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Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical
Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program
OVERVIEWFederal Agency Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment (OBCR)Federal Funding Opportunity Title: Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program Announcement Type: This is a revised announcement of a funding opportunity. On September 15, 2004, EPA issued a funding announcement for Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements. After reviewing proposals submitted in response to that announcement, the Agency decided not to fund any proposals and to issue a revised announcement and guideline for this funding opportunity. Funding Opportunity Number: BFRES -04 -02 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 66.814, Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program, authorized under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, (CERCLA or Superfund), 42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(6). Dates: Proposals must be postmarked or received by the U.S. EPA by May 1, 2005. Award announcements are expected to be made by June 2005. EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and make no awards. No late proposals will be accepted. No fax or e-mail submissions will be accepted. 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 Executive Summary: EPA's brownfields program is built upon four basic goals and principles - protecting the environment, partnering for success, stimulating the marketplace, and promoting sustainable reuse. As the federal leader of the national Brownfields Program, EPA is committed to supporting training, research and technical assistance that will further the goals of the program and provide enhanced knowledge, tools, and processes to the broad range of non-Federal brownfields stakeholders (e.g., state, local and other non-governmental entities) On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. This law expands potential federal financial assistance for training, research, and technical assistance related to brownfields cleanup and redevelopment. The new law requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish guidance to assist applicants in preparing grant proposals. These guidelines implement that requirement for training, research, and technical assistance grants and cooperative agreements. Funding for the brownfields training, research, and technical assistance grants and cooperative agreements is authorized under §104(k)(6) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, (CERCLA or Superfund), 42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(6). This statute authorizes EPA to provide, or fund eligible entities or nonprofit organizations to provide brownfields training, research, and technical assistance to individuals and organizations. EPA awards grants and cooperative agreements authorized by §104(k) under a statutory ranking system that includes factors relating to community need, impact on human health and the environment, stimulation or leveraging of other funds, eligibility for funding from other sources, effective use of existing infrastructure. In addition to the statutory factors, EPA also evaluates applicants based on their ability to manage grants and other policy based factors intended to promote effective stewardship of Federal funds. The Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment of the U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response is soliciting proposals for training, research and technical assistance to focus brownfields programmatic (goals) attention on the 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. Subsequent sections of these guidelines provide definitions of training, research, and technical assistance, as well as a description of the subject areas for which EPA is interested in supporting projects for the benefit of brownfields stakeholders. These subject areas reflect EPA's understanding of the current needs of various state, local, and tribal brownfields stakeholders as they pertain to and support the brownfields program and issues related to the environmental and human health conditions in low income and socio-economically disadvantaged communities. The subject areas are:
The award will be in the form of a cooperative agreement, which entails substantial involvement by the U.S. EPA to assist successful applicants in carrying out their project(s) effectively. Such involvement may include U.S. EPA review and approval of project scope and phases; EPA participation in and collaboration on various phases of the work; approval of the substantive terms of contracts; EPA review of all draft and final products; and regular e-mail, telephone and conference calls. Although EPA will review and provide comments on all draft and final products, the successful applicant will make the final decision on the content of these products. Eligible applicants include governmental applicants and non-profit organizations. Public and non-profit private universities are eligible as well. For-profit organizations are not eligible and may not submit "joint" applications with eligible applicants. See Section 4.1, Eligible Applicants. Funding for financial assistance under CERCLA 104(k)(6) is limited, by statute, to no more than 15% of the amount available for CERCLA 104(k) grants. EPA estimates that $800,000 will be available to make assistance agreement awards under this competition and that 2-3 grants may be awarded depending on the quality of the applications. EPA intends to fund successful applicants for periods ranging from 1-5 years, contingent upon the availability