Exchange Network Grant Program
On this page:
- Overview
- FY 2022 Exchange Network Grant Solicitation Notice
- Webinar Series: Upcoming SN Applicant Webinars
- Resources for Applicants
- EN Grant Registration Requirement
- Exchange Network Grants Meeting Excessive Unliquidated Obligations Criteria
- Quality Assurance Reporting Form
- Related Information About Grants
Overview
FY 2022 will be the 21st year EPA will award competitive funding to eligible partners for projects through the Exchange Network Grant Program. Between FY 2002 and FY 2021, EPA provided approximately $252 million for state, tribal, and territorial awards and associated program support through the grant program. As of October 1, 2021, all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 86 tribes, and 5 territories have received EN grants. These grants support better environmental decisions by promoting the use of more timely and consistent data which is shareable by partners across the EN as well as by environmental professionals and the public.
FY 2022 Exchange Network Grant Solicitation Notice
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Exchange Network (EN) Grant Program Solicitation Notice (SN) period has now closed, please find the notice under Resources for Applicants and Grantees. Applications are now closed. Additional guidance tools, including optional fillable templates for the cover letter, project narrative (work plan), and budget narrative attachment form, are available under the ‘resources’ section below. Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the new FY22 SN, as significant updates have been made since the FY21 version.
An applicant’s proposed project goals and outputs should align with one or more EN Funding Areas as described in Section I-B of the SN and EPA’s Draft FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (Draft Plan). Applicants are encouraged to read the full text of the Draft Plan at: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-10/fy-2022-2026-epa-draft-strategic-plan.pdf.
EPA expects to award 20-30 grants of up to $400,000 each, totaling approximately $8,000,000 in FY22. Most awards will be in the $50,000 to $200,000 range. The exact number of grants will depend on the number of applications submitted to EPA by the application deadline, the amounts of proposed project budgets, and the quality of proposals.
EPA only accepts project proposals for EN grants submitted electronically through Grants.gov, unless applicants have a waiver. Please allow for enough time to successfully submit your application and allow for unexpected errors requiring you to resubmit. EPA anticipates that it will announce selection decisions around August 2022, and tentatively plans to issue awards by October 2022.
Webinar Series: Upcoming SN Applicant Webinars
In support of the FY 2022 Exchange Network (EN) Grant cycle, the EPA hosted two general Solicitation Notice Applicant Webinars (on April 6th and April 11th) and one tribal Solicitation Notice Applicant Webinar (on April 13th). Each of these webinars covered the following topics: a brief overview of the EN Grants Program and FY 2022 timeline, notable changes from FY 2021, an overview of applicant resources and guidance materials (including a detailed project budget overview), and common mistakes to avoid. The slide deck from this presentation is titled ‘FY22 Solicitation Notice Webinar’ and can be found under the section ‘Resources for Applicants and Grantees’ below.
Additionally, each session had a question-and-answer session with participants. Questions answered during this portion of the webinars were added to the General FAQs; see ‘General FAQs’ under the section ‘‘Resources for Applicants and Grantees’ below.
Resources for Applicants and Grantees
Optional Cover Letter Template (docx)
Optional Project Narrative Template (docx)
Optional Budget Narrative Template (docx)
Detailed Instructions for Submitting Applications Through Grants.gov (pdf)
Optional Application Pre-Submission Checklist (pdf)
Applicant Guidance - Identifying Items for Reuse (pdf)
Applicant Guidance - How to Develop a Budget - Direct and Indirect Costs (pdf)
FY22 Exchange Network Solicitation Notice (pdf)
Applicant Guidance - Alignment with the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy (EEDS) (pdf)
FY22 Solicitation Notice Webinar (pptx)
Tribal Exchange Network FAQs FY22
FY22 Exchange Network General FAQs
EN Grant Registration Requirement
A goal of the EN is to share information about available services and reuse existing services whenever possible. To ensure that products and services are available for EN partner use and/or collaboration, Exchange Network grant applicants must commit to register any newly developed resources (required since 2011) and the reuse of existing resources (required since 2018). These registration records, previously housed in the now-retired Reusable Component Service (RCS) inventory system, can now be found via the EN grant website. Applicants can find a list of previous EN grant projects, along with direct links to the descriptions of registered components associated with the project, in the ‘Previous Exchange Network Grant Projects’ section of this website. Applicants are also encouraged to visit the E-Enterprise Community Inventory Platform (EECIP) to search for project-appropriate tools, reusable components and services, EN peer contact information, and potential mentors.
At the time of grant close-out, Exchange Network grantees should work with their Regional Exchange Network Coordinator (RENC) to complete the EN grant registration as discussed above. Obtain the current list of RENCs.
Exchange Network Grants Meeting Excessive Unliquidated Obligations (ULO) Criteria
Un-liquidated Obligations (ULOs) are funds that have been awarded to grantees but that remain unspent.
EPA may include consideration when applicants have excessive ULOs on prior EN grants when making final funding decisions.
Quality Assurance Reporting Form
EPA Exchange Network grants include a grant condition in the assistance agreement requiring the recipient to submit the Exchange Network Quality Assurance Reporting Form (QARF) to the EPA Regional Project Officer within 90 days of the award issuance date. The QARF is a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) tailored specifically to satisfy the unique Quality Assurance needs of the Exchange Network Grant Program. The QARF must describe for each goal and output:
- the relevant task-specific Quality Assurance (QA) criteria.
- how the recipient will ensure adherence with the QA criteria.
- how the recipient will confirm and document that the project deliverable meet the QA criteria.
The QA criteria information specified above must be documented for each goal and output under the Quality Assurance Measures section of the Exchange Network QARF. The template for the Exchange Network QARF can be found below:
Quality Assurance Reporting Form (PDF)
Related Information About Grants
- Previous Exchange Network Grant Projects
Review information on Exchange Network grants awarded between 2002 to 2019. Find out more about the types of activities in which states, tribes and territories are involved to support the Environmental Information Exchange Network. - Grants Awards Database
Read a summary record for all non-construction EPA grants awarded in the last 10 years, including grants that were awarded before that time, but that remain open. -
Grants and Debarment
Understanding, managing, and applying for EPA grants. - Grants.gov
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