications must be submitted to grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, October 27, 2021.
(Note that National Sea Grant Office staff may only be available to answer questions until 5:00
p.m. Eastern.)
Please note: validation or rejection of an application by grants.gov may take up to two business
days after submission.

E. Intergovernmental Review
Applications under the National Sea Grant College Program are not subject to Executive Order
12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs."

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F. Funding Restrictions
The Sea Grant Act at 33 U.S.C. § 1124(d)(2) states:
“No payment under any grant or contract under this section may be applied to:
(A) the purchase or rental of any land; or
(B) the purchase, rental, construction, preservation, or repair of any building, dock, or
vessel; except that payment under any such grant or contract may be applied to the
short-term rental of buildings or facilities for meetings which are in direct support of any
Sea Grant program or project and may, if approved by the Secretary, be applied to the
purchase, rental, construction, preservation, or repair of non-self-propelled habitats,
buoys, platforms, and other similar devices or structures, or to the rental of any research
vessel which is used in direct support of activities under any Sea Grant program or
project.”

G. Other Submission Requirements
All competitive projects (typically research) must be competitively selected according to the
policies and procedures described in the ​National Sea Grant College Program’s National
Competition Policy. As
​ stated in the policy, at the completion of the competitive process, the
letter of intent and associated materials must be emailed directly to the federal program officer
to request concurrence and demonstrate adherence to the competitive policy. The final letter of
intent and letter of concurrence from the federal program officer should not be included in the
omnibus application but rather submitted via email as described in IV.B.1.d. above.
Communication, extension, and education projects and other non-competitive,​ but merit
reviewed projects (see Section IV.B.1. above for further description of each project type) require
external peer-review by three or more professionals in appropriate fields, and/or by appropriate
representatives of the user communities (i.e., ​Sea Grant staff from the administering program
may not provide peer review).
​ Selection of merit external peer reviewers must be guided by
principles for ensuring absence of conflict of interest. Once completed, any substantial
comments should be incorporated into the final project proposal, and the merit external
peer-reviews and a short summary of how comments were incorporated into the final project
proposal must be ​emailed directly to the federal program officer​ for review by the ​omnibus
application deadline. See the ​Companion Omnibus Guidance Document​ for more information.
H. Address for Submitting Proposals
Proposals must be submitted through Grants.gov. If an eligible applicant does not have access
to the internet, please contact the agency contacts listed in Section VII for submission
instructions.

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V. Application Review Information
Federal program officers will review the complete 2022-23 omnibus application package using
the following criteria.
A. Evaluation Criteria
(1) Is the application complete and correct per the required elements listed in IV.B. “Content of
the Application.”
(2) Does the proposed work fit within the program’s approved strategic plan and advance the
program's strategic goals?
(3) Are all projects described sufficiently to allow accountability? Project proposals must include
clear objectives and anticipated outcomes.
(4) Have all projects been adequately reviewed?
●

●

Are the described competitive projects consistent with the recommendations determined
at the completion of the competitive review process as documented by the letter of
intent?
Have non-competitive extension, education, communication, and any other
non-competitive projects been subjected
​ to merit external peer review? Did the merit
external peer reviews of the projects describe each project as acceptable to be funded?
If the merit external peer reviews pointed out any
​ substantial comments with a proposal,
was the issue addressed or explained in either the final omnibus proposal or in
communication about it between the federal program officer and the Sea Grant
program?

(5) Are all project budgets adequately justified, and reasonable for the work being proposed?
(6) Do all projects have sufficient environmental compliance documentation to complete
environmental review (i.e., a completed Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire
and copies of all federal and state permits or statement that no such questionnaire is required)?
(7) Are all environmental data to be generated covered by a data management plan?
(8) Has the applicant provided sufficiently detailed and consistent information for all required
application elements?

B. Review and Selection Process
All project proposals will be reviewed against the above evaluation criteria by the federal
program officer in the National Sea Grant Office
​
and the grants specialist in the NOAA Grants
Management Division. The competitive and merit external peer reviews and letter of intent
materials provided separately via email will aid the federal program
​
officer in review of the
application.
The project proposals, supplemented with information from the Abbreviated Environmental
Compliance Questionnaire, will also be reviewed by the federal program officer to assess the
13

environmental compliance of the proposed actions.
The federal program officer, NEPA team, or grants specialist may contact the program to
discuss questions about the environmental effects, merit, or administrative correctness of the
omnibus application, and may delay approval of the application, or impose conditions on the
grant preventing funding or execution of certain activities, until all questions are satisfactorily
answered and environmental review is complete.

