Federal grant programs / Environmental Protection Agency

Geographic Programs - Puget Sound Action Agenda: Technical Investigations and Implementation Assistance Program (66.123)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$126 million
• Grant awards5
• Typical award$27.5 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$10.7 million
• Size rank738 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceCooperative agreements

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $14.8 million in fiscal 2021 to $10.7 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 738th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• Awards went to recipients in 1 states and territories.

What the program funds

Puget Sound has been designated as one of 28 estuaries of National Significance under section 320 of the Clean Water Act. The goal of the National Estuary Program (NEP) is to attain and maintain water quality in designated estuaries that will assure protection of public water supplies and the protection and propagation of a balanced, indigenous population of shellfish, fish and wildlife and allows recreational activities in and on the water. The Puget Sound National Estuary Program's approved Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, the Puget Sound Action Agenda, has a goal to restore and maintain the Puget Sound Estuary's environment by meeting 2022-2026 ecosystem targets. The Puget Sound Action Agenda charts the course to recovery of our nation's largest estuary–it complements and incorporates the work of many partners from around Puget Sound to describe regional strategies and specific actions needed to recover Puget Sound. These strategies and actions provide opportunities for federal, state, local, tribal, and private entities to better invest resources and coordinate actions. The EPA is committed to protecting and improving water quality and minimizing the adverse impacts of rapid development in the Puget Sound Basin. These commitments include protecting the watersheds and waters of Puget Sound by protecting the fundamental watershed processes that provide and create aquatic habitats and by reducing the generation and release of toxic, nutrient, and pathogen pollution. This program has the following main objectives: First, implementing the approved CCMP, the Action Agenda for Puget Sound, is the primary objective of this program. Funds are directed to the highest priority work as articulated in every four-year update to the Action Agenda work plan. The updated work plan identifies implementation strategies to achieve reductions in the harmful impacts on Puget Sound and restore previously damaged aquatic ecosystem functions. A central component of the Puget Sound Action Agenda is its Science Work Plan which identifies some of the core scientific work that must be completed for implementation efforts to succeed. Together with projects aimed at achieving specific environmental outcomes, the science studies and technical investigations inform adaptive management of sustained efforts towards the restoration and protection of Puget Sound. Funding has been designated for three Strategic Initiative Leads (SILs) – Stormwater, Shellfish, and Habitat. A new lead program was created with Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding, called the Riparian Systems Lead.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

apply under this program. Public and private institutions of higher education located in the United States are eligible to apply under this program. Units of local government organized under Washington State law and located within the Greater Puget Sound basin are eligible to apply. Also eligible to apply are special purpose districts, as defined by Washington State law at R.C.W. 36.93.020, including but not limited to, irrigation districts, and water and sewer districts that are in or govern land and water resources within the greater Puget Sound basin. Conservation districts located in or governing land and water resources within the greater Puget Sound Basin are also eligible to apply for assistance under this program. Watershed planning units formed under RCW 90.82.040 and RCW 90.82.060, local management boards organized under RCW 90.88.030, salmon recovery lead entities organized pursuant to RCW 77.85.050, regional fisheries enhancement groups organized pursuant to RCW 77.95.060 and Marine Resource Committees organized pursuant to RCW 36.125.010 and RCW 36.125.020 are eligible to apply if they are located within or their jurisdictions include waters and/or lands within the Greater Puget Sound basin. Intrastate organizations such as associations of cities, counties or conservation districts in the Greater Puget Sound basin are also eligible to apply. Nonprofit nongovernmental entities are also eligible to apply.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

What the money can and cannot pay for

The EPA Puget Sound funds are for the development and implementation of programs that will improve water quality, air quality, and minimize the adverse impacts of rapid development in the Puget Sound Basin, including activities linked to habitat restoration projects or controlling sources of nonpoint pollution. The assistance can be used to fund technical studies and investigations, as well as protection and restoration activities necessary to achieve environmental outputs and/or outcomes identified in the Puget Sound Action Agenda. The Action Agenda implementation work can either be funded directly or through a Strategic Initiative Lead, which could then fund subawards for Action Agenda implementation activities. Funding may also be used to develop and carry out Implementation Strategies that map out steps to achieve progress and outcomes for a particular ecosystem target, management issue, or geographic area. Assistance can be used to finance work identified in the Puget Sound Partnership's Biennial Science Work Plan and can be used to manage, monitor, oversee, or participate in the implementation of the 2022-2026 Action Agenda, or the 2026-2030 Action Agenda once approved. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. There is a statutory match of 50% of the total project costs for implementation project grants under CWA §320(g)(3)(ii) and CWA Section 320 allows for an aggregate match. For development of the CCMP, the federal share of a grant to any person (including State, interstate, or regional agency or entity) under CWA §320(g)(3)(A)(i), for a fiscal year shall not exceed 75 percent of the annual aggregate costs of development of a CCMP. Regional Administrators may waive non-federal share requirements at the NOFO or project level if they would substantially delay projects slated to move forward using FY22 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds. Any exercise of this waiver should be properly documented per requirements from EPA’s Office of the Chief Grants Officer.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

For competitive awards, deadlines will be specified in the competitive announcement.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Funding for the Strategic Initiative 2.0 leads will range from $4 million -$12 million with FY2021-2026 funds. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) projects- Climate Resilient Riparian Systems will be funded for $25 million over a five year period and Ensuring Environmental Justice, Human Wellbeing and Ecosystem Recovery in Puget Sound will be funded at $7 million for five years.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: The three SIL organizations award and manage subawards to support the implementation of the Action Agenda with a focus on Implementation Strategies. The SILs establish Strategic Initiative Advisory Teams (SIATs) to advise in investment-related decision-making, maintain the Vital Signs for Puget Sound, and form technical (e.g., Interdisciplinary Teams) and/or policy workgroups to develop, refine, adaptively manage, and operationalize Implementation Strategies. The SILs participate in the Puget Sound Partnership and the NEP Management Conference processes and work groups in accordance with Clean Water Act Section 320; and proactively coordinate with tribal partners and Local Integrating Organizations (LIOs) in order to accomplish SIL work to achieve habitat, stormwater, and shellfish outcomes. The Riparian Lead funds voluntary salmon recovery and land conservation and river restoration projects with the agricultural community and other willing landowners.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 96% of the money, nonprofits 4.4%.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.