[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 90328-90330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29926]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF072


Gulf of Mexico Coast Conservation Corps (GulfCorps) Program

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of funding availability.

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SUMMARY: The principal objective of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric

[[Page 90329]]

Administration's Gulf of Mexico Coast Conservation Corps 
(``GulfCorps'') Program solicitation is to develop a Gulf-wide 
conservation corps that will contribute to meaningful Gulf of Mexico 
ecosystem restoration benefiting coastal habitat and water quality in 
each of the Gulf states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and 
Florida), while economically benefiting coastal communities through 
education, training, and employment opportunities. NOAA's GulfCorps 
Program grant recipients will recruit, train, and employ workers to 
work on habitat restoration projects and develop skills in support of 
long-term Gulf coast restoration. See the full GulfCorps Federal 
Funding Opportunity (FFO), located on Grants.gov as described in the 
ADDRESSES section, for a complete description of program goals and how 
applications will be evaluated.

DATES: Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, 
or received by www.Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 2, 
2017. Use of a delivery service must be documented with a receipt. No 
facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted. See also 
Section III.C of the GulfCorps FFO.

ADDRESSES: Complete application packages, including required Federal 
forms and instructions, can be found on www.Grants.gov by searching for 
Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005141. If a 
prospective applicant is having difficulty downloading the application 
forms from www.Grants.gov, contact www.Grants.gov Customer Support at 
1-800-518-4726 or Grants.gov">support@Grants.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact 
Melanie Gange at (301) 427-8664, or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Statutory Authority: Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 16 U.S.C. 
661, as amended by the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970; Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 
2006, 16 U.S.C. 1891a; the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, 
Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States 
Act (RESTORE Act), Public Law 112-141, Subtitle F.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA): 11.463.

Program Description

    As noted above, the principal objective of NOAA's GulfCorps Program 
solicitation is to develop a Gulf-wide conservation corps that will 
contribute to meaningful Gulf of Mexico ecosystem restoration 
benefiting coastal habitat and water quality in each of the Gulf states 
(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida), while 
economically benefiting coastal communities through education, 
training, and employment opportunities. The GulfCorps Program grant 
recipients will recruit, train, and employ workers to work on habitat 
restoration projects and develop skills in support of long-term Gulf 
coast restoration. This program is funded under the RESTORE Act. 
Information on the RESTORE Act, including more information on the 
funding provided to establish this conservation corps, and the other 
initiatives included on the Funded Priorities List (FPL) can be found 
online at www.restorethegulf.gov/council-selected-restoration-component/funded-priorities-list. Applications selected for funding 
through this solicitation will primarily be funded through cooperative 
agreements.
    Section IV.B. of the FFO describes the suggested information to 
include in the application narrative. Supplemental Guidance regarding 
application writing, a checklist to submit a complete application, and 
FAQs about this solicitation can be found at www.restoration.noaa.gov/partnerresources and www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/gulfcorps.html, 
respectively. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact 
NOAA Restoration Center staff before submitting an application to 
discuss their GulfCorps proposals with respect to technical merit and 
NOAA's objectives. NOAA will make every effort to respond to 
prospective applicants on a first come, first served basis. These 
discussions will not include review of draft proposals or site visits 
during the application period.

Funding Availability

    Total anticipated funding for all awards is up to $7 million, 
subject to the availability of funds under the RESTORE Act. NOAA 
anticipates typical awards will range from $1 million to $7 million. 
NOAA will not accept applications requesting less than $1 million or 
more than $7 million in Federal funds from NOAA under this solicitation 
and the exact amount of funds that may be awarded will be determined in 
pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA. Funding may be 
provided in annual increments without further competition, and the 
period of performance for most awards is expected to be 36 months, 
although 48 months will be considered. Any funds provided to successful 
applicants will be at the discretion of the NOAA Office of Habitat 
Conservation and the NOAA Grants Management Division (GMD). In no event 
will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible for application 
preparation costs if programs fail to receive funding or are cancelled 
because of other agency priorities. Publication of this notice does not 
oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available 
funds and there is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available 
to make awards for all top-ranked applications. The number of awards to 
be made as a result of this solicitation will depend on the number of 
eligible applications received, the amount of funds requested for 
GulfCorps proposals, and the merit and ranking of the applications.

