TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO BROWNFIELDS COMMUNITIES

Background
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible entities to provide technical assistance to assist communities facing brownfields challenges within specific geographic areas. The technical assistance provided through these agreements will cover technical support on various brownfields subject areas.

The EPA's Brownfields Program provides funds to empower states, tribal nations, communities, and nonprofit organizations to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites.

Grant Details
The technical assistance provided must be geared toward results and in helping communities move its brownfield sites forward in the process toward cleanup and reuse. The recipient will provide technical assistance, consistent with EPA policy and procedures, and serve as an independent source of information to assist communities.

The cooperative agreement recipients may provide various activities such as reviewing technical reports, providing information about environmental science and policy, facilitating meetings between stakeholders, providing assistance in understanding and complying with state Brownfields/Voluntary Cleanup Program requirements, among others.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible entities include nonfederal governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, and brownfields stakeholders. Applicants are expected to significantly invest in reaching an extensive number of communities located throughout the geographical region covered by the cooperative agreement.

Period of Performance
The project period for the TAB cooperative agreements is five years. It is anticipated that the cooperative agreement recipient will complete all deliverables under its award during the final year of its project and allow time for reporting accomplishments data and disseminating final reports as applicable.

Grant Value
The total estimated funding available under this competitive opportunity is $53,000,000. EPA anticipates awarding up to 11 cooperative agreements with a maximum value of $5,000,000 for each cooperative agreement supporting geographic areas 1-10 and $3,000,000 for geographic area 11.

Place of Performance
Due to the high number of communities requiring support nationwide, EPA divided the support into 11 different geographical areas. Ten of the cooperative agreements awarded under this solicitation will provide technical assistance to brownfields stakeholders in the geographic areas associated with the ten EPA regions (EPA intends to award one cooperative agreement for each of the ten regions). An additional cooperative agreement will be awarded to provide technical assistance nationwide.