State of Alaska
Alaska Clean Water Actions (ACWA)
Fiscal Year 2013 Grant Solicitation

Background: This document is a grant solicitation to address water quality, water quantity and aquatic habitat issues. The grant period is for State Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13), July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. Select projects that have been identified as high-priority will receive extra bonus points. Other projects have been identified as 2-year projects (FY13 and FY14). This will allow the grant applicant to submit a single proposal for a multi-year project. Although the award for the FY14 project will not be officially decided until the FY14 grant cycle, the proposal will not need to be resubmitted.

The deadline for applications is 5:00PM, February 21, 2012. All proposals must use the online application system.

A teleconference will be held on January 25, 2012 at 2 p.m. to answer any questions that would help groups learn more about the ACWA grants. If you want to participate, call 1-800-315-6338 and enter code 3066#.

The Alaska’s Clean Water Actions (ACWA) was established by the Governor's office and Alaska's resource agencies to prioritize waterbodies for appropriate stewardship actions and to better coordinate resources and agency efforts to protect and restore these waterbodies. The State agencies involved are the Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Natural Resources (DNR), and Fish and Game (F&G). The ACWA grant solicitation is only one of many activities which are undertaken individually and jointly by these state resource agencies in support of maintaining the integrity of Alaska’s water resources.

We are soliciting grant proposals for projects that will address the following priorities:
1.  Stewardship projects that address stewardship actions.
2.  Restoration projects on ACWA high priority waters to carry out identified priority restoration activities.
3.  Protection projects on ACWA high priority waters, including data collection and monitoring.

ACWA Priorities: You can apply for grant funds from any of the above funding sources using this application, provided that your project addresses ACWA priority issues identified in Appendices C and D. ACWA's goal is to support projects that lead to local stewardship of waters, the recovery of polluted waterbodies, and the protection and maintenance of waterbodies at risk of degradation.

Priority Stewardship Projects
Appendix C lists the priority stewardship actions. Stewardship proposals may relate to a specific waterbody or to a broader regional area. Local government proposals to develop and adopt land use ordinances to prevent non-point source pollution, particularly storm water runoff, are encouraged. To be considered, proposals for storm water or land use ordinance development or storm water monitoring and construction of storm water controls require local government involvement.

Priority Waterbody Projects
Appendix D lists the ACWA priority waters and associated actions identified as priorities for this solicitation.  When applying for grants for ACWA priority waters, only project proposals addressing the actions listed in Appendix D will be considered. Proposals that do not address these priorities will not be forwarded to the review committee for consideration. Extra points will be given to quality proposals that address the requested actions for waters shown in bold text on App. D page one.

BEACH Grant Program:  This is a special funding opportunity being offered through the ACWA application process.  Please see Appendix C for information as well as the BEACH program web site:
www.dec.state.ak.us/water/wqsar/wqs/beachprogram.htm

Proposals:  All project proposals must be submitted on-line using the Division of Water's Online Application System (OASys).   If you do not have internet access, contact the staff listed below for other options.  Please fill out all sections of this application.  Only complete applications that are received on time will be considered.  Failure to separate projects will result in your application being considered non-responsive. Use a separate application form for each project.  Please note the space limitations and be as concise as possible in describing your project.  This application form includes a description of the evaluation criteria for each element that will be used in scoring.  Please review the criteria to ensure they are addressed in your application.    

See Appendix B below summarizing the funding sources, general eligibility requirements, and match requirements.

Proposal Review Process:  DEC staff will conduct a preliminary evaluation of all the applications to assure proposals meet the basic threshold requirements listed in Appendix E.  Proposals that do not meet minimum requirements will not be forwarded to the review committee for consideration.  The review committee will consist of representatives from each participating resource agency.  Each representative will individually score the eligible proposals and then the review committee will meet to consolidate scores and make recommendations for project funding.  The funding agencies will make the grant award decisions, which are final. The agency who administers the grant funds will manage the selected projects.

Proposal Deadline: Proposals must be submitted using the online application unless other arrangements have been made.  Proposals must be received no later than 5:00 pm, February 21, 2012.  A hard copy of the proposal is NOT required.

Related Documents
	ACWA Grant Online Application Step by Step (pdf)
	PDF Preview of Application (pdf)
	Environmental Education Project Details (pdf)
	Example Successful Proposal (pdf)
Appendices
	Appendix B (pdf) Table of Estimated Funding Sources
	Appendix C (pdf) Statewide or Area-wide Stewardship Actions
	Appendix D (pdf) ACWA High Priority Water Actions
	Appendix E (pdf) ACWA SFY2013 Grant Requirements
	Appendix F (pdf) Administrative Guidelines and Other Conditions
	Appendix G (pdf) Acronyms

NOTE: Please review the ACWA Grant Online Application Step by Step document before proceeding to fill out the online application.