vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/600/9-89/074
August 1989
Solicitation for
Research Grant
Proposals-1990
Exploratory
Research Grants
Introduction
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through
its Office of Exploratory Research (OER), is seeking grant
applications to conduct exploratory environmental research in
biology, health, chemistry, physics, or engineering.
Investigations are sought in these research disciplines which
focus on any aspect of pollution identification, characterization,
abatement or control, or address the effects of pollutants on
human health or the environment. This solicitation only
concerns the research grants administered by EPA's Office of
Exploratory Research, and outlines procedures for receiving
grant assistance from that office.
In addition to this general annual solicitation, applications
are sought periodically through more narrowly defined proposal
requests, referred to as Requests for Applications (RFA). While
this document does not contain any RFA solicitation, it does
provide a preannouncement of tentative RFA titles and
approximate issue dates for each proposed RFA.
Application review and funding procedures for the general
grants and targeted (RFA) programs are outlined below.
Application Procedure
General Grants Program
Application forms, instructions, and other pertinent
information including general regulations for assistance
programs at EPA are available in the EPA Research Grants
Application/Information Kit. Interested investigators should
review the materials in this kit before preparing an application
for assistance. The kits are available from:
Grants Operations Branch (PM-216F)
Grants Administration Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202)382-5266
or
Office of Exploratory Research (RD-675)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202)382-7473
Proposed projects must be investigative research. Proposals
will not be accepted that are state-of-the-art or market surveys,
development of proven concepts, or the preparation of
materials and documents, including process designs or
instruction manuals
Fully developed research grant applications, prepared in
accordance with instructions in the Application for Federal
Assistance Form No 5700-12, should be sent to the Grants
Operations Branch at the above address.
One copy of the application with original signatures plus
eight copies are required. Informal, incomplete or unsigned
proposals will not be considered. If this solicitation is the basis
for submitting a proposal, that fact may be entered on line 3 of
Form 5700-12.
While applications responding to this solicitation may be
received by EPA at any time, they are evaluated on specified
dates which are different for each disciplinary area. Closing
dates, review schedules and appropriate contacts within EPA
are listed in Table 1 on the following page.
Applicants should contact the appropriate Science
Review Administrator identified in the table for
further information or schedules and review
procedures.
All Science Review Administrators can be contacted by
phone at (202) 382-7445, or at the following address:
Office of Exploratory Research (RD-675)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Targeted Grants Program
The Office of Exploratory Research addresses specific
research topics which appear to merit extra emphasis or
special attention by issuing a separate RFA for each such
topic. The RFA is a mechanism by which a formal
announcement is released describing a high priority initiative in
well defined scientific areas.
Applicants are invited to submit research applications for a
one-time competition using the standard Application for
Federal Assistance Form No. 5700-12 and other forms
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Table 1. Closing Dates, Review Schedules and Contacts
Discipline
Biology
Health
Chem/Physics Air
Chem/Physics
Water/Soil
Engineering
Application Closing
Dates
March 16, 1990
Sept. 14, 1990
April 20, 1990
Oct. 19, 1990
Feb. 15, 1990
Aug. 15, 1990
Jan. 5, 1990
June 6, 1990
Feb. 15, 1990
Aug. 15, 1990
Panel Review
Meetings
May 1990
Dec. 1990
June 1990
Jan. 1991
June 1990
Dec. 1990
April 1990
Sept. 1990
May 1990
Nov. 1990
Earliest Date for
Notification of
Award
July 1990
Feb. 1991
July 1990
March 1991
July 1990
Jan. 1991
May 1990
Oct. 1990
July 1990
Feb. 1991
Science Review
Administrator
(contact)
Clyde Bishop
Clyde Bishop
Louis Swaby
Louis Swaby
Donald Carey
described in the Grant Application Kit. One copy of the
application with original signatures plus eight copies should be
mailed directly to the Grants Operations Branch at the above
address.
The deadline for receipt of applications is identified in the
RFA announcement.
As in the case of the general grants program, an application
for a targeted grant is only considered when a fully developed
proposal is submitted.
In FY-1990, OER expects to issue three RFA's. Tentative
titles and other information relevant to each RFA are provided
in Table 2.
The number of RFA's that will be issued is subject to the
availability of funds in OER's FY-1990 budget for research
grants.
This document does not constitute an RFA for any of
the topics listed here.
Eligibility
The following eligibility requirements apply to both general
and targeted grants.
Nonprofit institutions and state or local governments are
eligible under all existing authorizations. Profit-making firms are
eligible only under certain laws, and then under restrictive
conditions, including the absence of any profit from the project.
Potential applicants who are uncertain of their eligibility
should study the restrictive language of the law governing the
area of research interest, or contact EPA's Grants Operations
Branch at (202) 382-5266.
Federal agencies and Federal employees are not eligible to
participate in this program.
Investigators at minority institutions or those who have not
previously received support are encouraged to submit
applications.
Funding Mechanisms
For all regular and targeted grants, the funding mechanism
will consist of a grant agreement between EPA and the
recipient.
Federal grant regulation 40 CFR 30.307 requires all
recipients representing institutions of higher education,
hospitals, or other non-profit organizations to provide a
minimum of 5% of the total project cost, which may not be
taken from Federal sources. OER will not support a request for
a deviation from this requirement for any grant supported by its
Research Grants Program.
Review Process
All regular and targeted grant applications are initially
reviewed by the Agency to determine their legal and
administrative acceptability.
Acceptable applications are then reviewed by the
appropriate peer review panel. This review is designed to
evaluate and rank each proposal according to its scientific
merit as a basis for recommending Agency approval or
disapproval. Each peer review panel is composed primarily of
non-EPA scientists and engineers who are experts in their
respective disciplines
Table 2. Tentative RFA Titles
RFA Title
Approximate
Issue Date
Contact
Identification and Characterization of Endpoints and Indicators of jan. 1990
Ecosystem Health
The Role of Sediments in the Transport and Fate of Pollutants in Qec. 1939
Fresh Water and Estuanes
Innovative Technologies for Removal of Heavy Metals at Superfund peb. 1990
Sites
Clyde Bishop
Louts Swaby
Donald Carey
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The panels use the following criteria in their reviews.
• Quality of the research plan (including theoretical and/or
experimental design, originality, and creativity)
• Qualifications of the principal investigator and staff
including knowledge of subject area
• Potential contribution to scientific knowledge
• Availability and adequacy of facilities and equipment
• Budgetary justification
Proposals which receive a panel's approval based upon
scientific merit are further evaluated by EPA officials for
relevance to the Agency's mission and budget appropriations.
A summary of the scientific review and recommendation of the
panel is provided to each applicant.
Minority Institutions Assistance
In contrast to the regular grants program, preapplication
assistance is available upon request from potential
investigators representing institutions subject to Executive
Order No. 12677 and identified by the Secretary of the
Department of Education as Historically Black Colleges or
Universities.
The application form (5700-12), instructions, subject areas.
and review procedures are the same as those for the general
grants program.
For further information, contact:
Walter H. Preston
Office of Exploratory Research (RD-675)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 382-7445
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