Grants awarded as part of NCBO’s program follow a process set by the Department of Commerce and NOAA. It is strongly encouraged that all grant applications be submitted via Grants.Gov , the federal government’s single access point for grants, rather than by mail, fax, or email. Once your application has been received at Grants.Gov, it will be passed along to NOAA’s Grants Management Division, which will handle the rest of the application and selection process in partnership with NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office. Grants Management also handles many of the formal aspects of the process, including making the final awards.

If you are considering applying for a grant via Grants.Gov , please visit their Getting Started section before beginning. We recommend starting the application process at least three weeks before the closing date to ensure adequate time to complete all requirements.

The NCBO grant process involves review of the application in several areas. Applications will undergo technical merit reviews and also will be discussed by a ranking panel, which determines the applications that match up with NCBO’s highest priorities. The goal is to award grants to programs that fill certain needs and display high technical merit.

NOAA issues two omnibus notices in the Federal Register in June and December. Grants announced in June typically have an October due date for full proposals with recommendations made in February. Grants announced in December generally have preproposals or letters of intent due in January/February. Full proposals are generally due in March, with recommendations made in April. All grants must be forwarded to the NOAA Grants Management Division for official award. This process can take several months and grantees may not receive official notification of their award until the end of September. Be sure to check the deadlines listed for each individual grant at Grants.gov.