Oceans and Human Health Initiative; External Grants Program, 15067-15070 [05-5834]
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 56 / Thursday, March 24, 2005 / Notices
The final results continue to be due 120
days after publication of the preliminary
results.
We are issuing this notice in
accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of
the Act.
Dated: March 18, 2005.
Barbara E. Tillman,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import
Administration.
[FR Doc. E5–1296 Filed 3–23–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[I.D. 031705F]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic
Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish Fisheries
Management in the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Management Area and
the Gulf of Alaska
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comments.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery
Management Council (Council) has
submitted for Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) review Amendment 83 to the
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for
Groundfish of the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Management Area
(BSAI) and Amendment 75 to the FMP
for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska
(GOA). If approved, the amendments
would provide housekeeping revisions
to the FMPs. The proposed revisions
would update harvest, ecosystem, and
socioeconomic information, consolidate
text, and reorganize the documents. The
intent of this action is to provide more
recent information in the FMPs and to
make them easier to read. This action
will promote the goals and objectives of
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMPs, and
other applicable laws. Comments from
the public are welcome.
DATES: Written comments on
Amendments 83 and 75 must be
received by May 23, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue
Salveson, Assistant Regional
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries
Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn:
Lori Durall. Comments may be
submitted by:
• Mail to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK
99802;
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• Hand delivery to the Federal
Building, 709 West 9th Street, Room
420A, Juneau, AK;
• FAX to 907–586–7557; or
• E-mail to 8375noa@noaa.gov.
Include in the subject line the following
document identifier: 83–75 NOA. E-mail
comments, with or without attachments,
are limited to 5 megabytes.
Copies of Amendments 83 and 75
may be obtained from the NMFS Alaska
Region at the address above or from the
Alaska Region website at https://
www.fakr.noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Melanie Brown, phone: 907–586–7228
or e-mail: melanie.brown@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that the
Council submit any FMP amendment it
prepares to the Secretary for review and
approval, disapproval, or partial
approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act
also requires that the Secretary, upon
receiving an FMP amendment,
immediately publish a notice in the
Federal Register that the amendment is
available for public review and
comment.
The Council prepared and the
Secretary approved the FMP for
Groundfish of the GOA in 1978 and the
FMP for Groundfish of the BSAI in
1981. Both FMPs have been amended
numerous times.
Amendments 83 and 75 were
unanimously recommended by the
Council in December 2004. If approved
by the Secretary, these amendments
would: (1) update harvest, ecosystem,
and socioeconomic information, (2)
consolidate text, and (3) reorganize the
documents. The intent of this action is
to provide more recent information in
the FMPs and to make them easier to
read.
The Council also recommended
revising the harvest specifications
process set forth in the FMPs to be
consistent with Amendments 81 and 74
to the FMPs (69 FR 31091, June 2, 2004).
These amendments were approved by
the Secretary in August 2004.
Amendments 81 and 74 added new
policy objectives to the FMPs, including
the objective to adopt conservative
harvest levels for multi-species and
single species fisheries. Amendments 83
and 75 would amend the FMPs’
description of the harvest specifications
process by adding the provision that
total allowable catch for species or
species groups be set equal to or less
than the acceptable biological catch.
This revision would ensure that harvest
levels are set conservatively and
consistent with the FMP management
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15067
policy and objectives to prevent
overfishing.
Public comments are being solicited
on proposed Amendments 83 and 75
through the end of the comment period
stated (see DATES). All comments
received by the end of the comment
period on the amendments will be
considered in the approval/partial
approval/disapproval decision.
Comments received after that date will
not be considered in the approval/
partial approval/disapproval decision
on the amendments. To be considered,
written comments must be received not
just postmarked or otherwise
transmitted by the close of business on
the last day of the comment period.
Dated: March 18, 2005.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05–5858 Filed 3–23–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–S
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[Docket No. 040113014–5064–02; I.D.
