[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 26, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24647-24648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-6277]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 060313063-6104-02; I.D. 042006C]


Financial Assistance to Administer NOAA's Faculty and Student 
Intern Research Program and Notice of Availability of Funds and 
Solicitation for Proposals for These Funds; Extension of Application 
Deadline

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Student Intern Research Program 
funding.

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SUMMARY: NOAA publishes this notice to extend the solicitation period 
for proposals for NOAA's Faculty and Student Intern Research Program. 
Proposals are solicited from non-profit organizations who would design 
and provide administrative services, such as provide training, 
educational, and research opportunities to faculty, as well as graduate 
and undergraduate students pursuing degrees related to NOAA's mission. 
This solicitation was originally announced in the Federal Register on 
March 30, 2006. The solicitation period for this program was extended 
to provide the public more time to submit proposals.

DATES: Proposals must be received no later than 5 p.m., eastern 
daylight time, May 9, 2006.

ADDRESSES: It is strongly encouraged that applications submitted in 
response to this announcement are submitted through the Grants.gov Web 
site. Electronic access to the Full Funding Opportunity Announcement 
for this program is available via the Grants.gov Web site: http://www.grants.gov. Applicants must comply with all requirements contained 
in the Full Funding Opportunity Announcement. Paper applications (a 
signed original and two copies) may also be submitted to the following 
address: NOAA Civil Rights Office/OFA51,1305 East West Highway, Room 
12222, Silver Spring, MD 20910. No facsimile or electronic mail 
applications will be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria G. Dancy, NOAA Civil Rights 
Office/OFA51, 1305 East West Highway, Room 12222, Silver Spring, MD 
20910, or by phone at (301) 713-0500, ext. 136.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 30, 2006, NOAA published a Notice 
of Availability of Funds and Solicitation for Proposals for these Funds 
for the NOAA Faculty and Student Intern

[[Page 24648]]

Research Program (71 FR 16125). NOAA publishes this notice to extend 
the solicitation period that was originally announced in the Federal 
Register. NOAA extends the solicitation period from April 26, 2006 to 
May 9, 2006 to provide the public more time to submit proposals. All 
other requirements for this solicitation remain the same.

Funding Availability

    The Office of Civil Rights anticipates that funding will be 
available at $250,000 to $300,000 a year for a 3-year period. The 
proposal is limited to a total of $900,000 for a maximum of 3 years and 
one proposal will be funded. Up to 25 percent of $300,000 is allowed 
for administrative overhead and at least 75 percent of $300,000 is 
allocated for student support. It is anticipated that the funding 
instrument will be a cooperative agreement since NOAA will be 
substantially involved in identifying NOAA facilities to place students 
each year during the three-year period of internships, and with 
collaboration, participation, or intervention in project performance.
Authority : 15 U.S.C. 1540.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: 11.481
Eligibility: Proposals will only be accepted from not-for-profit 
organizations.
Cost Sharing Requirements: None
Intergovernmental Review: Applications under this program are not 
subject to Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal 
Programs.''

Evaluation Criteria and Selection Procedures

    NOAA published its agency-wide solicitation entitled 
Omnibus Notice Announcing the Availability of Grant Funds 
for Fiscal Year 2006 for projects for Fiscal Year 2006 in 
the Federal Register on June 30, 2005 (70 FR 37766). The evaluation 
criteria and selection procedures for projects contained in that 
omnibus notice are applicable to this solicitation. Copies of this 
notice are available on the Internet at http://www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/SOLINDEX.HTML. Further details on evaluation and selection criteria can 
be found in the full funding opportunity announcement.

Pre-award 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.

Limitation of Liability

    In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce accept 
responsibility for proposal preparation costs if these programs fail to 
receive funding or are cancelled because of other agency priorities. 
Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any 
specific project or to obligate any available funds. Recipients and 
sub-recipients are subject to all Federal laws and agency policies, 
regulations and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance 
awards.

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 our 
NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6_TOC.pdf), and the Council on Environmental Quality 
implementation regulations, (http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/toc_ceq.htm). 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, and 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 of an environmental assessment, if 
NOAA determines an assessment is required. Applicants will also be 
required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying feasible measures to 
reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their 
proposal. The failure to do so shall be grounds for the denial of an 
application. In some cases if additional information is required after 
application is selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer 
under a special 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.

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, 2004 (69 FR 78389) are applicable to this 
solicitation.

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)

    This notification involves collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The use of Standard Forms 424, 
424A, 424B, and SF-LLL and CD-346 has been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under control numbers 0348-0043, 0348-0044, 
0348-0040 and 0348-0046 and 0605-0001, respectively. Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor 
shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a 
collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless 
that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

Executive Order 1286

    It has been determined that this notice is not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

    It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies 
with Federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 
13132.

Administrative Procedure Act/Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Prior notice and an opportunity for public comment are not required 
by the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for rules 
concerning public property, loans, grants, benefits, and contracts (5 
U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). Because notice and opportunity for comments are not 
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical 
requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not 
been prepared.

    Dated: April 21, 2006.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-6277 Filed 4-25-06; 8:45 am]
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