Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program - Section IV

Section IV.1: How to Get Application Materials

There are format and content requirements which are described under Section IV.2, Content and Form of Application Submission.

Guidelines will be published on the EPA brownfields website, www.epa.gov/brownfields and at the Federal Grants Opportunities website at www.grants.gov . The Standard Form 424 (SF424) must be included with your proposal and may be obtained by following the links to SF forms on the following web site: www.gsa.gov/forms.

Section IV.2: Content and Form of Application Submission
To be considered complete and eligible for review, all proposals must include a cover letter, summary information page, budget and budget narrative, project description, response to Threshold Criteria; response to Ranking Criteria. EPA will reject applications that do not meet these requirements. The application must not exceed 15 single-sided pages in length, not including the Cover Page and Budget/Budget Narrative information requested below. Pages in excess of this limit will be removed and not evaluated. Applicants who exceed the 15 page limit bear the risk that their proposal will be rejected on threshold grounds or ranked low if important information is included on the pages which reviewers do not consider.

Proposals may not use point type smaller than 11 point type, single sided paper and must have page margins all-around of at least one inch. Applicants who do not meet this formatting standard will lose 5 points under Section IV.4: - Ranking Criteria 5: Institutional Capacity. The following format is required for all proposals:

• COVER LETTER (does not count against page limit)
  The cover letter that accompanies your proposal must be signed by an official with the authority to commit your organization to the project and must be written on your organization's official letterhead. (Note: EPA will not seek clarification of an applicant's Cover Letter).
• SUMMARY INFORMATION PAGES
  The summary information page must include the Requested Assistance Type(s) and Funding. See Appendix C and the following information:
  
  • The title and number of this request (Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program BFRES-04)
    
  • Project title and location
  • Applicant name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address
  • Name and title of project contact (including how to reach if different from above)
  • Type of applicant organization (e.g., nonprofit, local government, state government, etc.)
  • Summary budget information (i.e. amount requested from U.S. EPA; amount)
  • Provide on a separate page the Requested Assistance Type(s) and Funding. See Appendix C.
• BUDGET AND BUDGET NARRATIVE (does not count against page limit)
  • BUDGET. Provide a comprehensive proposed budget for your training, research and/or technical assistance project. This budget narrative must include cost estimates for each of the proposed project activities to be conducted using EPA funds. EPA does not require that applicants include a matching or cost share. Applicants may use the budget categories presented in the chart below to organize their budget. Please note that use of EPA financial assistance compensation for consultants is limited under EPA's appropriations act to the daily equivalent of the rate paid to Federal employees at the ES-IV level. See 40 CFR 30.27(b).
  • Note: As financial assistance will be awarded incrementally, it is important that you provide yearly budgets and a total budget for your project in your proposal. Approval of subsequent funding increments is dependent on satisfactory project progress, continued relevance of the project to EPA's priorities, and availability of funds. Also note the funding limitations ($100,000 for the first year and $300,000 for the entire project) described in Section II: AWARD INFORMATION. EPA will reject applications which exceed these funding limitations.
    
    

    Tasks
    Budget Categories
    Personnel
    Travel
    Equipment
    Supplies
    Contractual
    Other

    
    
  • BUDGET NARRATIVE. Provide a budget narrative to accompany the budget and explain each activity, including how it is relevant to the EPA funding authority and to the objective of providing training or technical assistance or conducting research. Describe how each activity and cost is relevant to the EPA funding authority.
    
    For further restrictions on costs see Appendix A for a description of prohibited administrative costs and eligible programmatic costs. and Section V.3 - Additional Considerations.
• PROJECT DESCRIPTION
  • ABSTRACT. Provide a 5-10 line abstract of the proposal.
  • EXPERIENCE. Provide information describing your experience in providing training, or technical assistance or conducting research related to complex environmental and brownfields and/or technical subject matter.
  • STAKEHOLDERS RELATIONSHIPS. Provide information describing your relationships with stakeholders in the brownfields community and your knowledge of brownfields issues particularly as they relate to those communities.
• RESPONSE TO THRESHOLD CRITERIA
  Provide your response to Threshold Criteria. If an application fails to meet threshold criteria, EPA Headquarters may seek clarification from an applicant regarding its response to the threshold criteria, if appropriate.
• RESPONSE TO RANKING CRITERIA
  Provide your response to the Ranking Criteria. Your response must address each criterion or provide an explanation for why a particular criterion is not applicable. (Note: EPA will not seek clarification on an applicant's response to any ranking criteria).
• ATTACHMENTS
  Include attachments as appropriate. Attachments must be kept to a minimum . Please do not include photographs. Do not include responses to ranking criteria as attachments.

• Threshold Criterion 1: Applicant Eligibility
  Describe how you are an eligible applicant for a training, research, or technical assistance grant. See description of eligible applicant Section III.1: - Eligible Applicants.
  EPA welcomes and encourages applications from coalitions of eligible applicants, but a single eligible applicant must be identified as the legal recipient. See Section III.1 for additional information on coalition applications.
• Threshold Criterion 2: Knowledge of Brownfields Issues
  The applicant must provide demonstrated understanding and experience with the Brownfields program, including the impacts of the recent brownfields legislation. Provide evidence of your understanding of the brownfields program and examples of your involvement in brownfields-related activities, including your roles and responsibilities in such activities.
• Threshold Criterion 3: Subject Matter
  Applicants must briefly explain how their proposed project(s) fall within one or more of the eligible subject matters described in Section 1.1: Subject Areas for Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreements. Applicants may also cross refer to other section of their application to meet this criterion.

