Opportunity

The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) will be receiving funds from the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for the period of January 1, 2024-December 30, 2028. The total amount to be funded to AOOS is uncertain at this time. IOOS will seek proposals describing activities aimed at improving coastal resilience and advancing equitable service delivery at the regional scale.

To prepare for this funding, AOOS is now accepting project proposal ideas for financial support in the range of $10,000 up to $100,000. These funds will be used for subsidizing new ocean observations on existing projects, purchasing equipment for observing efforts, or helping to implement new projects. Project length can be 1-5 years. 

The use of such funds needs to fall within the definition of “coastal resilience” as defined by NOAA: “Coastal resilience means building the ability of a community to “bounce back” after hazardous events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, and flooding – rather than simply reacting to impacts.” 

Project proposal ideas will be evaluated by AOOS. If selected, AOOS will request a formal proposal to submit to IOOS. All entities receiving federal funds are required to be actively registered and in good standing with SAM.gov.

AOOS will host an informational webinar on Friday September 29, 2023 at 10:00 am AKDT:

• https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85134467710?pwd=dFhwVUJFSm1oTGZOeHM5SjYzcjBrZz09
• ID: 85134467710 Passcode: 996037
• 669-444-9171‬ Passcode: 996037

Please submit a short proposal--using the template below--with a rough order of magnitude budget no later than Monday, October 30, 2023 to Sheyna Wisdom at wisdom@aoos.org and Holly Kent at kent@aoos.org.

• You can submit more than one proposal
• The statement of work should be no longer than 2 pages
• Proposals should not exceed 4 pages

Title of Proposed Project:

Proposer: (Please list partners and affiliations if any)

Overall objective: (If part of another project, you can include the project objectives from that project, but should state why this funding is needed to meet that objective…or if it will allow some new component to be developed that is of interest to AOOS. A description of AOOS’s Strategic Vision can be found here.)

Brief background and description of project including design and approach: (e.g., This is just an equipment purchase/upgrade for an ongoing observing effort; this will provide support to increase number of surveys or parameter mix to existing surveys; this is a whole new project that will meet AOOS goal XYZ) or data activities (how big of a dataset, format, why these data, etc.)

Timeline for project activities: duration (1-5 years) and start/end dates

Motivation: (Briefly describe how the proposal fits within NOAA’s definition of coastal resilience or equitable delivery.)

What are the metrics for success? (e.g., This support will help fill a known data gap by…)

Do you have any (or know of any) matching funds for this effort? (Please detail level of support for any existing efforts that might subsidize this proposal, including support for future Operations & Maintenance)

Budget: Please provide a rough budget broken out by Personnel, Travel, Supplies, Equipment, and Subawards/Contracts. You will not be held to these exact numbers, this is just to provide an idea of the total cost of the proposed projects.