[Federal
Register: March 20, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 54)]
[Notices]
[Page
14942-14946]
From
the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20mr00-49]
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DEPARTMENT
OF COMMERCE
National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Docket
No. [000202024-0024-01; I.D. No. 011000C]
RIN:
[0648-ZA79]
Announcement
of Funding Opportunity for the South
Florida
Ecosystem
Restoration Prediction and Modeling Program and the South
Florida
Living Marine Resources Program
AGENCIES:
Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research/Coastal Ocean
Program
(CSCOR/COP), the National Ocean Service (NOS); the Southeast
Fisheries
Science Center (SEFSC), the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS);
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION:
Announcement of Funding Opportunity for financial assistance
for
project grants.
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SUMMARY:
The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that CSCOR
and
SEFSC are soliciting 1 to 2-year proposals for the South Florida
Ecosystem
Restoration Prediction and Modeling Program (SFERPM) and
South
Florida Living
Marine Resources Program (SFLMR) to begin in FY
2000,
contingent on the availability of funds.
These
programs are two of a number of Federal and state programs
that
together comprise the Interagency Florida
Bay (IFB) and Adjacent
Marine
Waters Science Program. The overall goal of this interagency
effort
is to develop the information and policies necessary for
restoring
the Everglades, Florida
Bay, and adjacent marine ecosystems.
DATES:
The deadline for receipt of proposals at the COP office is 3:00
p.m.,
EST. April 19, 2000. It is anticipated that projects funded under
this
announcement will have a July 1, 2000 start date.
ADDRESSES:
Submit the original and 19 copies of your proposal to
Coastal
Ocean Program Office (SFERPM 2000), SSMC#3, 9th Floor, Station
9700,
1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. NOAA Standard
Form
Applications with instructions are accessible on the following COP
Internet
Site: http://www.cop.noaa.gov under the COP Grants Support
Section,
Part D, Application Forms for Initial Proposal Submission.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical Information:
Larry
Pugh, SFERPM 2000 Program Manager, COP Office, 301-713-3338/
ext
117, Internet: Larry.Pugh@noaa.gov; or Dr. Nancy Thompson, SFLMR
2000
Program Manager, SEFSC, 305-361-4284, Internet:
Nancy.Thompson@noaa.gov;
Business Management Information: Leslie
McDonald,
COP Grants Administrator, 301-713-3338/ext 137, Internet:
Specific
information about the ongoing SFERPM program, including
descriptions
of presently funded projects and the data management
policy
can be obtained from htttp://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ocd/sferpm.
Reference
is made to SFERPM Data Policy requirements later in this
document
under Part II: Further supplementary Information, paragraph
(14)
Other Requirements, subsection (b).
For
complete information about the Interagency Florida Bay web
sites
and Adjacent Marine Systems Science Program Management Committee
(PMC)
(discussed later in this document under SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION);
its Scientific Oversight Panel; copies of the Abstracts
of
its Annual Conferences; reports from its numerous topical workshops
and
research team meetings as well as the most recent overall Strategic
Science
Plan, consult http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/flbay/; or contact the
IFB
Program's Executive Officer: William Nuttle, Executive Officer,
Interagency
Science Center, 98630 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, FL
33037.
The
Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) resources
trusteeship
and management activities discussed later in this document
under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION can be viewed on http://
www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov.
The geographic scope and the subregions
encompassed
referred to later in this document under SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION
can be found at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ocd/sferpm/
sub.html.
Detailed
information regarding South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration
discussed
later in this document under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION,
subparagraph,
the Research Program, can be viewed at
http://www.sfrestore.org.
To
view Important Documents including the Florida Bay Interagency
Program
Management Committee (PMC) comments on the RESTUDY Draft
Feasibility
Report and the Feasibility report referenced later in this
document
under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, subparagraph, The Research
Program,
see the COP or SFERPM websites listed earlier in this section.
SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION:
Background
Program
Description
For complete Program Description and Other
Requirements criteria
for
the Coastal Ocean Program, see COP's General Grant Administration
Terms
and Conditions annual notification in the Federal Register (64 FR
49162,
September 10, 1999) and at the COP home page.
