Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G24AS00353

Opportunity Information: Apply for G24AS00353

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G24AS00353) is a discretionary federal funding announcement from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), specifically its Wetland and Aquatic Research Center (WARC). It will be awarded as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial involvement by the federal agency during the project rather than a hands-off grant relationship. The work falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 15.808) and is being offered through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, a network of partnered institutions created to support research, technical assistance, and education tied to federal land and resource management needs.

The core purpose of the project is applied research and development focused on advancing software implementation and deployment of custom applications that address coastal and ecological management problems. The announcement highlights three main application areas: (1) barrier island habitat change and habitat classification, (2) geo-environmental scenarios (which typically involve integrating and analyzing environmental and geospatial data to understand conditions, trends, risks, and responses), and (3) species population control scenarios (which can include tools that support planning, monitoring, modeling, and decision-making for managing populations). A notable requirement is that the software work should promote zero-trust architecture practices, meaning the resulting systems should be designed around modern cybersecurity principles that assume no implicit trust within networks or systems and emphasize strong identity, access controls, verification, and least-privilege approaches.

Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are already participating partners within the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). In practical terms, this means only Gulf Coast CESU-affiliated institutions (such as certain universities, nonprofits, or other approved partners within that CESU network) may apply. The opportunity is therefore not open to the general public or to organizations outside that specific CESU partnership, even if they have relevant technical capability.

The funding parameters indicate an award ceiling of $485,000, with the expected number of awards not specified in the provided text. The opportunity was created on April 29, 2024, and the original closing date was May 29, 2024. Overall, USGS WARC is looking to fund a CESU partner to help produce deployable, mission-relevant software and implementation approaches that improve the ability of researchers and natural resource managers to track and classify barrier island habitat change, analyze environmental conditions using geospatial methods, and support species population management, while also raising the cybersecurity posture of those applications through zero-trust-aligned design and deployment practices.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-29. (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 $485,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G24AS00353

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: