Muscat - Annual Program Statement (APS)- PD Small Grants Program

Treasury is publishing multiple funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for its RESTORE Act grant programs. This announcement applies only to the Direct Component and is only for applications for eligible non-construction activities, including projects with or without a non-federal cost-share for another federally funded project or program. This announcement also includes planning assistance needed to prepare the Multiyear Implementation Plan (Multiyear Plan) required by the RESTORE Act. To apply for eligible activities involving construction and/or acquisition of real property or any other activity that requires a permit from a federal or state agency, including natural resource restoration projects, applicants should use the construction and real property acquisition funding opportunity announcement (GR-RDC-25-002).Trust Fund amounts are available to carry out eligible activities described in the RESTORE Act and Treasury’s implementing regulations at 31 CFR 34.201. These are: 1) Restoration and protection of the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands of the Gulf Coast region. 2) Mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and natural resources. 3) Implementation of a Federally- approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring. 4) Workforce development and job creation. 5) Improvements to or on State parks located in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 6) Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure. 7) Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure.8) Promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region, including promotion of recreational fishing. 9) Promotion of the consumption of seafood harvested from the Gulf Coast region. 10) Planning assistance. 11) Administrative costs. Eligible activities 1 through 7 listed above must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region.

Treasury is publishing multiple funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for its RESTORE Act grant programs. This announcement applies only to the Direct Component and is only for applications for eligible construction and real property acquisition activities, including environmental restoration projects and including projects with or without a non-federal cost-share for another federally funded project or program. To apply for eligible activities that do not involve any construction, land acquisition, or environmental restoration, applicants should use the non-construction funding opportunity announcement (GR-RDC-25-002). All construction and real property acquisition activities, and any activity that requires a permit from a federal or state agency, including natural resource restoration projects, should be submitted under this construction and real property acquisition funding opportunity announcement. Trust Fund amounts are available to carry out eligible activities described in the RESTORE Act and Treasury’s implementing regulations at 31 CFR 34.201. These are: 1) Restoration and protection of the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands of the Gulf Coast region. 2) Mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and natural resources. 3) Implementation of a Federally- approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring. 4) Workforce development and job creation. 5) Improvements to or on State parks located in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 6) Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure. 7) Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure. 8) Promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region, including promotion of recreational fishing. 9) Promotion of the consumption of seafood harvested from the Gulf Coast region. 10) Planning assistance. 11) Administrative costs. Eligible activities 1 through 7 listed above must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region.

The U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur Public Diplomacy Section seeks proposals that advance American leadership, prosperity, and security interests in Malaysia. This program supports initiatives that promote U.S. technological innovation and economic competitiveness, showcase American excellence in sports and education, strengthen ties with exchange program alumni, and position the United States as Malaysia's most trusted international partner.   Priority areas include: advancing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies; leveraging major sporting events to demonstrate American excellence; engaging alumni networks to amplify U.S. influence; and promoting American English language education and pathways to U.S. higher education institutions. Programs should demonstrate clear alignment with U.S. national interests, measurable outcomes, and sustainable impact beyond the grant period. Successful proposals will engage influential Malaysian stakeholders, promote American standards, and contribute to making America more prosperous and secure.

