RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities | GR RDC 16 015

Opportunity Information: Apply for GR RDC 16 015

The RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number GR RDC 16 015) is a discretionary grant program administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the RESTORE Act Program (CFDA 21.015). It draws from the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, which was created by the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), Subtitle F of P.L. 112-141. The Trust Fund is financed by 80 percent of civil penalties paid after July 6, 2012, under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with deposited amounts invested and then distributed through five separate RESTORE Act components. This particular notice applies only to the Direct Component and only to eligible non-construction activities.

The focus of this announcement is funding for planning and other non-construction work that supports Gulf Coast restoration and recovery goals, including planning assistance needed to prepare the Multiyear Plan required by the RESTORE Act. In practical terms, this means applicants can seek support for activities that help design, coordinate, evaluate, and manage restoration and economic recovery initiatives, as long as those activities meet RESTORE Act eligibility rules and fall clearly on the non-construction side. The notice is explicit that proposals involving construction, the acquisition of real property, or requests to use RESTORE funding as the non-federal cost share (match) for another federally funded grant are not covered here; those applicants are directed to separate, more appropriate funding opportunity announcements tailored to construction, real property, or cost-share purposes.

Eligible activity types under the RESTORE Act are broad and span environmental restoration as well as economic and community recovery. They include restoration and protection of natural resources and ecosystems across the Gulf Coast region, such as fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches, and coastal wetlands. They also include mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and natural resources; implementation of federally approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plans (including fisheries monitoring); workforce development and job creation; improvements to state parks in coastal areas affected by the spill; certain infrastructure projects that benefit the economy or ecological resources (including port infrastructure); coastal flood protection and related infrastructure; planning assistance; administrative costs; promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region (including recreational fishing); and promotion of consumption of seafood harvested from the Gulf Coast region. While most eligible activities must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region, the opportunity notes exceptions for certain categories, specifically planning assistance and seafood consumption promotion, which may allow for activities that are not strictly confined to the region depending on how they are structured and justified.

The applicant pool for this opportunity is limited to government entities, specifically state governments and county governments. The funding instrument is a grant, and the funding activity categories reflect the program's mixed environmental and economic aims, including employment, labor and training, environment, and natural resources. The opportunity was created on September 8, 2016, and had an original closing date of December 2, 2016. The listed award ceiling for this notice is $65,460,782, signaling that the program can support large-scale non-construction efforts, particularly statewide or multi-jurisdictional planning, program development, monitoring frameworks, workforce initiatives, and other non-construction actions that advance long-term Gulf Coast restoration and revitalization goals under the RESTORE Act Direct Component.

• The U.S. Dept. of Treasury RESTORE Act Program in the employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 21.015.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-09-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-12-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $65,460,782.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments.

Apply for GR RDC 16 015

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: