FY24 NOAA Marine Debris Removal under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Department of Commerce
The NOAA Marine Debris Program, authorized in the Marine Debris Act, codified at 33 U.S.C. § 1951 et seq., supports the development and implementation of marine debris removal and prevention projects that benefit coastal habitat, waterways, and marine and Great Lake resources. Through this solicitation, NOAA seeks to openly compete funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (PL 117-58) to support large-scale marine debris removal efforts throughout the coastal United States, Great Lakes, territories, and freely associated states, including in Tribal or underserved communities.
The overall objective of this funding opportunity is to support impactful, large marine debris removal projects that will improve the resilience of the coastal and marine environment. This competition considers impactful projects to be those that will have long-lasting, transformational benefits to marine and coastal NOAA Trust Resources, coastal communities, and/or local economies. To accomplish this, the Marine Debris Program seeks proposals for impactful projects that remove and dispose of large marine debris (such as abandoned and derelict vessels, derelict fishing gear, and other large debris) and prevent the re-accumulation of marine debris in the environment.
The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) describes the types of projects that are eligible for funding, as well as the proposal requirements and criteria under which applications will be evaluated for funding consideration. Funding of up to $24,000,000 is expected to be available for this grant solicitation. NOAA MDP expects the majority of the funded projects to be between $1M and $4M. The minimum federal request for this solicitation is $800,000 and, in some cases, up to $6M may be awarded. NOAA expects to support between four to eight projects from this competition but may support more or fewer based on the merit of submitted applications and their proposed geographies and scale. Cost sharing, leveraged funds, and in-kind support are important to ensuring these projects are impactful and well supported. Applicants are strongly encouraged to explore the opportunity to combine NOAA federal funding with formal matching contributions and informal leverage from a broad range of sources in the public and private sectors.
NOAA-NOS-ORR-2024-2007993: This funding opportunity requires a Letter of Intent to be submitted for competitive review before a full proposal can be submitted. LOIs must be received via e-mail as an attachment (to grants.marinedebris@noaa.gov) no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, October 27, 2023. If invited per the instructions in this announcement, full proposals must then be submitted through and validated by Grants.gov on or before11:59 p.m. EST, February 23, 2024. Due to limited staffing of federal offices, hardcopy LOIs or full applications will not be accepted. Please follow all LOI submission guidelines and instructions outlined in the notice of funding opportunity.
As outlined in the Marine Debris Act, eligible applicants for projects taking place in the coastal United States, Great Lakes, territories, and freely associated states (or their adjacent waterways), are state, local, Tribal, and territory governments whose activities affect research or regulation of marine debris. Equally eligible are any institution of higher education, nonprofit organization, or commercial (for-profit) organization with expertise in a field related to marine debris. Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. Interested federal agencies may collaborate with eligible applicants but may not receive funds through this competition. Foreign public entities (see 2 CFR 200.1) from outside of the freely associated states are not eligible to apply. NOAA is strongly committed to broadening the participation of veterans, minority-serving institutions, and entities that work in underserved and underrepresented areas. The NOAA MDP encourages applicants of all backgrounds, circumstances, perspectives, and ways of thinking to apply. Applications that have been submitted to other NOAA grant programs or as part of another NOAA grant may be considered under this solicitation. Applicants should indicate if the proposal has been submitted elsewhere for funding as described in the Budget Justification referenced in Section IV. Application and Submission Information (Subsection B “Content and Form of Application”) of this announcement.