Capacity Building Grants and Cooperative Agreements for States and Tribes

 

The general objectives of this program are to build and improve the capacity of States, multijurisdictional State organizations and federally recognized tribes by providing assistance agreements to foster environmental enforcement and compliance assurance activities and to improve compliance with environmental laws. Such capacity building efforts may include economic, social science, statistical research, development, studies, surveys, demonstrations, investigations, public education, training and fellowships to the extent authorized under the Acts listed above. These funds cannot be used for implementation of compliance monitoring and enforcement programs. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2010: The Multi-Media Sector Grant was eliminated by Congress. The Office of Compliance, within EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance will be soliciting proposals in FY 2010 to fund the balance ($1,685k) of the FY 2009 appropriations. The FY 2010 soliciation is being prepared, and pending project recommendation and approval. In FY 2009 the areas of focus were 1) Permit Compliance System (PCS) Modernization and Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), 2) Funding Indian Country Compliance Assurance Circuit Riders, 3) Improving Flow of State Data to the Air Facility System (AFS), 4) State Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Training and 5) Demonstration of Better Use of Technology in Compliance Monitoring Activities.

Deleted 01/15/2013 (Archived.) 66.709 Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Office: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Cooperative Agreements Fiscal Year 2010: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2011: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2012: No Current Data Available Clean Water Act, Section 104; Toxic Substances Control Act, Section 10; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 20; Indian Environmental General Assistance Program Act; Solid Waste Disposal Act, Section 8001; Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, Section 203; Clean Air Act, Section 103; Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 1442. State agencies, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, federally recognized Indian Tribes and Intertribal Consortia, local governments, and multi-jurisdictional State organizations and associations of environmental regulatory professionals, with enforcement and compliance assurance responsibilities or responsibilities that support enforcement and compliance assurance including but not limited to data management or research. In addition, public universities and colleges with expertise in compliance assurance and enforcement issues, including compliance assistance and training to tribal environmental professionals. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this CFDA description, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy. State agencies, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, federally recognized tribes, and local governments. No Credentials or documentation are required. This program is excluded from coverage under OMB Circular No. A-87. The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance typically requests proposals and partial grant applications (424 and 424A) from applicants detailing the substantive information asked for in the solicitation. Initial decisions are made based on headquarters and regional review of the proposals. Regarding pre-application/pre-proposal assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this program description, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application/pre-proposal assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as "Information Contacts" or see Appendix IV of the Catalog. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is eligible for coverage under E.O. 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." An applicant should consult the office or official designated as the single point of contact in his or her State for more information on the process the State requires to be followed in applying for assistance, if the State has selected the program for review. OMB Circular No. A-102 applies to this program. OMB Circular No. A-110 applies to this program. The standard application forms as furnished by the Federal Agency and required by the OMB Circular No. A-102 must be used for this program. Requests for application forms and completed applications should be submitted to EPA. (See Appendix IV of the Catalog). Applicants may be able to use http://www.grants.gov to electronically apply for certain grant opportunities under this CFDA. Each application shall be subjected to administrative coordination to determine adequacy in relation to grant regulations, and to technical and program evaluation to determine merit and relevancy of the project. For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications, proposals, and/or submissions in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the competitive announcement. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements. EPA reserves the right to partially fund proposals/applications by funding discrete activities, portions, or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund a proposal/application, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the proposal/application, or portion thereof, was evaluated and selected for award, and that maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process. Contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines. About 90 days from the date of submission of the final proposal. 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). Copies of these procedures may also be requested by contacting the individual(s) listed as "Information Contacts." Disputes relating to matters other than the competitive selection of recipients will be resolved under 40 CFR 30.63 or 40 CFR 31.70, as applicable. Not Applicable. The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this CFDA description will be described in the competitive announcement. The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance identifies special focus areas each funding cycle (annually). Work under grants and agreements must address those focus areas. Previous years have included calls for proposals for innovative enforcement and compliance assurance projects including training, performance measurement, data quality, and public access to information.

Grant recipients and sub-recipients are encouraged to adopt and enforce policies that ban text messaging while driving company-owned or -rented vehicles or government-owned vehicles, or while driving privately-owned vehicles when on official government business or when performing any work for or on behalf of the government. Grant recipients and sub-recipients are encouraged to conduct initiatives of the type described in section 3(a) of the Federal Leadership on Reducing Text Messaging While Driving Executive Order that was signed on October 1, 2009. Semi-annual reports must be submitted (in pdf) to the Project Officer for the duration of the project period. Final reports (in pdf) must be submitted upon completion of the project. Final reports must contain interim outcomes and/or final outcomes achieved as a result of the funding. Program reports are required. No cash reports are required. Progress reports are required. No expenditure reports are required. Performance monitoring is required under this program. In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133. Grants and cooperative agreements are subject to inspections and audits by the Comptroller General of the United States, the EPA Office of Inspector General, other EPA staff, or any authorized representative of the Federal government. Reviews by the EPA Project Officer and the Grants Specialist may occur each year. Financial records including all documents to support entries on accounting records and to substantiate charges to each cooperative agreement must be kept available to personnel authorized to examine EPA grant accounts. All records must be maintained for 3 years from the date of the submission of the annual financial status report or longer if questions still remain, such as those raised as a result of audit. This program has no statutory formula.
This program has no matching requirements.
This program does not have MOE requirements. Assistance is normally provided in one lump sum to the applicant for projects spanning up to 3 years. It is recommended that the money be spent within 5 years of receipt. See the following for information on how assistance is awarded/released: Other. See Regional Agency Offices. See EPA Regional Offices listed in Appendix IV of the Catalog. Lorna Washington, Office of Compliance, Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Bldg., 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, District of Columbia 20460 Email: washington.lorna@epa.gov Phone: (202) 564-1386. http://www.epa.gov/compliance/state/grants/stag/index.html 68-0103-0-1-304. (Cooperative Agreements) FY 09 $2,717,600; FY 10 $1,685,000; FY 11 $0 The range for the smallest and largest awards in the past fiscal year is $21,600 to $200,000. The average amount of financial assistance over the past and current fiscal years is $156,825. EPA Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to and Local Governments (40 CFR Part 35 Subpart A), October 12,1982. Fiscal Year 2010: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2011: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2012: No Current Data Available