C. Selection Factors
Subject to the availability of funds and the discretion of the director of the National Sea Grant
College Program, all applications are expected to be funded as institutional cooperative
agreement awards based on eligibility, compliance with requirements set forth in this
announcement, and satisfactory resolution of any questions from the National Sea Grant Office
and NOAA Grants Management Division.

D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
Subject to the availability of funds, awards are expected to start February 1, 2022. The public
announcement of the awards will be coordinated by the National Sea Grant Office, only after all
Sea Grant programs have been awarded their omnibus grants.

VI. Award Administration Information
A. Award Notices
The notice of award (CD-450) is executed by the NOAA grants officer and is the authorizing
award document. It is generally provided electronically via NOAA’s Grants Online system to the
authorized representative of the recipient organization. The authorized representative for a
successful applicant will accept the award via NOAA’s Grants Online. NOAA will notify
unsuccessful applicants in writing.
B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
(1) Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements For Grants And
Cooperative Agreements - 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 and may be accessed online at
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-30/pdf/2014-30297.pdf.​
(2) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements - Through 2
C.F.R. § 1327.101, the Department of Commerce adopted Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 C.F.R. § pt
200, which apply to awards in this program. Refer to​ http://go.usa.gov/SBYh​ and
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http://go.usa.gov/SBg4.​
(3) Department of Commerce Terms and Conditions - Successful applicants who accept a
NOAA award under this solicitation will be bound by Department of Commerce Financial
Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions. This document will be provided in the award
package in NOAA’s Grants Online system at
https://grantsonline.rdc.noaa.gov/flows/home/Login/LoginController.jpf​ and is also available at
https://www.noaa.gov/organization/acquisition-grants,​ as well as
https://osec.doc.gov/oam/grants_management/policy/documents/Department%20of%20Comme
rce%20Standard%20Terms%20Conditions%2030%20April%202019.pdf
(4) Limitation of Liability - Funding for programs listed in this notice is contingent upon the
availability of appropriations. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds may not have been
appropriated yet for the programs listed in this notice. In no event will NOAA or the Department
of Commerce be responsible for proposal preparation costs. Publication of this announcement
does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds.
(5) Unpaid or Delinquent Tax Liability - In accordance with Section 523 of Division B and
Sections 744 and 745 of Division E of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations
Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235) or a future public law, an authorized representative of the selected
applicant(s) will be required to provide certain pre-award representations regarding federal
felony and federal criminal tax convictions, unpaid federal tax assessments, and delinquent
federal tax returns. The form must be completed and submitted with grant applications for: (a) all
for-profit and non-profit organization applicants (Part I, and if required, Part II); and (b) all
non-federal entity applicants anticipating receipt of $5 million or more in the current federal fiscal
year appropriated funding (Part II only). The form can be found at
https://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/grants_management/policy/documents/FAM%202015-01.pdf.​
(6) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - 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 funding opportunities. Detailed
information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the following NOAA NEPA
website: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/,
​
​ including NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A for NEPA,
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/NAO_216-6A.pdf,​ and the Council on
Environmental Quality implementation regulations,
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NEPA-40CFR1500_1508.pdf.​ Consequently, as part of an
applicant's package, and under their description of their program activities, applicants are
required to provide detailed information on the activities to be conducted, locations, sites,
species and habitat to be affected, possible construction activities, and any environmental
concerns that may exist (e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous or toxic chemicals, introduction
of non-indigenous species, impacts to endangered and threatened species, aquaculture
projects, impacts to coral reef systems). In addition to providing specific information that will
serve as the basis for any required impact analyses, applicants may also be requested to assist
NOAA in drafting an environmental assessment, if NOAA determines an assessment is
required. Applicants will also be required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying feasible
15

measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their proposal.
Failure to do so shall be grounds for not selecting an application. In some cases if additional
information is required after an application is selected, funds can be withheld by the grants
officer under a specific award condition requiring the recipient to submit additional
environmental compliance information sufficient to enable NOAA to make an assessment on
any impacts that a project may have on the environment.
(7) Review of Risk - After applications are proposed for funding by the selecting official, the
Grants Office will perform administrative reviews, including an assessment of risk posed by the
applicant under 2 C.F.R. § 200.205. These may include assessments of the financial stability of
an applicant and the quality of the applicant’s management systems, history of performance,
and the applicant’s ability to effectively implement statutory, regulatory, or other requirements
imposed on non-federal entities. Special conditions that address any risks determined to exist
may be applied. Applicants may submit comments to the ​Federal Awardee Performance and
Integrity Information System (FAPIIS)​ about any information included in the system about their
organization for consideration by the awarding agency.
(8) Data Sharing Plan 1. Environmental data and information collected or created under NOAA grants or
cooperative agreements must be made discoverable by and accessible to the general
public, in a timely fashion (typically within two years), free of charge or at no more than
the cost of reproduction, unless an exemption is granted by the NOAA program. Data
should be available in at least one machine-readable format, preferably a widely-used or
open-standard format, and should also be accompanied by machine-readable
documentation (metadata), preferably based on widely used or international standards.
2. Applications submitted in response to this announcement must include a data
management plan of up to two pages describing how these requirements will be
satisfied. The data management plan should be aligned with the data management
guidance provided by NOAA in the announcement. The contents of the data
management plan (or absence thereof), and past performance regarding such plans, will
be considered as part of proposal review. A typical plan should include descriptions of
the types of environmental data and information expected to be created during the
course of the project; the tentative date by which data will be shared; the standards to be
used for data/metadata format and content; methods for providing data access;
approximate total volume of data to be collected; and prior experience in making such
data accessible. The costs of data preparation, accessibility, or archiving may be
included in the proposal budget unless otherwise stated in the guidance. Accepted
submission of data to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
is one way to satisfy data sharing requirements; however, NCEI is not obligated to
accept all submissions and may charge a fee, particularly for large or unusual datasets.
3. NOAA may, at its own discretion, make publicly visible the data management plan
from funded applications, or use information from the data management plan to produce
a formal metadata record and include that metadata in a catalog to indicate the pending
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availability of new data.
4. Application submitters are hereby advised that the final pre-publication manuscripts of
scholarly articles produced entirely or primarily with NOAA funding will be required to be
submitted to NOAA Institutional Repository after acceptance, and no later than upon
publication. Such manuscripts shall be made publicly available by NOAA one year after
publication by the journal.
(9) Indirect Cost Rate - If an applicant has not previously established an indirect cost rate with a
federal agency they may choose to negotiate a rate with the Department of Commerce or use
the de minimis indirect cost rate of 10% of Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) (as allowable
under 2 C.F.R. § 200.414). The negotiation and approval of a rate is subject to the procedures
required by NOAA and the Department of Commerce Standard Terms and Conditions. Do not
include participant support costs when determining the indirect cost base. Additionally,
applicants should be aware that most indirect cost rate agreements require that participant
support costs be excluded from the MTDC base when calculating indirect costs. Applicants
should reference their official agreements. The NOAA contact for indirect or facilities and
administrative costs is: Lamar Revis, Grants Officer, NOAA Grants Management Division, 1325
East West Highway, 9th Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or ​[email protected].​
(10) Minority Serving Institutions - The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (DOC NOAA) is strongly committed to increasing the participation of
Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), i.e., Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, Alaskan Native and Native
Hawaiian institutions, and institutions that work in underserved communities.
(11) Access to Information - In the event that an application contains information or data that
you do not want disclosed prior to award for purposes other than the evaluation of the
application, mark each page containing such information or data with the words "Privileged,
Confidential, Commercial, or Financial Information - Limited Use" at the top of the page to assist
NOAA in making disclosure determinations. DOC regulations implementing the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C § 552, are found at 15 C.F.R. § pt. 4, which sets forth rules for
DOC to make requested materials, information, and records publicly available under FOIA. The
contents of funded applications may be subject to requests for release under the FOIA. Based