031705C]
Oceans and Human Health Initiative;
External Grants Program
Center for Sponsored Coastal
Ocean Research (CSCOR), National
Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
(NCCOS), National Ocean Service
(NOS), National Ocean and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The purpose of this document
is to advise the public that NOS/CSCOR
is soliciting proposals for the Oceans
and Human Health Initiative External
Grants Program. This funding
opportunity is offered as part of NOAA’s
new Oceans and Human Health
Initiative (OHHI), established by the
Oceans and Human Health Act passed
by Congress in November 2004. The
OHHI is a competitive suite of programs
designed to enhance understanding of
the connections between the oceans and
human health, with the goal of
providing useful research and predictive
information to NOAA, public health
officials, and natural resource managers.
For the purposes of this announcement,
‘‘oceans’’ are defined as inclusive of the
Great Lakes, estuaries, and the ocean.
DATES: Proposals must be received at
NOAA’s CSCOR office by 3 p.m. eastern
time on April 26, 2005.
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 56 / Thursday, March 24, 2005 / Notices
Applications submitted in
response to this announcement are
strongly encouraged to be submitted
through the Grants.gov Web site.
Electronic access to the full funding
announcement for this program is
available via the Grants.gov Web site:
https://www.grants.gov. The
announcement will also be available at
the NOAA Web site https://
www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/
SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the
program official identified below.
Paper applications (a signed original
and two copies) should be submitted to
the Oceans and Human Health
Initiative, Center for Sponsored Coastal
Ocean Research, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, 1305 East
West Highway, SSMC 4, 8th floor
Station 8243, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Program Management Information: Hal
Stanford, NCCOS HQ, (301) 713–3020/
ext. 135, Internet:
Hal.Stanford@noaa.gov. Business
Management Information: Leslie
McDonald, NCCOS/CSCOR Grants
Administrator, (301) 713–3338/ext. 155,
Internet: Leslie.Mcdonald@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:
Background
Summary Description
The OHHI is designed to enhance
NOAA’s capability in oceans and
human health through partnerships
with academia, the private sector, and
other Federal, State, and local agencies.
Toward that end, this funding
opportunity is intended to engage the
non-federal research community in
research across the physical, chemical,
biological, medical, public health, and
social sciences on priority issues for the
OHHI. The OHHI has several priority
areas described below by focus
questions and specific areas of interest;
these can be examined individually or
in combination:
1. Pathogens: The risk of human
disease occurrence as a function of
exposure to pathogens in marine and
coastal environments (including water
contact recreation and consumption of
fish, shellfish, and other marine
organisms).
2. Marine Biotoxins: The risk of
human disease as a function of exposure
to marine biotoxins in the environment,
and how do the effects of specific
environmental stressors (e.g., changes in
habitats, nutrient enrichment,
environmental pollutants, climate,
extreme events, land use, etc.) affect the
risk of human exposure to biotoxins.
3. Chemical Pollutants: The ecological
and human health risks from
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contaminants in the marine and Great
Lakes.
4. Seafood and Public Health: The
potential for seafood to be a vector for
chemical contaminants, biotoxins, and
microbial pathogens to humans.
5. Sentinel and Model Species: How
investigations of sentinel species (living
in or dependent upon estuarine, coastal,
Great Lake or oceanic ecosystems) can
better inform our understanding of risks
to human health or inform our
understanding of ocean health as it
relates directly or indirectly to changes
in risk for human or public health.
6. Marine Natural Products,
Pharmaceuticals, and Biomedical
Research: The biomedical value of
marine natural products (including, but
not limited to, providing
pharmaceuticals, medical devices,
molecular probes, nutritional
supplements, diagnostics and
pigments).
All research proposals should include
appropriate outreach and education
components that facilitate the transfer of
research findings to such user groups as
public health officials and natural
resource managers at local, State and
Federal levels. Ideally, these user groups
would be engaged early in the research
process, with their documented interest
in the outcome of the proposed research
included in the proposal.
