Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 194 / Monday, October 6, 2008 / Notices 58129 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jim Seger, telephone: (503) 820–2280. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These 

public hearings are being held in 

preparation for a Council final decision 

on trawl rationalization scheduled for 

its November 2008 meeting. The agenda 

for the November 2008 Council meeting 

will be published in a subsequent 

Federal Register, prior to the actual 

meeting. The analytical package 

supporting the Council deliberations 

(including a preliminary draft 

environmental impact statement) is 

available from the Council web site 

(www.pcouncil.org) and on request from 

the Council office. 

Schedule for Public Hearings 

Public hearings will be held to receive 

comments on the draft Amendment 20 

at the following dates, times and 

locations: 

October 27, 2008 (2 P.M): 

•Best Western Agate Beach Inn, (2 

sections of Ballroom TBD), 3019 N. 

Coast Highway, Newport, OR, 

telephone: (541) 265–9411. 

October 28, 2008 (Olympia, 3 P.M., 

Eureka, 2 P.M.): 

•Washington Dept. of Fish Wild, 

Natural Resources Building, 1st Floor, 

Room 172, 1111 Washington Street NE, 

Olympia, WA 98504. 

•Red Lion, Evergreen Ballroom, 1929 

Fourth Street, Eureka, CA. 

October 29, 2008 (3 P.M.): 

•Holiday Inn Express, Riverview 1 

and 2, 205 West Marine Drive, Astoria, 

OR. 

•University Inn and Conf Center, 

Sierra Room, 611 Ocean Street, Santa 

Cruz, CA. 

These hearings are exclusively for the 

purpose of receiving public comment on 

draft Amendment 20 to the groundfish 

FMP and the accompanying analytical 

package. No formal actions will be taken 

at the hearings. 

Special Accommodations 

The hearings are physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Ms. 

Carolyn Porter at (503) 820–2280 

(voice), or (503) 820–2299 (fax) at least 

5 days prior to the meeting date. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: October 1, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–23548 Filed 10–3–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[Docket No. 0809181225–81227–01] 

Scientific Data Stewardship Project 

Office for 2009 

AGENCY: National Environmental 

Satellite Data and Information Service 

Program Office (NESDISPO), National 

Environmental Satellite Data and 

Information Service (NESDIS), National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of funding availability. 

SUMMARY: The Scientific Data 

Stewardship (SDS) Project seeks to 

support the development and 

stewardship of Climate Data Records 

(CDRs) for the atmosphere, cryosphere, 

oceans, and land surface. The Project 

follows the National Research Council’s 

2004 distinction between Fundamental 

and Thematic Climate Data Records, 

and is initially focused on Fundamental 

CDRs and lower complexity Thematic 

CDRs. The SDS Project is managed by 

NOAA, but is informed by other 

government agencies such that its 

results represent a government-wide 

contribution to climate change 

detection, assessment, understanding, 

adaptation and/or mitigation. 

DATES: Letters of Intent should be 

received no later than 5 p.m. Eastern 

Time, October 31, 2008. Full proposals 

must be received no later than 5 p.m. 

Eastern Time, December 15, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Applications are available 

at http://www.grants.gov. If the 

applicant does Internet it take several 

weeks, involving multiple steps. In 

order to allow sufficient time for this 

process, applicants should register as 

soon as possible, even if they are not yet 

ready to submit their proposal. If an 

applicant has problems downloading 

the application package from 

Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov Customer 

Support at (800) 518–4726 or 

support@grants.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

SDSPO Grants Manager: Linda S. 

Statler, NOAA Scientific Data 

Stewardship Project Office, 151 Patton 

Ave., Asheville, NC 28801; Phone: 828– 

271–4657; E-mail: Linda.S.Statler-atnoaa.gov. SDSPO Project Manager: Jeff 

Privette, NOAA Scientific Data 

Stewardship Project Office, 151 Patton 

Ave., Asheville, NC28801; Phone: 828– 

271–4331; E-mail: Jeff.Privette-atnoaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As part of 

its climate mandate, the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) has a 

responsibility to provide the Nation 

with objective data and tools to help 

characterize, understand, predict, 

mitigate and coordinate its Climate Data 

Record (CDR) activities with other 

agencies through the U.S. adapt to 

climate change and variability. To help 

fulfill that responsibility, NOAA has 

begun Climate Change Science Program 

(CCSP). The National Research Council 

defines a CDR as ‘‘a time series of 

measurements of sufficient length, 

consistency, and continuity to 

determine climate variability and 

change.’’ NOAA’s National Climatic 

Data Center (NCDC) initiated the 

Scientific Data Stewardship (SDS) 

