RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities | GR RDC 17 006

Opportunity Information: Apply for GR RDC 17 006

The RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: GR RDC 17 006; CFDA 21.015) is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Treasury RESTORE Act Program. It is funded through the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, which was created by the RESTORE Act (Subtitle F of P.L. 112-141). A key feature of the Trust Fund is its revenue source: 80 percent of certain civil penalties paid after July 6, 2012 under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and tied to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are deposited into the Trust Fund and invested, with those funds then distributed through five RESTORE Act components. This particular notice only covers the Direct Component, and it is specifically limited to eligible non-construction activities.

This announcement is designed for projects and initiatives that do not involve construction work or the acquisition of real property. It also explicitly covers planning assistance needed to prepare the Multiyear Implementation Plan (often called the Multiyear Plan), which the RESTORE Act requires. In other words, Treasury is not only looking for implementation-ready non-construction projects, but is also willing to fund planning efforts that help eligible applicants develop the required multi-year roadmap for how they will use RESTORE resources. If an applicant’s intended work includes construction or real property acquisition, the notice directs them to a separate funding opportunity announcement tailored to those types of costs and compliance requirements.

Eligible applicants are limited to governmental entities at the state and county level (state governments and county governments). The activities supported through this notice align with the RESTORE Act’s eligible use categories, which span environmental restoration, economic revitalization, and regional recovery initiatives connected to Gulf Coast impacts from the Deepwater Horizon spill. While the notice is for non-construction activities, the underlying purposes are broad and include efforts that restore and protect natural resources and ecosystems (including fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches, and coastal wetlands), mitigate damage to fish and wildlife, and implement federally approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plans, including fisheries monitoring. It also supports human and economic dimensions of recovery such as workforce development and job creation, as well as initiatives that promote tourism in the Gulf Coast region (including recreational fishing) and encourage consumption of Gulf-harvested seafood.

The eligible activity list also includes certain categories that often involve physical improvements or infrastructure (for example, improvements to state parks in affected coastal areas, infrastructure projects including port infrastructure, and coastal flood protection and related infrastructure). Under this specific notice, those categories would be pursued only to the extent they can be addressed through non-construction scopes (such as planning, assessment, program development, coordination, permitting support that is not itself construction, monitoring, workforce programs, outreach, or other allowable non-construction tasks). The announcement also recognizes planning assistance and administrative costs as eligible uses, which is important for applicants needing resources to manage compliance, reporting, and the development of required plans and program structures.

A geographic rule applies to several of the core restoration and resilience purposes: eligible activities numbered 1 through 7 in the notice must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region. This ties the funding to the region impacted by the spill and ensures that environmental restoration, mitigation, conservation plan implementation, workforce efforts, park-related improvements, infrastructure benefits, and flood protection work are anchored in the Gulf Coast area. The tourism and seafood promotion categories also focus on the Gulf Coast region by definition, reflecting an intent to rebuild visitor economies and restore confidence in Gulf seafood markets.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was posted July 17, 2017, with an original closing date of December 15, 2017. The listed award ceiling is $85,844,660. The notice does not provide a clear expected number of awards in the source data excerpt, implying either that awards were variable based on applicant needs and available allocations, or that the number was not specified in the summary fields. The funding instrument is a grant, and the activity categories attached to the opportunity include employment/labor/training, environment, natural resources, and other, which mirrors the mixed environmental and economic recovery goals built into the RESTORE Act.

In practical terms, this Direct Component notice is best read as Treasury’s pathway for state and county governments to fund programmatic, planning, monitoring, coordination, workforce, outreach, and other non-construction efforts that support Gulf Coast restoration and economic recovery goals under the RESTORE Act, including the preparatory work needed to produce the required Multiyear Implementation Plan.

• The U.S. Dept. of Treasury RESTORE Act Program in the employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources, other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "RESTORE Act Direct Component - Non-Construction Activities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 21.015.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-07-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-12-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $85,844,660.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments.

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