E7-1314. Availability of Grant Funds for Fiscal Year 2007

AGENCY:

National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Amendment of Notice; Extension of Solicitation Period and Eligibility Change

SUMMARY:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, publishes this notice to amend the competitive solicitation for the Social Science Fellowship in the National Estuarine Research Reserve Program to modify the eligibility criteria to allow part-time students to apply for the program. In addition, two National Estuarine Research Reserves are being added to the list of eligible reserves where candidates can propose their research including the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Watsonville, California. Due to these amendments, the solicitation period is extended to allow eligible candidates time to submit applications.

DATES:

The new deadline for the receipt of proposals is 11 p.m. EST, February 28, 2007, for both electronic and paper applications.

ADDRESSES:

The address for submitting proposals electronically is: http://www.grants.gov/​. (Electronic submission is strongly encouraged). Paper submissions should be sent to the attention of Erica Seiden, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Estuarine Reserves Division (N/ORM5), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1305 East-West Highway, SSMC4, 10th Floor Station 10542, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For further information, contact: Erica Seiden 301-563-1172, [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This program was originally solicited in the Federal Register on December 18, 2006 (71 FR 75712). Since the date of publication of the original solicitation, two Estuarine Reserve sites have indicated to the program that they were interested in hosting graduate fellows. In addition, the program received a number of inquiries from part-time graduate students indicating their interest in participating in this new fellowship program. As a result, NOAA amends the competitive solicitation for the Social Science Fellowship in the National Estuarine Research Reserve Program to add Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Watsonville, California to the list of eligible reserves where candidates can propose their research, and to modify the eligibility criteria to allow part-time students to apply for the program. In order to accommodate the two new sites and allow the expanded pool of potential applicants to submit proposals, NOAA is extending the deadline for the receipt of applications from 11 p.m. EST, on February 1, 2007 to 11 p.m. EST, on February 28, 2007, for both electronic and paper applications. All other requirements for this solicitation remain the same as that published on December 18, 2006 (71 FR 75712).

Limitation of Liability

Funding for this program is contingent upon the availability of Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations. Applicants are hereby given notice that funds have not yet been appropriated for the programs listed in this notice. 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.

Universal Identifier

Applicants should be aware that they are required to provide a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number during the application process. See the October 30, 2002, Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 210, pp. 66177-66178, for additional information. Organizations can receive a DUNS number at no cost by calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS Number request line at 1-866-705-5711 or via the Internet (http://www.dunandbradstreet.com).

National Environmental 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: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/​, including our NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/​NAO216_​6_​TOC.pdf, and the Council on Environmental Quality implementation regulations, http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/​nepa/​regs/​ceq/​toc_​ceq.htm Consequently, as part of an applicant's 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 feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their proposal. The failure to do so shall be grounds for not selecting an application. In some cases if additional information is required after an application is selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer under a special award condition requiring the recipient to submit additional environmental compliance information sufficient to enable NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on the environment.

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.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This document contains collection-of-information requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The use of Standard Forms 424, 424A, 424B, SF-LLL, and CD-346 has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the respective control numbers 0348-0043, 0348-0044, 0348-0040, 0348-0046, and 0605-0001. 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 PRA unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Executive Order 12866

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

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

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

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 comment 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.

Dated: January 22, 2007.

David M. Kennedy,

Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.