[Federal Register: October 31, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 210)]
[Notices]
[Page 63776-63778]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31oc06-66]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2006-26114]
National Boating Safety Activities: Funding for National
Nonprofit Public Service Organizations
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of funds availability.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard seeks applications for fiscal year 2007 grants
and cooperative agreements from national, nongovernmental, nonprofit
public service organizations. The Boating Safety Financial Assistance
Program is listed in section 97.012 of the Catalog of Federal Domestic
[[Page 63777]]
Assistance. These grants and cooperative agreements would be used to
fund projects on various subjects promoting recreational boating safety
on a national scope. This notice provides information about the grant
and cooperative agreement application process and some of the subjects
of particular interest to the Coast Guard.
DATES: Application packages may be obtained on or after November 1,
2006. Proposals for the fiscal year 2007 grant cycle must be received
before 3 p.m. Eastern time, January 22, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Application packages may be obtained by calling the Coast
Guard at 202-372-1060. Submit proposals to: Commandant (G-PCB-1), U.S.
Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 Second Street SW., Room 3100,
Washington, DC 20593-0001. This notice is available from the Coast
Guard and on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov in docket USCG-2006-26114 or at the Web site for the Office of Boating Safety at http://
http://www.uscgboating.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Vickie Hartberger, Office of
Boating Safety, U.S. Coast Guard (G-PCB-1/ Room 3100), 2100 Second
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20593-0001; 202-372-1060; e-mail
Vickie.L.Hartberger@uscg.mil. The points of contact for the seven
project areas of particular interest are listed at the end of the
description of each project area.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title 46, United States Code, Section 13103,
allocates funds available from the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund for
recreational boating safety grants. The majority of funds are allocated
to the states, and up to 5 percent of these funds may be distributed by
the Coast Guard for grants and cooperative agreements for national
recreational boating safety activities of national nonprofit public
service organizations. It is anticipated that approximately $5,400,000
will be made available for fiscal year 2007. Thirty awards totaling
$4,615,400 were made in fiscal year 2006, ranging from $10,000 to
$550,000. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as
committing the Coast Guard to dividing available funds among qualified
applicants or awarding any specified amount.
It is anticipated that several awards will be made by the U.S.
Coast Guard. Applicants must be national, nongovernmental, nonprofit
public service organizations and must establish that their activities
are, in fact, national in scope. An application package may be obtained
by writing or calling the point of contact listed in ADDRESSES on or
after November 1, 2006. The application package contains all necessary
forms, an explanation of how the grant program is administered, and a
checklist for submitting a grant application. Specific information on
organization eligibility, proposal requirements, award procedures, and
financial administration procedures may be obtained by contacting the
person listed in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Prospective grantees may propose up to a 5-year grant with 12-month
(fiscal year) increments identified. In effect, an award would be made
for the first year and thereafter renewal is optional. Each annual
increment would not be guaranteed. Under a continuation (multi-year)
type of award, the Coast Guard agrees to support a grant project at a
specific level of effort for a specified period of time, with a
statement of intention to provide additional future support, provided
funds are available, the project continues to support the needs of the
government, and the achieved results warrant further support. Award of
continuation grants will be made on a strict case-by-case basis to
assist planning in certain large scale projects and ensure continuity.
Procedures also provide for awarding noncompetitive grants or
cooperative agreements on a case-by-case basis. This authority is
judiciously used to fund recurring annual projects or events which can
only be carried out by one organization, and projects that present
targets of opportunity for timely action on new or emerging program
requirements or issues.
The following list includes items of specific interest to the Coast
Guard; however, potential applicants should not be constrained by the
list. We welcome any initiative that supports the mission of the Coast
Guard Office of Boating Safety that is to ensure the public has a safe,
enjoyable and secure recreational boating experience by implementing
programs that minimize the loss of life, personal injury, and property
damage, and the goal of the Recreational Boating Safety Program which
is achieving a reduction in recreational boating injuries and
fatalities by:
Improving the reliability of boating accident reporting,
which assists in identifying causal factors that could then be
addressed through education and/or regulation;
Increasing Awareness of Safe Boating Practices;
Increasing lifejacket wear;
Decreasing the number of alcohol-related accidents;
Increasing operator compliance with navigation rules;
Increasing operator compliance with USCG safety equipment
carriage requirements;
Tracking completion of advanced boating education courses
with the future goal of using this data to increase said training; or
Tracking and increasing the number of National Association
of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA)-approved boating safety
education certificates issued annually.
Some project areas of continuing and particular interest for grant
funding include the following:
1. Develop and Conduct a National Year-Round Safe Boating Campaign
that focuses on providing support to address areas that have been
identified through the Coast Guard's Strategic Planning Process. The
Coast Guard seeks a grantee to plan, develop and implement a 2008
National Safe Boating Campaign that promotes a concentrated effort to
target specific boater market segments and recreational boating safety
topics. This year-round campaign must coincide with the objectives of
the National Recreational Boating Safety Program. The nationwide
activities of this public awareness campaign should be based on the
support of the volunteers and professional groups at the grassroots
(local) level. Key to this collaborative effort is how it will
complement the Coast Guard's national outreach initiatives. The major
focus of the effort will be to modify the behavior of all boaters with
special focus on boat operators being responsible for their own safety
as well as the safety of their passengers. Significant emphasis should
be placed on Personal Flotation Device (PFD) wear, boater education,
safety and security issues, propeller injury prevention, and the
dangers of carbon monoxide, as well as boating under the influence of
alcohol or drugs. Efforts will also be coordinated, year-round, with
other national safety initiatives and special media events.
