Original project guidance
In order to increase the capacity of Sea Grant Programs to work and plan together to address resilience topics of national interest, the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) is providing a one-time $30,000 award in FY 2017 funds to each interested Sea Grant Program. Awarded projects will become part of the Program's 2014 Omnibus grant.
The goals of the funding are to:
- Enhance resilience visioning and activities consistent with state and national strategic plans across the network,
- Increase the capacity of Sea Grant Programs to work and plan together to address resilience topics of national interest, and to collaboratively develop visions for Sea Grant on these topics. It is hoped that these groups that develop these visions may continue to be a network intellectual or action resource on the topic even after this project is over, and
- Create vision documents on these national topics by the end of this effort that are in close enough to completion to serve as a starting draft for a Sea Grant network-wide conversation on that topic, leading, if appropriate, to national Sea Grant vision documents.
These funds will be used to support the work of new or existing Sea Grant networks, teams, working groups, or other types of Sea Grant-led communities of practice to formulate and document their vision for a national topic and the Sea Grant network's role in addressing that topic. Funds can be used for salary support for leaders, workshop logistics, travel, project administration, and other expenses. A portion of the funding may also be used to support development projects in the topics identified by each program.
The topics for visioning must be national in scope, although regional variations should be recognized. Topics can be drawn from the areas of Resilience (including a range of sub-elements), Innovating Fisheries, Water/Weather, Education/Workforce Development, Diversity & Inclusion, or from other areas.
To participate, a program must lead or join in at least one visioning exercise with a community of practice that includes participation from at least five Sea Grant programs. Participation in efforts involving more than five programs, and participation in more than one effort, are encouraged.
Pending availability of funds, we expect to fund up to 34 projects, one to each participating Sea Grant College, Institutional Program, and Coherent Area Program as well as the National Sea Grant Law Center. These funds require the standard 50% match for Sea Grant projects.
The projects are expected to be awarded by 1 September 2017, and may run until 31 August 2018. Fifty percent matching funds are required.
Application procedures are different, depending on whether your Program has an open Resilience NSI placeholder or not.
Sea Grant programs with a Resilience Placeholder:
Alaska, Georgia, Illinois-Indiana, Law Center, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi-Alabama, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
Sea grant programs without a Resilience Placeholder:
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Lake Champlain, Maine, MIT, New York, USC, Woods Hole
Application Instructions for programs WITH a Resilience Placeholder:
Submit a Notice of Intent to the National Sea Grant Office by 16 June 2017:
Indicate your intention to participate in this effort by sending an email from the Director tooar.hq.sg.competitions@noaa.gov with the following:
- “My program is committed to supporting the National Sea Grant visioning efforts through the Resilience placeholder. Working with other programs, we will submit topics & teams by 31 July 2017 and a full work plan by 31 August 2017.”
- Designated proposal Point of Contact for these activities.
As soon as we receive your notice of intent, a release of funds for $30,000 with an associated match commitment of $15,000 will be released to your 2014 omnibus grant.
Submit the following to the National Sea Grant Office by 31 July 2017:
Provide a statement of the topics and teams your program are interested in pursuing tooar.hq.sg.competitions@noaa.gov. Final topic/team options will be collated by the National Sea Grant Office and communicated to the programs by 7 August 2017.
Submit to Grants Online by 31 August 2017:
Submit additional information in an Other Award Action Request, including statement of work, 90-2 spreadsheet and 90-4 forms for the planned project.
Note: If you currently have an NSI Resilience Placeholder and are planning to apply for both a Network Visioning and aSea Grant/NOAA Regional Integration award, you may combine these award actions in Grants Online, but have them as separate projects
Application instructions for Sea Grant Programs WITHOUT a Resilience Placeholder
Submit a Notice of Intent to the National Sea Grant Office by 16 June 2017:
Indicate your intention to participate in this effort by sending an email from the Director to oar.hq.sg.competitions@noaa.gov with the following:
- “My program is committed to supporting the National Sea Grant visioning efforts through the Resilience placeholder. Working with other programs, we will submit topics & teams by 31 July 2017 and a full work plan by 31 August 2017.“
- “My program doesn't have a standing resilience placeholder, therefore I will submit the appropriate documentation through Grants.gov by 23 June 2017 ” (see below guidance)
- Designated proposal Point of Contact for these activities
Submit to Grants.gov by 23 June 2017:
Submit an application to Grants.gov, to FFO number NOAA-OAR-SG-2017-2005251. The announcement is available here:https://www.grants.gov/view-opportunity.html?oppId=293550.
Include in the application:
- A completed SF-424 form requesting $30,000 in Federal funds and promising $15,000 in matching funds. Provide a start date of 1 September 2017 and an end date of 31 August 2018.
- A completed SF424A budget form. Funds can be used for workshop logistics, travel and salary support for leaders. A portion of the funding may also be used to support development projects in the area(s) identified by each program.
- A Sea Grant 90-2 Short Form describing the project. Provide a start date of 1 September 2017 and an end date of 31 August 2018. The project description does not need to indicate the topic(s) that will be addressed or the communities of practice with whom the program will work. Instead, this high-level description should propose how they:
- Work with other Sea Grant Programs to identify topics of national interest that multiple programs are willing to work on, stand up or participate in one or more communities of practice with representation from multiple programs with a common interest in that topic, and identify a lead person and program for carrying out visioning activities;
- Work with the communities of practice to formulate a vision of that topic area, including a desired end state and Sea Grant's role in reaching it, and assist the communities of practice to document the visioning exercise, in documents that can be used a part of a subsequent Sea Grant visioning exercise involving the entire network;
- Carry out small projects consistent with the topic area(s), as needed to support or add value to the visioning exercise.
- Include on the 90-2 form:
- A designated PI who will be your proposal POC for this effort;
- Project start and end date. Use 1 September 2017 as the start date and 31 August 2018 as the end date; and
- At least one focus area. Unless you already know that you will be primarily participating in some other area, choose your program’s focus area (from your 2014-17 plan) that corresponds to the Resilient Communities and Economies national focus area.
Submit to the National Sea Grant Office by 31 July 2017:
A statement of the topics and teams your program are interested in pursuing to. Final topic/team options will be collated by the National Sea Grant Office and communicated to the programs by 7 August 2017.
Submit to Grants Online by 31 August 2017:
Submit additional information in an Other Award Action Request, including statement of work, 90-2 spreadsheet and 90-4 forms for the planned project.
Note: If you do not currently have an NSI Resilience Placeholder and are planning to apply for both a Network Visioning and a Sea Grant/NOAA Regional Integration award, you may combine the two in a single application.
Please direct all questions to oar.hq.sg.competitions@noaa.gov.