The SFERPM and SFLMR programs are two of a
number of Federal and
state
programs that together comprise the IFB Program. The interagency
program
supports monitoring, research and modeling
activities designed
to
understand the effects of South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration upon
coastal
ecosystems including the FKNMS.
It is intended to provide some of the
information required by an
iterative
restoration process
through which management alternatives are
developed
and selected, alternatives implemented and physical and
biological
responses assessed. It is further anticipated that this
evaluation
process will be repeated as restoration
proceeds since
decisions
will be driven by the best available scientific information.
The activities conducted to restore the South Florida ecosystem
occur
predominately upstream of Florida
Bay and the restoration
impacts
may
not be direct or immediate. Therefore, improving our capability to
predict
these impacts is the ultimate goal of the IFB Science Program.
Attaining
this predictive capability implies a better understanding of
the
physics and ecology of Florida
Bay and the larger coastal
ecosystem.
The SFLMR program focuses upon research on
fishery resources,
protected
resources, and higher trophic level organisms and the
interactions
with living marine resources. Living marine resources
include:
fishery resources, both recreational and commercial, and
protected
resources--including endangered species, marine mammals,
corals,
and species that are candidates for listing under the
Endangered
Species Act (ESA) and their habitats. Research results will
allow
for the projection of the impacts of changes in freshwater
delivery
on living marine resources.
The
Florida Bay Science
Program was initially based upon the 1994
Florida
Bay Science Plan developed for the Florida
Bay Interagency
Working
group, as specifically suggested by a scientific panel convened
at
the request of the Secretary of the Interior. That Science Plan
identified
research deficiencies and unanswered questions concerning
the
condition and ecological history of Florida Bay and established the
Florida
[[Page
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Bay
PMC and its formal administrative process.
The PMC, explicitly linked to and
sanctioned by the South
Florida
Restoration
Task Force through its Working Group and Science
Coordination
Team, consists of designated representatives of the state
and
Federal agencies conducting or funding research in this part of the
South
Florida coastal
marine ecosystem.
The PMC is charged with
providing
policy makers reliable scientific information and science-
based
recommendations, including timely evaluation of the effects that
different
upstream management alternatives might have upon the
ecosystem
within Florida Bay
and the adjacent coastal marine ecosystem.
To accomplish its objectives the PMC:
(1) Developed a Strategic Science Plan in
March 1997 for Florida
Bay
to guide individual agency implementation plans and to prioritize
allocation
of resources;
(2) Evaluates individual agency
implementation plans to avoid
redundancy
and assures research efforts are complementary; and
together,
to make the best use of the technical and financial resources
being
made available for South
Florida coastal ecosystem restoration
science;
(3) Sponsors an Annual Science Conference
to which all funded
investigator
teams in all the various agencies are required to
participate;
(4) Sponsors topical workshops on critical
scientific issues;
(5) Established a Scientific Oversight
Panel composed of
distinguished,
knowledgeable, but financially disinterested, scientists
from
outside this region. This panel is asked to attend the Annual
Science
Conference; to chair or participate in topical workshops that
require
technical panel input; and to recommend to the PMC any changes
in
the science program to assure it is meeting the requirements of the
South
Florida Ecosystem Restoration Process;
(6) Established research teams consisting
of funded investigators
and
interested experts to review and integrate plans and sampling
protocols
of related projects including data management; and
(7) Established an administrative
infrastructure consisting of an
Executive
Officer, a Florida
Bay Research Coordinator, and an Outreach/
Education
Office.
Additional
Program Description
SFERPM's contribution to the Interagency
Science Program has been
to
focus upon the larger oceanographic, atmospheric, geological and
fisheries
context within which Bay restoration
will proceed. This has
implied
studying the Bay's interaction and exchange with the adjacent
Atlantic
and Gulf of Mexico coastal marine ecosystems and its
regulation
by large scale atmospheric and meteorological processes that
so
intimately link the coastal marine to the coastal terrestrial
systems
in South Florida.
The SFLMR Program began in 1996 with
funding through the NMFS.
Funding
of research projects beginning in FY 2000 will result from this
competitive
process. The focus of this program is on living marine
resources,
especially those that are commercially and recreationally
important,
or are protected, and their habitats.
