Getting Started Early On Preparing Your
Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Proposal
Every year, the Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) receives numerous inquiries regarding
preparation of proposals for the Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grant competitions.
Many potential applicants find that it is difficult to prepare their proposals in only 60 days, the typical amount
of time the Request for Proposals (RFP) allows from publication until the proposals are due. While the RFP is
on schedule to be available in early fall, there are still many activities that applicants can perform in advance
of the RFP (commonly referred to as the "guidelines") being made publicly available. We have listed many of
these activities below.
GENERAL
¦	Learn how to submit a proposal via www.grants.gov. All proposals must be submitted via
www.grants.gov.
o Applicants should obtain their organization's DUNS number and register in www.sam.gov now. Even
if an applicant is already registered in www.sam.gov. the applicant must make sure the account is
active.
o Review the Applicant Tools & Tips on the www.grants.gov website.
o Proposals that are not successfully received will be considered a late submission and will be rejected.
¦	Review the last ARC Guidelines and Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs) - While the new guidelines will
differ from the previous year, the guidelines generally remain the same from year to year as many of the
criteria and requirements come directly from the Brownfields statute. Reading the guidelines, thinking
through and gathering the information required, and even putting together the plan for your brownfields
program and brownfields project will give you a step up when it comes to preparing your proposal.
Previous year's guidelines are FAQs are available on the OBLR website at
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/new-request-proposals-fy-2016-brownfields-assessment-revolving-
loan-fund-and-cleanup.
¦	Establish the framework (core elements) of your brownfields program. Think about the needs and goals
of your community. How best could your community accomplish these goals? Would an assessment
grant help your community to achieve these goals? Do you have the manpower to manage a grant? If
not, perhaps a Targeted Brownfield Assessment may be a better option for your community or being part
of an assessment coalition. Once you establish the framework, it will be easier to determine the next
steps you need to take and begin implementing those steps.
¦	Establish the needed partnerships. Determine whether your community should apply as an individual or
a coalition. If you are applying as a coalition, identify who will be part of the coalition, who will be the
lead coalition member and manage the cooperative agreement, and who will be members. Also, be sure
to discuss what each coalition member's role will be in the program. Once all that is determined,
document your agreement through a memorandum of understanding/agreement.
¦	Check out OBLR's Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities (TAB) providers. The EPA's TAB
Program provides technical assistance to communities and other stakeholders on brownfields issues with

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the goal of increasing the community's understanding and involvement in brownfield cleanup and
revitalization, and helping to move brownfields sites forward toward cleanup and reuse.
¦	State Letter. Request your state letter indicating that the state knows about your plan to submit a
proposal. Note: This can be done early, but should not be done so early that the letter is not from the
current year.
THRESHOLD CRITERIA
¦	Applicant Eligibility. Begin gathering the necessary information to document your eligibility status.
Contact U.S. EPA Brownfields regional staff if an eligibility question arises. A list of the Brownfield
regional staff for your region can be found at http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/corcntct.htm
¦	Site Eligibility. Prepare your defenses to CERCLA liability and request state determination for petroleum
site eligibility. Non-tribal applicants must provide the information required for a petroleum site eligibility
determination to their state, so the state can make the necessary determination on petroleum site
eligibility.
o Site Ownership. For cleanup grant proposals, acquire ownership of the site. Remember,
applicants must be the sole owner of the site that is the subject of its cleanup grant proposal
in order to be eligible to receive a cleanup grant.
o Draft Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA). For cleanup grant proposals, begin
working on your draft ABCA which briefly summarizes information about the site and
contamination issues, cleanup standards, applicable laws, cleanup alternatives considered,
and the proposed cleanup remedy. This will allow you to see if there are critical data gaps so
you can begin filling in those gaps and have the draft ABCA ready to go by the proposal due
date.
RANKING CRITERIA
¦	Review the Ranking Criteria. Applicants are encouraged to use the most recent guidelines found at
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/apply-brownfields-grant-funding as a guide to begin gathering
information and drafting their proposal. When the new guidelines are posted, the applicant can then use
the time prior to the submission deadline to organize the information into the required format, fill in any
missing details, and further strengthen their proposal.
o Grant Proposal Framework/Outline. Applicants should begin by developing a framework or
outline of their grant proposal. Think about the story your community wants to tell, and begin
gathering the data needed to tell that story.
o Community Need. While the actual language in the new guidelines may vary slightly, EPA will be
interested in seeing how brownfields have impacted your community, particularly sensitive or at
risk populations. If applying for an assessment grant, you should be selecting a target area of
your community that will be the focus of your proposal. You will need to gather data on
demographics for the target area, your community and state. EPA will also want to know about the

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community's financial needs and their ability/inability to draw upon other resources to handle the
brownfields in their community. Applicants should be thinking about these issues and begin
gathering specific data and information on brownfield sites in their community so that they can
speak to this topic with some specificity.
o Project Description. Start working with your brownfield partners to identify and develop the
program/project that will be the subject of the grant. For assessment grants, you should begin
discussions early with key partners about your project area and how you envision your program
operating. Decide the focus of your grant and what sites you want to prioritize or the process you
will use to prioritize sites if that will be done after the project starts. Start thinking about how
many and what type of sites you plan to address with the grant funding and other key aspects of
your program. As more details of your program are developed, you should be able to start drafting
a budget outlining how much it will cost to perform the work described.
In addition, applicants should start looking for ways they can leverage additional project funding.
Begin capturing these resources so that they can be added to the grant proposal. If you have
already leveraged funding for the project, begin gathering documentation (letters, emails, etc...)
that document the leveraged funding. Ask partner organizations that plan to provide resources for
letters that document the specific contribution they plan to provide. Gathering these documents
now will save time later, and ensure you have the necessary attachments to document your firm,
leveraged commitments.
o Community Engagement and Partnerships. Each applicant is required to incorporate community
involvement into their grant, and to notify the community that they are planning to apply for a
brownfields grant. The applicant should start working with their community early to establish a
process and procedures for engaging their community. These efforts can begin well in advance of
the grant application. The same goes for establishing partnerships that are critical to the success
of your program. Begin identifying and forming these partnerships early in the process.
o Project Benefits. Applicants should begin identifying the health, environmental, economic, and
other long term benefits of addressing brownfield sites in their community, or if applying for
cleanup grants, benefits of cleaning up the site. Thinking about the benefits in advance will
facilitate your ability to identify and articulate these benefits in your proposal.
o Programmatic Capability/Past Performance. Begin gathering information on any past grants you
have received and your accomplishments and performance under these grants. If you had
performance problems on past grants, identify the issues and put in place corrective actions, so
that any performance issues are resolved by the time you apply for the brownfield grant. Also,
think about how you will track and measure the progress of your project if awarded a grant.
We hope that using these tips to get started preparing your proposal early will facilitate your efforts in the
preparation of a thorough, thoughtful, timely, and most importantly, successful proposal. If you have
questions, please contact your EPA Regional Brownfields staff or Jerry Minor-Gordon (OBLR's lead for the
Brownfields ARC grant competition).

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