Project (hereafter referred to as the 

Project) to lead the Agency’s CDR 

activities and to coordinate with the 

partner agencies. Given that early 

algorithm development is supported 

elsewhere, the Project is focused on the 

generalization and application of mature 

algorithms to multiple satellites and 

sensors which together span climaterelevant time periods. It also supports 

development of Climate Information 

Records (CIRs), defined as time series 

derived from CDRs and related longterm measurements that provide 

specific information (e.g., drought area, 

hurricane trends) about complex 

environmental phenomena in a manner 

useful to a variety of applications and 

user communities. Together, the various 

SDS products serve a wide range of 

scientific, commercial, decision support 

and policy-making needs. Various CDRs 

have been developed in the past, most 

notably through the NOAA–NASA 

Pathfinder Program in the 1990s. NOAA 

intends to leverage lessons from such 

efforts into a more systematic, 

comprehensive and sustained program. 

To help achieve this, the Project plans 

to execute its responsibilities in 

partnership with the larger scientific 

community through regular NOAA 

Announcements of Opportunity as well 

as through community reviews and 

working groups. The Project represents 

one of NOAA’s primary contributions to 

the CCSP’s climate data goals. 

Electronic Access: The full text of the 

full funding opportunity announcement 

for this program can be accessed via the 

Grants.gov Web site at http:// 

www.grants.gov. The announcement 

will also be available by contacting the 

program officials identified under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Applicants must comply with all 

requirements contained in the full 

funding opportunity announcement. 

Statutory Authority: 49 U.S.C. 

44720(b) and 33 U.S.C. 883d. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
58130 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 194 / Monday, October 6, 2008 / Notices 

CFDA: 11.440, Environmental 

Sciences, Applications, Data, and 

Education. 

Funding Availability: The total 

anticipated federal funding in FY 2009 

is $2.6M for new awards. The 

anticipated number of new awards, 

pending adequate proposals of merit, is 

from 5 to 15. Please be advised that 

actual funding levels will depend upon 

the final FY 2009 budget appropriations. 

Current plans assume that 100% of the 

total resources provided through the 

present FY 2009 SDS Announcement 

will support extramural efforts that 

include the broad academic, non-profit, 

federal and commercial communities. In 

FY 2007, the first year of SDS grants, the 

Project made eight awards totaling 

approximately $800K. In FY 2008, the 

Project expanded total funding to nearly 

$1,000K, which included funding for 

three new starts. Past or current grantees 

funded under this announcement are 

eligible to apply for a new award, which 

builds on previous activities or areas of 

research not covered in the previous 

award. Current grantees should not 

request supplementary funding for 

ongoing research through this 

announcement. The exact amount of 

funds that may be representatives. 

Awards are to be up to three years in 

length except where noted otherwise 

awarded will be determined in preaward negotiations between the 

applicant and NOAA by the Project. 

Eligibility: Eligible applicants are 

institutions of higher education; other 

nonprofits; for profits; commercial 

organizations; international 

organizations; state, local and Indian 

tribal governments; and Federal 

agencies. 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(b). 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. 

Cost Sharing Requirements: This 

competition does not have Cost Sharing 

requirements. However, applicants are 

welcome to describe applicable costsharing when relevant. 

Evaluation and Selection Procedures: 

The general evaluation criteria and 

selection factors that apply to full 

applications to this funding opportunity 

are summarized below. The evaluation 

criteria for full applications will have 

different weights and details. Further 

information about the evaluation criteria 

and selection factors can be found in the 

full funding opportunity announcement. 

Evaluation Criteria for Projects: 1. 

Importance and/or relevance and 

applicability of proposed project to the 

program goals (40%). This ascertains 

whether there is intrinsic value in the 

proposed work and/or relevance to 

NOAA, Federal, regional, Project, 

NOAA and CCSP CDR goals, and if the 

work is applicable to the FY 2009 

Priority State, or local activities. For the 

SDS competition, this includes 

relevance to the SDS CDRs or activities. 