on the information provided by the applicant, the confidentiality of the content of funded
applications will be maintained to the maximum extent permitted by law.
(12) NOAA Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response Policy - If
NOAA-operated, leased, or owned facilities and/or vessels are involved in any awards funded
under this announcement, such awards are subject to the NOAA Sexual Assault and Sexual
Harassment Prevention and Response Policy Applicable to Financial Assistance Awards
Involving NOAA-Operated Facilities (May 2018) found at:
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/NOAA%20Sexual%20Assault%20and%20S
exual%20Harassment%20Prevention%20and%20Response%20Policy%20Applicable%20to%2
0Financial%20Assistance%20Awards%20Involving%20NOAA-Operated%20Facilities%20%28
May%202018%29%20%281%29.pdf.​
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C. Reporting
Reports must be submitted electronically using the NOAA Grants Online system.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (31 U.S.C. § 6101 note) includes a
requirement for recipients of applicable federal grants to report information about first-tier
subawards and executive compensation under federal assistance awards. All recipients of
applicable grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Subaward
Reporting System (FSRS) available at ​https://www.fsrs.gov/​ on all sub-awards over $25,000.
Refer to 2 C.F.R. pt. 170.
VII. Agency Contacts
Requests for information regarding this request for proposals should be directed to the assigned
federal program officer for your program. Federal program officer assignments and contact
information can be found here: ​https://seagrant.noaa.gov/About/National-Office
VIII. Other Information
(1) Programs are required to use the National Sea Grant College Program’s ​Planning
Implementation and Evaluation Reporting (PIER) project database​ to communicate with the
National Sea Grant Office on activities relating to this award. This includes tracking progress
and impacts, in addition to performance metrics.
(2) To enable the requirements in Section VIII.1 above, ​programs will need
​
to provide the
information
​ requested in the Sea Grant 90-2 form within 30 days of submitting their
application to Grants.gov. The ​most up-to-date version of the Sea Grant 90-2 Project
Summary Form, as well as a detailed step-by-step guide for completing it, are
forthcoming​ and will be distributed via email and posted to the ​Inside Sea Grant​ in time for
programs to meet the submission deadline. ​The information provided in the Sea Grant 90-2 form
will be publicly available and searchable on the National Sea Grant College Program public
website​ once the project is approved and funded.
(3) For
​
extension and education projects, which often cut across different topical classification
codes, a
​ breakdown of funding by level of effort within each topical classification code
will be required for each fiscal year ​within 30 days of submitting their application to
Grants.gov.​ Additional guidance is forthcoming which will establish business rules and
format for this information collection.​ This additional guidance will be posted to ​Inside Sea
Grant​ and distributed via email in time for programs to meet the submission deadline.
(4) The grant application and final report of all funded grants are public documents, except for
privileged information or material that is personal, proprietary, or otherwise exempt from
disclosure under law. Appropriate labeling in the omnibus application will aid identification of
what may be specifically exempt.
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(5) The applicant acknowledges and understands that information and data contained in
applications for financial assistance, as well as information and data contained in financial,
performance and other reports submitted by applicants, may be used by the Department of
Commerce in conducting reviews and evaluations of its financial assistance programs. For this
purpose, applicant information and data may be accessed, reviewed, and evaluated by
Department of Commerce employees, other federal employees, and also by federal agents and
contractors, and/or by non-federal personnel, all of whom enter into appropriate conflict of
interest and confidentiality agreements covering the use of such information. As may be
provided in the terms and conditions of a specific financial assistance award, applicants are
expected to support program reviews and evaluations by submitting required financial and
performance information and data in an accurate and timely manner, and by cooperating with
Department of Commerce and external program evaluators. In accordance with 2 C.F.R. §
200.303(e), applicants are reminded that they must take reasonable measures to safeguard
protected personally identifiable information and other confidential or sensitive personal or
business information created or obtained in connection with a Department of Commerce
financial assistance award.
(6) In addition, Department of Commerce regulations implementing the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, are found at 15 C.F.R. § pt 4, Public Information. These regulations
set forth rules for the Department regarding making requested materials, information, and
records publicly available under the FOIA. Applications submitted in response to this funding
opportunity may be subject to requests for release under the Act. In the event that an
application contains information or data that the applicant deems to be confidential commercial
information that should be exempt from disclosure under FOIA, that information should be
identified, bracketed, and marked as Privileged, Confidential, Commercial or Financial
Information. In accordance with 15 C.F.R. § pt 4.9, the Department of Commerce will protect
from disclosure confidential business information contained in financial assistance applications
and other documentation provided by applicants to the extent permitted by law.

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