[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51083-51086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25781]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Docket No. 970829215-7215-01]
RIN 0648-ZA34


NOAA Pan-American Climate Studies (PACS), Program Announcement

AGENCY: Office of Global Programs, 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 on 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. The PACS Program has a timeframe of 1995-2004.

DATES: Strict deadlines for submission to the FY 1998 process are: 
Letters of intent must be received at OGP no later than Friday, October 
3, 1997. Full proposals must be received at OGP no later than Friday, 
December 5, 1997. Applicants who have not received a response to their 
letter of intent by Friday, October 17, 1997 should contact Michael 
Patterson at, 301-427-2089 ext. 12, [email protected]; Andrea Ray, 
303-497-6000, [email protected]; or Roxane Ronca, 301-427-2089 ext. 507, 
[email protected]. We anticipate that review of full proposals will 
occur during early 1998 and funding should begin during the spring of 
1998 for most approved projects. May 1, 1998, 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 6 
months. All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the 
guidelines below. Failure to heed these guidelines may result in 
proposals being returned without review.

ADDRESSES: Proposals may be submitted to: Office of Global Programs, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1100 Wayne Avenue, 
Suite 1225, Silver Spring, MD 20910-5603, Attn.: Michael Patterson.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Patterson at the above 
address, 301-427-2089, ext. 12, [email protected]; Andrea Ray, 
303-497-6000, ajr@cdc,noaa.gov; or Roxane Ronca, 301-427-2089, ext. 
507, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Funding Availability

    This Program Announcement is for projects to be conducted by 
investigators both inside and outside of NOAA, over a period of up to 
three years. Actual funding levels will depend upon the final FY 1998 
budget appropriations, current plans are for approximately $1.2 million 
to be available for new (or renewing) PACS awards. The funding 
instrument for extramural awards will be a grant unless it is 
anticipated that NOAA will be substantially involved in the 
implementation of the project, 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. Matching 
share is not required by this program.

Program Authority

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 44720(b); 33 U.S.C. 883d, 883e; 15 U.S.C. 
2904; 15 U.S.C. 2931 et seq.

[[Page 51084]]

(CFDA No. 11.431)--Climate and Atmospheric Research

Program Objectives

    The overall goal of PACS is to extend the scope and improve the 
skill of operational seasonal-to-interannual climate prediction over 
the Americas. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the 
mechanisms associated with warm season rainfall and its potential 
predictability. In addition to seasonal mean rainfall and temperature, 
PACS is concerned with the frequency of occurrence of significant 
weather events over the course of a season or seasons.
    The scientific objectives of PACS are to promote a better 
understanding and more realistic simulation of (1) The role of boundary 
processes in forcing of seasonal-to-interannual climate variability 
over the Americas, (2) the structure and evolution of tropical SST 
fields, (3) the seasonally varying mean climate over the Americas and 
adjacent ocean regions, (4) the structure, variability, and influence 
on climate in the Americas of the ITCZ/cold tongue complex and 
subtropical status cloud decks, (5) the relevant land surface processes 
that shape the distribution of continental precipitation.
    Consistent with the above objectives, PACS has initiated an 
integrated program with the GEWEX Continental-Scale International 
Project (GCIP) focusing on warm season rainfall over North America. In 
this collaboration, PACS will supply the larger-scale ocean/atmosphere 
modeling and diagnostics expertise and the observations in and above 
the oceans and GCIP will provide the more locally focused land/
atmosphere modeling and diagnostics and continental observations. This 
research will require the use of mesoscale models applied in a 
climatological setting. Proposals in this emerging research area are 
invited under this announcement.

Program Priorities

    The FY 1998 PACS Program Announcement invites empirical and 
modeling studies in the following areas:
    (1) Investigations into large-scale atmosphere-ocean interactions 
in the tropical Atlantic and eastern Pacific in the context of the 
climatological-mean annual march and/or seasonal-to-interannual climate 
variability.
    (2) Investigations into the climatological mean and interannual 
variability of warm season rainfall over the Americas on Spatial scales 
ranging from tens to thousands of kilometers, emphasizing links between 
that variability and the adjacent oceans.
    Field, monitoring, and/or observational efforts are not encouraged 
at this time. PACS intends to invite proposals for a field program in 
the FY 1999 Announcement as a U.S. contribution to an international 
field program in the tropical Eastern Pacific to be conducted in 2000.

Eligibility

    Extramural eligibility is not limited and is encouraged with the 
objective of developing a strong partnership with the academic 
community. 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. Funding for non-U.S. institutions is not available under 
this announcement.

