RESTORE Act Direct Component - Construction Activities | GR RDC 16 016

Opportunity Information: Apply for GR RDC 16 016

The RESTORE Act Direct Component - Construction Activities grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number GR RDC 16 016) is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the RESTORE Act Program (CFDA 21.015). It is tied directly to the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, which was created by the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), Subtitle F of P.L. 112-141. The Trust Fund is financed by 80 percent of certain civil penalties paid under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, specifically penalties paid after July 6, 2012. Those funds are deposited into the Trust Fund and invested, and the RESTORE Act then distributes the proceeds through five separate components. This particular notice is limited to one of those components, the Direct Component, and it is further limited to eligible construction activities only.

The basic purpose of this construction-focused opportunity is to fund on-the-ground projects that help the Gulf Coast region recover environmentally and economically from spill-related impacts and strengthen long-term resilience. While the RESTORE Act authorizes a broad menu of eligible activities, applicants responding to this specific notice must be proposing construction activities that fit within that authorized scope. The notice also makes an important boundary clear: if a project is primarily non-construction, involves acquiring real property, or is requesting RESTORE funds to be used as the non-federal match for another federally funded award (whether that other award is for construction, non-construction, or real property), applicants are instructed to use the separate, appropriate funding opportunity announcement rather than this one. In other words, this announcement is meant to capture projects where the core deliverables involve constructing, building, installing, or otherwise carrying out capital improvements consistent with RESTORE Act eligibility.

Eligible project types under the RESTORE Act, and therefore potentially fundable through this construction notice when they involve construction, include: restoring and protecting natural resources and ecosystems such as fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches, and coastal wetlands across the Gulf Coast; mitigating damage to fish, wildlife, and other natural resources; implementing a federally approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plan (including fisheries monitoring, when that implementation includes construction elements); workforce development and job creation efforts when supported by allowable construction components; improvements to or on state parks located in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; infrastructure projects that benefit the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure; and coastal flood protection and related infrastructure. The statute also lists planning assistance, administrative costs, tourism promotion (including recreational fishing), and promotion of Gulf seafood consumption as eligible activities, though for this particular notice the emphasis is on construction, and applicants with non-construction proposals in these areas are directed elsewhere.

Geographically, the program is designed to benefit the Gulf Coast region, and the notice states that eligible activities must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region, with limited exceptions for certain categories (specifically planning assistance and seafood consumption promotion as referenced in the notice). For most construction projects, that means the physical work and its benefits are expected to be located in and tied to the Gulf Coast region impacted by the spill.

Eligibility for applicants under this opportunity is limited to governmental entities, specifically state governments and county governments. The instrument type is a grant, and the opportunity category is discretionary, meaning applications compete and are evaluated rather than being awarded by formula automatically.

For timing and scale, this notice was created on September 8, 2016, and carried an original closing date of December 2, 2016. The listed award ceiling is $65,460,782, indicating the maximum award size anticipated under the announcement. The source data does not specify the number of expected awards in the excerpt provided, but it does establish the program identity, eligible applicant pool, and the construction-only scope that applicants were required to follow.

• The U.S. Dept. of Treasury RESTORE Act Program in the environment, natural resources, other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "RESTORE Act Direct Component - Construction Activities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 21.015.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-09-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-12-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $65,460,782.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments.

Apply for GR RDC 16 016

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: