Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Support of the National Estuary Program Watersheds Grant

Background
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible applicants for the National Estuary Program (NEP) Watersheds Grant to support projects that address urgent, emerging, and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of estuarine areas.

Grant Details
The goal of the CWA Section 320(g) NEP Watersheds grant is to address urgent, emerging, and challenging environmental issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of estuarine areas by implementing actions in EPA-approved CWA Section 320 NEP CCMPs. The NEP Watersheds grant can demonstrate measurable results toward that goal by supporting competitive subaward projects that implement Priority Actions identified in one of the 28 EPA-approved NEP CCMPs, provide results of monitoring and assessment, achieve advances in new approaches for preventing and addressing threats to estuaries, demonstrate partnerships and include diverse representation on project teams.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants under this announcement include state, interstate, tribal, inter-tribal consortia, and regional water pollution control agencies and entities; state coastal zone management agencies; and other public or nonprofit private agencies, institutions, and organizations. Nonprofit private universities and colleges and non-profit institutions of higher education are considered non-profit organizations and are eligible under this announcement. Nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply under this announcement.

Period of Performance
The successful applicant should provide EPA with a negotiated, six-year work plan covering six distinct one-year periods of performance. Subawards awarded under the cooperative agreement are anticipated to have project periods ranging from three to four years.

Grant Value
The total federal amount of funding expected to be available under this announcement is approximately $18,000,000. It is anticipated that one cooperative agreement will be incrementally funded under this announcement with a six-year project period. Funding for each subaward will range from $200,000 to $500,000 per project.

Place of Performance
Projects must occur entirely within the study area boundaries of each National Estuary Program as identified in the EPA-approved CCMP. A high-resolution map of these eligible areas can be found at www.epa.gov/nep.