of funds. EPA will only consider applications for $100,000 or less in the first year of funding, and no more than $300,000 over the entire funding period. The Agency reserves the right to offer partial funding for specific components of an application(s). EPA may also decide to make only one award or no awards, if warranted, by changes in Agency funding obligations. Funding available under this announcement issued under the assistance program described in Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number 66.814. is intended to provide training, research and technical assistance to facilitate the inventory of brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation of brownfield sites, community involvement, or site preparation. EPA interprets the term "facilitate" to encompass training, research and technical assistance that furthers overall Brownfields program development both nationally and in specific communities rather than conducting assessment, inventory, and cleanup activities at Brownfields sites. Funding for site assessment and cleanup activities at brownfields sites is awarded under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, (CERCLA or Superfund), 42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(2) and (3) as described in CFDA Number 66.811. EPA will not consider proposals for assessment, inventory and cleanup activities at brownfields sites that duplicate activities that are eligible for grants awarded under CFDA Number 66.811, even if the applicant is not itself eligible for a grant under CERCLA 42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(2) and (3). Similarly, funding for training, research, and technical assistance grants under this announcement is not available for job training activities that could otherwise be funded pursuant to EPA's brownfields job training grant competition announcements issued under CFDA Number 66.815. EPA considers such proposals duplicative. In addition, EPA will not fund development or delivery of community, college, or graduate level training courses under this announcement. Finally, EPA's goal is to select proposals for training, research and technical assistance under this announcement that demonstrate broad applicability and replicability to benefit community brownfields programs nationally. Guidelines will be published on the EPA Brownfields Web site, www.epa.gov/brownfields and at the Federal Grants Opportunities Web site at www.grants.gov . Section I: FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTIONUnder CERCLA 104(k)(6), EPA is authorized to provide financial assistance which facilitates "the inventory of brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation of brownfield sites, community involvement and site preparation" to focus brownfields programmatic (goals) attention on the 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 research, training and technical assistance to communities which will enable them to stimulate economic and other beneficial reuses.Funding is intended to provide training, research and technical assistance to facilitate the inventory of brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation of brownfield sites, community involvement, or site preparation. This training, research and technical assistance competition supports EPA's Strategic Plan, Goal 4 Healthy Communities and Ecosystems; Objective 4.2: Communities; Sub-objective 4.2.3 Assess and Cleanup Brownfields. EPA, in negotiating an assistance agreement work plan after an award under this competition, will ensure that the work plan contains well-defined outputs and, to the maximum extent practicable, well-defined outcomes. EPA's expected outcomes for grants awarded under this announcement include increasing the capacity of governmental applicants and non profit organizations to 1) focus attention on the 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; 2) enable these communities to stimulate economic and other beneficial reuses of brownfields sites in order to improve the environmental conditions and human health; 3) improve community involvement and stimulate the development of constructive partnerships; and 4) foster self sufficiency in conducting assessment and remediation of brownfields sites. The primary outputs that EPA is seeking for training grants awarded under this announcement include classroom style training, workshops and roundtables, training and curricula modules, computer based training delivery systems and other training and educational materials that provide general, specialized and practical knowledge of brownfields problems and solutions. The primary outputs that EPA is seeking for research grants awarded under this announcement include reports and data analysis, fact sheets summarizing research findings, case studies that are disseminated by electronic means as well as research symposia. The primary outputs that EPA is seeking for technical assistance grants awarded under this announcement are documented methods for providing ongoing advice and support to low income communities and socio-economically disadvantaged communities to help them develop a specific strategy, design a process for identifying and solving complex brownfields-related environmental and financial problems, and planning and implementing solutions for these problems. Under this funding announcement, EPA will only consider proposals that have an emphasis on the following subject areas:
