Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) FAQs

The standard that our office advises to apply in this case is whether there was agency mishandling of the application. That is a fairly high bar to overcome and not usually met if the applicant has failed to take the administrative steps necessary to submit through Grant.gov.

The LOI process is not a mandatory process. Therefore, you are still eligible to submit a full application.

Your non-federal Co-PIs will need to submit their proposals via grants.gov, which will include filling out all the required federal forms (which federal PIs don’t need to complete).

Your non-federal Co-PIs will receive funding directly to their institution’s grant office. The funding for Federal PIs will not include the funds for the non-federal recipients.

Federal Co-PIs should submit their proposals directly to the program manager. Only non-federal applicants submit via grants.gov.

No, the rules in the NOFO are legally reviewed and approved, and have to be observed. It is recommended to include CVs and current and pending support documents only for individuals receiving funds or who have core roles in the project. For current and pending support, only relevant (as opposed to all) projects should be listed.

No, it can include all prior research results, not just NOAA-funded research.

All documents named above should be combined with the proposal into one document and uploaded as the Project Narrative.

Yes, it’s acceptable to embed the figures within the narrative. It can be your preference if you want them at the end or within the proposal.

Purchasing gift cards to use as incentives for participants is allowable, as long as the dollar amounts are reasonable. Please reference 2 CFR 200.404 for assistance with determining cost reasonableness.

The Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) is an electronic system managed by the Treasury Department that federal agencies use to quickly and securely transfer money to recipient organizations. In order to sign up for your ASAP, the recipient organization must have a U.S. bank account and EIN number.

Yes, this is allowed.

Sub-awardees should provide an SF-424 (signed by the authorized representative), an SF-424a and a budget narrative.