FY19-20 CRCP State and Territorial Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, as authorized by the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, provides matching awards of financial assistance to State, Territorial and Commonwealth resource management agencies appointed by their respective Governors to serve as the primary point of contact agencies for coral reef conservation activities in each of the jurisdictions of American Samoa, Florida, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The awards are administered as cooperative agreements to enable the collaboration and involvement of NOAA in the planning and implementation of the work. The objective of these Cooperative Agreements is to support coral reef management and monitoring programs and conservation projects that seek to improve the condition of coral reef ecosystem resources located in these seven U.S. States, Territories and Commonwealths.

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Eligible applicants are limited to the State, Territorial and Commonwealth natural resource management agencies that were appointed by their respective Governors to serve as the primary point of contact agencies for coral reef conservation activities in each of the jurisdictions of American Samoa, Florida, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.The designated point of contact agency is considered to be the lead applicant on any proposal and is responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the purposes of, and in a manner consistent with, this program, including any Federal funds awarded to an eligible sub-recipient.NOAA employees and affiliates (contract staff) are not permitted to assist in the preparation of applications or write letters of support for any application. NOAA CRCP staff is available to provide general information on programmatic goals and objectives, ongoing coral reef conservation programs/activities, and regional funding priorities. For proposals that involve collaboration with current NOAA projects or staff, NOAA employees may provide a limited statement verifying the nature and extent of the collaboration and confirming prior coordination activities. Letters of support from NOAA employees are not allowable and will not be included among the materials considered by merit reviewers. Federal agencies and employees are not allowed to receive funds under this announcement but may serve as collaborative project partners. Federal agencies and employees ‘in-kind services cannot be considered as part of an applicant’s match on shared costs. If federal agencies are collaborators, applicants are expected to provide detail on the planned level of federal engagement in the application. Examples might include, but are not limited to partnership services; serving in a review capacity; or participating in priority task teams, working groups, or leadership teams.

Craig Reid NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program 1305 East West Highway SSMC4, 10th floor Silver Spring, MD, 20910 240-533-0783 craig.a.reid@noaa.gov