A non-federal partner should lead the
proposal. Participation of Federal
scientist(s) on the team is allowed but
no Federal expenses will be covered.
Applicants are encouraged to
collaborate with the NOAA Oceans and
Human Health Centers of Excellence
https://www.ogp.noaa.gov/mpe/ohi/
index.htm, the National Science
Foundation (NSF)/National Institute for
Environmental Health sciences (NIEHS)
Centers of Excellence in Oceans and
Human Health, and NOAA scientists
and other Federal and non-federal
researchers working on OHHI or related
issues as described in this
announcement. Applicants will be
required to provide a plan for
management and submission of data to
NOAA, to participate in an annual
OHHI research meeting, and to provide
information for the development of an
annual OHHI report required by
Congress.
Electronic Access
As has been the case since October 1,
2004, applicants can access, download
and submit electronic grant
applications, including the full funding
announcement, for NOAA Programs at
the Grants.gov Web site: grants. gov. The
announcement will also be available at
the NOAA Web site https://
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www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/
SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the
program officials identified above.
The closing date will be the same as
for the paper submissions noted in this
announcement. NOAA strongly
recommends that you do not wait until
the application deadline date to begin
the application process through
Grants.gov.
If Internet access is unavailable, hard
copies of proposals will also be
accepted—a signed original and two
copies at time of submission. This
includes color or high-resolution
graphics, unusually sized materials, or
otherwise unusual materials submitted
as part of the proposal. For color
graphics, submit either color originals or
color copies. Facsimile transmissions
and electronic mail submission of full
proposals will not be accepted.
Funding Availability
Funding is contingent upon
availability of Federal appropriations.
This solicitation announces that funding
totaling approximately $5,880 million is
available to support proposed projects,
which may have durations from 1–3
years. Approximately 5–20 awards are
expected from this announcement. It is
anticipated that the funding instruments
for most of the awards will be grants;
however, in some cases, if NOAA will
be substantially involved in the
implementation of an individual
project, the funding instrument may be
a cooperative agreement.
There is no guarantee that sufficient
funds will be available to make awards
for all qualified projects. If one incurs
any costs prior to receiving an award
agreement signed by an authorized
NOAA official, one would do solely at
one’s own risk of these costs not being
included under the ward.
Authority: Public Law 108–447.
CFDA: 11.478.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are institutions of
higher education, hospitals, other nonprofit institutions, commercial
organizations, State and local
governments, and Indian tribal
governments.
Federal agencies are not eligible to
receive Federal assistance under this
notice.
Cost Sharing Requirements: None.
Intergovernmental Review:
Applications under this program are not
subject to Executive Order 12372,
‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal
Programs.’’
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 56 / Thursday, March 24, 2005 / Notices
Evaluation and Selection Procedures
Once a full application has been
received by NOAA, an initial
administrative review is conducted to
determine compliance with
requirements and completeness of the
application. All proposals will be
evaluated and scored individually in
accordance with the assigned weights of
the evaluation criteria by independent
peer mail review and/or by independent
peer panel review. Both Federal and
non-Federal experts in the field may be
used in this process. The peer mail
reviewers will be individuals with
expertise in the subjects addressed by
particular proposals. Each mail reviewer
and independent peer panel reviewer
will score proposals on a scale of five
to one, where scores represent
respectively: Excellent (5), Very Good
(4), Good (3), Fair (2), Poor (1).
The peer panel will be comprised of
10 to 20 individuals, with each
individual having expertise in a
separate area, so that the panel, as a
whole, covers a range of scientific
expertise. If the decision is made to
perform a mail review, the peer review
panel will use the mail reviews in
discussion and evaluation of the entire
slate of proposals. All proposals will be
evaluated and scored individually. The
peer panel shall rate the proposals using
the evaluation criteria and scores
provided in the notice. The individual
peer panelist scores shall be averaged
for each application and presented to
the program officers. No consensus
advice will be given by the independent
peer mail review or the review panel.
