Next NOAA RESTORE Science Program Funding Opportunity: Actionable Science

The NOAA RESTORE Science Program plans to release its next funding opportunity in June 2022 to support previously planned actionable science in the Gulf. This competition will provide natural resource managers, researchers, and other stakeholders with funding to carry out a planned, collaborative research project that informs a specific management decision impacting natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Science Program will make approximately $15 million available for this competition to fund approximately 10 projects that will run for up to five years. Project teams composed of resource managers and researchers that can demonstrate they have previously planned a research project that would directly inform a resource management decision in the Gulf of Mexico should consider applying to this competition.

Why Actionable Science?

Effective management of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and its natural resources is supported when natural resource managers and natural resource management bodies both have access to the best available science and local knowledge, and then use it to inform their decisions. To be actionable, research needs to be designed to meet the information needs of resource managers, including matching the spatial and temporal scale of their decisions and being shared in an accessible format.

Amount	~ $15 million
Number of Awards	~ 10 The maximum individual award amount is approximately $2 million.
Length of Awards	Proposals must be for up to 5 years
Priority	This announcement invites proposals that request funding to execute a previously planned, collaborative research project that informs a specific Gulf of Mexico natural resource management decision.
Deadlines	A letter of intent (3-page maximum) is required for each proposal. It will be due about seven weeks after the full announcement for the competition is publicly released. A full proposal will be due about seven weeks after the Science Program provides feedback on the letter of intent.
Eligible Applicants	Institutions of higher education; non-profit institutions; local, state, and tribal governments; for-profit organizations; and U.S. territories and federal agencies that possess the statutory authority to accept funding for this type of work. The lead applicant must be from a U.S.-based entity. At least one natural resource manager must either lead or be on the project team. Science Program funding opportunities may not be used to hire and fund the salaries of permanent federal employees. Federal award recipients may use their funding to cover travel, equipment, supplies, and contractual personnel costs associated with the proposed work. Investigators are not required to be employed by an eligible entity that is based in one of the five Gulf of Mexico States (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). However, investigators that are not employed by or associated with Gulf of Mexico-based eligible entities are strongly encouraged to collaborate with partners from Gulf of Mexico-based eligible entities.
Points of Contact	Julien Lartigue julien.lartigue@noaa.gov 240-429-5966 Frank Parker frank.parker@noaa.gov 970-528-0407