Proposal Guidelines   Email     Print   PDF

1. WHOI Grants

The WHOI Grants Program has provisions for the special CICOR overhead rates. Be sure to select CICOR when preparing a proposal in WHOI Grants.

2. End Date

Since the current cooperative agreement ends 30 June 2009 proposal budgets for periods beyond this date should indicate in the budget information section that the portion of the work beyond this date will be funded via another mechanism, for example, a new cooperative agreement or a straight WHOI grant, and is provided for information only.

The following sentence should be included in the Budget Infomation of all CICOR proposals that have end dates beyond June 30, 2009:

It is being requested that if awarded this grant be made under the Cooperative Agreement #NA17RJ1223. Because this cooperative agreement has an official end date of June 30, 2009, any time beyond that date will be funded via a different mechanism to be determined at a later date. For example, the mechanism used to fund the out years may be another cooperative agreement, if one is established between NOAA and WHOI, or a straight grant directly with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Though information on out-years may be included in this proposal, it is being provided for information only.

3. Copy Request

Please send a pdf version of the final proposal to cicor@whoi.edu and indicate on the green sheet that a paper copy be sent to Patricia White, CICOR Administrator at MS 29.

4. CICOR Information Page

CICOR proposals must include a CICOR Proposal Information Cover Letter.  

1. Click here to download the file.
2. Include the name and contact information, including NOAA Line office and program section information, of the program manager who will be funding the proposed work.
3. For complete contact information please use the Department of Commerce Directory: http://dir.commerce.gov/docbureaus2.nsf/SimpleWebSearch?OpenForm  (It is more comprehensive than the NOAA People Finder.
4. See related Theme and Task Information below.
5. Delete any remaining red text as appropriate.
6. Insert the document as the first page of the text document, (no longer just as an additional document).

5. Subcontracts

If the proposal includes a subcontract, you must also include a copy of the rate agreement for the other Institution/University.  Program Development costs of 4% for the project apply to only the first $25k of each subcontract.

6. CICOR Approval

CICOR proposals must be endorsed by the Director of CICOR, Robert A. Weller.

1. Please send digital copy of CICOR proposals to cicor@whoi.edu alerting the office of the submission and
2. Forward the green-sheeted proposal with department signatures to Bob Weller, CICOR Director c/o Patricia White MS 29.

7. CICOR Themes

The text of the proposal must contain substantial information that describes how the proposal is related to one of the CICOR themes and which task it is a part of. It is best to put this information in the introduction of the proposal. The Themes are:

A. Coastal Ocean and Near-Shore Processes
B. The Ocean's Participation in Climate and Climate Variability
C. Marine Ecosystem Processes Analysis

8. CICOR Tasks

The overwhelming majority of the funds administered by CICOR are associated with grants resulting from proposals submitted by WHOI principal investigators in response to NOAA announcements of opportunity and thus fall under Tasks II and III. Here the four tasks are described briefly:

1. Task I:  Provides support for CICOR administrative activities such a: Support for the Director and staff, post-doctoral scholars, fellowships for graduate students, and a visiting scientist and travel program to develop and enhance research in CICOR. The budget also includes support for meetings of the CICOR Fellows and the Executive Board and for education and outreach activities. CICOR receives a modest operating budget from OAR each year to support Task I. In addition, research proposals funded through CICOR contribute a 4% program development cost to Task I.
2. Task II:  Proposals and programs actively involve NOAA scientists as collaborators.
3. Task III:  Proposals and currently funded programs supported by NOAA through the OAR, Office of Global Programs and other offices in NOAA, and are therefore directed toward NOAA’s strategic goals. Collaboration with NOAA staff is encouraged in Task III activities but not required.
4. Task IV provides the administrative means for WHOI facilities, including ships, to be used and paid for by NOAA principal investigators and NOAA-funded investigators from other institutions.

9. Budgets Justifications

The overhead rates on CICOR awards in the current cooperative (July 2001 - June 2009) are:

• Laboratory Costs:  44% of Salary & Benefits
• General & Administrative Costs:  30% of Salary & Benefits
• CICOR Program Development Costs are 4% of the project costs including the first $25K of each subcontract.
  

The following paragraphs should be included in the Budget Justifications or Information of all CICOR proposals:  

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution calculates overhead rates (both Laboratory Costs and General & Administrative Costs) as a percent of total direct salaries and benefits, as allowed by OMB Circular A-122. Direct salaries exclude overtime-premium pay. A proposed labor month is equal to 152 hours or 1824 hours annually versus 2080 hours (40 hours/week for 52 weeks). The difference is for vacations, holidays, sick time, and other paid absences, which are included in Employee Benefits.

The Fringe Benefit rate included in the proposal was negotiated with ONR or it is an estimate. When an estimated rate is finalized, costs will be in accordance with the rate agreement. The Laboratory Costs and General & Administrative overhead rates included in the proposal are negotiated with NOAA and will be used for the life of the cooperative agreement. They are lower than the rates negotiated with ONR. The difference between the rates in this proposal and the negotiated rates is absorbed by the Institution with unrestricted monies. This is done as a demonstration of WHOI’s support for the success of CICOR.

 

The following sentence should be included in the Budget Infomation of all CICOR proposals that have end dates beyond June 30, 2009:

It is being requested that if awarded this grant be made under the Cooperative Agreement #NA17RJ1223. Because this cooperative agreement has an official end date of June 30, 2009, any time beyond that date will be funded via a different mechanism to be determined. For example, the mechanism used to fund the out years may be another cooperative agreement, if one is established between NOAA and WHOI, or a straight grant directly with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Though information on out-years may be included in this proposal, it is being provided for information only.

The following paragraph should be included in the Budget Justification or Budget Narrative of all CICOR proposals: 

The program development costs will support the WHOI-NOAA Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR). CICOR provides a framework at WHOI for coordinating NOAA-funded research, for building ties between WHOI investigators and colleagues at NOAA laboratories, and for developing cooperative NOAA-funded research at academic institutions in the northeastern United States.  CICOR supports Postdoctoral Fellowships, graduate student research assistantships, and visitors. Students, postdocs, and visitors will be associated with the research activities that are related to CICOR themes and are funded through CICOR. The Cooperative Institute will summarize and present its NOAA-funded activities to the public through its web-site and annual report, and will work to facilitate the administration of NOAA funds. 

 

1.  
   1. Non-competitive proposals, that is those that are being submitted to 'non-competitive' programs within NOAA are submitted through the CICOR Cooperative Institute FFO#.
      For 2009 this number is: OAR-CIPO-2009-2001630. (FFO# = Federal Funding Opportunity #)
      The cfda # (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance) for the NOAA Cooperative Institute Office is: 11.432.
      
      The CICOR FFO# is effective from the beginning of the calendar year to June 30, the deadline for all NOAA grant submissions to the Grants Management Division (GMD). In order to meet this June 30 deadline all CICOR proposals should be submitted through Grants.gov by June 1 to allow time for the Cooperative Institute office in OAR to process the documents.
      
   2. Competitive grant proposals in response to an RFP should be submitted to the associated FFO and cfda #s. In this case, as above, the CICOR Proposal Information Page, Program Development Costs, and appropriate budget justification, etc. should be included, however, it is advised that the CICOR Proposal Inforamtion Page be included as the first page of text in the body of the proposal, rather than just as an attachment.

Note: The CICOR Grants.gov application package will only require the form 424and not 424a and 424b. If the proposal is in response to an RFP thatspecifically requires the 424a and 424b, be sure to include them asOptional or Additional.