Summary | 1 Initiative | 2 Opportunity | 3 Award and Eligibility | 4 Submission | 5 Review | Word and PDF versions
Sun Grant Western Center
2008 U.S. Department of Transportation-Funded
Competitive Grants Program
SECTION 3. AWARD AND ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION
AVAILABLE FUNDS
Under this special call, the WC expects to award up to $150,000 for a one- or two-year project.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS AND INSTITUTIONS
Principal investigators must be employed by a LGI within the Sun Grant Western Region. It is not required that all members of the project team be affiliated with LGIs, or be located within the Western region, only the lead investigator. Co-investigators may be employed in the private, governmental, or nonprofit sectors.
Principal investigators and key personnel must demonstrate competency to implement and complete a project, provide fiscal accountability, prepare project reports and demonstrate a willingness to share information with researchers and other interested parties. Integration, economics, marketing, policy, education or a combination of these overarching activities may be incorporated in any proposal.
The non-land-grant partner(s) can help meet the multi-institutional and multi-state criteria. There will be a limit on the number of projects on which one university can be the lead over a three year period in order to encourage broader participation of the region’s LGIs.
INDIRECT COSTS AND COST-SHARE REQUIREMENTS
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has limited indirect to 20% of the total federal funds provided under each award or 25% of the direct federal dollars requested. USDOT also requires a minimum cost-share of 20% for research and extension projects, and up to 100% cost-share is strongly recommended for demonstration or pilot projects. The amount of non-federal funding will be considered in the review process. Grantees may provide cost-share funds through in-kind contributions, including faculty salaries, facilities, and waived indirect or from state, local, non-profit or private matching funds. No federal funds may be used as matching funds. Excerpts from the DOT funding opportunity guidelines related to these two requirements are provided below (from the instructions for preparing an application for a biobased transportation research grant under SAFETEA-LU (The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users), Public Law 109-59, enacted in 2005,… to carry out biobased research of national importance [Section 5201(m)]).
“The FY 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law 108-447) limited indirect costs to 20 percent of the total Federal funds provided under each award. The FY 2006 Appropriations Act includes a similar limitation. Therefore, when preparing budgets, applicants should limit their requests for recovery of indirect costs to the lesser of their institution’s official negotiated indirect cost rate or the equivalent of 20 percent of total Federal funds awarded. Another method of calculating the maximum allowable is 25 percent of the total direct costs.”
“Cost sharing or matching is required as specified in SAFETEA-LU (Sec. 5101(b)) such that the Federal share of the cost of a project or activity carried out using such funds shall be 50 percent, and such funds shall remain available until expended and shall not be transferable. The grantee is required to match the DOT funds awarded on a dollar-for-dollar basis from non-Federal sources with cash and/or in-kind contributions. Applicants who feel that the cost share requirements constitute a hardship and wish to request an alternate cost share may submit a formal detailed waiver request explaining why the current 50-50 cost share constitutes a hardship.”
The SGI did submit a waiver request, and received the following response from the Secretary of Transportation:
“Recognizing the potential value that the SGI brings to the Department’s research priorities and with a clear understanding of the conditions outlined in your request, I am amending the cost-share requirements for this project to a 20 per cent non-federal cost-share, under the authority provided to the Secretary of Transportation and delegated to the RITA Administrator.”
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Peer reviews and a Technical Review Panel will provide input on the scientific and technical merit of the proposals. The WC Advisory Committee will be responsible for making final recommendations to the WC directors regarding funding priorities for the region. USDOT and its Energy Oversight Committee will review funding selections by the WC. Program oversight for awarded projects will be handled by the WC.
Confidentiality/Proprietary Information
Confidentiality will be maintained in the proposal review process and proposals
will not be used for any purpose other than evaluation of merit for funding.
Patentable ideas, trade secrets, proprietary or confidential commercial
or financial information, disclosure of which may harm the applicant, should
be included in an application only when such information is necessary to
convey an understanding of the proposed project. The use and disclosure
of such data may be restricted, provided the applicant includes the
following legend on the first page of the project narrative and specified
the pages of the application which are to be restricted.
“The data contained on pages ___ (paragraphs__) of this application have been submitted in confidence and contain trade secrets or proprietary information, and such data shall be used or disclosed only for review and evaluation purposes.”
Award Notification
WC will notify applicants in writing of grant decisions prior to August
1, 2008 unless delays are requested by the federal oversight committee).
Masked reviews will be provided to the principal investigator. After initial
approval, Sun Grant personnel may negotiate specific grant terms with investigators.
Contracts and payments for the awards will be handled by Oregon State University.
Investigator Reporting Requirements
A quarterly report of progress and expenditure must be submitted by each
funded project for continuation of funding. Reports will be due before the
10th day of the months of January, April, July, and October following the
start of the project.
WC funded projects are expected to disseminate project derived information. At least one scholarly product of significance, i.e., Experiment Station report, Extension bulletin or white paper is required for all funded projects. Ideally, at least one peer-reviewed article would result from WC funded research per funded project year. Investigators must acknowledge USDOT and the WC in all publications and presentations.
Reports and reviews will be collected and maintained by Oregon State University and forwarded as needed to the funding agency.
Continuation of Funding
Continuation of funding beyond the first year will be determined by first
year performance, as well as continued funding from DOT.
CONTACT PERSON FOR QUESTIONS
Ellie Larsen, Program Specialist
Western Sun Grant Regional Center
138 Strand Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR 97331
Phone: 541-737-9353
Fax: 541-737-3178
Email: sungrant@oregonstate.edu
http://sungrant.oregonstate.edu