Minerals Resources External Research Program

 

To conduct research in topics related to nonfuel mineral resources in order to (1) understand fundamental Earth processes forming mineral resources, (2) understand the environmental behavior of mineral resources and their waste products, (3) provide inventories and assessments of mineral resources, (4) understand the effects of mineral development on natural resources, and (5) understand the availability and reliability of mineral resource supplies.

Deleted 04/02/2020 (Archived.) 15.816 Agency: Department of the Interior
Office: U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Agreements (Discretionary Grants) Fiscal Year 2014: Four grants awarded from FY13 solicitation. Fiscal Year 2015: No program due to inadequate funding. Fiscal Year 2016: No current data available. 30 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq. Colleges, universities, profit-making, and nonprofit organizations, and State and local governments may make application for support by a named principal investigator. Research scientists and the general public will ultimately benefit from the program. Proposed research application responsive to the instructions issued by the USGS. 2 CFR 200, Subpart E - Cost Principles applies to this program. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. This program is subject to the provisions of 2 CFR Part 200 and Department of the Interior regulations 2 CFR Part 1402 and 43 CFR Part 12. Application form Standard Form (SF) 424 must be used. The application requirements as contained in the announcement package and the above regulations must be used for this program. Applications may be made only through the internet site http://www.grants.gov. Notification of an award is by receipt of a grant or cooperative agreement from a U.S. Geological Survey contracting officer through FedConnect (https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/). Contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines. From 7 to 9 months. Not Applicable. Not Applicable. Panels composed of expert scientists drawn from government, universities, and private industry evaluate all assistance applications. Criteria for judging applications includes: relevance and timeliness of the proposed research to the goals of the program; technical quality of the proposal; competence of the principal investigator and recipient organization; and appropriateness and reasonbleness of the budget. Specific objectives are identified in the annual program announcement. Applications for research projects not covered by one of the objectives are not solicited. Funds are set aside for discretionary activities. Annual and final technical reports, as well as other products, are required and must be submitted as described in the award terms and conditions. No cash reports are required. No progress reports are required. Annual and final financial reports must be submitted as described in the award terms and conditions. No performance monitoring is required. In accordance with the provisions of 2 CFR 200, Subpart F - Audit Requirements, non-Federal entities that expend financial assistance of $750,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Non-Federal entities that expend less than $750,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in 2 CFR 200.503. Recipients are subject to the audit requirements of 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F. All records shall be retained and made available for audit for 3 years after submission of final financial report. This program has no statutory formula.
Matching Requirements: No statutory requirement. Recipients are encouraged to share in the cost of each research project.
MOE requirements are not applicable to this program. Grants and cooperative agreements will normally be awarded in 12 or 24 month budget periods. See the following for information on how assistance is awarded/released: Recipients request payment as needed throughout the award period. None. Jeff Doebrich, Mineral Resources Program, Geological Survey, 913 National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192 Email: mrerp@usgs.gov Phone: (703) 648-6103 Fax: (703) 648-6057. http://minerals.usgs.gov/mrerp 14-0804-0-1-306. (Cooperative Agreements (Discretionary Grants)) FY 14 $208,010; FY 15 est $0; and FY 16 est $0 - (Cooperative Agreements (Discretionary Grants)) FY 14 $208,010; FY 15 $0; and FY16 est $0. $15,000 to $151,000; average $58,643. Not Applicable. Fiscal Year 2014: Characterization, genesis, and mineral resource potential of critical mineral-bearing systems and regions in the U.S. Fiscal Year 2015: No research funded. Fiscal Year 2016: No current data available.