For Grant Applicants and Recipients of Office of Insular Affairs TAP, MAP, and CRNR Programs

A: Insular Area government entities, educational institutions, or non-profit organizations whose grant proposals directly benefit the Insular Areas served by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA).

Federal entities who serve the Insular Areas may be eligible to utilize OIA funding through an Interagency Agreement and must work with OIA for more information.

A: In accordance with 2CFR200, the Insular Areas served by OIA are the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) and the three freely associated states which are the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Republic of Palau.

A: Yes, in order to apply for a grant from OIA, each entity must have their own UEI.

The UEI allows entities to do business with the federal government. Applicants must register at SAM.GOV for a new UEI and should always maintain a valid UEI.

• Register on the SAM.gov home page for the UEI.
• For help or technical issues related to the UEI, please contact the Federal Service Desk at fsd.gov.

A: No. Individuals are not eligible to apply for funding from OIA.

A: Generally, each October, a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is posted on Grants.gov under CFDA 15.875 announcing grant funding available each fiscal year for the TAP, MAP, and CRNR programs.

Other grant programs available from OIA, such as the Brown Tree Snake program, are also announced on Grants.gov under CFDA 15.875. Each program has its own NOFO with all details on eligibility and application guidelines.

A: The deadlines for TAP, MAP, and CRNR will be listed in the NOFO but has generally been between March to May each year. Each grantee is responsible for reviewing deadline dates in the NOFOs posted on Grants.gov.

A: Each NOFO from OIA that is posted on www.Grants.gov under CFDA 15.875 includes an application package checklist.

A sample application package checklist is listed below for reference only. Each applicant is responsible for checking the most current application checklist that is part of the NOFO for the specific grant to which they are applying.

A: No. As per 2CFR200 guidelines for discretionary funding, you are not allowed to preselect the contractor. You must follow requirements of 2CFR200 including requirements in 2CFR200.319.b.

A: No. OIA TAP staff members are prohibited from providing this type of individualized assistance to any grantee as it would provide unfair advantage to the applicant receiving assistance under these competitive programs. OIA may only provide general guidance that is publicly available to all applicants, such as the NOFO, this list of FAQs that is posted on the OIA website, press releases or social media posts related to grant announcements.

A:  A poor single audit may negatively affect your score in the review process. OIA does review the audits on the Single Audit Clearing House to determine or assess your risk level as a first-time grant applicant or as an ongoing grant recipient. Conversely, a positive single audit may positively affect your score in the review process.

A:  Sometimes local governments or local non-profit organizations who apply for funding from OIA have limited financial management experience or limited financial capacity. In some cases, national or territorial governments agree to serve as the funding recipient and fiscal sponsor for the applicant. The fiscal sponsor is the grantee and is responsible for ensuring compliance with 2 CFR 200. Any efforts taken by an organization to meet financial management recommendations and requirements under 2CFR200 will strengthen any organization’s standing in the review process.

A:  No. Unfortunately, you cannot apply for a grant after the deadline has passed. However, you are welcome to apply in October when the new announcement opens. This is because this is a competitive program and OIA cannot provide unfair advantage to any one grantee.

A:  Generally, OIA makes award decisions, announces, and distributes approved grant awards between May and September of each fiscal year. If your application was not approved for funding, you will receive an automatically generated response from GrantSolutions by October 30 letting you know that your application was not chosen.

A:  Yes, requests for extension may be granted if the extension is for items within the existing scope/purpose of the grant. Extension requests for items outside of existing scope/purpose will not be approved. Your entity must send an email request asking for a no-cost extension to the grant manager who was assigned to your grant in your entity’s official notification of award letter.

A:  No. Grant extensions, when approved, do not provide any additional grant funds, hence the term no-cost extension. OIA will not provide additional funding for an existing grant award. Any requests for new funding, would require a new grant application which would be considered competitively.

A:  No-cost extensions, when approved, may be allowed for a full fiscal year. Grantees are encouraged, however, to complete their projects before the extended period of performance expires.

A:  No, grantees may submit final reports as soon as they are complete, even if before the extended grant deadline. As per 2CFR200, each grant recipient has until 120 days after the close of a grant to submit the final report.

A:  USACE may contact you once your grant is awarded since USACE assists with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for OIA grant funding, as applicable.

A:  No. Grant recipients must not begin any work on the project or process any drawdowns except for those needed as part of the NEPA review process. Once OIA issues the Authorization to Proceed (ATP), the grantee may begin work on the project.

A:  Yes, grantees may be allowed to drawdown funds for expenses that are only related to the NEPA review process, prior to issuance of the ATP.  

A:  Yes, all grant funding provided through OIA is subject to a NEPA review process, as applicable.

A:  As defined on the Council for Environmental Quality website, the NEPA required federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed major federal actions prior to making decisions. Federal funding through OIA is required to conduct a NEPA review process prior to the beginning of work.