NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Grant for State and Territorial Coral Reef Conservation

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 any prior coordination activities. Letters of support from NOAA employees are not allowable and will not be included among the materials considered by peer 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. Federal staff may provide a limited statement verifying the nature and extent of any such collaboration and confirming any prior coordination activities.

DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and is strongly committed to broadening the participation of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas. While this program limits applicants to the State, Territorial and Commonwealth natural resource management agencies, DOC/NOAA encourages applicants to include partners and contributors from any of the above groups or institutions.

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.

Funding for this program is subject to the availability of Congressional appropriations and is expected to range between approximately $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 in FY 2023. Funding made available from NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program is intended to support priority coral reef management activities as described in Section I.B. of this Federal Funding Opportunity announcement. Continued support in FY 2023 is contingent upon the availability of future funding; the recipient’s ability to administer Federal funds provided by NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program; and the performance of the recipient during the initial year of the award and past awards. NOAA expects that each eligible applicant will request Federal funding at a funding level between $500,000 and $900,000 per year, depending on the existing capabilities of the applicant agency to implement the proposed work. The average annual award size is expected to be approximately $600,000 per year.