Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2019 Funding Opportunity

Description

NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration & Research (OER) is soliciting proposals for ocean exploration in waters under U.S. jurisdiction, including the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and areas mapped by, or of interest to, the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Project. Presently, important marine habitats and living and non-living resources are neither fully explored nor characterized. OER's intent is to address these knowledge gaps and support growth in the Nation's Blue Economy by soliciting ocean exploration proposals that focus on: 1. Discovering microorganisms, sponges, corals, and other organisms with biopharmaceutical or biotechnical potential; 2. Acquiring baseline ocean environmental information to better inform decision-making where future ocean energy development or critical mineral extraction may occur; 3. Finding and characterizing shipwrecks and submerged cultural resources that played a role in America’s past ocean-based economy (e.g., transport, trade, warfare, etc.) and could inform decisions on future seabed activities and potential environmental impacts. OER seeks to enhance ocean exploration and scientific knowledge of unknown or poorly known areas of the ocean through interdisciplinary exploration, and to advance and disseminate knowledge of the ocean’s physical, geological, chemical, biological, and archaeological environments. This entails identifying, describing and creating baseline characterizations of new ocean habitats, marine resources and/or processes. OER’s mission is compliant with NOAA’s Next Generation Strategic Plan (http://www.performance.noaa.gov/ngsp/) which outlines NOAA goals of Science, Service and Stewardship. Applicants are required to submit pre-proposals and, ultimately, full proposals that support OER’s exploration mission. Note: Ship time on the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will not be funded through this announcement. Informational documents on this funding opportunity are accessible through the OER Website: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/about/funding-opps/welcome.html. For the purpose of this opportunity, ship time costs and/or other ocean data collection platform support (remotely operated vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, etc.) are considered rental costs and therefore are not included in Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC).

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