Gulf of Mexico Funding Calendar

ALCoE’s mission is to provide results from innovative, forward looking research conducted on areas of coastal concern to interested members of government, academic community, and the public. Funded projects are recommended for funding through an external technical panel review organized by the MIssissippi-Alabama Sea Grant which provides ranked reviews to the ALCoE Administrative Team. Contact Program Manager, Dottie Byron at dbyron@disl.org for further information.

Funding opportunities with the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Program are expected to be released in 2024. Please contact Nicole Raineault, nicoleraineault@usf.edu, for more information or visit our website.

Florida Institute of Oceanography is the Gulf Coast State Entity responsible for administering the Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence Program (FLRACEP). This program establishes Centers of Excellence in the State of Florida to conduct research related to one or more of the priority eligible disciplines named in the RESTORE Act through a competitive grants process. Grants support science, technology, and monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico, focused on Florida’s waters and coastal environments. Funding comes from the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), which established a Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund in the U.S. Treasury. Program strategy and funding decisions are made by a seven-member Program Management Team made up of senior advisors based on their knowledge of Gulf of Mexico and Florida regional science, technology and management needs. A decadal review of the program is available here: DOI: https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10735728. 

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) is a federal agency that includes the governors of the States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, the Army, Commerce, Homeland Security, the Interior and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The RESTORE Council funds and implements projects and programs through its individual Council member agencies, who may solicit proposal ideas for projects and/or programs from other entities. These proposals can be submitted to the RESTORE Council for funding consideration. 

The RESTORE Council offers opportunities for public comment on Council-led activities. Subscribe to receive RESTORE EBlast, automatic email updates from the RESTORE Council. You can also visit the RESTORE Council Story Map to learn more about previously funded projects.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is no longer funding competitive projects. GoMRI continues to support the GRIIDC data system and the GoMRI website. All data collected under GoMRI funding will continue to be accessible through GRIIDC.

The mission of MBRACE is to seek sound, comprehensive science and technology-based understanding of the chronic and acute stressors, both anthropogenic and natural, on the dynamic and productive waters and ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico and to facilitate sustainable use of the Gulf’s important resources.

MBRACE focuses on five eligible disciplines:

1. Coastal and deltaic sustainability, restoration and protection, including solutions and technology that allow citizens to live in a safe and sustainable manner in a coastal delta in the Gulf Coast Region
2. Coastal fisheries and wildlife ecosystem research and monitoring in the Gulf Coast Region
3. Offshore energy development, including research and technology to improve the sustainable and safe development of energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico
4. Sustainable and resilient growth, economic and commercial development in the Gulf of Mexico
5. Comprehensive observation, monitoring, and mapping of the Gulf of Mexico. Competitive awards are open to researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi State, the University of Mississippi, and Jackson State University.

More information about MBRACE can be found on the program’s website: https://mbrace.usm.edu.

Funding opportunities with the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program open throughout the year. These funding opportunities fall into four key areas, including: human health and community resilience, environmental protection and stewardship, education and engagement, and offshore energy safety.

For more information on our current funding opportunities, please visit our website.

Have a question about Gulf Research Program grants? Email GulfGrants@nas.edu.

NFWF anticipates carrying out one project selection cycle per year. NFWF will begin the project review process each spring through intense consultation with state and federal resource agencies. NFWF will consult with state natural resource agencies, NOAA, and USFWS to identify projects that meet conditions of the plea agreements to be supported by the fund. NFWF retains sole authority to make final decisions.

As of March, 2023, NFWF has obligated all available funds in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

For more information please visit the https://www.nfwf.org/gulf-environmental-benefit-fund.

The NOAA RESTORE Science Program conducts funding competitions to support applied ecosystem science including the co-production of science, long-term trends, and synthesis science. To date, funding competitions have been released every other year while synthesis Request for Proposals are announced annually. Researcher and resource manager teams and their projects are selected following rigorous and highly competitive processes which included a review by panels of outside experts. Awards demonstrate the NOAA RESTORE Science Program’s commitment to producing timely and high-quality scientific findings and products to support the management and sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, including its fisheries.