The program officers will neither vote
nor score proposals as part of the
independent peer panel nor participate
in discussion of the merits of the
proposal. Those proposals receiving an
average panel score of ‘‘Fair’’ or ‘‘Poor’’
will not be given further consideration,
and proposers will be notified of nonselection.
Proposals rated by the panel as either
‘‘Excellent,’’ ‘‘Very Good,’’ or ‘‘Good’’
will be ranked according to average
panel ratings, and/or by applying the
project selection factors listed below.
Program officers will determine the total
duration of funding for each proposal
and determine the amount of funds
available for each proposal subject to
the availability of fiscal year funds. In
addition, proposals rated by the panel as
either ‘‘Excellent,’’ ‘‘Very Good,’’ or
‘‘Good’’ that are not funded in the
current fiscal period, may be considered
for funding in another fiscal period
without having to repeat the
competitive review process.
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Recommendations for funding are
then forwarded to the selecting official,
the Assistant Administrator (AA) of
NOS, for the final funding decision. In
making the final selections, the AA will
award in rank order unless the proposal
is justified to be selected out of rank
order based on the selection factors
listed below.
Investigators may be asked to modify
objectives, work plans or budgets, and
provide supplemental information
required by the agency prior to the
award. When a decision has been made
(whether an award or declination),
verbatim anonymous copies of reviews
and summaries of review panel
deliberations, if any, will be made
available to the proposer upon applicant
request. Declined applications will be
held in the NCCOS/CSCOR or the
required three years in accordance with
the current retention requirements, and
then destroyed.
Evaluation Criteria: Proposals will be
evaluated on the basis of the following
evaluation criteria at the indicated
weights:
1. Importance and/or relevance and
applicability of proposed project to the
program goals: This ascertains whether
there is intrinsic value in the proposed
work and/or relevance to NOAA,
Federal, regional, State, or local
activities (30 percent).
2. Technical/scientific merit: This
assesses whether the approach is
technically sound and/or innovative, if
the methods are appropriate, and
whether there are clear project goals and
objectives. (30 percent).
3. Overall qualifications of applicants:
This ascertains whether the applicant
possesses the necessary education,
experience, training, facilities, and
administrative resources to accomplish
the project (20 percent).
4, Project costs: The Budget is
evaluated to determine if it is realistic
and commensurate with the project
needs and time-frame (10 percent).
5. Outreach and education: NOAA
assesses whether this project provides a
focused and effective education and
outreach strategy reading NOAA’s
mission to protect the Nation’s natural
resources. (10 percent).
Selection Factors: The merit review
ratings shall provide a rank order to the
Selecting Official for final funding
recommendations. A program officer
may first make recommendations to the
Selecting Official applying the selection
factors below. The Selecting Official
shall award in the rank order unless the
proposal is justified to be selected out
of rank order based upon one or more
of the following factors:
1. Availability of funding.
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15069
2. Balance/distribution of funds:
a. Geographically.
b. By type of institutions.
c. By type of partners.
d. By research areas.
e. By project types.
3. Whether this project duplicates
other projects funded or considered for
funding by NOAA or other Federal
agencies.
4. Program priorities and policy
factors set forth in sections I.A. and B.
and IV.B of the Full Funding
Opportunity.
5. Applicant’s prior award
performance.
6. Partnerships and/or Participation of
targeted groups.
7. Adequacy of information necessary
for NOAA to make a NEPA
determination and draft necessary
documentation before recommendations
for funding are made to the Grants
Officer.
National Endowment 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 Web site: https://
www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our
NOAA Administrative Order 216–6 for
NEPA, https://www.nepa.noaa.gov/
NAO216_6_TOC.pdf, and the Council
on Environmental Quality
implementation regulations, https://
ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/
toc_ceq.htm).