Sample topic areas for projects that demonstrate broad applicability and replicability to benefit community brownfields programs nationally are provided in Appendix B. The list of sample topics is representative of topics for which EPA would be interested in supporting training, research, or technical assistance. However, the list is not exhaustive; EPA will consider projects other than those related to the sample topics provided the project relates to the three subject areas described above. Additionally, selecting from the sample topics to develop your project does not guarantee an award. EPA has previously provided funding to support brownfields training, research or technical assistance. This announcement seeks to support and further the work of the brownfields program by focusing further brownfields training, research or technical assistance on the environmental and human health conditions in low income and socio-economically disadvantaged communities. This announcement is being issued by the Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment in EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response which seeks to encourage the cleanup and sustainable redevelopment of Brownfields. Section I.1: Subject Areas for Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Cooperative AgreementsThese subject areas reflect EPA's understanding of the current needs of various state, local, and tribal brownfields stakeholders as they pertain to and support the brownfields program and issues related to the environmental and human health conditions in low income 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.Section I.2: Subject Area Descriptions
Section II: AWARD INFORMATIONFunding for financial assistance under CERCLA 104(k)(6) is limited, by statute, to no more than 15% of the amount available for CERCLA 104(k) grants. EPA estimates that $800,000 will be available to make assistance agreement awards under this competition and that 2-3 grants may be awarded depending on the quality of the applications. Applicants may propose single or multi-year projects with funding periods ranging from 1-5 years. EPA expects to award funds in June 2005. Funding in subsequent years is not guaranteed and will depend on the availability of funds and the recipient's performance. The Agency reserves the right to offer partial funding for specific components of an application(s). EPA may also decide to make only one award or no awards, if warranted, by changes in Agency funding obligations.EPA will only consider applications for $100,000 or less in the first year of funding, and no more than $300,000 over the entire funding period. The Agency will reject applications that exceed these amounts. The Agency reserves the right to offer partial funding for components of an applicant's project. EPA may also decide to make only one award or no awards, if warranted, by changes in Agency funding obligations. Applicants must provide detailed descriptions of the activities proposed for the first-year under this competition, as well as a description of what follow-up activities would be conducted in subsequent years, if additional funding is made available. The assistance agreement awards will be in the form of cooperative agreements. Cooperative agreements entail substantial Federal involvement in the project. Such involvement may include US EPA review and approval of project scope and phases; EPA participation in and collaboration on various phases of the work; approval of the substantive terms of contracts; EPA review of all draft and final products; and regular e-mail, phone, and conference calls. Although EPA will review and provide comments on all draft and final products, the successful applicant will make the final decision on the content of these products. Section III: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATIONSection III.1: Eligible ApplicantsEligibility is limited to governmental applicants and non-profit organizations. Public and non-profit private universities are eligible as well. For profit organizations are not eligible, and may not submit "joint" applications with eligible applicants.Eligible governmental applicants include a general purpose unit of local government, a land clearance authority or other quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of or as an agent of a general purpose unit of government; a governmental entity created by a state legislature; a regional council or group of general purpose unit of local government; a redevelopment agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state; a state; "an Indian Tribe (other than in Alaska), or an Alaskan Native Regional Corporation and an Alaska Native Village Corporation as those terms are defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act(43 U.S.C. 1601 and following) and the Metlakatla Indian Community. State colleges, community colleges, and universities may be eligible as a governmental entity created by a state, depending on state law. Eligible nonprofit organizations include any organizations that meet the definition of a nonprofit in Section 4(6) of the Federal Financial Management Assistance Act of 1999, Public Law 106-107, 31 U.S.C. 6101 Note: This definition includes nonprofit universities and educational institutions. However, nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply. Groups of two or more eligible applicants may choose to form a coalition and submit a single application for these assistance agreements. Intertribal consortia, except consortia comprised of ineligible Alaska tribes, are eligible to apply as well. Coalitions must identify which eligible organization will be the recipient of the assistance agreement, and which eligible organization(s) will be subawardees of the recipient. Subawards must be consistent with the definition of that term in 40 CFR 30.2(ff). The recipient must administer the assistance agreement, is accountable to EPA for proper