NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Project Grants under the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

technical expertise to restore Great Lakes coastal habitats. These habitats support valuable fisheries and important coastal resources, improve the quality of our water, provide recreational opportunities for the public's use and enjoyment, and increase the resilience of our coastal communities to the effects of changing climatic conditions. Proposals submitted under this solicitation will be primarily evaluated based on their ability to demonstrate they have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components that will lead to measurable impact on the project’s target species and their ecosystem in the long term. The NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Project Grants Program will support planning and/or on-the-ground restoration activities. For the purposes of this competition, planning activities are feasibility, engineering and design activities. Applications selected for funding through this solicitation will be implemented through cooperative agreements. Funds will be administered by the NOAA Restoration Center. One year or multi-year awards up to three funding years will be considered, and additional releases of funds may be used to fund selected proposals through FY 20 without further competition. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $50,000 or more than $10 million over three years. Awards are dependent upon the amount of funds made available to NOAA for this purpose by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA anticipates approximately $10 million may be available over the next three years to maintain selected awards, dependent upon the level of funding made available through the Federal appropriations process. In the first year, approximately $3 million may be available to initiate up to approximately two to five projects consistent with the Program Objectives and Program Priorities in Section I of this announcement. NOAA suggests applicants submit proposals within the following guidelines: • Habitat restoration implementation proposals requesting between $250,000 and $3 million of federal funds, for projects that can be completed within 12-18 months. Typical awards for near-term project implementation are expected to range between $500,000 and $1 million. • Planning only proposals requesting between $50,000 and $500,000 of federal funds, for projects that can be completed within 12-18 months. Typical awards for engineering and design only projects are expected to range between $75,000 and $250,000. • Multi-year, multi-phase proposals covering engineering, design, and/or restoration implementation requesting between $500,000 and $10 million for a time frame of 18-48 months. Typical awards for multi-year projects are expected to range between $750,000 and $3,000,000.