Consequently, as part of the
applicants’ 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 nonindigenous 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
and implementing feasible measures to
reduce or avoid any identified adverse
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 56 / Thursday, March 24, 2005 / Notices
environmental impacts of their
proposal. The failure to do so shall be
grounds for the denial of an application.
Pre-Award Notification Requirements
for Grants and Cooperative Agreements
The Department of Commerce PreAward 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.
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. Recipients and sub
recipients are subject to all Federal laws
and agency policies, regulations and
procedures applicable to Federal
financial assistance awards.
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, and none has been prepared.
It has been determined that this notice
does not contain policies with
Federalism implications as that term is
defined in Executive Order 13132.
Dated: March 21, 2005.
Richard W. Spinrad,
Assistant Administrator, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, National
Ocean Service.
[FR Doc. 05–5834 Filed 3–23–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–JS–M
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Innovation and Improvement;
Overview Information; Credit
Enhancement for Charter School
Facilities Program; Notice Inviting
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2005
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
(CFDA) Number: 84.
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Jkt 205001
Dates: Applications Available: March
28, 2005.
Date of Pre-Application Meeting: May
6, 2005.
Deadline for Transmittal of
Applications: May 31, 2005.
Deadline for Intergovernmental
Review: August 1, 2005.
Eligible Applicants: (A) A public
entity, such as a State or local
governmental entity; (B) A private,
nonprofit entity; or (C) A consortium of
entities described in (A) and (B).
Note: The Secretary will make, if possible,
at least one award in each of the three
categories of eligible applicants.
Estimated Available Funds:
$36,940,000. Contingent upon the
availability of funds and the quality of
applications, we may make additional
awards in future years from the list of
unfunded applications from this
competition.
Estimated Range of Awards:
$2,500,000–$15,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards:
$9,235,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 3–5.
Note: The Department is not bound by any
estimates in this notice.
Project Period: From the start date
indicated on the grant award document
until the Federal funds and earnings on
those funds have been expended for the
grant purposes or until financing
facilitated by the grant has been retired,
whichever is later.
Full Text of Announcement
I. Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose of Program: This program
will provide grants to eligible entities to
permit them to enhance the credit of
charter schools so that they can access
private-sector and other non-Federal
capital to acquire, construct, and
renovate facilities at a reasonable cost.
Grant projects awarded under this
program will be of sufficient size, scope,
and quality to enable the grantees to
implement effective strategies.
Priority: In accordance with 34 CFR
75.105(b)(2)(ii), this priority is from the
regulations for this program (34 CFR
225.12), which are published elsewhere
in this issue of the Federal Register.
Competitive Preference Priority: For
FY 2005 this priority is a competitive
preference priority. Under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i) we award up to an
additional 15 points to an application,
depending on how well the application
meets this priority.
This priority is:
The capacity to offer public school
choice in those communities with the
greatest need for school choice based
on—
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(1) The extent to which the applicant
would target services to geographic
areas in which a large proportion or
number of public schools have been
identified for improvement, corrective
action, or restructuring under Title I of
the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as
amended by the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001;
(2) The extent to which the applicant
would target services to geographic
areas in which a large proportion of
students perform below proficient on
State academic assessments; and
(3) The extent to which the applicant
would target services to communities
with large proportions of students from
low-income families.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7223–
7223j.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The
Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in
34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82,
84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99. (b) The
regulations for this program in 34 CFR
part 225, which are published elsewhere
in this issue of the Federal Register.
Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79
apply to all applicants except federally
recognized Indian tribes.
II. Award Information
Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds:
$36,940,000. Contingent upon the
availability of funds and the quality of
applications, we may make additional
awards in future years from the list of
unfunded applications from this
competition.
Estimated Range of Awards:
$2,500,000–$15,000,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards:
$9,235,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 3–5.
Note: The Department is not bound by any
estimates in this notice.
