NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Grant for Establishing Reef Research Coordination Institutes

American Samoa Community College
Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science
Caribbean Coral Reef Institute
Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, University of Puerto Rico
Coral Restoration Foundation
Coral World Ocean and Reef Initiative
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Institute of Oceanography at Key Marine Laboratory
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida International University
Hawaii Marine Education Research Center
Hawaii Sea Grant
Institute of Socio Ecological Research
Mote Marine Laboratory
National Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science
Plant A Million Corals Foundation
The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii and Palmyra
The Nature Conservancy, Puerto Rico Program
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy, USVI Coral Innovation Hub
University of Florida Sea Grant
University of Florida
University of Guam Marine Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Hilo Department of Marine Science
University of Hawaii at Hilo, Multiscale Environmental Graphical Analysis (MEGA) Lab
University of Hawaii Systems
University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science
University of Puerto Rico, Department of Marine Sciences
University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus Marine Biology Program
University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez
University of the Virgin Islands

The Pacific Reef Research Coordinating Institute must be located within American Samoa, Guam, or Hawaii. The Atlantic Reef Research Coordinating Institute must be located within Florida, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Only one CRRC in each basin will receive a RRCI designation and financial assistance award. In the event that a consortium of CRRCs submits a single application, the designation and award will reside with the submitting CRRC and that CRRC will be solely responsible for the award’s administration.

To be eligible to apply or receive an award, applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations: SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. For each, the complete registration process can take 4 to 6 weeks. For more information on how to meet these registration and application submission requirements without errors, we advise all to carefully review relevant Applicant and Grantee Training modules: https://www.commerce.gov/ocio/programs/gems/applicant-and-grantee-training. Additionally, we advise that all carefully read ‘Additional Application Package Forms’ within the ‘Full Proposal Required Elements’ section below.

NOAA employees are not permitted to assist in the preparation of applications. NOAA CRCP staff are 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 application 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. If federal agencies are collaborators, applicants are expected to provide detail on the planned level of federal engagement in the application. Examples may include, but are not limited to, partnership services, serving in a review capacity, or participating in priority task teams, working groups, or leadership teams.

DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and encourages women and minority individuals and group

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) invites applications for the establishment of two Reef Research Coordination Institutes (RRCIs) through cooperative agreements to support the research, restoration, and management of shallow-water coral reef ecosystems within the U.S. states and territories. The two RRCIs will be to be known as the “Atlantic Reef Research Coordination Institute” and the “Pacific Reef Research Coordination Institute” and will hold this designation for an initial five (5) year period of performance and may be renewed for up to another five (5) years without competition. Applicants must be previously designated as a Coral Reef Research Center by the CRCP in 2024.

The selected RRCIs must be able to work across a variety of areas including conducting research, supporting ecological research and monitoring, building capacity within jurisdictional resource management agencies, translating research findings to management and restoration practices, and conducting public education and awareness programs. Building capacity in the jurisdictions may include a variety of actions such as supporting personnel, providing training on jurisdictional driven topics, and/or managing a national fellowship program.

NOAA CRCP anticipates that up to $4,500,000 may be available annually for distribution between the two RRCIs. The actual annual funding will be based on 1) CRCP annual appropriations, 2) current and future national and state priorities, 3) the quality of projects proposed and selected during the negotiations, and 4) the satisfactory progress in achieving the stated goals described in project proposals.

Applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. These registrations include SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. The complete registration process for all three systems can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants should begin this activity as soon as possible. If an eligible applicant does not have effective access to the internet, please contact the Agency Contacts listed in Section VII for submission instructions.

Prior to registering with eRA Commons, applicant organizations must first obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov, if needed (refer to Section IV. Applications and Submission Information, Section C). Organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; however, all registrations must be in place by time of application submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.