expenditure of the funds, and will be the point of contact for the coalition. As provided in 40 CFR 30.2(gg), subrecipients are accountable to the recipient for proper use of EPA funding. For profit organizations may not be part of a coalition application. Any contracts for services or products funded with EPA financial assistance must be awarded under the competitive procurement provisions of 40 CFR Part 30, or Part 31 as applicable. Naming a particular individual consultant, firm or organization in an application does not exempt a successful applicant from following competitive procurement procedures. Section III.2: Cost-sharing or MatchingThere are no match or cost-sharing requirements. However, the extent to which an award will leverage other funds for environmental assessment or remediation, and subsequent reuse, of an area in which one or more brownfields sites are located is a statutory ranking factor. See, Section IV.4 - Ranking Criteria 6: Leveraging of Resources (15 Points).Section III.3: OtherApplicants may submit only one proposal. EPA will reject all applications from applicants who submit more than one.Section IV: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATIONSection IV.1: How to Get Application MaterialsThere 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 Web site, www.epa.gov/brownfields and at the Federal Grants Opportunities Web site 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 SubmissionApplicants must submit one original proposal and 3 copies of their proposal.To be considered complete and eligible for review, all proposals must include a cover letter, summary information page, budget and budget narrative, project description, responses to Threshold Criteria; responses to Ranking Criteria, the Standard Form 424, and attachments as specifically required by these guidelines. EPA will not consider incomplete applications. 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. All applications must be submitted on letter sized paper ("8 ½" by 11") in accordance with the requirements and criterion in these guidelines. 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. Do not submit your proposal in binders or folders. No fax or e-mail submission will be accepted. Applicants who do not meet this formatting standard will lose 5 points under Section IV.4: - Ranking Criteria 5: Institutional Capacity. Applicants must meet all threshold criteria as well as the maximum funding amounts, due dates, and other administrative requirements described. Threshold criteria will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Failure to meet all of these criterion will render an application ineligible; ineligible applications will not be reviewed. 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. (Note: EPA will not seek clarification on responses to any ranking criteria). The following format is required for all proposals:
Section IV.3: Selection Criteria - Threshold CriteriaTo be eligible for this Brownfields training, research and technical assistance announcement, applicants must meet all of the following threshold criteria as well as the maximum funding amounts, due dates, and other administrative requirements described above. Threshold criteria will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Failure to meet all of these criterion will render an application ineligible; ineligible applications will not be reviewed. 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. (Note: EPA will not seek clarification on an applicant's Cover Letter or their response to any ranking criteria).
Section IV.4: Selection Criteria - Ranking CriteriaRespond to each of the following 9 ranking criteria. If a particular criterion is not applicable to your project, please provide an explanation.
Section IV.5: Submission Dates and TimesApplicants will be given approximately 45 days from the date of publication of these competition guidelines for the submission of proposals. Guidelines will be published on the EPA Brownfields Web site, www.epa.gov/brownfields and proposals must be postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service or received by EPA at the address indicated by May 1, 2005. No late proposals will be accepted. No fax or e-mail submissions will be accepted.Section IV.6: Other Submission RequirementsThe delivery address for submitting your proposal will vary depending on whether you are mailing your proposal or arranging for hand delivery. If you are sending your proposal via hand delivery (e.g., commercial delivery service, courier or some other means) send it to:Desi CroutherIf you are mailing your proposal, send it to: Desi CroutherPlease note that there may be substantial delays in conventional mail service to U.S. EPA due to heightened security screening. Section V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATIONSection V.1: CriteriaSee Section IV : Application and Submission Information. (IV.3 and IV.4)Section V.2: Review and Selection ProcessApplications will be evaluated for compliance with threshold requirements and scored under the evaluation criteria by an EPA panel based on information the applicant provides in the application and required attachments. EPA evaluation panel members may verify the accuracy of any information an applicant provides in its application. The EPA evaluation panel will score each eligible application, rank the applications, and forward the recommended rankings to Senior Agency management for final ranking decisions. In making final decisions, Senior Agency management may also consider such factors as geographic diversity, project diversity, avoiding duplication of effort, and applicant diversity (i.e., type(s) of organizations) in