05-21089. Availability of Grant Funds for Fiscal Year 2006

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice; extension of solicitation period.

SUMMARY:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, publishes this notice to amend the competitive solicitation for the Ecological Forecasting (ECOFORE) program to provide an opportunity for commercial entities to submit proposals and to extend the solicitation period to provide the public more time to submit proposals.

DATES:

The new deadline for the receipt of proposals is November 18, 2005, 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 ECOFORE 2006, Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (N/SCI2), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1305 East-West Highway, SSMC4, 8th Floor Station 8243, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dr. Elizabeth Turner, 603-862-4680, [e-mail]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This program was originally solicited in the Federal Register on June 30, 2005, as part of the June 2005 NOAA Omnibus solicitation (70 FR 37766). The ECOFORE component of that Omnibus solicitation did not include commercial organizations as eligible applicants. NOAA has determined that expanding the pool of potential applicants to include commercial organizations would enhance the program's ability to make financial assistance awards to recipients with the highest level of expertise in atmospheric forecasting. The original deadline for receipt of proposals was 3 p.m. EST, on October 25, 2005. In order to allow the expanded pool of potential applicants to submit proposals, NOAA is extending the deadline for the receipt of applications to 3 p.m. EST on November 18, 2005, for both electronic and paper applications. All other requirements for this solicitation remain the same.

Limitation of Liability

Funding for this program is contingent upon the availability of Fiscal Year 2006 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 67 FR 66177 (October 30, 2002) 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 website: 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: October 17, 2005.

Charles W. Challstrom,

Acting Assistant Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service.