Letters of Intent

    Letters of Intent (LOI): (1) Letters should be no more than two 
pages in length and include the name and institution of principal 
investigator(s), a statement of the problem, brief summary of work to 
be completed, and approximate cost of the project. (2) Evaluation will 
be by program management. (3) It is in the best interest of applicants 
and their institutions to submit letters of intent; however, it is not 
a requirement. (4) Facsimile and electronic mail are acceptable for 
letters of intent only. (5) Projects deemed unsuitable during LOI 
review will not be encouraged to submit full proposals.

Evaluation Criteria

    Consideration for financial assistance will be given to those 
proposals which address one of the Program Priorities listed below 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.

Selection Procedures

    All proposals will be evaluated and ranked in accordance with the 
assigned weights of the above evaluation criteria by (1) independent 
peer mail review, and/or (2) independent peer panel review; both NOAA 
and non-NOAA experts in the field may be used in this process. Their 
recommendations and evaluations will be considered by the program 
managers in final selections. Those ranked by the panel and program as 
not recommended for funding will not be given further consideration and 
will be 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, hence, 
awards may not necessarily be made to the highest-scored proposals, (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.
    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) Proposals submitted to the NOAA Climate and Global Change 
Program must include the original and two unbound copies of the 
proposal. (2) Investigators are not required to submit more than 3 
copies of the proposal, however, the normal review process requires 20 
copies. Investigators are encouraged to submit sufficient proposal 
copies for the full review process if they wish all reviewers to 
receive color, unusually sized (not 8.5 x 11''), or otherwise unusual 
materials submitted as part of the proposal. Only three copies of the 
Federally required forms are needed. (3) Proposals must be

[[Page 51085]]

limited to 30 pages (numbered), including budget, investigators vitae, 
and all appendices, and should be limited to funding requests for one 
to three year duration. Appended information may not be used to 
circumvent the page length limit. Federally mandated forms are not 
included within the page count. (4) Proposals should be sent to the 
NOAA Office of Global Programs at the above address. (5) 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) Results from prior research: The results of related projects 
supported by NOAA and other agencies should be described, including 
their relation to the currently proposed work. Reference to each prior 
research award should include the title, agency, award number, PIs, 
period of award and total award. The section should be a brief summary 
and should not exceed two pages total.
    (4) 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 the proposed project to the general public and the 
scientific community should be discussed. A year-by-year summary of 
proposed work must be included clearly indicating that each year's 
proposed work is severable and can easily be separated into annual 
increments of meaningful work. The statement of work, including 
references but excluding figures and other visual materials, must not 
exceed 15 pages of text. Investigators wishing to submit group 
proposals that 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 15 pages of overall project description plus up to 5 
additional pages for individual project descriptions.
    (5) Budget: Applicants must submit a Standard Form 424 (4-92) 
``Application for Federal Assistance'', including 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. The proposal must include total and annual budgets 
corresponding with the descriptions provided in the statement of work. 
Additional text to justify expenses should be included as necessary.
    (6) 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.
    (7) 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.
    (8) 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 officers.
(c) Other Requirements
    (1) Applicants may obtain a standard NOAA application kit from the 
Program Office.
    Primary Applicant Certification--All primary applicants must submit 
a completed Form CD-511, ``Certification Regarding Debarment, 
Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters; Drug-Free Workplace 
Requirements and Lobbying''. Applicant 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, ``Government 
wide 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 submit an SF-LLL, ``Disclosure of 
Lobbying Activities,'' as required under 15 CFR part 28, appendix B.

Lower Tier Certifications

    (1) 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.
    (2) 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.
    (3) 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 preaward costs.
    (4) This program is subject to the requirements of OMB Circular No. 
A-110, ``Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Other 
Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other 
Non-Profit Organizations'', and 15 CFR Part 24, ``Uniform 
Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to 
State and

[[Page 51086]]

Local Governments'', as applicable. Applications under this program are 
not subject to Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of 
Federal Programs.''
    (5) 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.
    (6) 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.
    (7) 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.
    (8) Buy American-Made Equipment or Products--Applicants are 
encouraged that any equipment or products authorized to be purchased 
with funding provided under this program must be American-made to the 
maximum extent feasible.
    (9) The total dollar amount of the indirect costs 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 
(Telephonic 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.
    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required 
to respond 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 Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information 
displays a current valid OMB control number. 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. Classification: This notice has been determined to be 
not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

    Dated: September 23, 1997.
J. Michael Hall,
Director, Office of Global Programs, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 97-25781 Filed 9-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-12-M