Assistance to Small Shipyards Grant Program, 1832-1834 [2010-475]

Agencies

• Maritime Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1832-1834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-475]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration


Assistance to Small Shipyards Grant Program

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation, Office 
of Shipyards and Marine Technology.

ACTION: Notice of Small Shipyard Grant Program.

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Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 20.814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl Setterstrom, Director, Office of 
Shipyards and Marine Engineering, Maritime Administration, Room W21-
318, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590; phone: (202) 366-
5737; or fax: (202) 366-6988.
    Key Dates: The period for submitting grant applications, as 
mandated by statute, commenced on December 16, 2009 and will terminate 
on February 16, 2010. The applications must be received by the Maritime 
Administration by 5 p.m. EST on February 16, 2010. Applications 
received later than this time will not be considered. The Maritime 
Administration intends to award grants no later than April 15, 2010.
    Funding Opportunity: Section 54101 of Title 46, United States Code, 
and the section entitled ``Assistance to Small Shipyards'' in the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117), provide that 
the Maritime Administration shall establish an assistance program for 
small shipyards. Under this program, there is currently $14,700,000 
available for grants for capital and related improvements for qualified 
shipyard facilities that will be effective in fostering efficiency, 
competitive operations, and quality ship construction, repair, and 
reconfiguration. ($300,000 of the $15,000,000 appropriated for the 
program is reserved for program administration.) Such grants may not be 
used to construct buildings or other physical facilities or to acquire 
land unless such use is specifically approved by the Maritime 
Administration as being consistent with and supplemental to capital and 
related infrastructure improvements. Grant funds may also be used for 
maritime training programs to foster technical skills and operational 
productivity in communities whose economies are related to or dependent 
upon the maritime industry. Grants for such training programs may only 
be awarded to ``Eligible Applicants'' as described below but training 
programs can be established through vendors to such applicants.
    Award Information: The Maritime Administration intends to award the 
full amount of the available funding through grants to the extent that 
there are worthy applications. No more than 25 percent of the funds 
available will be awarded to shipyard facilities in one geographic 
location that have more than 600 production employees. The Maritime 
Administration will seek to obtain the maximum benefit from the 
available funding by awarding grants for as many of the most worthy 
projects as possible. The Maritime Administration may partially fund 
applications by selecting parts of the total project. The start date 
and period of performance for each

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award will depend on the specific project and must be agreed to by the 
Maritime Administration.
    Eligibility Information: 1. Eligible Applicants--the statutes 
referenced in ``Funding Opportunity'' above provide that shipyards can 
apply for grants. The shipyard facility for which a grant is sought 
must be in a single geographical location, located in or near a 
maritime community, and may not have more than 1,200 production 
employees. The applicant must be the operating company of the shipyard 
facility. The shipyard facility must construct, repair, or reconfigure 
vessels 40 ft. in length or greater, for commercial or government use. 
2. Eligible Projects--capital and related improvement projects that 
will be effective in fostering efficiency, competitive operations, and 
quality ship construction, repair, and reconfiguration; and training 
projects that will be effective in fostering employee skills and 
enhancing productivity. For capital improvement projects all items 
proposed for funding must be new and to be owned by the applicant. For 
both capital improvement and training projects all project costs, 
including the recipients share, must be incurred after the date of the 
grant agreement.
    Matching Requirements: The Federal funds for any eligible project 
will not exceed 75 percent of the total cost of such project. However, 
for good cause shown, the Maritime Administrator may waive the matching 
requirement in whole or in part. The remaining portion of the cost 
shall be paid in funds from or on behalf of the recipient. The 
applicant is required to submit detailed financial statements and 
supporting documentation demonstrating how and when such matching 
requirement is proposed to be funded as described below. The 
recipient's entire matching requirement must be paid prior to payment 
of any federal funds for the project.
    Application: An application should be filed on standard Form SF-424 
which can be found on the Internet at https://www.Marad.dot.gov. 
Although the form is available electronically, the application must be 
filed in hard copy as indicated below due to the amount of information 
requested. A shipyard facility in a single geographic location applying 
for multiple projects must do so in a single application. The 
application for a grant must include all of the following information 
as an addendum to Form SF-424. The information should be organized in 
sections as described below:
    Section 1: A description of the shipyard including (a) location of 
the shipyard; (b) a description of the shipyard facilities; (c) years 
in operation; (d) ownership; (e) customer base; (f) current order book 
including type of work; (g) vessels delivered (or major projects) over 
last 5 years; and (h) Web site address, if any.
    Section 2: For each project proposed for funding the following:
    (a) A comprehensive detailed description of the project including a 
statement of whether the project will replace existing equipment, and 
if so the disposition of the replaced equipment.
    (b) A description of the need for the project in relation to 
shipyard operations and business plan and an explanation of how the 
project will fulfill this need.
    (c) A quantitative analysis demonstrating how the project will be 
effective in fostering efficiency, competitive operations, and quality 
ship construction, repair, or reconfiguration (for capital improvement 
projects) or how the project will be effective in fostering employee 
skills and enhancing productivity (for training projects). The analysis 
should quantify the benefits of the projects in terms of man-hours 
saved, dollars saved, percentages, or other meaningful metrics. The 
methodology of the analysis should be explained with assumptions used 
identified and justified.
    (d) A detailed methodology and timeline for implementing the 
project.
    (e) A detailed itemization of the cost of the project together with 
supporting documentation, including current vendor quotes and estimates 
of installation costs.
    (f) A statement explaining if any elements of the project require 
action under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. sec. 
4321, et seq.) or require any licenses or permits. Items 2(a) thru 2(f) 
should be repeated, in order, for each separate project included in the 
application.
    Section 3: A table with a prioritized list of projects and total 
cost and Government portion (in dollars) for each.
    Section 4: A description of any existing programs or arrangements, 
if any, which will be used to supplement or leverage the federal grant 
assistance.
    Section 5: Special economic circumstances and conditions, if any, 
of the maritime community in which the shipyard is located (beyond that 
which is reflected in the unemployment rate of the county in which the 
shipyard is located and whether that county is in an economically 
distressed area, as defined by 42 U.S.C. 3161).
    Section 6: Shipyard company officer's certification of each of the 
following requirements:
    (a) That the shipyard facility for which a grant is sought is 
located in a single geographical location in or near a maritime 
community and (i) the shipyard facility has no more than 600 production 
employees, or (ii) the shipyard facility has more than 600 production 
employees, but less than 1,200 production employees (the shipyard 
officer must certify to one or the other of (i) or (ii));
    (b) That the applicant has the authority to carry out the proposed 
project; and
    (c) Certification in accordance with the Department of 
Transportation's regulation restricting lobbying, 49 CFR part 20, that 
the applicant has not, and will not, make any prohibited payments out 
of the requested grant.
    Certifications are not required to be notarized.
    Section 7: Unique identifier of shipyard's parent company (when 
applicable): Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS + 4 number) (when 
applicable).
    Section 8: 2008 or 2009 (if available) year-end audited, reviewed 
or compiled financial statements, prepared by a certified public 
accountant, according to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, 
not on an income tax basis. September 30, 2009 financial statements 
prepared by the company if December 31, 2009 CPA-prepared statements 
are not available. Do not provide tax returns.
    Section 9: Statement regarding the relationship between applicants 
and any parents, subsidiaries or affiliates, if any such entity is 
going to provide a portion of the match.
    Section 10: Evidence documenting applicant's ability to make 
proposed matching requirement (loan agreement, commitment from 
investors, cash on balance sheet, etc.) and in the times outlined in 
2(d) above.
    Section 11: Pro-forma financial statements reflecting (a) September 
30, or December 31, 2009 financial condition; (b) effect on balance 
sheet of grant and matching funds (i.e., a decrease in cash or increase 
in debt, additional equity and an increase in fixed assets); and (c) 
impact on company's projected financial condition (balance sheet) of 
completion of project, showing that company will have sufficient 
financial resources to remain in business.
    Section 12: Statement whether during the past five years, the 
applicant or any predecessor or related company has been in bankruptcy 
or in reorganization