Project Period: From the start date
indicated on the grant award document
until the Federal funds and earnings on
those funds have been expended for the
grant purposes or until financing
facilitated by the grant has been retired,
whichever is later.
III. Eligibility Information
1. Eligible Applicants: (A) A public
entity, such as a State or local
governmental entity; (B) A private,
nonprofit entity; or (C) A consortium of
entities described in (A) and (B).
Note: The Secretary will make, if possible,
at least one award in each of the three
categories of eligible applicants.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 56 (Thursday, March 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15067-15070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-5834]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Docket No. 040113014-5064-02; I.D. 031705C]
Oceans and Human Health Initiative; External Grants Program
AGENCY: Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR), National
Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), National Ocean Service
(NOS), National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department
of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this document is to advise the public that NOS/
CSCOR is soliciting proposals for the Oceans and Human Health
Initiative External Grants Program. This funding opportunity is offered
as part of NOAA's new Oceans and Human Health Initiative (OHHI),
established by the Oceans and Human Health Act passed by Congress in
November 2004. The OHHI is a competitive suite of programs designed to
enhance understanding of the connections between the oceans and human
health, with the goal of providing useful research and predictive
information to NOAA, public health officials, and natural resource
managers. For the purposes of this announcement, ``oceans'' are defined
as inclusive of the Great Lakes, estuaries, and the ocean.
DATES: Proposals must be received at NOAA's CSCOR office by 3 p.m.
eastern time on April 26, 2005.
[[Page 15068]]
ADDRESSES: Applications submitted in response to this announcement are
strongly encouraged to be submitted through the Grants.gov Web site.
Electronic access to the full funding announcement for this program is
available via the Grants.gov Web site: https://www.grants.gov. The
announcement will also be available at the NOAA Web site https://
www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the program
official identified below.
Paper applications (a signed original and two copies) should be
submitted to the Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Center for
Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, 1305 East West Highway, SSMC 4, 8th floor Station 8243,
Silver Spring, MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Program Management Information: Hal
Stanford, NCCOS HQ, (301) 713-3020/ext. 135, Internet:
Hal.Stanford@noaa.gov. Business Management Information: Leslie
McDonald, NCCOS/CSCOR Grants Administrator, (301) 713-3338/ext. 155,
Internet: Leslie.Mcdonald@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Summary Description
The OHHI is designed to enhance NOAA's capability in oceans and
human health through partnerships with academia, the private sector,
and other Federal, State, and local agencies. Toward that end, this
funding opportunity is intended to engage the non-federal research
community in research across the physical, chemical, biological,
medical, public health, and social sciences on priority issues for the
OHHI. The OHHI has several priority areas described below by focus
questions and specific areas of interest; these can be examined
individually or in combination:
1. Pathogens: The risk of human disease occurrence as a function of
exposure to pathogens in marine and coastal environments (including
water contact recreation and consumption of fish, shellfish, and other
marine organisms).
2. Marine Biotoxins: The risk of human disease as a function of
exposure to marine biotoxins in the environment, and how do the effects
of specific environmental stressors (e.g., changes in habitats,
nutrient enrichment, environmental pollutants, climate, extreme events,
land use, etc.) affect the risk of human exposure to biotoxins.
3. Chemical Pollutants: The ecological and human health risks from
contaminants in the marine and Great Lakes.
4. Seafood and Public Health: The potential for seafood to be a
vector for chemical contaminants, biotoxins, and microbial pathogens to
humans.
5. Sentinel and Model Species: How investigations of sentinel
species (living in or dependent upon estuarine, coastal, Great Lake or
oceanic ecosystems) can better inform our understanding of risks to
human health or inform our understanding of ocean health as it relates
directly or indirectly to changes in risk for human or public health.
6. Marine Natural Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Biomedical
Research: The biomedical value of marine natural products (including,
but not limited to, providing pharmaceuticals, medical devices,
molecular probes, nutritional supplements, diagnostics and pigments).