SFERPM directly addresses the linkage
between Florida Bay
and the
Florida
Keys, thus complementing other NOAA South Florida
Ecosystem
Restoration
Initiative related activities such as the NMFS-lead
Protection
of Living Marine Resources/Threatened and Endangered Species
studies,
NOS-led Integrated Florida
Bay and Florida
Keys Ecosystem
Monitoring
programs, FKNMS resources trusteeship and management
activities.
Detailed information including the most recent SFERPM
Implementation
Plan for the program and other program documents can be
obtained
from the address/homepage address listed earlier in this
document
under FURTHER INFORMATION.
Program
Goals
The overall goals of the Interagency
Program were outlined as five
management
related central questions in the Strategic Science Plan for
Florida
Bay. These are:
(1) How, and at what rates, do storms,
changing freshwater flows,
sea
level rise, and local evaporation/precipitation influence
circulation
and salinity patterns within Florida
bay and outflows from
the
Bay to adjacent waters?
(2) What is the relative importance of the
influx of external
nutrients
and of internal nutrient cycling in determining the nutrient
budget
of Florida Bay?
What mechanisms control the sources and sinks of
the
Bay's nutrients?
(3) What regulates the onset, persistence
and fate of planktonic
algal
blooms in Florida
Bay?
(4) What are the causes and mechanisms for
the observed changes in
the
sea grass community of Florida
Bay? What is the effect of changing
salinity,
light, and nutrient regimes on these communities?
(5) What is the relationship between
environmental and habitat
change
and the recruitment, growth, and survivorship of animals in
Florida
Bay?
The NOAA role has been to focus on the
larger oceanographic,
atmospheric,
geological, and biological aspects of these questions. As
noted
earlier, detailed descriptions of past projects supported and
their
findings to date can be found on the SFERPM website under Funded
Projects.
The geographic scope and the subregions encompassed can be
found
at the address/homepage listed earlier in this document under
FURTHER
INFORMATION. Where essential to describe the linkages between
Florida
Bay and the adjacent waters, some projects have had a still
wider
geographic scope.
The
Research Program
The Interagency Science Program has been
underway for several years
and
is now entering an Implementation Phase at which it is being asked
to
deliver information directly to the Restoration Management Community
concerning
minimum flow levels to Florida
Bay; restoration
performance
measures;
and ecological success criteria. See the South Florida
Ecosystem
Restoration Website
for additional details at the address/
homepage
listed earlier in this document under FURTHER INFORMATION.
Moreover, water quality and physical modeling efforts are
relatively
mature but require validation and verification. Using these
models
to evaluate restoration
scenarios will require continued data
assimilation.
Ecological models of upper and lower trophic levels are
also
in development and will have similar data requirements.
To date, restoration targets relative to Florida Bay have been
posed
purely in terms of flow delivery to points well upstream of
Florida
Bay. These are deemed by the PMC to be good first steps but
ultimately
inadequate. See the CSCOR or SFERPM websites listed earlier
in
this document under FURTHER INFORMATION to view Important Documents
including
PMC Comments on the RESTUDY Draft Feasibility Report and the
Feasibility
report itself.
In its review of the Restudy, the PMC
committed itself to providing
ecologically
based restoration
targets and performance measures for use
in
evaluating restoration
scenarios and actions. Given the advice and
recommendations
of the PMC and Florida
Bay Science Oversight Panel
(FBSOP),
NOAA's trustee and other management responsibilities in the
region,
and the likely funding of our Federal and state agency
partners,
CSCOR and NMFS/SEFSC anticipate funding SFERPM projects in
the
following research areas:
(1) Nutrient Dynamics: Includes
phosphorous and nitrogen cycles
within
[[Page
14944]]
the
water column, exchange between the water column and benthos, and
governing
biogeochemical processes;
(2) Water Column Biology: Includes trophic
linkages, benthic-
pelagic
coupling, and the potential impact of Bay water quality upon
living
marine resources and the FKNMS;
(3) Physical Science: Includes circulation
within the Bay,
improving
estimates of critical processes (i.e., evaporation,
precipitation
and wind stress), and providing data assimilation
model based boundary conditions to bay
circulation and hydrological
models;
(4) Ecosystem Modeling
Studies: Includes modeling
of trophic
relationships
of recruitment pathways;
(5) Higher trophic levels: Monitoring and
research are needed to
provide
answers to question 5 in the Strategic Science Plan. Results
obtained
should be directed at determination of the effects of changes
in
water quality and quantity and patterns on higher trophic level
organisms
especially important commercial and recreational fishery
resources
and mass protected resources, such as sea turtles, marine
mammals
and species listed as candidates for listing under the ESA.
