OpportunityTitle: Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Individuals/entrepreneurs,&#8239;commercial or industrial organizations, Private nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals),&#8239;Local (includes State-designated Indian Tribes, excludes institutions of higher education and hospitals,&#8239;Public nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals),&#8239;State (includes District of Columbia, public institutions of higher education and hospitals, federally funded research, and development centers.&#160;In accordance with P.L. 116-260, Section 1111(e), paragraph (4), Program partners with whom the Secretary enters into cooperative agreements pursuant to paragraph (5) may include water districts, irrigation districts, water associations, universities, State agencies, other Federal agencies, private sector entities, non-governmental organizations, and other entities, as determined by the Secretary.    Ineligible applicants include but are not limited to:&#160;&#160;US Federal Agencies and&#160;Applicants outside of the United States&#160;&#160;
Description: The United States Department of the Interior (Department), Bureau of Reclamation&#8217;s (Reclamation) Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program (Program) aims to improve the skill of water supply forecasts via enhancing snow monitoring through the deployment of emerging technologies to complement existing monitoring techniques and networks. This new program was authorized in December 2020 by P.L. 116-260, Sec. 1111, Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act. The program was authorized for FY 2022 - FY 2026. Reservoir operations and related water management decisions rely on estimates of current and future water availability. These estimates depend on technologies to observe basin conditions such as snowpack. In many Western basins, snowpack and subsequent snow melt runoff constitutes a significant portion of the annual water supply. Accordingly, monitoring snowpack is of great interest to water managers and water users alike. Traditionally, basin snowpack information is based on a sparse network of observing stations across large watersheds. These networks provide high quality information at station locations but extrapolating that information to an entire watershed is a challenge. This challenge, in large part, motivates the Program. As such, the NOFO invites proposals from eligible applicants that are invested in and capable of demonstrating emerging or deploying existing snow monitoring technologies and/or use of snow monitoring data to enhance water supply forecast skill. Considering this and the Act&#8217;s emphasis on partner agency coordination, strong applications will have partnerships with water management and forecasting entities to facilitate transfer of knowledge, foster use of data in forecasts, and evaluate utility of information for informing water management decisions. This supports Department of the Interior priority of addressing the drought crisis by providing water managers the best available information to inform the management of this scarce and critical resource. In Phase I, applicants submit technical proposals in the required format and length as specified in Section D.2.1. Application Format and Length as well as with the required content further detailed in Section D.2.2. Application Content. Submission to Phase I is required for Phase II consideration. Reclamation&#8217;s application review committee (ARC) will select a set of highly qualified applications from Phase I to move to Phase II of the application process. Submission to Phase I is required for Phase II consideration. If the selected applicants are not present for Phase II, their proposals are automatically disqualified from proceeding further and will be ineligible for an award. Phase II will entail a 30-minute virtual (web meeting) project/proposal &#8220;pitch&#8221; presentation to a review panel, followed by 20 minutes of question and answer with the review panel. Those selected to advance to Phase II will be notified of the presentation requirements and logistics with a minimum 4 week&apos;s notice.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: bor-sha-fafoa@usbr.gov
GrantorContactText: Christina Munoz &lt;br/&gt;bor-sha-fafoa@usbr.gov
CloseDateExplanation: Phase I application due date: May 12, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. MDT.&#160;Phase II for selected participants: June 20, 2023, virtually using Microsoft Teams or a similar web meeting platform.&#160;&#160;Submission to Phase I is required for Phase II consideration. If the applicant selected for Phase II is not present for Phase II, the proposal is automatically disqualified from proceeding further and will be ineligible for an award.&#160;&#160;&#160;Proposals received after the application deadline will not be considered unless it can be determined that the delay was caused by Reclamation mishandling or technical issues with the Grants.gov application system. Please note that difficulties related to an applicant&#8217;s Grants.gov profile (e.g., incorrect organizational representative), uploading documents to Grants.gov, or an applicant&#8217;s SAM registration are not considered technical issues with the Grants.gov system.&#160;&#160;