Point of Contact: Ms. Jo Calkin, 202-372-1065.
2. Develop and Conduct a National Recreational Boating Safety
Outreach and Awareness Conference. The Coast Guard seeks a grantee to
plan, implement, oversee, and conduct a National Recreational Boating
Safety Outreach and Awareness Conference that supports the
organizational objectives of the National Recreational Boating Safety
Program. The overall conference focus should have promotional
strategies with special emphasis on boat operators being responsible
for their own safety as well
[[Page 63778]]
as the safety of their passengers. Significant emphasis should be
placed on offering multiple subjects that afford the participants
professional development opportunities and educational enhancement.
Subjects should focus on, but not be limited to: PFD wear, safety and
security issues, propeller injury prevention, the dangers of carbon
monoxide, boater education, vessel safety, outreach and awareness
efforts, as well as boating under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Point of Contact: Ms. Jo Calkin, 202-372-1065.
3. Federal/State Cooperative Partnering Efforts. The Coast Guard
seeks a grantee to provide programs to measurably enhance uniformity
and reciprocity in State boating safety laws/regulations and other
state boating safety efforts. The grantee would provide a forum to
encourage such uniformity and reciprocity among jurisdictions, and
closer cooperation and assistance in developing, administering, and
enforcing State laws and regulations pertaining to boating safety. The
grantee would further provide a forum to encourage sufficient patrol
and other activities to ensure adequate enforcement of state boating
safety laws and regulations, provision of an adequate U.S. Coast Guard
(USCG) recognized State boating safety education program, enhanced
maintenance of USCG approved vessel numbering system and enhanced
implementation of a USCG approved marine casualty reporting system.
Point of Contact: Ms. Audrey Pickup, 202-372-1063.
4. Develop and Conduct Boating Accident Investigation Seminars. The
Coast Guard seeks a grantee to develop, provide instructional material,
and conduct training courses nationwide for boating accident
investigators, including four courses at the U.S. Coast Guard's
Maritime Law Enforcement Academy in Charleston, South Carolina. Point
of Contact: Mr. Rick Gipe, 202-372-1074.
5. National Estimate of Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) Wear
Rate. The Coast Guard seeks a grantee to provide reliable and valid
national estimates of personal flotation device (PFD or lifejacket)
wear by recreational boaters. Wear rates of PFDs should be based on
actual observations taken from a representative sample of boaters
across a range of water venues that include lakes, rivers, and bays. It
is essential that observation methods remain as close as possible to
those used in previous years so the number of boats, types of boats,
length of boats, operation and activity of boats, as well as the age
and gender of the boaters observed remain consistent. Using the design
of the National PFD Wear Rate Study as a base, a supplemental
observational study is solicited to determine if PFD wear rates are
higher in an area after the roll-out of the annual Safe Boating
Campaign. The grantee shall conduct observations in areas around the
country that have relatively high boating activity in the summer and
therefore may be expected to have a reasonable level of activity to
make conclusions about changes in wear rates more stable. Observation
data for 2007 will be collected for inclusion in the baseline measure.
In the summer of 2008, the post-campaign measurement will be conducted.
Point of Contact: Mr. Bruce Schmidt, 202-372-1059.
6. Voluntary Standards Development Support. The Coast Guard seeks a
grantee to carry out a program to encourage active participation by
members of the public and other qualified persons in the development of
technically sound voluntary safety standards for boats and associated
equipment. Point of Contact: Mr. Po Chang, 202-372-1075.
7. PFD Wear Rate Strategy for Anglers. The Coast Guard seeks a
grantee to develop and implement a national outreach and awareness
strategy designed to raise the level of boating safety consciousness
among anglers. This year-round strategic effort must support the
organizational objectives of the National Recreational Boating Safety
Program as well as have the capacity to be implemented into the Coast
Guard national outreach initiatives. The major focus will be to
specifically target the behavior of anglers while boating with a
significant emphasis on their responsibility as boat operators to wear
a lifejacket/PFD as well as ensure that all passengers do the same.
Point of Contact: Ms. Jo Calkin, 202-372-1065.
We encourage proposals addressing other boating safety concerns.
Potential grantees should focus on partnership, e.g., exploring
other sources, linkages, in-kind contributions, cost sharing, and
partnering with other organizations or corporations. The primary goal
of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program is to reduce
fatalities to specific levels for each upcoming year. With your
application, we encourage you to list and describe the tools you will
use to measure your grant's performance toward achieving this goal or
toward achieving a specific objective that will result in the
achievement of this goal. For some examples of tools, we invite you to
explore this CDC Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipe/ pub-res/
demonstr.htm.
This announcement is available on the http://www.grants.gov Web
site; we are also publishing the information in the Federal Register
again this year to provide information to the public in a timely
manner.
Dated: October 20, 2006.
Brian M. Salerno,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Director of Inspections and Compliance.
[FR Doc. E6-18265 Filed 10-30-06; 8:45 am]
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