To learn more about research and funding competitions in the Gulf of Mexico, subscribe to the email list or email noaarestorescience@noaa.gov.

Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) restoration projects and activities are funded by Trustee Implementation Groups (TIGs), as overseen by the Deepwater Horizon NRDA Trustee Council. There are currently seven active TIGs – one for each of the five Gulf states, a Region Wide TIG, and an Open Ocean TIG.

Each TIG selects restoration projects for implementation through Restoration Plans that are made available in draft form for public comment. Monitoring and adaptive management projects may also be included in TIG restoration plans, or the TIGs may develop and implement monitoring and adaptive management activities outside of the restoration planning process, as needed. While each TIG has its own restoration planning process and timelines, announcements related to TIG restoration planning milestones and opportunities for public comment are posted on each TIG’s webpage within the NRDA Trustee Council websites.

In addition, each TIG provides opportunities for the public to offer restoration project ideas through the Trustee Council project idea submission database as well as through project idea submission databases run by each of the five Gulf States:

• Trustee Council
• Mississippi
• Texas
• Louisiana
• Alabama
• Florida
• Regionwide
• Open Ocean

You can also sign up at gulfspullrestoration.noaa.gov to receive NRDA Trustee Council email updates, which include requests for project ideas as each TIG begins work on a new restoration plan.

The mission of the RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana (LA-COE) is to provide research directly relevant to implementation of Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan by administering a competitive grants program and providing the appropriate coordination and oversight support to ensure that success metrics are tracked and achieved.

Contact Brittany Jensen (bjensen@thewaterinstitute.org) for more information or questions.

Texas OneGulf is focused on science driven solutions to Gulf problems. The Texas OneGulf process gathers input from Texas stakeholders and through Texas policy and decision makers, NGOs, business and industry, and human health institutes. Funded projects are selected through a Committee-based Selection Process. Consultation between the Texas OneGulf Consortium Leadership and the Texas OneGulf Agency Council, in conjunction with the Strategic Research and Action Plan, is used to identify tiered, priority decision-making needs, which are then crafted into research questions that form the basis of proposals from OneGulf members. Proposals must be developed through a co-production process that involves interdisciplinary researchers (as appropriate) and research end-users.

Contact Christine Hale for further information (christine.hale@tamucc.edu)

The Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program, administered by the Department of the Treasury, makes available 2.5% of all administrative and civil penalties deposited into the Trust Fund plus 25% of interest earned on the Trust Fund to the five Gulf Coast states.

Eligible applicants are specified by the RESTORE Act and Treasury’s implementing regulations at 31 CFR 34.702. Only the following entities may apply for funding under this announcement:

1. The Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council or such administrative agent as it may designate
2. The Florida Institute of Oceanography
3. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board of Louisiana, through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (pursuant to 31 CFR 34.702)
4. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
5. The Office of the Governor of the State of Texas, or an appointee of the Office of the Governor

Trust Fund amounts are available to establish one or more Centers of Excellence through competitive subawards to nongovernmental entities and consortia in the Gulf Coast Region, including institutions of higher education. Funds may be used by those Centers of Excellence for science, technology, and monitoring in one or more of the following disciplines:

1. Coastal and deltaic sustainability, restoration, and protection, including solutions and technology that allow citizens to live in a safe and sustainable manner in a coastal delta in the Gulf Coast Region
2. Coastal fisheries and wildlife ecosystem research and monitoring in the Gulf Coast Region
3. Offshore energy development, including research and technology to improve the sustainable and safe development of energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico
4. Sustainable and resilient growth, economic and commercial development in the Gulf Coast Region
5. Comprehensive observation, monitoring, and mapping of the Gulf of Mexico.

For more information, click here or contact Shelby Servais at shelby.servais@treasury.gov.

Coming soon