The purpose of this modification is to clarify the meaning of the Program Policy Factors in Section V.C. To obtain a copy of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. To apply to this NOFO, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE ( https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx ). For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx). ARPA-E will not review or consider concept papers submitted through other means. For problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE, email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with NOFO name and number in the subject line). Questions about this NOFO? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq . For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov.   AGENCY OVERVIEW The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260): “(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that— (i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources; (ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; (iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; (iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and (v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and (B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.” ARPA-E issues this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. § 16538. The NOFO and any cooperative agreements or grants made under this NOFO are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910. ARPA-E funds research on, and the development of, transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/. ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive improvements to the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. In contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves. ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly better than that of the incumbent technology. ARPA-E will provide support at the highest funding level only for submissions with significant technology risk, aggressive timetables, and careful management and mitigation of the associated risks. ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale. ARPA-E funds applied research and development (R&D). The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.”0F1 Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”)1 should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/office-fossil-energy-and-carbon-management), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity (https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity). ARPA-E encourages submissions stemming from ideas that still require proof-of-concept R&D efforts as well as those for which some proof-of-concept demonstration already exists. Submissions can propose a project with the end deliverable being an extremely creative, but partial solution. PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) Ready program provides a vital mechanism for the support of innovative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary focus on early-stage transformational energy technologies that require proof of concept. Technologies that achieve substantial technical advancement under ARPA-E support may still face significant technical and commercial challenges upon completion of an award's funding period, and thus are at risk of being stranded in their development path once ARPA-E funding ends. Experience across ARPA-E’s diverse energy portfolios, and input from a wide range of investors and industry stakeholders, indicate that pre-commercial scaling projects are critical to establish practical performance and cost parameters. These pre-commercial scaling projects aim to 1) translate the performance achieved at bench scale to commercially scalable versions of the technology, 2) integrate the technology with broader systems, 3) provide extended performance data, and 4) validate the manufacturability and reliability of new energy technologies. Successful scaling projects should enable industry stakeholders to justify the substantial commitments of financial resources, personnel, manufacturing facilities, and materials necessary to subsequently deploy the technologies at a commercial scale. SCALEUP Ready seeks to scale the most promising technologies previously funded by ARPA-E. The possibility of ARPA-E-funded technologies becoming stranded along their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who capture it for continued development and economic benefit overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often fall behind on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. Thus, projects selected for SCALEUP Ready will meet ARPA-E’s statutory goals by “accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty."

Priority Region: Sub-Saharan Africa  Africa Regional Services (ARS) Paris, part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, invites U.S. citizen speakers, artists, and athletes/coaches to submit Statements of Interest (SOIs) for inclusion on the ARS U.S. Speaker Program roster. Roster members may be selected for small program specific grants to conduct in-person and virtual outreach across sub-Saharan Africa.  The ARS Speaker Program supports U.S. foreign policy goals in Africa by strengthening security, supporting shared prosperity, and promoting American excellence. In line with the Department’s Freedom 250 initiative marking the 250th anniversary of the United States and the Decade of Sport in America programs are encouraged to:  Share the American story and 250 years of American excellence in innovation, technology, and culture; and celebrate American achievement in sports.  Lead the next era of results driven U.S.–Africa partnership.  This Annual Program Statement seeks U.S. citizen individuals with demonstrated expertise who can deliver programs in English  and  either French or Portuguese.   Priority Program Areas include security; economic prosperity, innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship; energy security, and critical minerals; and American arts, sports, and creative industries as engines of economic opportunity.  Selected individuals will be added to the ARS roster following review and interview. Being on the roster does not guarantee funding; individual grants will be made only when a specific U.S. embassy or consulate request matches a roster member’s expertise and availability. SOIs must be submitted using the dedicated form available at  https://forms.office.com/g/NyK95VxSH9 . All supporting documents (credentials/testimonials/endorsements, U.S. passport and a CV or résumé) must be emailed to  arsspeaker@state.gov . Make sure the email subject line says “SOI” with your full name. Incomplete Statements of Interest will be rejected.   

Through this Disaster NOFO, EDA will award investments in regions experiencing severe economic distress or other economic harm resulting from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2023 and 2024. EDA’s goal under this NOFO is to assist communities recovering from a disaster by realizing opportunities to recover and change the economic trajectory of the community for the better. In other words, EDA funding seeks to help communities recover and set them on a path to exceed their previous pre-disaster baseline. EDA seeks projects that are responsive to community needs post-disaster by engaging all aspects of the community, with special focus on private industry partners. This Disaster NOFO provides funding through three pathways: Readiness Path – Standalone non-construction projects designed to increase a community’s readiness to apply for or implement disaster recovery funding from private and public sources including, but not limited to, future EDA NOFOs and the Implementation or Industry Transformation Paths under this NOFO. Projects will fund strategy development, capacity building, and/or predevelopment costs necessary for future recovery projects. Implementation Path – Standalone construction or non-construction projects designed to address the economic challenges faced by a community recovering from a natural disaster and improve economic trajectories beyond pre-disaster economic conditions. Industry Transformation Path – Led by a coalition of regional stakeholders, a portfolio of large-scale, multicomponent construction and non-construction projects designed to fundamentally transform the economic trajectory of a region through the development or acceleration of an industry.