deciding which applicant's to approve for funding. As noted, the Agency reserves the right to offer partial funding for specific components of an applicant's project or make no awards.The award will be in the form of a cooperative agreement, which entails substantial involvement by the U.S. EPA to assist successful applicants in carrying out their project(s) effectively. Such involvement may include U.S. EPA review and approval of project scope and phases; EPA participation in and collaboration on various phases of the work; approval of the substantive terms of contracts; EPA review of all draft and final products; and regular e-mail, telephone and conference calls. Although EPA will review and provide comments on all draft and final products, the successful applicant will make the final decision on the content of these products. Section V.3: Funding RestrictionsFunding is only available for the activities authorized under CERCLA 104(k)(6) and the terms of this funding announcement. All costs incurred under this program must be allowable under the applicable OMB Cost Circulars (A-21 for universities, A-87 for governments, and A-122 for nonprofit organizations) and eligible for funding under EPA's appropriations authority. Ineligible and unallowable costs include lobbying, entertainment, and litigation against the Federal government.In accordance with CERCLA 104(k)(4)(B)(i)(III), EPA cannot fund a successful applicant's administrative costs. Prohibited administrative costs include proposal preparation costs and a successful applicant's indirect costs. See Appendix A for a detailed description of prohibited administrative costs and eligible programmatic costs. Pre-award costs are governed by 40 CFR 30.25(f) and 40 CFR 31.23, as applicable. EPA will not fund construction activity under this announcement. Equipment costs are allowable only with the prior written consent of EPA. Applicants must comply with the procurement requirements of the EPA financial assistance regulations, 40 CFR Part 30 for nonprofit organizations, and 40 CFR Part 31 for states, tribes, and local governments. Subawards/subgrants must be consistent with the definitions of these terms in 40 CFR 30.2 (ff) and 40 CFR 31.3 "Subgrant," as applicable. Section VI: AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATIONSection VI.1: Announcement and Award DatesEPA anticipates notifying applicants who fail one or more of the threshold criteria or who are otherwise ineligible (e.g. excessive funding requests) within 15 working days of the Agency's decision. The Agency anticipates announcing selections under this competition by June 2005. EPA expects to provide written notification in June 2005 to applicants whose applications are eligible but are not selected for funding by Senior Agency management.Section VI.2: Award NoticesAwards are not final until the successful applicants receive an official notice of award from EPA's Grants Administration Division (GAD). EPA will announce award recipients on the U.S. EPA Brownfields Web site (www.epa.gov/brownfields). This information will be posted within 30 days after GAD issues a written offer of award to the recipient.Pre-award costs are governed by 40 CFR 30.25(f) and 40 CFR 32.23, as appropriate. Until the award is final, successful applicants incur pre-award costs at their own risk. Section VI.3: Administrative and National Policy RequirementsThis announcement provides all of the instructions needed for preparing an application for funding under this announcement. Successful applicants will submit required forms and certifications after being notified of selection by EPA. Applicants may download applicable forms from the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ogd/AppKit/application.htm.Applicants must comply with the standard requirements, terms and conditions of EPA assistance agreements. Funded activities must be allowable under EPA statutory authority. All recipients must have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number on their formal SF424 applications. A DUNS number can be obtained by calling 1-866-705-5711. A DUNS number is not required for initial proposals. Section VI.4: ReportingRecipients will be required to submit quarterly progress reports and will have to participate in annual reviews of their projects with their U.S. EPA project officer. A project officer will be designated at the time of the award of this cooperative agreement; that project officer will work in partnership with the recipient.Section VI.5: Intergovernmental ReviewAll applicants must be aware that, if their application is successful, formal requests for assistance and associated documentation may be subject to intergovernmental review under Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." Applicants should contact their state's Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for further information. There is a list of these contacts at the following Web site: http://whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.Section VII: AGENCY CONTACTSIf you have questions about this solicitation, please contact:Barbara BassuenerPotential applicants may submit written requests for clarifications to Ms. Bassuener via e-mail (bassuener.barbara@epa.gov) or letter. She will post significant clarifications on the Brownfields Web site http://www.epa.gov/brownfields . This is the only pre-application assistance available. EPA staff will not meet with applicants to discuss draft proposals or provide informal comments on draft proposals. Please note that taking advantage of pre-application assistance from EPA staff does not guarantee selection by the evaluation panel. Section VIII: OTHER INFORMATIONBoth initial proposals and formal request for funding are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. This means that anyone can request, and receive, copies of information contained in proposals that is not exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Applicants must clearly mark information they consider confidential. U.S. EPA will make final confidentiality decisions in accordance with agency regulations (40CFR part 2, subpart B).Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005) which can be found at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-1371.htm. Copies of these procedures may also be requested by contacting Barbara Bassuener at bassuener.barbara@epa.gov. U.S. EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and make no awards. Appendix A. Prohibited Uses of FundsThe following discussion of the administrative cost prohibition is provided to you for illustrative purposes only. If you receive a grant as a result of this competition, your agreement will include a more detailed term and condition specifying requirements for complying with the administrative cost prohibition.The Brownfields law prohibits the use of any "part of a grant or loan" awarded under Section 104(k) of CERCLA for the payment of:
Administrative CostsProhibited administrative costs are direct costs including those in the form of salaries, benefits, contractual costs, supplies, and data processing charges incurred to comply with most provisions of the "Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants" contained in 40 CFR Part 30 or 40 CFR Part 31. Direct costs for grant administration are ineligible even if the grantee or sub-grantee is required to carry out the activity under the grant agreement. Ineligible grant administration costs include expenses for:
For governmental recipients, indirect costs include the indirect costs originating in departments of the governmental unit carrying out the assistance agreement and the costs of central governmental services distributed through the central service cost allocation plan. Indirect costs are normally charged to Federal awards by the use of an indirect cost rate. Because of the diverse characteristics and accounting practices of governmental units, the types of costs which may be classified as indirect costs cannot be specified in all situations. However typical examples may include certain State/local-wide central service costs, general administration of the grantee department, accounting and personnel services performed within the grantee department, depreciation or use allowances on buildings and equipment, the costs of operating and maintaining facilities, etc. For non-profit organizations, indirect costs are those that have been incurred for common or joint objectives and cannot be readily identified with a particular final cost objective. After direct costs have been determined and assigned directly to awards or other work as appropriate, indirect costs are those remaining to be allocated to benefitting cost objectives. Typical examples of indirect costs for many non-profit organizations may include depreciation or use allowances on buildings and equipment, the costs of operating and maintaining facilities, and general administrative costs, such as the salaries and expenses of executive officers, personnel administration, and accounting. Programmatic CostsEPA has determined that the administrative cost prohibition does not apply to "programmatic" costs, i.e., direct costs for activities that are integral to achieving the purpose of the assistance agreement, even if the Agency considered the costs to be "administrative" under the prior Brownfields program. In the case of assistance agreements for implementation of Brownfields programs under CERCLA 104(k)(6), programmatic costs would include expenses for providing training, research, and technical assistance. Eligible programmatic costs can include expenses for travel, training, equipment, supplies, reference materials and contractual support if those costs are reasonable and allocable to tasks specified in a recipient's approved scope of work. Direct costs, as defined in the applicable OMB Cost Principle Circular, for the following programmatic activities are not subject to the administrative cost prohibition:
Appendix B. Sample Topics for Brownfields Training, Research and Technical Assistance ProjectsThis appendix provides a listing of sample topics for training, research,
and technical assistance projects to focus attention on the environmental
health and conditions in low-income or socioeconomically disadvantaged
communities.
Appendix C.Requested Assistance Type(s) and Funding FormRequested Grant/Cooperative Agreement Type and Funding (print/copy and complete and submit with proposal)Name of Applicant:_________________________ Please respond as appropriate. Type of project (check only one)Applicants must specify whether they are applying for training, research or technical assistance funding under this announcement.Training Research Technical Assistance Subject Area (check all that apply)Community InvolvementIntegrated Approaches to Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment Economics and Financing of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment What is the total amount of funds requested? $__________________ What is the approximate period of performance for your project? 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 year
1 In addition to complying with 40 CFR Part 30 or Part 31 as applicable, successful research grant applicants must comply with 40 CFR Part 40 and successful training applicants must comply with 40 CFR Part 45. |
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