Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection and Restoration Competition

The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) will prioritize:

• Projects that are “shovel ready” or reasonably advanced in the acquisition due diligence process
• Habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects that will create a pipeline of future projects
• Proposals that include on-the-ground implementation over those that include only pre-implementation activities
• Projects that include the principles of equity and inclusion in their proposals and performance of work
• Projects with benefits to tribal, indigenous, and/or underserved communities
• Projects that appropriately consider and elevate local or indigenous knowledge in project design, implementation, and evaluation
• Projects that advance the Justice40 Initiative. Established by Executive Order 14008 on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” it set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas will flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment
• Projects that increase the geographic distribution of funds across coastal states
• The broadening of the participation of Minority Service Institutions, including historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institutions that work in underserved areas. DOC/NOAA encourages applicants to include partners and contributors from any of the above groups or institutions.

To further explore this grant’s program priorities, please review the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Click on the next section to learn more about this funding opportunity’s eligibility requirements.

Eligibility requirements include:

• Projects must be located on publicly-owned land, or land where a public entity holds a lease or easement that provides for adequate public control of the property
• Project applications should include a letter of support from the public entity who holds title or a legal interest on the project site
• Non-governmental organizations may not serve as the lead applicant for land conservation projects, as they are not eligible to hold title to lands acquired with these funds.
• Letters of Intent must be submitted by a CZM Program and each Program may submit no more than three proposals (letters of intent) for this competition.

Click on the next section to learn more about the matching requirements for this funding opportunity.

There is no non-Federal matching requirement for this funding.

However, applicants are strongly encouraged to combine NOAA Federal funding with formal non-federal matching contributions or informal leveraged funds from a broad range of sources in the public and private sectors to demonstrate stakeholder support, partnership, and collaboration for the proposed work. Such cost sharing is an element considered in the evaluation criteria.

Click on the next section to learn more about the eligible costs for this funding opportunity.

Eligible projects include:

• habitat restoration projects
• habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects
• land conservation projects
• a combination of categories.

Generally, allowable costs include salaries, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, and training, as long as the costs are determined to be necessary, reasonable, and allocable to the award.

Ineligible projects include:

• activities that constitute legally required mitigation for the adverse effects of an activity regulated or otherwise governed by state or Federal law;
• activities that constitute mitigation for natural resource damages under Federal or state law
• activities that are required by a separate consent decree, court order, statute or regulation.

See also Section III.C. of the Notice of Funding Opportunity for additional ineligible projects and costs.

Click on the next section to learn more about this funding opportunity’s project timeline.

Projects are expected to be scoped in a manner that would allow them to be completed within 3 years of the start date of the award. NOAA may extend an award for a total performance period of up to 5 years if circumstances warrant, such as unforeseen circumstances that prevent the project from being completed within the original period of performance.

It is anticipated that projects funded under this announcement will have an award start date of August, 1, 2025. Applicants may submit proposals with a project period of 12 to 36 months, or, for habitat restoration projects only, applicants may request a project period of up to 48 months to allow for at least one year of post-restoration monitoring.

Click on the next section for this funding opportunity’s application deadline and forms.

Applications must be received by and validated by Grants.gov by 11:59 PM Eastern time on April 16, 2025.

The standard SF-424 application package is available online. If this is not feasible, application packages may be requested from the Office for Coastal Management via email.

All applicants must be registered in SAM before submitting its application and provide a valid unique entity identifier (UEI) in its application.

Click on the next section to access the Contact Information for this funding opportunity.

For questions or inquiries, please email:
The Office for Coastal Management