Eligibility Criteria

    Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-
profits, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, and 
state, local and Native American tribal governments. Applications from 
individuals, Federal agencies, or employees of Federal agencies will 
not be considered. Individuals and Federal agencies are strongly 
encouraged to work with states, non-governmental organizations, 
municipal and county governments, and others that are eligible to 
apply. Cost sharing is not required, however, match is included in the 
evaluation criteria as listed in the full FFO announcement in 
www.Grants.gov (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-
2005141). Applications selected for funding will be bound by the 
percentage of cost sharing reflected in the award document signed by 
the NOAA Grants Officer.

Evaluation and Selection Procedures

    The general evaluation criteria and selection factors that apply to 
full applications to this funding opportunity are summarized below. 
Further information about the evaluation criteria and selection factors 
can be found in the full FFO announcement in www.Grants.gov (Funding 
Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2017-2005141).

Evaluation Criteria

    Reviewers will assign scores to applications ranging from 0 to 100 
points based on the following five standard NOAA evaluation criteria 
and respective weights specified below. Applications that best address 
these criteria will be most competitive.

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    1. Importance and Applicability (18 points): This criterion 
ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or 
relevance to the priorities presented in the solicitation.
    2. Technical/Scientific Merit (28 points): This criterion assesses 
whether the project activity or approach is technically sound, if the 
methods are appropriate, and whether there are clear goals and 
objectives.
    3. Overall Qualifications of Applicant (24 points): This criterion 
ascertains whether the applicant possesses the necessary education, 
experience, training, facilities, and administrative resources to 
support the proposed award.
    4. Project Costs (20 points): This criterion evaluates the budget 
to determine if it is realistic and commensurate with the project's 
needs and time-frame.
    5. Outreach and Education (10 points): NOAA assesses whether the 
recipient can deliver a focused and effective training and community 
outreach strategy for the GulfCorps.

Review and Selection Process

    Applications will undergo an initial administrative review to 
determine if they are eligible and complete, per Section III of the 
full FFO posted at www.Grants.gov. Eligible applications will be 
evaluated by three or more merit reviewers as part of a panel review 
process to determine how well they meet the program priorities and 
evaluation criteria of this solicitation. The Selecting Official 
anticipates recommending applications for funding in rank order unless 
an application is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon 
one or more of the following selection factors: (1) Availability of 
funding; (2) Balance/distribution of funds: (a) by geographic area, (b) 
by type of institutions, (c) by type of partners, (d) by research 
areas; or (e) by project types; (3) Whether the project duplicates 
other projects funded or considered for funding by NOAA or other 
federal agencies; (4) Program priorities and policy factors set out in 
section I.A. and I.B. of the FFO; (5) An applicant's prior award 
performance; (6) Partnerships and/or participation of targeted groups; 
and (7) Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA staff to make a NEPA 
determination and draft necessary documentation before recommendations 
for funding are made to the NOAA GMD. Hence, awards may not necessarily 
be made to the highest-scored applications. Unsuccessful applicants 
will be notified that their application was not among those recommended 
for funding. Unsuccessful applications submitted in hard copy will be 
kept on file in accordance with NOAA records requirements and then 
destroyed.

Intergovernmental Review

    Applications submitted under the FFO are subject to the provisions 
of Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Programs.'' Any 
applicant submitting an application for funding is required to complete 
item 16 on Form SF-424 regarding clearance by the State Single Point of 
Contact (SPOC). To find out about and comply with a State's process 
under Executive Order 12372, the names, addresses and phone numbers of 
participating SPOC's are listed on the Office of Management and 
Budget's home page at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants_spoc.

Limitation of Liability

    In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible 
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.

National Environmental Policy Act

    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 funds. Further details 
regarding NOAA's compliance with NEPA can be found in the full Federal 
Funding Opportunity.

Administrative and National Policy Requirements

    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. Additional administrative and national policy 
requirements are described in the full Federal Funding Opportunity.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This document contains collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The use of Standard Forms 
424, 424A, 424B, and SF-LLL has been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under the respective control numbers 4040-
0004, 4040-0006, 4040-0007, and 4040-0013. Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, no person is required 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 PRA unless that 
collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice has been determined to be not significant for purposes 
of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

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

Administrative Procedure Act/Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Prior notices 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 comment are not 
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical 
requirements for the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not 
been prepared.

    Dated: December 8, 2016.
Carrie Selberg,
Deputy Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-29926 Filed 12-13-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P