Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA OAR SG 2022 2007452
The National Sea Grant Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Marine Debris Challenge Competition is a NOAA Sea Grant funding opportunity designed to move high-impact marine debris ideas out of the research phase and into real-world use. Sea Grant, a nationwide network created by Congress in 1966 (and updated in 2020), uses partnerships between universities, research institutions, communities, and practitioners to solve coastal problems. Under this competition, Sea Grant expected to make about $16 million available across fiscal years 2022 and 2023 (depending on appropriations) to support projects that prevent and/or remove marine debris, with each award running for a three-year period. The overall focus is on work that is not just academically interesting, but practically deployable, filling critical gaps and producing results that communities and stakeholders can actually use.
A central requirement of the program is its emphasis on "research to application" (R2A). In plain terms, the goal is to fund research and development that clearly transitions into tangible outputs and outcomes, such as prototypes, tools, processes, or products that can be tested, demonstrated, and adopted. The competition is looking for original, innovative, and transformational approaches that push beyond incremental advances and have the potential to change the current landscape of marine debris mitigation. Proposed topics can include, but are not limited to, new technologies for intercepting debris before it enters the ocean, improved removal technologies, reusable systems that reduce waste at the source, and solutions addressing microplastics and nanoplastics. The expectation is that applicants build on existing knowledge and prior efforts, but extend them in meaningful ways that lead to broader impact.
Another major theme is that projects should be broad, non-proprietary, and structured so the knowledge created is shared rather than locked up. Sea Grant is explicitly seeking work that closes important information or technology gaps and then makes those results available to communities and stakeholders. Strong proposals are expected to connect researchers with the people who will implement or benefit from the outcomes, including local communities, government partners, industry, academic collaborators, and non-governmental organizations. In addition, Sea Grant requires projects to proactively incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA) throughout the work, not as an afterthought. This includes both who is engaged and served by the project, and how the project is designed, communicated, and carried out.
Collaboration is not optional in practice, and it is a formal requirement in one key way: proposals must include funding for Sea Grant education and/or extension personnel as collaborators. This reflects Sea Grant's model of pairing research with extension and outreach capacity so that results can be translated into practical guidance, training, decision-support tools, or field-ready solutions. While community, government, NGO, and industry participation is described as strongly encouraged rather than strictly mandatory, the structure of the competition clearly favors teams that are integrated and positioned to move innovations into the hands of end users.
Eligibility and submission rules are specific. The entities allowed to submit applications directly are Sea Grant College Programs, Sea Grant Institutional Programs, and Sea Grant Coherent Area Programs. Other organizations and individuals can absolutely participate, including serving as principal investigator, but they must submit "with and through" a Sea Grant program. In other words, if a university lab, nonprofit, or company wants to apply, they need to partner with an eligible Sea Grant program and route the proposal through that program. All 34 Sea Grant programs are eligible to apply or partner, and collaborations among multiple Sea Grant programs are encouraged. For applicants needing help finding the right Sea Grant partner, NOAA provided a contact point through the National Sea Grant Office (oar.sg.marine-debris@noaa.gov) and a directory of programs on the Sea Grant website.
From a budget and cost-share standpoint, the competition removes one of the classic Sea Grant hurdles: applications do not require the standard 50 percent non-federal match. Even so, cost sharing and leverage still matter strategically. Applicants are strongly encouraged to bring in formal matching contributions and/or informal leveraged resources from public and private sources, and the notice makes clear that cost share and leverage are considered as part of the evaluation criteria. This means a proposal can be eligible without match, but proposals demonstrating broader buy-in and additional resources may be more competitive.
The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement, and the program lists an award ceiling of $3,000,000. The opportunity is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce through NOAA Sea Grant (CFDA/Assistance Listing 11.417). The original closing date for the competition listed in the notice was October 27, 2022. Federal agencies and federal employees cannot receive federal funding through this competition, but federal scientists can still participate as uncompensated partners or even as co-PIs, and federal facilities or equipment can be made available without being paid for through the award.
Finally, this competition sits within a broader IIJA marine debris funding strategy. Sea Grant described it as one of two Sea Grant IIJA opportunities: this one focuses on cutting-edge, transformational R2A research tied to tangible deliverables, while a separate Sea Grant opportunity (NOAA-OAR-SG-2022-2007012) focuses on building community action coalitions, especially in systemically underserved or disadvantaged areas. Together, these Sea Grant efforts are meant to complement a separate NOAA Marine Debris Program funding opportunity aimed at large-scale debris removal and interception projects. In short, the Challenge Competition is the piece of the portfolio aimed at advancing new solutions and getting them to the point where communities can deploy them.Apply for NOAA OAR SG 2022 2007452
- The Department of Commerce in the iij sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Sea Grant Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Marine Debris Challenge Competition" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.417.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2022-06-28.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-10-27. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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