EPA Community Grants - Funding

• Steps to Prepare for Grant Funding
• Accessing the Application Package

Steps for Potential Recipients to Prepare for Grant Funding

• How Can Recipients Prepare to Receive Community Grant Funding? (pdf) (582.03 KB)

Scroll through the steps below:

1. Review the Community Grants Program Implementation Guidance. The guidance discusses information on applicable programmatic requirements and related resources including a Workplan Outline (Appendix E) and information about the application forms and grant budget (Appendix D).
    
2. Review EPA Grants Management Training for Applicants and Recipients. Recipients who are new to receiving EPA grant funding are required to complete the EPA Grants Management Training for Applicants and Recipients and the training on How to Develop a Budget.
   
   EPA defines new recipients as organizations that have never received an EPA grant before, or if the organization last received an EPA grant prior to October 1, 2014. Recipients can check USA Spending to determine if they are a new applicant/recipient for this requirement by using these instructions. Additional training courses  and webinars available to all recipients are free and are designed to introduce potential EPA grant recipients to key aspects of the entire grant lifecycle, from preparation of an application through grant closeout.
    
3. Become familiar with Procurement requirements. The Regulations and Requirements section of the Community Grants Program Implementation Guidance describes recipient responsibilities in meeting procurement requirements. Additional information is provided in the following resources:
   1. Reminders for Preparing Solicitation Documents for Community Grants
   2. Best Practice Guide for Procuring Services, Supplies, and Equipment Under EPA Assistance Agreements
   3. EPA’s General Grant Terms and Conditions
       
4. Identify Cost Share Funding. Begin to think about how the 20 percent non-federal cost share requirement will be provided. Eligible sources of funding to meet the cost share requirement are identified in the Cost Share Waiver Implementation Guidance.
    
5. Complete registration in SAM.gov and obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). UEIs are assigned during the SAM.gov registration process.  Recipients with active SAM.gov registrations prior to April 2022 automatically have a UEI but may need to complete entity validation within SAM.gov. Recipients must be registered in SAM.gov AND obtain a UEI in order to submit an application. See Resources section of the program webpage for more information.
    
6. Complete registration in Grants.gov. Once registered in SAM.gov, recipients who have obtained a UEI can then register with Grants.gov and assign Grants.gov Roles. See the Resources section of the program webpage for more information, including instructions on how to Access the Application Package.
    
7. Become familiar with Build America, Buy America (BABA), American Iron and Steel (AIS), and the Davis Bacon Act (DBA). EPA provides information on compliance and implementation of these requirements, as well as any available waivers for BABA and AIS.
8. Prepare for Environmental Review.
   1. Recipients may review the list of actions (projects) that may be eligible for categorical exclusion (CATEX).
   2. For projects that may require an Environmental Assessment (EA), recipients can begin to document environmental information about the project including: the need for the project, the existing environment, alternatives, environmental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives as well as mitigation, plus any coordination or consultation.
   3. Recipients whose projects are co-funded with the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) or Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), for which State Environmental Review Process (SERP) requirements have been met may notify their Regional Point Of Contact. This notification will assist EPA in developing resources needed to determine whether such projects’ SERPs are sufficient for satisfying the environmental review process.

If your organization needs to modify the purpose and/or recipient for your project:
Confirm the project purpose and recipient identified in the relevant Consolidated Appropriations Act. If the project purpose and/or recipient need modification, a Technical Correction will be required before a grant can be awarded.

Note: Informing EPA that a technical correction is needed does not constitute approval of a technical correction (project purpose and/or recipient change). Once the technical correction review process is established, EPA will work with recipients who provide such notice to proceed with formal requests.

If your organization incurred costs for the identified Community Grants project prior to appropriation:
Pre-award costs (including those attributed to recipient cost share) must be incurred on or after the start of the federal fiscal year in which funds were appropriated, to be considered for eligibility.

Note: Informing EPA that pre-award costs have been incurred does not constitute approval of pre-award costs. EPA will review the eligibility of pre-award costs on a case-by-case basis prior to approving project budgets and prior to awarding grants. Notwithstanding, all costs incurred before EPA makes the award are at the recipient’s risk.

Accessing the Application Package

Prior to accessing the application package in Grants.gov, recipients should register with SAM.gov, ensure the SAM.gov registration is not expired, obtain a UEI number through the SAM.gov registration process, and establish an EBiz Contact.

• Recipients may refer to the SAM.gov (https://sam.gov/content/home) for information on how to begin and may obtain SAM.gov assistance via the Federal Service Desk at 1-866-606-8220, or the Federal Service Desk web site (https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp) (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern Time).
   
• Grants.gov (https://grants.gov/) provides instructional materials as well as training and other resources for recipients. Grants.gov (https://grants.gov/) assistance is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-518-4726, or by sending an email to [email protected] (closed on federal holidays).

See instructions: Accessing the Application Package: Step-by-Step Instructions (pdf) (324.64 KB)