All research proposals should include appropriate outreach and
education components that facilitate the transfer of research findings
to such user groups as public health officials and natural resource
managers at local, State and Federal levels. Ideally, these user groups
would be engaged early in the research process, with their documented
interest in the outcome of the proposed research included in the
proposal.
A non-federal partner should lead the proposal. Participation of
Federal scientist(s) on the team is allowed but no Federal expenses
will be covered. Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with the NOAA
Oceans and Human Health Centers of Excellence https://www.ogp.noaa.gov/
mpe/ohi/index.htm, the National Science Foundation (NSF)/National
Institute for Environmental Health sciences (NIEHS) Centers of
Excellence in Oceans and Human Health, and NOAA scientists and other
Federal and non-federal researchers working on OHHI or related issues
as described in this announcement. Applicants will be required to
provide a plan for management and submission of data to NOAA, to
participate in an annual OHHI research meeting, and to provide
information for the development of an annual OHHI report required by
Congress.
Electronic Access
As has been the case since October 1, 2004, applicants can access,
download and submit electronic grant applications, including the full
funding announcement, for NOAA Programs at the Grants.gov Web site:
grants. gov. The announcement will also be available at the NOAA Web
site https://www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the
program officials identified above.
The closing date will be the same as for the paper submissions
noted in this announcement. NOAA strongly recommends that you do not
wait until the application deadline date to begin the application
process through Grants.gov.
If Internet access is unavailable, hard copies of proposals will
also be accepted--a signed original and two copies at time of
submission. This includes color or high-resolution graphics, unusually
sized materials, or otherwise unusual materials submitted as part of
the proposal. For color graphics, submit either color originals or
color copies. Facsimile transmissions and electronic mail submission of
full proposals will not be accepted.
Funding Availability
Funding is contingent upon availability of Federal appropriations.
This solicitation announces that funding totaling approximately $5,880
million is available to support proposed projects, which may have
durations from 1-3 years. Approximately 5-20 awards are expected from
this announcement. It is anticipated that the funding instruments for
most of the awards will be grants; however, in some cases, if NOAA will
be substantially involved in the implementation of an individual
project, the funding instrument may be a cooperative agreement.
There is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to
make awards for all qualified projects. If one incurs any costs prior
to receiving an award agreement signed by an authorized NOAA official,
one would do solely at one's own risk of these costs not being included
under the ward.
Authority: Public Law 108-447.
CFDA: 11.478.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education,
hospitals, other non-profit institutions, commercial organizations,
State and local governments, and Indian tribal governments.
Federal agencies are not eligible to receive Federal assistance
under this notice.
Cost Sharing Requirements: None.
Intergovernmental Review: Applications under this program are not
subject to Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal
Programs.''
[[Page 15069]]
Evaluation and Selection Procedures
Once a full application has been received by NOAA, an initial
administrative review is conducted to determine compliance with
requirements and completeness of the application. All proposals will be
evaluated and scored individually in accordance with the assigned
weights of the evaluation criteria by independent peer mail review and/
or by independent peer panel review. Both Federal and non-Federal
experts in the field may be used in this process. The peer mail
reviewers will be individuals with expertise in the subjects addressed
by particular proposals. Each mail reviewer and independent peer panel
reviewer will score proposals on a scale of five to one, where scores
represent respectively: Excellent (5), Very Good (4), Good (3), Fair
(2), Poor (1).
The peer panel will be comprised of 10 to 20 individuals, with each
individual having expertise in a separate area, so that the panel, as a
whole, covers a range of scientific expertise. If the decision is made
to perform a mail review, the peer review panel will use the mail
reviews in discussion and evaluation of the entire slate of proposals.
All proposals will be evaluated and scored individually. The peer panel
shall rate the proposals using the evaluation criteria and scores
provided in the notice. The individual peer panelist scores shall be
averaged for each application and presented to the program officers. No
consensus advice will be given by the independent peer mail review or
the review panel.
