**To:** Project Leaders, Ecosystem Team Leaders, Refuge Chief and
Assistant Regional Directors for Fisheries, Migratory Birds and
Ecological Services

**From:** Regional Research Coordinator

**Subject:** CALL FOR PROPOSALS - FY07 Science Support Partnership and
Quick Response Programs for the Southeast Region **(Due: May 1, 2006)**

The Southeast Region Research Committee solicits proposals for the
Science Support Partnership (SSP) and Quick Response (QR) programs,
funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These programs support
cooperation between USGS and the Service in gathering scientific
information to address our management needs. We expect approximately
\$140,000 to be available for new SSP starts in the Southeast Region for
FY07. Although not yet announced by USGS, there is usually \$50,000
available in our region for QR projects each year. A wide range of
research projects, biological studies, and other forms of technical
assistance have been funded by these programs in the past.

We remain interested in projects of broad applicability that may serve
as demonstrations of the ability of USGS and the Service to work in
partnership. Specifically, we wish to move away from a "customer --
vendor" model of interaction with USGS. Therefore, proposals should
originate with a need identified by the Service's Project Officer and be
developed jointly with a selected USGS Principal Investigator. Roles and
responsibilities for the Project Officer, Principal Investigator, and
others are described in Attachment 1. The Project Officer is responsible
for annual evaluations for SSP projects (if multi-year; Attachment 2)
and final project evaluations for both SSP and QR (Attachment 3).

The competition level for SSP and QR funds is high. Last year, 5 of 21
SSP and 3 of 10 QR proposals were successful. Budgets and abstracts for
the successful proposals are in Attachment 4. SSP funds are targeted for
projects that are regional or national in scope. (National projects
should be proposed in response to a separate call to be issued later,
from the Washington Office.) Projects should address the Regional
Director's FY06 priorities, which will be posted soon at
<https://intranet.fws.gov/region4/FlexFunding/RD_priorities.html>. Last
year's successful proposals addressed FY05 priorities, including
fisheries, imperiled species, joint ventures, and landscape planning.
Ecosystem team and program priorities are also used to evaluate
proposals. Further, studies adopting "cross program" and "big picture"
(e.g., landscape-level) approaches are encouraged for strengthening our
internal relationships and our partnership with USGS via SSP.

QR projects are funded only in a single fiscal year, with budgets
limited to the range \$10,000 - \$25,000. They also should address a
priority issue; however, they tend to be smaller in scope, often
addressing a more local priority. Projects longer than 18 months or
\>\$25,000 will not be considered for QR funds.

In addition to considering how well the proposed project addresses
priorities, the following factors will be considered by the Regional
Research Committee when evaluating proposals:

Clarity in expressing

information needs,

how needs will be met in the study and its deliverables, and

how management goals will be attained.

Partnerships, including ecosystem teams and other agencies.

Cross-program support (mainly applies to SSP).

Please follow the attached instructions and formats for SSP (Attachment
5) and QR (Attachment 6) proposals. All proposals must identify the
Service Project Officer, contain a budget table with sufficient detail
to show how the needs of the project will be met (see example,
Attachment 7), and a set of products that meet Service needs.
Inter-regional proposals must show how the budget will be divided among
participating regions. USGS science centers are expected to charge their
full overhead rates (Attachment 8) for projects that start in FY07 and
in following years. The proposal should describe how gathered
information will be applied to Service management needs.

Multi-year proposals must use the SSP format and include interim
deliverables that can be used to assess progress. To be considered,
proposals must be submitted with required signatures (last page of
Attachments 5 and 6) before the May 1 deadline. The required signatures
may be documented as follows, in decreasing order of preference: scanned
signatures sent with electronic form of document, emails (complete with
valid email addresses) indicating review and approval, and faxed
signatures.

Individuals must submit proposals electronically, preferably by email,
to their program's Assistant Regional Director (ARD) or their ecosystem
team leader **no later than** **Monday, May 1, 2006.** (We are calling
for proposals earlier this year so that the Service may have better
inter-regional coordination and USGS may effectively plan and allocate
supporting resources.) Please notify Bill Starkel
(bill_starkel@fws.gov), Regional Research Coordinator, of your proposal
submittal. All proposals will first be ranked by the ARDs and ecosystem
teams and then forwarded to Bill, **by June 1**. ARD and ecosystem team
rankings are necessary to utilize program and team priorities that may
be unknown to members of the Regional Research Committee. For example,
assigning objective priorities to recovery of different imperiled
species can be nearly impossible for people in other programs.

Our goal is to have the final Service proposals to USGS prior to **July
15**, and this is subsequent to regional and national coordination and
review processes. The earlier submittal to USGS will allow them time to
review the proposals, facilitate development of work plans and hopefully
start projects in the fall.

Feel free to contact Bill (404-679-7127) for more information, or any
member of the Regional Research Committee: Laura Brandt, Dean Demarest,
Stephen Earsom, Robin Goodloe, Ronnie Haynes, Wilson Laney, Jay Troxel,
and Randy Wilson.

Attachment 1 -- Roles and Responsibilities

Attachment 2 -- Annual Project Evaluation

Attachment 3 -- Final Project Evaluation

Attachment 4 -- Successful 06 Proposals

Attachment 5 -- SSP Proposal Format

Attachment 6 -- QR Proposal Format

Attachment 7 -- Budget Example (Excel)

Attachment 8 -- FY06 USGS Overhead Rates

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