[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 151 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-19286]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 8, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Docket No. 940700-4200]
RIN 0648-ZA10

 

NOAA Pan-American Climate Studies Program, Program Announcement

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Pan-American Climate Studies (PACS) Program is a 
contribution to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) Climate and Global Change Program, and as such is designed to 
improve our ability to observe, understand, predict, and respond to 
changes in the global environment. This program builds on NOAA's 
mission requirements and longstanding capabilities in global change 
research and prediction. The PACS Program is a contributing element of 
the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which is coordinated 
by the interagency Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources. 
NOAA's program is designed to complement other agency contributions to 
that national effort.

DATES: Full proposals must be received at OGP no later than September 
9, 1994. The deadline for submission to this Announcement should be 
strictly followed. We anticipate that review will occur during the fall 
of 1994 and funding should begin during the early spring of 1995 for 
most approved projects. April 1, 1995, should be used as the proposed 
start date on proposals, unless otherwise directed by a Program 
Manager. Applicants should be notified of their status within 3 to 6 
months.

ADDRESSES: Proposals should be submitted to: Office of Global Programs, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1100 Wayne Avenue, 
suite 1225, Silver Spring, MD 20910-5603, Attn.: Dr. Kenneth Mooney.

TO OBTAIN AN APPLICATIONS KIT OR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
Kenneth Mooney or Michael Patterson, NOAA/Office of Global Programs, 
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1225, Silver Spring, MD 20910-5603; 301-427-
2089, OMNET: K.Mooney or M.Patterson, Internet: M[email protected] or 
P[email protected]; or Stephen Piotrowica, NOAA/Office of Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Research, 1315 East-West Highway, Rm. 11560, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910, 301-713-2465, OMNET: S.PIOTROWICZ, Internet: 
SP[email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Funding Availability

    This Program Announcement is for projects to be conducted over a 
one or two year period. NOAA believes that the Climate and Global 
Change Program will benefit significantly from a strong partnership 
with outside investigators. Current Program plans assume that 
approximately 50% of the total anticipated resources available ($2-3 
million) in FY 1995 will support extramural efforts, particularly those 
involving the academic community. Actual funding levels may be subject 
to change depending on the final FY 1995 budget appropriation. The 
funding instrument will be a grant unless it is anticipated that NOAA 
will be substantially involved in the implementation of the project for 
which an award is to be made, in which case the funding instrument 
should be a cooperative agreement. Examples of substantial involvement 
may include but are not limited to proposals for collaboration between 
NOAA or NOAA scientists and a recipient scientist or technician and/or 
contemplation by NOAA of detailing Federal personnel to work on 
proposed projects. NOAA will make decisions regarding the use of a 
cooperative agreement on a case-by-case basis. Funding for non-U.S. 
institutions and contractual arrangements for services and products for 
delivery to NOAA are not available under this announcement.

Program Authority

    Authority: U.S.C. 1463; 33 U.S.C. 883d and 883e; 15 U.S.C. 2907; 
15 U.S.C. 2931.
(CFDA No. 11.431)--Climate and Atmospheric Research

Program Objectives

    PACS is a joint Program of the NOAA Office of Global Programs and 
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research/Environmental Research 
Laboratories. PACS will fall within the scope of the U.S. GOALS (Global 
Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System) Program and address the advancement of 
our ability to predict seasonal to interannual climate variability over 
the Americas with an emphasis on precipitation. The domain of interest 
in PACS is the tropics extending westward from Africa to the central 
Pacific plus the adjoining extratropical regions with which it 
interacts. Because of its emphasis on precipitation, PACS will have 
close connections with the Global Energy Water Cycle Experiment 
(GEWEX). Specific scientific objectives are to better understand and 
more realistically model (1) the seasonally varying mean climate over 
the Americas and adjacent ocean regions, with emphasis on the 
intertropical convergence zones, the North and South American monsoons, 
the equatorial cold tongues, the subtropical oceanic stratus decks, and 
the dominant tropical and extratropical cyclone tracks; (2) the role of 
boundary processes in forcing seasonal to interannual climate 
variability, with emphasis on tropical sea surface temperature in 
relation to continental precipitation; (3) the coupling between the 
oceanic mixed layer and the atmospheric planetary boundary layer in the 
tropical Atlantic and eastern Pacific; and (4) the processes that 
determine the structure and evolution of the tropical sea surface 
temperature field. Although the principal focus of PACS is on seasonal 
and interannual variability on a regional (>500 km) scale, higher 
frequency phenomena such as the diurnal cycle, the Madden-Julian 
Oscillation, and mesoscale phenomena such as sea breeze circulations 
and circulations forced by orography, coastlines and contrasts in 
vegetation will be taken into account, as needed, with reference to the 
maintenance of the mean state and in the interpretation, diagnosis and 
modeling of variability on the seasonal to interannual time scale.

Program Priorities

    The first two years of PACS are expected to focus on empirical 
studies, modeling, and pilot monitoring studies. Modeling efforts are 
expected to address the precipitation climatology and its seasonal to 
interannual variability over the Americas, including mesoscale 
structure; large-scale ocean-atmosphere coupling, and oceanographic 
processes that influence sea surface temperature variability in the 
PACS region. Empirical studies would include one-year efforts to 
develop datasets required to meet the objectives of PACS. In addition, 
funding requests for monitoring proposals should not exceed $150,000 
per year.

Eligibility

    Extramural eligibility is limited to U.S. institutions. Non-
academic proposers are urged to seek collaboration with academic 
institutions. Universities, non-profit organizations, for-profit 
organizations, State and local governments, and Indian Tribes, are 
included among entities eligible for funding under this announcement.

Award Period

    Proposals in support of the objectives of PACS are expected to be 
of either one- or two-years duration in preparation for program 
expansion.

Evaluation Criteria

    Consideration for financial assistance will be given to those 
proposals which address one of the Program Priorities listed above and 
meet the following evaluation criteria:
    (1) Scientific Merit (20%): Intrinsic scientific value of the 
subject and the study proposed.
    (2) Relevance (20%): Importance and relevance to the goal of the 
Climate and Global Change Program and to the research areas listed 
above.
    (3) Methodology (20%): Focused scientific objective and strategy, 
including measurement strategies and data management considerations; 
project milestones; and final products.
    (4) Readiness (20%): Nature of the problem; relevant history and 
status of existing work; level of planning, including existence of 
supporting documents; strength of proposed scientific and management 
team; past performance record of proposers.
    (5) Linkages (10%): Connections to existing or planned national and 
international programs; partnerships with other agency or NOAA 
participants, where appropriate.
    (6) Costs (10%): Adequacy of proposed resources; appropriate share 
of total available resources; prospects for joint funding; 
identification of long-term commitments. (Matching funding is 
encouraged, but is not required.)

Selection Procedures

    All proposals will be evaluated and ranked in all accordance with 
the assigned weights of the above evaluation criteria by (1) 
independent peer mail review, and/or (2) independent peer panel review 
of both NOAA and non-NOAA experts in the field may be used in this 
process. Their recommendations and evaluations are considered by the 
program Manager/Officer in final selections. Those ranked by the panel 
and rated by the program Manager/Officer as not recommended for funding 
are not given further consideration and are notified of non-selection. 
For the proposals rated either Excellent, Very Good or Good, the 
Program managers will: (a) ascertain which proposals meet the 
objectives, fit the criteria posted, and do not substantially duplicate 
other projects that are currently funded by NOAA or are approved for 
funding by other federal agencies, (b) select the proposals to be 
funded, (c) determine the total duration of funding for each proposal, 
and (d) determine the amount of funds available for each proposal. 
Awards are not necessarily made to the highest-scored proposals.
    Unsatisfactory performance by a recipient under prior Federal 
awards may result in an application not being considered for funding.

