61516 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 204 / Monday, October 24, 2005 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[Docket No.030602141–5265–28] 

Availability of Grants Funds for Fiscal 

Year 2006; Reopening of Application 

Deadline 

AGENCY: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: NOAA publishes this notice 

to reopen the solicitation period on the 

‘‘NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration 

Announcement of Opportunity, FY 

2006,’’ which was originally announced 

in the Federal Register on June 30, 

2005. This notice applies to only those 

applicants who have already submitted 

preproposals. The solicitation period is 

being extended from October 3, 2005 to 

October 28, 2005 to provide preproposal 

applicants more time to submit 

proposals. 

DATES: Applications must be received 

no later than 5 p.m. e.s.t. on October 28, 

2005. 

ADDRESSES: Applications should be 

submitted electronically to http:// 

www.grants.gov/ and to the Office’s 

Frequently Asked Questions address: 

oar.oe.FAQ@noaa.gov. Electronic 

submission is strongly encouraged. 

Applicants without Internet access may 

send applications to Proposal Manager, 

NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, 

1315 East-West Highway, SSMC3, 10th 

Floor, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910; 

these applications must be received by 

the Office of Ocean Exploration no later 

than 5 p.m. e.s.t. on October 28, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nicolas Alvarado by telephone at 301– 

713–9444, ext. 130 or by e-mail at 

nicolas.alvarado@noaa.gov or Jeremy 

Potter by telephone at 301–713–9444, 

ext.136 or by e-mail at 

jeremy.potter@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA 

publishes this notice to reopen the 

solicitation period on the following 

initiative originally announced in the 

Federal Register on June 30, 2005 (70 

FR 37766). NOAA reopens the 

solicitation period for the NOAA Office 

of Ocean Exploration Announcement of 

Opportunity, FY 2006 from October 3, 

2005 to October 28, 2005 to provide 

those applicants who have already 

submitted preproposals more time to 

submit their final proposals. This 

reopening does not alter the intent of 

the Office of Ocean Exploration’s letters 

of encouragement and discouragement 

previously sent to preproposal 

applicants. Final proposals that were 

received between October 3 and October 

28, 2005 will be considered timely and 

be given full consideration. All other 

requirements for this solicitation remain 

the same. 

Limitation of Liability 

Funding for programs listed in this 

notice is contingent upon the 

availability of Fiscal Year 2006 

appropriations. Applicants are hereby 

given notice that funds have not yet 

been appropriated for the programs 

listed in this notice. In no event will 

NOAA or the Department of Commerce 

be responsible for proposal preparation 

costs if these programs fail to receive 

funding or are cancelled because of 

other agency priorities. Publication of 

this announcement does not oblige 

NOAA to award any specific project or 

to obligate any available funds. 

Universal Identifier 

Applicants should be aware that they 

are required to provide a Dun and 

Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering 

System (DUNS) number during the 

application process. See the October 30, 

2002 Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 210, 

pp. 66177B66178, for additional 

information. Organizations can receive a 

DUNS number at no cost by calling the 

dedicated toll-free DUNS Number 

request line at 1–866–705–5711 or via 

the Internet (http:// 

www.dunandbradstreet.com). 

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 

feasible measures to reduce or avoid any 

identified adverse environmental 

impacts of their proposal. The failure to 

do so shall be grounds for not selecting 

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 

contained in the Federal Register notice 

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

applicable to this solicitation. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This document contains collection-ofinformation requirements subject to the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The 

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

SF–LLL, and CD–346 has been approved 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) under the respective 

control numbers 0348–0043, 0348–0044, 

0348–0040, 0348–0046, and 0605–0001. 

Notwithstanding any other provision of 

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 PRA 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 (Federalism) 

It has been determined that this notice 

does not contain policies with 

Federalism implications as that term is 

defined in Executive Order 13132. 

Administrative Procedure Act/ 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

Prior notice and an opportunity for 

public comment are not required by the 

Administrative Procedure Act or any 

other law for rules concerning public 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 204 / Monday, October 24, 2005 / Notices 61517 

property, loans, grants, benefits, and 

contracts (5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). 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 Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are 

inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory 

flexibility analysis has not been 

prepared. 

Dated: October 18, 2005. 

Mark Brown, 

Chief Financial Officer, Office of Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration. 

[FR Doc. 05–21214 Filed 10–21–05; 8:45 am] 

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