Research
Areas
(1)
Nutrients
The growth of both sea grasses and
planktonic algae blooms depends
upon
the supply of plant nutrients. In Florida
Bay these are introduced
by
freshwater runoff, groundwater seepage, atmospheric deposition,
resuspension
of bottom sediments and exchange with the Southwest
Florida
shelf. A quantitative understanding of the relative importance
of
these various processes and how they effect algal blooms has been
the
goal of SFERPM Nutrient Chemistry projects. Proposals are now
solicited
that refine our understanding of phosphorous and nitrogen
cycles
within the water column as well as between the water column and
benthos
and biogeochemical processes governing nutrient availability
including
atmospheric flux and the microbial loop.
(2)
Water Column Biology
Florida Bay is both a nursery ground and primary habitat
for
numerous
commercially and recreationally significant fisheries species.
The
principal food of the young of many of these species is zooplankton
that,
in turn, consume planktonic algae. Moreover, many fisheries
species
have early stages living in the plankton. Planktonic animals
are
very sensitive to changes in water quality. Predicting the
consequences
of Restoration upon
this ecosystem has
been a goal of
SFERPM
Water Column Biology projects.
The health of the coral reef community of
the Florida Keys
National
Marine
Sanctuary (FKNMS) depends upon the water quality (temperature,
salinity,
nutrients, and chemical contaminants) of the waters that flow
over
them. With Restoration,
not just water quantity but water quality
throughout
South Florida coastal waters will be
changed. Proposals are
now
solicited that address trophic relationships between biological
communities,
ecosystem changes
directly or indirectly related to Bay
habitat
changes, algal bloom causation and fate, benthic-pelagic
coupling,
and the impact of Bay water quality upon living marine
resources
and the FKNMS.
(3)
Physical Science
Unless we have a detailed understanding of
circulation,
temperature,
and salinity within the Bay and how the Bay is linked to
the
surrounding waters of the South
West Florida shelf
and the FKNMS,
we
will be unable to predict the physical effects of Restoration i.e.,
what
parts of the Bay will be affected by altered water flows and how
they
will be changed.
Similarly, unless we have a detailed
understanding of the wind
field
over the Bay, and the rainfall and evaporation distribution over
the
entire Peninsula, we will be unable to predict which parts of the
Bay
will be affected by altered water flows and what the resultant
changes
will be. Providing estimates of these critical parameters and
how
they will be locally and regionally altered by the major land use
changes
implicit in Restoration
has been a goal of the SFERPM physical
oceanography
and atmospheric science projects. Proposals are now
solicited
characterizing circulation and flow within the Bay (including
improving
estimates of basin residence and turnover times), improving
estimates
of critical physical processes (especially evaporation and
precipitation)
and providing the meteorological boundary conditions
required
by circulation and hydrological models.
(4)
Ecosystem Modeling Studies
Over the past several decades we have seen
fundamental changes in
the
Bay ecosystem; and
with Restoration,
we can expect the rate of
change
to accelerate. The goal of SFERPM Ecological Modeling has been
to
use the physical, chemical and biological information being
generated
by SFERPM and other projects to predict how the underlying
ecology
of Florida Bay will
change with restoration.
Proposals are now solicited that
contribute to the Interagency
Upper
Trophic Level modeling
program including the modeling
of
recruitment
pathways within the FKNMS and/or between the FKNMS and
Florida
Bay. The PMC website should be consulted for the results of PMC
sponsored
workshops entitled: Higher Trophic Level Initiative for the
Florida
Bay Program and Progress Review of Florida
Bay Models: Report
of
the Model Evaluation Group.