• Ranking Criteria 1: Past Performance (20 points)
  1. Describe your history of managing federal funds generally. You must include information on all adverse audit findings made within the last five years and special or "high risk" terms and conditions imposed as a result of grant compliance issues within the last five years.
  2. Describe your history of providing required reports and other project deliverables in a timely manner.
  3. Identify and describe successful environmental outcomes from your Federally funded activities, including projects that are similar to the one(s) covered by your application.
Note: If you have not previously received Federal funds, you may provide a history of your past performance with private funding, or funding awarded by state, tribal or local governments. Applicants who have not performed projects with outside financing may provide information regarding academic or community projects.
• Ranking Criteria 2: Constituent/Community Need (20 points)
  1. a. Provide a detailed description of the target state, local, or tribal constituency or community that the project will benefit.
  2. Characterize the impact of brownfields on your constituency(ies) or community(ies) by describing the extent of brownfields (e.g., size, number, and location) and the economic, health, and/or environmental impacts of the brownfields.
  3. Describe the extent to which a grant would meet the needs of a community(ies) or constituency(ies) that has an inability to draw on other sources of funding for environmental remediation and subsequent redevelopment of the area in which a brownfield site is located because of the small population or low income of the community(ies) or constituency(ies).
• Ranking Criteria 3: Impact on human health and the environment (20 points)
  1. Describe the extent to which a grant would address or facilitate the identification and reduction of threats to human health and the environment, including environmental and human health conditions in low income communities and socio-economically disadvantaged communities unable to draw on alternative sources of funding for assessment or cleanup of brownfields and their subsequent redevelopment and to provide technical assistance to communities which will enable them to stimulate economic and other beneficial reuses.
  2. Describe the extent to which a grant would facilitate the creation of, preservation of, or addition to a park, a greenway, undeveloped property, recreational property or other property used for nonprofit purposes.
• Ranking Criteria 4: Stakeholder Involvement (15 points) Describe the extent to which a grant would foster involvement of local communities in the process of making decisions relating to cleanup and future use of brownfield properties.
• Ranking Criteria 5: Institutional Capacity (10 points)
  1. Describe your organization's ability to conduct sound research, and/or effective training, and/or effective technical assistance related to brownfields. This can be demonstrated through a description of personnel and other resources of the organization.
  2. Describe your ability to manage this grant, including your financial management and procurement system, or describe the system(s) you have in place to hire the requisite expertise.
• Ranking Criteria 6: Leveraging of Resources (15 points)
  1. Describe the extent to which your project will stimulate the availability of other funds for environmental assessment or remediation, and subsequent reuse, of an area in which one or more brownfields sites are located.
  2. Describe your plan for obtaining additional financial and in kind support for your project. Applicants are encouraged to provide information regarding resources (cash/in-kind services) that they, or a project partner would commit to brownfields research, training, and/or technical assistance. As noted above, a formal match is not required. EPA will consider leveraged commitments as part of this ranking factor. Leveraged resources are not limited to eligible and allowable costs under this announcement.
  Note: Under OMB Circulars, EPA financial assistance cannot be used for fund-raising. Therefore, any costs associated with fund-raising must not be included in the budget for your proposal or charged to your EPA cooperative agreement if your proposal is successful. In addition, you must make clear, in any solicitation for funds that your organization, and not EPA is asking for funding. You cannot imply that EPA endorses any fund-raising activities in connection with your project. You must also make clear to donors that any gift to the recipient for use in connection with brownfields training, research, and/or technical assistance will go solely toward defraying your expenses, not EPA.
• Ranking Criteria 7: Objectives and Plans (15 points)
  1. Describe the objectives of your proposed project.
  2. For training projects, provide a course outline as an attachment and include a list of training tools and materials that will be provided to trainees.
  3. For research projects, provide a project outline or research hypothesis as an attachment.
  4. For technical assistance projects, provide (as attachments) a description of the specific topics for which technical assistance will be provided, as well as a list of any tools and materials that will be provided.
• Ranking Criteria 8: Quality Assurance/Quality Control (10 points)
  1. Describe monitoring and quality assurance and project management activities. For example, describe management tools, management plans, scheduling tools, organizational charts, and any other methods and tools you will use to ensure timely, efficient, and coordinated completion of tasks. Describe your quality assurance/quality control procedures and how they will ensure development of high quality final products.
  2. Provide a timetable showing start and completion dates for significant tasks.
  3. Describe an ongoing evaluation process that will assess the management of the grant and achievement of goals. Describe how an ongoing evaluation process will be accomplished.
  4. Describe any reports or other deliverables you plan to provide to EPA as documentation of your project's progress and success.

Linda Garczynski
U.S. EPA
Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
1301 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Room 2402
Washington, D.C. 20004

Linda Garczynski
U.S. EPA Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Mail code 5105 T
Washington, D.C. 20460