57476 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 189 / Friday, September 30, 2005 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[Docket No. 001027300–5242–02] 

The Argo Project: Global Ocean 

Observations for Understanding and 

Prediction of Climate Variability 

AGENCY: Office of Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Research, National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of request for proposals. 

SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is 

to advise the public that the Office of 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 

(OAR), on behalf of the National Ocean 

Partnership Program (NOPP), is 

entertaining preliminary proposals 

(Letters of Intent) and subsequently full 

proposals for sustaining (e.g., 

deployment, data management, 

technology infusion) the U.S. 

contribution to the global Argo array of 

profiling floats and develop the 

technology, principles and protocols to 

transition Argo to pre-operational status. 

It is expected that approximately 

$9,200,000 annually will be available 

for the project. 

DATES: October 31, 2005, 5 p.m. (ET)— 

Letter of Intent in electronic, facsimile, 

or hard copy form due. Letters of Intent 

are used for assessment purposes only 

and are not a requirement for proposal 

submission. 

December 16, 2005, 5 p.m. (ET)— 

Proposal due. 

Proposals submitted through http:// 

www.grants.gov will be accompanied by 

a data and time receipt indication on 

them. If an applicant does not have 

internet access, hard copy proposals 

will be accepted and date recorded 

when they are received in the program 

office. Electronic or hard copies of 

proposals received after the deadline 

will not be considered and hard copy 

applications will be returned to the 

sender. 

ADDRESSES: Letters of Intent should be 

sent electronically to: 

Steve.Piotrowicz@noaa.gov. For those 

applicants without internet access, hard 

copies may be mailed to Ocean.US, 

2300 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1350, 

Arlington, VA 22201; Attn: Stephen R. 

Piotrowicz. Faxes may be sent to: 

Ocean.US, Attn: Stephen R. Piotrowicz 

at (703) 588–0872. Proposals should be 

submitted through Grants.gov. For those 

applicants without Internet access, hard 

copies may be sent to Ocean.US, 2300 

Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1350, Arlington, 

VA 22201; Attn: Dr. Stephen R. 

Piotrowicz. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Stephen R. Piotrowicz, telephone: (703) 

588–0850; facsimile: (703) 588–0872; 

e-mail: Steve.Piotrowicz@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Program Authority 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 44720 (b); 33 U.S.C. 

883d, 15 U.S.C. 2904; 15 U.S.C. 2931–2934, 

(CFDA No. 11.431)—CLIMATE AND 

ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH. 

Electronic Access 

The full text of the full funding 

opportunity announcement for this 

program can be accessed via the 

Grants.gov FIND Web site. This 

announcement will also be available at 

the NOAA Web site: http:// 

www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/ 

SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the 

program officials identified under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. This 

Federal Register notice is available 

through the NOAA home page at: http:// 

www.noaa.gov. 

Background 

The NOPP was established by 10 

U.S.C. 7902 et seq. to (1) promote the 

national goals of assuring national 

security, advancing economic 

development, protecting quality of life, 

and strengthening science education 

and communication through improved 

knowledge of the ocean; and (2) 

coordinate and strengthen 

oceanographic efforts in support of 

those goals by identifying and carrying 

out partnerships among Federal 

agencies, academia, industry, and other 

members of the oceanographic scientific 

community in the areas of data, 

resources, education, and 

communication. In 1999, Argo was 

identified as a key NOPP program and 

selected for implementation. Beginning 

in FY 2006 NOAA intends to complete 

the development and deployment of the 

initial phase of Argo and begin to 

demonstrate the sustained operation of 

Argo. Contingent on the availability of 

appropriated funds, this phase of Argo 

is expected to continue for five years. 

The level of funding available each year 

will be dependent on appropriations. 

Funding Availability 

The Office of Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Research (OAR), on behalf 

of the National Ocean Partnership 

Program (NOPP), is entertaining letters 

of Intent and subsequently full 

proposals for implementing the next 

phase of the U.S. contribution to the 

global Argo array of profiling floats. 

Beginning in FY 2006 NOAA intends to 

complete the development and 

deployment of the initial phase of Argo 

and begin to demonstrate the sustained 

operation of Argo. Contingent on the 

availability of appropriated funds, this 

phase of Argo is expected to continue 

for five years. The level of funding 

available each year will be dependent 

on appropriations. It is expected that 

approximately $9,200,000 annually will 

be available for the project. It is 

expected that one, multi-investigator 

award will be made. 

Eligibility 

Extramural eligibility is not limited. 

Eligible applicants include institutions 

of higher education, other non-profits, 

commercial organizations, international 

organizations, state, local and Indian 

tribal governments. Applications from 

non-Federal and Federal applicants will 

be competed against each other. Please 

Note: Before non-NOAA Federal 

applicants may be funded, they must 

demonstrate that they have legal 

authority to receive funds from another 

Federal agency in excess of their 

appropriation. The only exception to 

this is governmental research facilities 

for awards issued under the authority of 

49 U.S.C. 44720. Because this 

announcement is not proposing to 

procure goods or services from 

applicants, the Economy Act (31 U.S.C. 

1535) is not an appropriate legal basis 

for receipt of Federal funds. 

Cost Sharing 

Cost sharing or matching is not 

required; however, resource sharing 

amongst partners within NOPP 

programs is encouraged. 

Letter of Intent 

To prevent the expenditure of effort 

that may not be successful, proposers 

are encouraged to first submit Letters of 

Intent. Letters of Intent are used for 

assessment purposes only and are not a 

requirement for proposal submission. 

