Deadline: 29-Jun-2024
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing availability of grants for the purpose of leveraging NRCS resources to assist the agency with conducting and implementing important NRCS Farm Bill Program contract management on multiple private landowner properties throughout Massachusetts.
NRCS recognizes the importance of utilizing partners to help facilitate project management for NRCS customers throughout Massachusetts. The agreement holder could be asked to assist with customer technical assistance, conservation planning, certification packets for completed conservation practices, and writing Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs). The agreement holder will also be responsible for providing training to NRCS staff and affiliates to demonstrate the ability to have direct conversations with agricultural producers, investigate and navigate conservation opportunities, demonstrate project management and implementation skills, as well as customer outreach.
The primary goal is to expand conservation technical assistance to NRCS customers throughout Massachusetts. The project list ranges in size from less than 1-acre farms to several hundred-acre farms. Applicants will identify the average number of conservation application site visits with written conservation plans, existing contract conservation technical assistance site visits, and CNMPs that they could complete in any year with a minimum of fifteen application based and 15 contract based site visits per year being acceptable for this agreement (5 of those including CNMP development). NRCS will work with the selected applicant to make the choice of priority conservation site visits each year of the agreement based on interest and need. Applicants will be required to hold 1-2 conservation focused trainings per year for NRCS staff and partners to expand their technical knowledge. Eligible applicants are identified in Section C of this announcement. Applicants should be familiar with all applicable state, federal, local laws, policies, and regulations that apply to conservation improvements in the locales of Massachusetts.
Objectives
- The purpose of this opportunity is to obtain services from a partner organization to expand project management of conservation planning in Massachusetts. The agreement holder will perform a minimum of fifteen site visits each year of the agreement to private landowners throughout Massachusetts to assist them on conservation technical assistance that includes writing and implementing on-site conservation plans, completed practice certification worksheets, and writing CNMPs. Those site visits should lead to 15 new NRCS program applications per year. The agreement holder will also be responsible for working with local NRCS field offices to perform a minimum of 15 customer technical assistance or practice certification site visits for existing contracts. To expand NRCS staff knowledge on conservation planning and customer service while further increasing customer technical assistance in Massachusetts the agreement holder should also hold 1- 2 trainings per year for NRCS staff and affiliates to learn conservation practice standards adoption and customer outreach techniques.
- Specific objectives for the agreement include:
- Hire/identify with NRCS approval a conservation planning technical specialist who will assist private landowners through NRCS programs by writing and implementing conservation plans, conducting site visits, and having a minimum of 15 NRCS program applications per year come out of the conservation planning technical specialists work in the agreement. The conservation planning technical specialist should develop 5 Comprehensive Nutrient Management plans per year as part of the program application package for five of the applications. NRCS will work with agreement holder on prioritizing site visits if there is more interest than availability of the conservation planning technical specialist.
- The conservation planning technical specialist will be responsible for working with local NRCS field offices to perform a minimum of 15 customer technical assistance or practice certification site visits for existing contracts.
- The conservation planning technical specialist will work with local NRCS field offices to maintain communication on what customers they are working with on conservation planning, customer technical assistance, and practice certifications and will inform them and invite them to participate in any customer site visits, which will provide an opportunity for on-the-job training. Conservation planning technical specialists will send post visit summaries and conservation plans to local NRCS field offices after site visits.
- Conservation planning technical specialists are responsible for performing outreach to secure new NRCS customers. NRCS can also forward customers to conservation planning technical specialists for technical assistance.
- Conservation Plans and CNMPs must be developed and implemented to meet all applicable Massachusetts state and NRCS policies and requirements including applicable Conservation Practice Standards, Design, and Implementation Activities (DIAs), and Conservation Evaluation and Monitoring Activities (CEMAs).
- The agreement holder must conduct 1-2 conservation technical hands-on field trainings for NRCS staff and associates per year in the agreement. The agreement holder will work with NRCS to approve training topic, location, and agenda.
Funding Information
- Estimated Funding: The Federal funding agency expects to award approximately $400,000 through this opportunity. However, the agency retains the discretion to award a larger or lesser amount
- Award Ceiling: $400,000
- Award Floor: $200,000
- Start Dates and Performance Periods: Projects may be up to 5 years in duration. Applicants should plan their projects based on an estimated project start date of September 23, 2024.
- Number of Awards: The agency expects to make 1 award.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants and applications must meet eligibility criteria by the application deadline to be considered for award. Eligible applicant type is determined by the implementing program statute. Applicant entities identified in the SAM.gov exclusions database as ineligible, prohibited/restricted, or excluded from receiving Federal contracts and certain Federal assistance and benefits will not be considered for Federal funding, as applicable to the funding being requested under this Federal program (2 CFR 200.206(d)). Neither foreign entities nor individuals are eligible to apply for this opportunity.
- This opportunity is open to all domestic applicants.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.