(5)
Higher Trophic Level Research and Monitoring
The success of restoration is measured in
part by the
sustainability
of fishery and protected resources. It is imperative
that
models be developed which will provide information on how changes
in
water quality, including salinity levels and contaminants, will
effect
the population and trophic dynamics of living marine resources
and
their habitats. These models require data.
Proposals are now solicited to conduct
research and monitoring to
define
both qualitatively and quantitatively the mechanisms controlling
growth,
reproduction, recruitment and age/stage specific survivorship
of
commercially and recreationally important species and protected
resources,
such as sea turtles and bottle nosed dolphins are
encouraged.
For protected resources in particular, proposals
which provide
population
estimates and the relative importance of South Florida
coastal
waters to recovery are encouraged. Information generated by
research
projects directed at the other four questions in the Strategic
Science
Plan is expected to be integrated with the proposed research in
so
far as it effects the dynamics of individual species and protected
resources
and their habitats.
Part
I: Schedule and Proposal Submission
The guidelines for proposal preparation
provided here are
mandatory.
Proposals received after the published deadline or proposals
that
deviate from the prescribed format will be returned to the sender
without
further consideration. This announcement and additional
background
information will be made available on the COP home page.
Full
Proposals
Applications submitted in response to this
announcement require an
original
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14945]]
proposal
and 19 proposal copies at time of submission. This includes
color
or high-resolution graphics, unusually-sized materials (not 8.5''
x
11'' or 21.6 cm x 28 cm), or otherwise unusual materials submitted as
part
of the proposal. For color graphics, submit either color originals
or
color copies. The stated requirements for the number of original
proposal
copies provide for a timely review process because of the
large
number of technical reviewers. Facsimile transmissions and
electronic
mail submission of full proposals will not be accepted.
Required
Elements
All
recipients are to closely follow the instructions and
guidelines
in the preparation of the standard NOAA Application Forms
and
Kit requirements listed in Part II: Further Supplementary
Information,
paragraph (10) of this document. Each proposal must also
include
the following seven elements:
(1) Signed Summary title page: The title
page should be signed by
the
Principal Investigator (PI) and the institutional representative.
The
Summary Title page identifies the project's title starting with the
acronym
SFERPM 2000, a short title (50 characters), and the lead PI's
name
and affiliation, complete address, phone, FAX, and E-mail
information.
The requested budget for each fiscal year should be
included
on the Summary Title page. Multi-institution proposals must
include
signed Summary Title pages from each institution.
(2) One-page abstract/project summary: The
Project Summary
(Abstract)
Form, which is to be submitted at time of application, shall
include
an introduction of the problem, rationale, scientific
objectives
and/or hypotheses to be tested, and a brief summary of work
to
be completed. The prescribed COP format for the Project Summary Form
can
be found on the COP Internet site under the COP Grants Support
Section,
Part D.
The summary should appear on a separate
page, headed with the
proposal
title, institution(s), investigator(s), total proposed cost,
and
budget period. These should be written in the third person. The
summary
is used to help compare proposals quickly and allows the
respondents
to summarize these key points in their own words.
(3) Statement of work/project description:
The proposed project
must
be completely described, including identification of the problem,
scientific
objectives, proposed methodology, relevance to the goals of
the
SFERPM Program, and its scientific priorities. The project
description
section (including Relevant Results from Prior Support)
should
not exceed 15 pages.
Project management should be clearly
identified with a description
of
the functions of each PI within a team. It is important to provide a
full
scientific justification for the research; do not simply reiterate
justifications
presented in this document. Both page limits are
inclusive
of figures and other visual materials, but exclusive of
references
and milestone chart. This section should also include:
(a) The objective for the period of
proposed work and its expected
significance;
(b) The relation to the present state of
knowledge in the field and
relation
to previous work and work in progress by the proposing
principal
investigator(s);
(c) A discussion of how the proposed
project lends value to the
program
goals, and
(d) Potential coordination with other
investigators.
NOAA has specific requirements that
environmental data be submitted
to
the National Oceanographic Data Center.
(e) References cited: Reference
information is required. Each
reference
must include the name(s) of all authors in the same sequence
in
which they appear in the publications, the article title, volume
number,
page numbers, and year of publications. While there is no
established
page limitation, this section should include bibliographic
citations
only and should not be used to provide parenthetical
information
outside of the 15-page project description.