The program officers will neither vote nor score proposals as part
of the independent peer panel nor participate in discussion of the
merits of the proposal. Those proposals receiving an average panel
score of ``Fair'' or ``Poor'' will not be given further consideration,
and proposers will be notified of non-selection.
Proposals rated by the panel as either ``Excellent,'' ``Very
Good,'' or ``Good'' will be ranked according to average panel ratings,
and/or by applying the project selection factors listed below. Program
officers will determine the total duration of funding for each proposal
and determine the amount of funds available for each proposal subject
to the availability of fiscal year funds. In addition, proposals rated
by the panel as either ``Excellent,'' ``Very Good,'' or ``Good'' that
are not funded in the current fiscal period, may be considered for
funding in another fiscal period without having to repeat the
competitive review process.
Recommendations for funding are then forwarded to the selecting
official, the Assistant Administrator (AA) of NOS, for the final
funding decision. In making the final selections, the AA will award in
rank order unless the proposal is justified to be selected out of rank
order based on the selection factors listed below.
Investigators may be asked to modify objectives, work plans or
budgets, and provide supplemental information required by the agency
prior to the award. When a decision has been made (whether an award or
declination), verbatim anonymous copies of reviews and summaries of
review panel deliberations, if any, will be made available to the
proposer upon applicant request. Declined applications will be held in
the NCCOS/CSCOR or the required three years in accordance with the
current retention requirements, and then destroyed.
Evaluation Criteria: Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of
the following evaluation criteria at the indicated weights:
1. Importance and/or relevance and applicability of proposed
project to the program goals: This ascertains whether there is
intrinsic value in the proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, Federal,
regional, State, or local activities (30 percent).
2. Technical/scientific merit: This assesses whether the approach
is technically sound and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate,
and whether there are clear project goals and objectives. (30 percent).
3. Overall qualifications of applicants: This ascertains whether
the applicant possesses the necessary education, experience, training,
facilities, and administrative resources to accomplish the project (20
percent).
4, Project costs: The Budget is evaluated to determine if it is
realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time-frame (10
percent).
5. Outreach and education: NOAA assesses whether this project
provides a focused and effective education and outreach strategy
reading NOAA's mission to protect the Nation's natural resources. (10
percent).
Selection Factors: The merit review ratings shall provide a rank
order to the Selecting Official for final funding recommendations. A
program officer may first make recommendations to the Selecting
Official applying the selection factors below. The Selecting Official
shall award in the rank order unless the proposal is justified to be
selected out of rank order based upon one or more of the following
factors:
1. Availability of funding.
2. Balance/distribution of funds:
a. Geographically.
b. By type of institutions.
c. By type of partners.
d. By research areas.
e. By project types.
3. Whether this project duplicates other projects funded or
considered for funding by NOAA or other Federal agencies.
4. Program priorities and policy factors set forth in sections I.A.
and B. and IV.B of the Full Funding Opportunity.
5. Applicant's prior award performance.
6. Partnerships and/or Participation of targeted groups.
7. Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA to make a NEPA
determination and draft necessary documentation before recommendations
for funding are made to the Grants Officer.
National Endowment 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 Web site: https://www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our
NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, https://www.nepa.noaa.gov/
NAO216_6_TOC.pdf, and the Council on Environmental Quality
implementation regulations, https://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/toc_
ceq.htm).
Consequently, as part of the applicants' 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 and implementing
feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse
[[Page 15070]]
environmental impacts of their proposal. The failure to do so shall be
grounds for the denial of an application.
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.
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. Recipients and sub
recipients are subject to all Federal laws and agency policies,
regulations and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance
awards.
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, and none has been prepared. It has been determined that
this notice does not contain policies with Federalism implications as
that term is defined in Executive Order 13132.
Dated: March 21, 2005.
Richard W. Spinrad,
Assistant Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, National Ocean Service.
[FR Doc. 05-5834 Filed 3-23-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JS-M