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under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, or in any insolvency or 
reorganization proceedings, and whether any substantial property of the 
applicant or any predecessor or related company has been acquired in 
any such proceeding or has been subject to foreclosure or receivership 
during such period. If so, give details.
    Additional information may be requested as deemed necessary by the 
Maritime Administration in order to facilitate and complete its review 
of the application. If such information is not provided, the Maritime 
Administration may deem the application incomplete and cease processing 
it.
    Where to File Application: Submit an original copy and one 
additional paper copy of the application and two CDs each containing an 
electronic copy only, no additional information of the application in 
PDF format to: Associate Administrator for Business and Workforce 
Development, Room W21-318, Maritime Administration, 1200 New Jersey 
Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590.
    Evaluation of Applications: The Maritime Administration will 
evaluate the applications on the basis of how well the project for 
which a grant is requested would be effective in fostering efficiency, 
competitive operations, and quality ship construction, repair, and 
reconfiguration (for capital improvement projects) or how well the 
project for which a grant is requested would be effective in fostering 
employee skills and enhancing productivity (for training projects) and 
the economic circumstances and conditions of the surrounding community. 
The economic circumstances and conditions will be based upon the 
unemployment rate of the county in which the shipyard is located and 
whether that county is an economically distressed area, supplemented by 
any special economic circumstances and conditions identified by the 
applicant. The Maritime Administration will award grants in its sole 
discretion in such amounts and under such conditions it determines will 
best further the statutory purposes of the small shipyard grant 
program. Projects that may require additional environmental assessments 
such as those including waterside improvements (dredging, bulk heading, 
pier work, pilings, etc.) will not be considered for funding. 
Preference will be given to funding applications: (1) From companies 
that have not previously been awarded a small shipyard grant; (2) that 
propose matching funds greater than a 25% share of the project; (3) 
that impact existing operations and/or product lines rather than expand 
the capabilities of the shipyard into new product lines or 
capabilities; and (4) that result in a geographic diversity of grant 
recipients.
    Potential applicants are advised that it is expected, based on past 
experience, that applications will far exceed the funds available and 
that only a small percentage of applications will be funded. It is 
anticipated that between 10 and 15 applications will be selected for 
funding with an average grant amount of $1 to $1.5 million.
    Conditions Attached to Awards: The grant agreement will set out the 
records to be maintained by the recipient that must be available for 
review and audit by the Maritime Administration, as well as any other 
conditions and requirements.

    Dated: January 7, 2010.

    By Order of the Acting Maritime Administrator.
Murray Bloom,
Acting Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-475 Filed 1-12-10; 8:45 am]
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