(4) Milestone chart: Time lines of major
tasks covering the 12 to
24-month
duration of the proposed project.
(5) Budget: At time of proposal
submission, all applicants shall
submit
the Standard Form, SF-424 (Rev 7-97), Application for Federal
Assistance,
to indicate the total amount of funding proposed for the
whole
project period. In lieu of the Standard Form 424A, Budget
Information
(Non-Construction), at time of original application, all
proposers
are required to submit a COP Summary Proposal Budget Form for
each
fiscal year increment (i.e., 2000, 2001). Multi-institution
proposals
must include budget forms from each institution.
Use of this budget form will provide for a
detailed annual budget
and
the level of detail required by the COP program staff to evaluate
the
effort to be invested by investigators and staff on a specific
project.
The COP budget form is compatible with forms in use by other
agencies
that participate in joint projects with COP, and can be found
on
the COP home page under COP Grants Support, Part D.
All applicants shall include a budget
narrative/justification that
supports
all proposed budget object class categories. The program
office
will review the proposed budgets to determine the necessity and
adequacy
of proposed costs for accomplishing the objectives of the
proposed
grant. Ship time needs must be identified in the proposed
budget.
The SF-424A, Budget Information (Non-Construction) Form, shall
be
requested from only those recipients subsequently recommended for
award.
(6) Biographical sketch: Abbreviated
curriculum vitae, two pages
per
investigator, are sought with each proposal. Include a list of up
to
five publications most closely related to the proposed project and
up
to five other significant publications. A list of all persons
(including
their organizational affiliation), in alphabetical order,
who
have collaborated on a project, book, article, or paper within the
last
48 months should be included. If there are no collaborators, this
should
be so indicated. Students, post-doctoral associates, and
graduate
and postgraduate advisors of the PI should also be disclosed.
This
information is used to help identify potential conflicts of
interest
or bias in the selection of reviewers.
(7) Proposal format and assembly: Clamp
the proposal in the upper
left-hand
corner, but leave it unbound. Use one inch (2.5 cm) margins
at
the top, bottom, left and right of each page. Use a clear and easily
legible
type face in standard 12 points size.
Part
II: Further Supplementary Information
(1) Program authorities: For a list of all
program authorities for
the
Coastal Ocean Program, see COP's General Grant Administration Terms
and
Conditions annual document in the Federal Register (64 FR 49162,
September
10, 1999) and at the COP home page. Specific authority cited
for
this announcement is 33 U.S.C. 1442 et seq.
(2) Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
Numbers: 11.478 for the
Coastal
Ocean Program and 11.472 for the National Marine Fisheries
Service,
Southeast Fisheries Science Center.
(3) Program description: For complete COP
program descriptions, see
the
annual COP General Document (64 FR 49162, September 10, 1999).
(4) Funding availability: Funding is
contingent upon receipt of
fiscal
years 2000-2001 Federal appropriations. The anticipated maximum
annual
funding
[[Page
14946]]
for
SFERPM and SFLMR activities is $1.9 million.
If an application is selected for funding,
NOAA has no obligation
to
provide any additional prospective funding in connection with that
award
in subsequent years. Renewal of an award to increase funding or
extend
the period of performance based on satisfactory performance and
is
at the total discretion of the funding agency.
Publication of this document does not
obligate NOAA to any specific
award
or to any part of the entire amount of funds available.
Recipients
and subrecipients are subject to all Federal laws and agency
policies,
regulations, and procedures applicable to Federal financial
assistance
awards.
(5) Matching requirements: None.
(6) Type of funding instrument: Project
grants
(7) Eligibility criteria: For complete
eligibility criteria for the
Coastal
Ocean Program, see COP's General Grant Administration Terms and
Conditions
annual document in the Federal Register (64 FR 49162,
September
10, 1999) and at the COP home page under General
Announcement.
Federal researchers in successful
multi-investigator proposals will
be
funded through NOAA. Proposals deemed acceptable from Federal
researchers
will be funded through a mechanism other than a grant or
cooperative
agreement, where legal authority allows for such funding.