Letters of Intent must be single or 

double-spaced, typewritten in at least a 

10-point font, and printed on metric A4 

(210 mm x 297 mm) or 81⁄2′′ x 11′′ paper. 

The following information should be 

included: 

(a) Title page: The title page should 

clearly identify the project area being 

addressed by starting the project title 

with ‘‘The Argo Project: Global ocean 

observations for understanding and 

prediction of climate variability.’’ 

Principal Investigators and collaborators 

should be identified by affiliation and 

contact information. The total amount of 

Federal funds and matching funds being 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 189 / Friday, September 30, 2005 / Notices 57477 

requested should be listed for each 

budget period. 

(b) A concise (2-page limit) 

description of the project. Proposers 

may wish to use the Evaluation Criteria 

for additional guidance in preparing the 

Letter of Intent. 

(c) Resumes (1-page limit) of the 

Principal Investigators. 

Evaluation and Selection Procedures 

NOAA published its agency-wide 

solicitation entitled ‘‘Omnibus Notice 

Announcing the Availability of Grant 

Funds for Fiscal Year 2006’’ for projects 

for Fiscal Year 2006 in the Federal 

Register on June 30, 2005 (70 FR 37766). 

The evaluation criteria and selection 

procedures for projects contained in that 

omnibus notice are applicable to this 

solicitation. Copies of this notice are 

available on the Internet at http:// 

www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/ 

SOLINDEX.HTML. Further details on 

evaluation and selection criteria can be 

found in the full funding opportunity 

announcement. 

Preaward Activities 

If applicants incur any costs prior to 

an award being made, they do so solely 

at their own risk of not being 

reimbursed by the Government. 

Notwithstanding any verbal assurance 

that may have been received, there is no 

obligation to the applicant on the part 

of Department of Commerce to cover 

pre-award costs. 

Limitation of Liability 

Funding for this project is contingent 

upon the availability of FY 2006–2010 

appropriations. Publication of this 

announcement does not obligate the 

Department of Commerce to award any 

funds if the program fails to receive 

funding or is cancelled because of other 

agency priorities. Renewal of an award 

to increase funding or extend the period 

of performance is at the discretion of the 

Department of Commerce. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) 

NOAA must analyze the potential 

environmental impacts, as required by 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), for applicant projects or 

proposals which are seeking NOAA 

Federal funding opportunities. Detailed 

information on NOAA compliance with 

NEPA can be found at the following 

NOAA NEPA Web site: (http:// 

www.nepa.noaa.gov/), including our 

NOAA Administrative Order 216–6 for 

NEPA, (http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/ 

NAO216_6_TOC.pdf), and the Council 

on Environmental Quality 

implementation regulations, (http:// 

ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/ 

toc_ceq.htm). Consequently, as part of 

an applicant’s package, and under their 

description of their program activities, 

applicants are required to provide 

detailed information on the activities to 

be conducted, locations, sites, species 

and habitat to be affected, possible 

construction activities, and any 

environmental concerns that may exist 

(e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous 

or toxic chemicals, introduction of nonindigenous species, impacts to 

endangered and threatened species, 

aquaculture projects, and impacts to 

coral reef systems). In addition to 

providing specific information that will 

serve as the basis for any required 

impact analyses, applicants may also be 

requested to assist NOAA in drafting of 

an environmental assessment, if NOAA 

determines an assessment is required. 

Applicants will also be required to 

cooperate with NOAA in identifying 

and implementing feasible measures to 

reduce or avoid any identified adverse 

environmental impacts of their 

proposal. The failure to do so shall be 

grounds for the denial of an application. 

In some cases if additional information 

is required after an application is 

selected, funds can be withheld by the 

Grants Officer under a special award 

condition requiring the recipient to 

submit additional environmental 

compliance information sufficient to 

enable NOAA to make an assessment on 

any impacts that a project may have on 

the environment. 

The Department of Commerce 

Preaward Notification Requirements 

for Grants and Cooperative Agreements 

The Department of Commerce PreAward Notification Requirements for 

Grants and Cooperative Agreements 

contained in the Federal Register notice 

of December 30, 2004 (69 FR 78389), are 

applicable to this solicitation. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This notice contains collection of 

information requirements subject to the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The 

use of Standard Forms 424, 424A, 424B, 

SF–LLL and CD–346 have been 

approved by OMB under the respective 

control numbers 0348–0040 and 0348–

0043. Notwithstanding any other 

provision of the law, no person is 

required to respond to, nor shall any 

person be subject to a penalty for failure 

to comply with, a collection of 

information subject to the requirements 

of the Paperwork Reduction Act, unless 

that collection of information displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

Executive Order 12866 

This notice has been determined to be 

not significant for purposes of Executive 

Order 12866. 

Executive Order 13132 

It has been determined that this notice 

does not contain policies with 

federalism implications as that term is 

defined in Executive Order 13132. 

Intergovernmental Review 

Applications under this program are 

not subject to Executive Order 12372, 

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs.’’

Administrative Procedure Act/ 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

Prior notice and an opportunity for 

public comments are not required by the 

Administrative Procedure Act or any 

other law for this rule concerning 

grants, benefits, and contracts (5 U.S.C. 

section 553[a]). Because notice and 

opportunity for comment are not 

required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any 

other law, the analytical requirements of 

the Regularity Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 

section 601 et seq.) are inapplicable. 

Therefore, a regulatory flexibility 

analysis has not been prepared. 

Dated: September 27, 2005. 

Louisa Koch, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

[FR Doc. 05–19644 Filed 9–29–05; 8:45 am] 

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