2. Technical/Scientific Merit (40%). 

This assesses whether the approach is 

technically sound and/or innovative, if 

the methods are appropriate, and 

whether there are clear project goals and 

objectives. 3. Overall Qualifications of 

Applicants (10%). This ascertains 

whether the applicant possesses the 

necessary education, experience, 

training, facilities, and administrative 

resources to accomplish the project. 4. 

Project Costs (10%). The budget is 

evaluated to determine if it is realistic 

and commensurate with the project 

needs and time-frame. 5. Outreach and 

Education (0%). NOAA assesses 

whether this project provides a focused 

and effective education and outreach 

strategy regarding NOAA’s mission to 

protect the Nation’s natural resources. 

For the SDS competition, this criterion 

is not scored. 

Review and Selection Process: Once a 

full application has been received by 

SDSPO, an initial administrative review 

is conducted to determine compliance 

with requirements and completeness of 

the application. Independent peer mail 

reviewers, and/or independent peer 

panel reviewers consisting of Federal, or 

a combination of both Federal and nonFederal experts, will evaluate full 

proposals in accordance with the 

evaluation criteria. If peer mail review 

and peer panel review are both 

conducted, the mail reviews will be 

provided to the panel for use in its 

deliberations prior to providing its 

ratings. If only a peer mail review is 

conducted, the Project Manager will use 

the rank numerical order of the mail 

reviews to determine funding 

recommendations. If only a peer panel 

review or both a peer panel review and 

a peer mail review are conducted, the 

Project Manager will use the numerical 

rank order of the peer review panel to 

determine funding recommendations. 

Occasionally a reviewer may, due to 

lack of familiarity in a particular area, 

choose not to score a particular 

proposal. The scores from remaining 

peer panel reviewers for that proposal 

will be averaged to produce a single 

numerical score for the proposal. The 

average score for each proposal will be 

used to determine rank of proposals. 

The Project Manager will recommend 

proposals to the Selecting Official in 

numerical rank order unless the 

proposal is justified to be selected out 

of rank order based upon additional 

documented requirements of any 

selection factor listed in section C. 

below. The Project Manager will review 

the amounts requested for each selected 

proposal (including costs for computing 

and networking services) and 

recommend the total duration and the 

amount of funding, which may be less 

than the proposal and budget requested. 

The Selecting Official will review the 

recommendations. 

Selection Factors for Projects: The 

Selecting Official shall award in rank 

order unless a proposal is justified to be 

selected out of rank order based upon 

any of the following factors: 1. 

Availability of funding 2. Balance/ 

distribution of funds a. Geographically 

b. By type of institutions c. By type of 

partners d. By research area e. By 

project types 3. Duplication of other 

projects funded or considered for 

funding by NOAA/federal agencies 4. 

SDS Project priorities and policy factors 

5. Applicant’s prior award performance 

6. Partnerships with/participation of 

targeted group 7. Adequacy of 

information necessary for NOAA staff to 

make a NEPA determination and draft 

necessary documentation before 

recommendations for funding are made 

to the Grants Officer. The Selecting 

Official makes final recommendations 

for award to the Grants Officer who is 

authorized to obligate the funds. 

Intergovernmental Review: 

Applications under the SDS Project are 

not subject to Executive Order 12372, 

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs.’’ 

Limitation of Liability: 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. 

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 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 194 / Monday, October 6, 2008 / Notices 58131 

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: 

The Department of Commerce PreAward Notification Requirements for 

Grants and Cooperative Agreements 

contained in the Federal Register notice 

of February 11, 2008 (73 FR 7696), 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, 

and 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, nor shall 

a 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 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 

for the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are inapplicable. 

Therefore, a regulatory flexibility 

analysis has not been prepared. 

Mary E. Kicza, 

Assistant Administrator for Satellite and 

Information Services. 

[FR Doc. E8–23516 Filed 10–3–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

[Transmittal Nos. 08–85] 

36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification 

AGENCY: Department of Defense, Defense 

Security Cooperation Agency. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Defense is 

publishing the unclassified text of a 

section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. 

This is published to fulfill the 

requirements of section 155 of Public 

Law 104–164 dated 21 July 1996. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 601– 

3740. 

The following is a copy of a letter to 

the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Transmittals 08–85 

with attached transmittal, policy 

justification, and Sensitivity of 

Technology. 

Dated: September 25, 2008. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–M 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES