# Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2025 Funding Opportunity

Source: https://welltoldgrants.com/grants/noaa-oar-oer-2025-25557-ocean-exploration-fiscal-year-2025-funding-opportunity/  
Official notice: https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/353323

> DOC NOAA - ERA Production offered grants of up to $1.0 million (at least $50,000) to the applicants described in the notice. Applications closed on October 10, 2024.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Opportunity number | NOAA-OAR-OER-2025-25557 |
| Agency | DOC NOAA - ERA Production |
| Status | Forecast |
| Deadline | October 10, 2024 |
| Award ceiling | $1.0 million |
| Award floor | $50,000 |
| Expected awards | not stated |
| Total funding | not stated |
| Cost sharing | not required |
| Assistance Listings | 11.011 |

## Who can apply

- Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

Eligible applicants are U.S.-based institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations; U.S. state, tribal, territory, and local governments; for-profit organizations; and federal agencies that possess the statutory authority to accept funding for this type of work. While individuals representing non-U.S.-based organizations cannot submit proposals, they can collaborate on projects with eligible U.S.-based organizations as sub-awardees. Applicants from institutions that are part of the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI), which are the University of Rhode Island, Ocean Exploration Trust, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Southern Mississippi, are not eligible to apply as these institutions have an annual opportunity to apply for NOAA Ocean Exploration funding via the OECI. Personnel from the above-listed OECI institutions may still collaborate with an eligible U.S.-based applicant on a proposal as a subawardee, but not as a principal (lead) or co-principal investigator. Before proposals from federal agencies other than NOAA can be funded, applicants must affirm that their agency has legal authority to receive funds from another federal agency for this type of work in excess of their appropriation. Because this notice is not proposing to procure goods or services from applicants, the Economy Act (31 U.S.C. section 1535) does not provide this authority. Applicants from authorized federal agencies and NOAA must be able and agree to take FY25 funding for proposed projects (both one- and two-year projects) and allocate those funds in FY25 (i.e., between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025).To be eligible to apply or receive an award, applicant organizations must complete and maintain three registrations; SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. For each, the complete registration process can take 4 to 6 weeks, so applicants must begin this activity as soon as possible and well before the proposal due date. For more information on how to meet these registration and application submission requirements without errors, we advise all to carefully review relevant Applicant and Grantee Training modules: https://www.commerce.gov/ocio/programs/gems/applicant-and-grantee-training.

## What the grant funds

NOAA Ocean Exploration is soliciting proposals for ocean exploration-related projects under two themes: Ocean Exploration and Maritime Heritage. By supporting exploration (i.e., examining unknown or poorly understood areas of the seafloor, sub-bottom, or water column through initial assessments of the physical, chemical, geological, biological, archaeological, or other characteristics), NOAA Ocean Exploration seeks to advance our basic understanding of the unknown ocean. All proposed projects must support priorities in the NOAA Ocean Exploration Strategic Plan (https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/about/what-we-do/media/noaa-oe-strategic-plan_fy23-fy27.pdf) and should also consider the Strategic Priorities for Ocean Exploration and Characterization of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NOMEC_OEC_Priorities_Report.pdf). Proposed projects are not restricted to waters under U.S. jurisdiction, but proposals should address how projects will provide national benefit. For Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) funding, NOAA Ocean Exploration is soliciting proposals focused on one of the following two themes: OCEAN EXPLORATION: Ocean Exploration proposals should support exploration of unknown or poorly known ocean areas, processes, or resources in waters deeper than 200 meters or in tropical mesophotic environments. Projects can entail conducting ocean exploration (e.g., mapping and characterizing ocean habitats, combining seismic and acoustic methods), advancing ocean exploration through the use or development of novel technologies (e.g., autonomous systems, nondestructive sensors, artificial intelligence/machine learning), and/or analysis of ocean exploration datasets or samples that already exist and are publicly accessible. NOAA Ocean Exploration is particularly interested in projects that explore the physical, chemical, and biological environments and processes in the deep oceanic water column and projects that will improve genetic libraries for species-level environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis of deep-sea species. All proposals must demonstrate how the proposed project relates to at least one of the exploration variables identified by NOAA Ocean Exploration (https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/data/publications/exploration-variables.html).

## Questions people ask

### Is NOAA-OAR-OER-2025-25557 still open?

No. It closed on October 10, 2024.

### Who can apply for Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2025 Funding Opportunity?

DOC NOAA - ERA Production accepted applications from the applicants described in the notice. The notice adds further conditions, so read its eligibility section.

### What is the deadline for Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2025 Funding Opportunity?

Closed October 10, 2024. Applications are no longer accepted; the program's newer notices are on this page when there are any.

### How much funding is available?

Awards of up to $1.0 million each.

### Who has won Ocean Exploration grants before?

The largest recipients over five fiscal years were The Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, Inc, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, University of Washington. The program made 35 awards worth $34.1 million in that time.