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CHAPTER 7-120

UNDERGROUND MINE MAP COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS

7-120-00 What does this chapter do?

7-120-10 What is the objective of underground mine map projects?

7-120-20 Who is eligible for an underground mine map cooperative agreement?

7-120-30 Where can you find out about underground mine map opportunities?

7-120-40 What requirements must your proposal meet?

7-120-50 What costs are allowable?

7-120-60 How will we review and select proposals?

7-120-70 What happens if we select your proposal?

7-120-00 What does this chapter do?

This chapter provides information you can use to submit a proposed underground mine map 

project. It explains how we, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 

(OSMRE), review and select proposals and how we award underground mine map cooperative 

agreements. 

7-120-10 What is the objective of underground mine map projects?

Our objective is to cooperate with you on projects to continue efforts to acquire, preserve, 

archive, and distribute underground coal mine maps. We fund these projects through cooperative 

agreements. Our ultimate goal is to improve protection of the public and the environment by 

making all maps accessible. 

7-120-20 Who is eligible for an underground mine map cooperative agreement?

You are eligible if you meet all three of the following criteria:

A. You must be an agency of a state, U.S. territory or tribal government.

B. You must possess hard-copy underground coal mine maps.

C. You must be able to meet our minimum scanning requirements.

7-120-30 Where can you find out about underground mine map opportunities?

If funding is available, we will announce the assistance opportunity. You may obtain a copy of 

the announcement using the sources we identified in Chapter 7-100-30. Our announcement will 

include any high priority topics we identify for that year. Your proposal will receive additional 

consideration if you address one of those high priority topics.

7-120-40 What requirements must your proposal meet?
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Your proposal must meet the following requirements:

A. Support activities in at least one of our three regions.

B. Include a letter of endorsement by an authorized official representing your state agency.

C. You may include costs for salaries, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, materials, and 

services. 

D. You cannot include fees or profit.

E. You cannot include costs of Federal employee salary or compensation.

F. Your proposal must meet the “Instructions for Preparing the Proposal” in the 

announcement.

7-120-50 What costs are allowable?

A. In general, you may spend funds from the cooperative agreement for costs which are 

directly associated with your approved project, and are reasonable and necessary to 

conduct it. 

B. For more information about allowable costs, you should refer to the cost principles 

established by the Office of Management and Budget. See the Code of Federal 

Regulations, under 2 CFR Part 200. 

7-120-60 How will we review and select proposals? 

A. After we receive all the proposals, a team of Underground Mine Map Steering Committee 

members will review and rank them. Ranking criteria include viability, innovation, 

proposal quality, ability to address special interest topics (if identified), and level of 

external financial support. 

B. Our technical representatives and grants staff will review the proposals with the highest 

scores to identify other technical and financial assistance issues that might affect the 

award. 

C. The OSMRE Executive Council will approve the final projects. 

7-120-70 What happens if we select your proposal?

A. If we select your proposal, we will contact you about the following information:

1. Additional documents that we require. 
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2. We will identify all relevant Federal and recipient points-of-contact.

3. We will identify specific conditions. We will define the level of substantial 

Federal involvement. These are required for Federal cooperative agreements. 

4. We will outline reporting requirements. 

5. We will discuss any questions or issues you may have.

B. When we have all the required information, we will process your cooperative agreement. 

We will send you a written award document. This document will include all special 

conditions that apply to your cooperative agreement. We will also send you information 

about any other special conditions of your award, OSMRE contacts for your project, and 

reports and closeout. 

C. Your cooperative agreement will show the start and end dates of your performance 

period. 

1. You cannot incur costs before the start date, or after the end date, of your 

performance period. 

2. You may begin requesting funds from the U. S. Treasury’s electronic payment 

system on or after the start date of the performance period. 

3. You may request an extension of your performance period. However, we must 

receive your request at least 30 days before the performance period is scheduled 

to end