Proposal Submission

    The guidelines for proposal preparation provided below are 
mandatory. Failure to heed these guidelines may result in proposals 
being returned without review.
    (a) Full Proposals: (1) Applicants are not required to submit more 
than an original and two copies of applications. (2) Proposals must be 
limited to 30 pages (numbered), including budget, investigators vitae, 
and all appendices, and should be limited to funding requests for one 
to two year duration. (3) Proposals should be sent to the NOAA Office 
of Global Programs at the above address. (4) Facsimile transmissions 
and electronic mail submission of full proposals will not be accepted.
    (b) Required Elements: All proposals should include the following 
elements:
    (1) Signed title page: The title page should be signed by the 
Principal Investigator (PI) and the institutional representative and 
should clearly indicate which project area is being addressed. The PI 
and institutional representative should be identified by full name, 
title, organization, telephone number and address. The total amount of 
Federal funds being requested should be listed for each budget period.
    (2) Abstract: An abstract must be included and should contain an 
introduction of the problem, rationale and a brief summary of work to 
be completed. The abstract should appear on a separate page, headed 
with the proposal title, institution(s) investigator(s), total proposed 
cost and budget period.
    (3) Statement of work: The proposed project must be completely 
described, including identification of the problem, scientific 
objectives, proposed methodology, relevance to the goal of the Climate 
and Global Change Program, and the program priorities listed above. 
Benefits of proposed project to the general public and the scientific 
community should be discussed. Results from related projects supported 
by NOAA and other agencies should be included. The statement of work, 
excluding figures and other visual materials, must not exceed 15 pages 
of text. Appended information may not be used to circumvent the page 
length limit. Investigators wishing to submit group proposals that may 
exceed the 15 page limit should discuss this possibility with the 
appropriate Program Officer prior to submission. In general, proposals 
from 3 or more investigators may include a statement of work containing 
up to 10 pages of overall project description plus up to 5 pages per 
person of individual project descriptions.
    (4) Budget: Applicants must submit a detailed budget using the 
Standard Form 424a(4-92), Budget Information--Non-Construction 
Programs. The form is included in the standard NOAA application kit. 
Unless otherwise directed by the appropriate Program Manager, April 1, 
1995, should be used as the target start date for proposals.
    (5) Vitae: Abbreviated curriculum vitae are sought with each 
proposal. Reference lists should be limited to all publications in the 
last three years with up to five other relevant papers.
    (6) Current and pending support: For each investigator, submit a 
list that includes project title, supporting agency with grant number, 
investigator months, dollar value and duration. Requested values should 
be listed for pending support.
    (7) List of suggested reviewers: The cover letter may include a 
list of individuals qualified and suggested to review the proposal. It 
also may include a list of individuals that applicants would prefer to 
not review the proposal. Such lists may be considered at the discretion 
of the Program Officer.
    (c) Other requirements:
    Primary applicant Certification--All primary applicants must submit 
a completed Form DC-511, ``Certification Regarding Debarment, 
Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters; Drug-Free Workplace 
Requirements and Lobbying''. Applicants are also hereby notified of the 
following:
    (1) Nonprocurement Debarment and Suspension--Prospective 
participants (as defined at 15 CFR Part 26, section 105) are subject to 
15 CFR Part 26, ``Nonprocurement Debarment and Suspension,'' and the 
related section of the certification form prescribed above applies;
    (2) Drug Free Workplace--Grantees (as defined at 15 CFR part 26, 
section 605) are subject to 15 CFR Part 26, Subpart F, ``Governmentwide 
Requirements for Drug-Free Workplace (Grants)'' and the related section 
of the certification form prescribed above applies;
    (3) Anti-Lobbying--Persons (as defined at 15 CFR Part 28, section 
105) are subject to the lobbying provisions of 31 U.S.C. 1352, 
``Limitation on use of appropriated funds to influence certain Federal 
contracting and financial transactions'', and the lobbying section of 
the certification form prescribed above applies to applications/bids 
for grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts for more than 
$100,000, and loans and loan guarantees for more than $150,000, or the 
single family maximum mortgage limit for affected programs, whichever 
is greater; and
    (4) Anti-Lobbying Disclosures--Any applicant that has paid or will 
pay for lobbying using any funds must subject an SF-LLL, ``Disclosure 
of Lobbying Activities,'' as required under 15 CFR part 28, appendix B.
    Lower Tier Certifications--Recipients must require applicants/
bidders for subgrants, contracts subcontracts, or lower tier covered 
transactions at any tier under the award to submit, if applicable, a 
completed Form CD-512, ``Certifications Regarding Debarment, 
Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion-Lower Tier Covered 
Transactions and Lobbying'' and disclosure form SF-LLL, ``Disclosure of 
Lobbying Activities.'' Form CD-512 is intended for the use of 
recipients and should not be transmitted to DOC. SF-LLL submitted by 
any tier recipient or subrecipient should be submitted to DOC in 
accordance with the instructions contained in the award document.
    (5) Recipients and subrecipients are subject to all applicable 
Federal laws and Federal and Department of Commerce policies, 
regulations, and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance 
awards.
    (6) Preaward Activities--If applicants incur any costs prior to an 
award being made, they do so solely at their own risk of not being 
reimbursed by the Government. Notwithstanding any verbal assurance that 
may have been received, there is no obligation to the applicant on the 
part of Department of Commerce to cover pre-award costs.
    (7) Applications under this program are not subject to Executive 
Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''
    (8) All non-profit and for-profit applicants are subject to a name 
check review process. Name checks are intended to reveal if any key 
individuals associated with the applicant have been convicted of, or 
are presently facing criminal charges such as fraud, theft, perjury, or 
other matters which significantly reflect on the applicant's 
management, honesty, or financial integrity.
    (9) A false statement on an application is grounds for denial or 
termination of funds and grounds for possible punishment by a fine or 
imprisonment as provided in 18 U.S.C. 1001.
    (10) No award of Federal funds shall be made to an applicant who 
has an outstanding delinquent Federal debt until either:
    (i) The delinquent account is paid in full,
    (ii) A negotiated repayment schedule is established and at least 
one payment is received, or
    (iii) Other arrangements satisfactory to the Department of Commerce 
are made.
    (11) Buy American-Made Equipment or Products--Applicants are hereby 
notified that they are encouraged to the extent feasible, to purchase 
American-made equipment or products with funding provided under this 
program in accordance with Congressional intent as set forth in the 
resolution contained in Public Law 103-121, Section 606 (a)and (b).
    (12) The total dollar amount of the indirect cots proposed in an 
application under this program must not exceed the indirect cost rate 
negotiated and approved by a cognizant Federal agency prior to the 
proposed effective date of the award or 100 percent of the total 
proposed direct cost dollar amount in the application, whichever is 
less.
    (d) If an application is selected for funding, the Department of 
Commerce has no obligation to provide any additional future funding in 
connection with the award. Renewal of an award to increase funding or 
extend the period of performance is at the total discretion of the 
Department of Commerce.
    (e) In accordance with Federal statutes and regulations, no person 
on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability 
shall be excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or be 
subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving 
financial assistance from the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program. 
The NOAA Climate and Global Change Program does not have direct TDD 
(telephone Device for the Deaf) capabilities, but can be reached 
through the State of Maryland supplied TDD contact number, 800-735-
2258, between the hours of 8:00 am-4:30 pm.
    Classification: This notice has been determined to be not 
significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866. The standard forms 
have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act under OMB approval number 0348-0043, 0348-
0044, and 0348-0046.

    Dated: August 3, 1994.
J. Michael Hall,
Director, Office of Global Programs, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 94-19286 Filed 8-5-94; 8:45 am]
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