Non-NOAA
Federal applicants are required to submit certification or
documentation
which clearly shows that they can receive funds from the
Department
of Commerce (DoC) for research (i.e., legal authority exists
allowing
the transfer of funds from DoC to the non-NOAA Federal
applicant's
agency).
(8) Award period: Full Proposals should
cover a project period of 1
to
2 years, from FY 2000-01 to FY 2001-02.
(9) Indirect costs: If indirect costs are
proposed, the following
statement
applies: The total dollar amount of the indirect costs
proposed
in an application must not exceed the indirect cost rate
negotiated
and approved by a cognizant Federal agency prior to the
proposed
effective date of the award.
(10) Application forms: For complete
information on application
forms
for the Coastal Ocean Program, see COP's General Grant
Administration
Terms and Conditions annual document in the Federal
Register
(64 FR 49162, September 10, 1999); the COP home page; and the
information
given earlier in this document under Required Elements,
paragraph
(5) Budget.
(11) Project funding priorities: For
description of project funding
priorities,
see COP's General Grant Administration Terms and Conditions
annual
document in the Federal Register (64 FR 49162, September 10,
1999)
and at the COP home page.
(12) Evaluation criteria: For complete
information on evaluation
criteria,
see COP's General Grant Administration Terms and Conditions
annual
document in the Federal Register (64 FR 49162, September 10,
1999)
and at the COP home page.
(13) Selection procedures: For complete
information on selection
procedures,
see COP's General Grant Administration Terms and Conditions
annual
document in the Federal Register (64 FR 49162, September 10,
1999)
and at the COP home page.
(14) Other requirements: As participants
in the Interagency Science
Program,
funded principal investigators will be expected to:
(a) Participate in meetings for planning
and coordination of the
Interagency
Program. This includes attending and contributing to the
Annual
Interagency Florida
Bay Science Program Conference, Research
Team
Meetings, and other relevant technical workshops sponsored by the
PMC
at the request of the SFERPM Coordinating Office.
(b) Promptly quality control their data
and make them readily
available
through the SFERPM Data Management Office in accordance with
the
SFERPM Data Policy, which is referenced earlier in this document
under
FURTHER INFORMATION.
(c) Assist the SFERPM Coordinating Office
and the Interagency PMC
in
the synthesis and interpretation of research results and the
development
of products of value to restoration
and resource managers.
For
a complete description of other requirements, see COP's General
Grant
Administration Terms and Conditions annual document in the
Federal
Register (64 FR 49162, September 10, 1999) and at the COP home
page.
(15) Applicants are hereby notified that
they are encouraged, to
the
greatest practicable extent, to purchase American-made equipment
and
products with funding provided under this program.
(16) Pursuant to Executive Orders 12876,
12900 and 13021, the
Department
of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(DOC/NOAA)
is strongly committed to broadening the participation of
Historically
Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving
Institutions
and Tribal Colleges and Universities in its educational
and
research programs. The DOC/NOAA vision, mission and goals are to
achieve
full participation by Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) in
order
to advance the development of human potential, to strengthen the
nation's
capacity to provide high-quality education, and to increase
opportunities
for MSIs to participate in, and benefit from, Federal
Financial
Assistance programs. DOC/NOAA encourages all applicants to
include
meaningful participation of MSIs.
(17) This notification involves
collection-of-information
requirements
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The use of
Standard
Forms 424, 424A, 424B, and SF-LLL have been approved by the
Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) under control numbers 0348-0043,
0348-0044,
0348-0040 and 0348-0046.
The COP Grants Application Package has
been approved by OMB under
control
number 0648-0384 and includes the following information
collections:
a Summary Proposal Budget Form, a Project Summary Form,
standardized
formats for the Annual Performance Report and the Final
Report,
and the submission of up to 20 copies of proposals. Copies of
these
forms and formats can be found on the COP Home Page.
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 Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that collection displays a
currently
valid OMB control number.
Dated: March 13, 2000.
Ted
I. Lillestolen,
Deputy
Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service, National
Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.
Dated: March 3, 2000.
Gary
C. Matlock,
Acting
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR
Doc. 00-6852 Filed 3-17-00; 8:45 am]
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