NOAA Fisheries will only accept three pre-proposals and three full-proposals from the same entity or applicant. If more than three full proposals are submitted from the same entity or applicant NMFS will accept the first three in the order they are received. Multiple proposals submitted must clearly identify different projects, and must be successful in the competitive review process.

This year's solicitation consisted of two separate submission processes. All interested applicants must submit a two-page Pre-Proposal to the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Applicants interested in submitting a full application after the pre-proposal review process must submit the full application through Grants.gov.

Pre-proposals must be submitted to the current solicitation—FY25 Saltonstall-Kennedy Pre-Proposal Competition—on grants.gov by July 23, 2024. However, we recommend applicants submit two days in advance in order to validate their application and ensure agency receipt. 

The objective of the S-K Research and Development Program, referred to throughout this document as the S-K Program, is to promote U.S. fisheries by assisting the fishing community to address marketing and research needs.

Three Priorities of the FY25 Solicitation

The FY25 solicitation seeks applications that fall into one of three priorities:

1) Promotion and Marketing

Projects sought should:

• Increase market demand and value of U.S. fisheries and/or;
• Demonstrate a direct economic benefit to the fishing community and/or;
• Develop or improve regional, national or global public relations and marketing opportunities to increase domestic production and/or demand for domestic products, and/or;
• Include marketing strategies which involve participation of the seafood industry locally, regionally, or nationally, and/or;
• Conduct domestic market research and/or develop value-added products focused on stimulating demand for U.S. fisheries.

2) Development, Infrastructure, and Capacity Building

Projects sought should:

• Develop new or underutilized U.S. fisheries; and/or
• Improve the capacity of fishery sectors, including but not limited to indigenous, artisanal, recreational and other sectors to participate in scientific initiatives, cooperative management, fishery management regulatory processes, or developing and/or marketing of new sustainable fishing opportunities; and/or
• Encourage greater or more effective participation by fishing communities in a targeted area of the U.S. fishery supply chain; and/or
• Demonstrate that any proposed new infrastructure or infrastructure improvement is needed and provides a broad benefit for the fishing community (see Section IV, F. Funding Restrictions, in the NOFO).

3) Science or Technology that Enhances Sustainable U.S. Fisheries

Projects sought should:

• Directly impact a need identified by the fishing community through science and technology based projects to increase harvest or prevent reduction of harvest of seafood, increase recreational fishing opportunities, or create new market opportunities for fishing communities; and/or
• Demonstrate a direct need or benefit as identified by the fishing community, and connect with one or more segments of the U.S. fisheries supply chain.

FY25 Application Process

Step 1: Pre-proposal

NOTE: The pre-proposal application period ends July 23, 2024. We highly advise submitting earlier than the last day, and at least two days in advance to ensure you submission is validated by Grants.gov and eRA Commons. If you do not submit a pre-proposal by 11:59 p.m. EST on July 23, 2024, you will be ineligible to submit a full proposal.

For this solicitation, all applicants are required to submit a pre-proposal if they wish to be eligible to submit a full proposal to a separate competition posted later in September 2024.  The pre-proposal process is intended to provide an indication to potential applicants of the technical merit and the relevancy of the proposed project to the S-K competition before preparing a full proposal.  When drafting a pre-proposal, applicants should clearly convey how the proposed project meets the four evaluation criteria and the identified single priority area. Late or incomplete pre-proposals, as well as those that deviate from content or format requirements, will be withdrawn without consideration..  

To apply, go to Grants.gov and search under opportunity number NOAA-NMFS-FHQ-2025-26840.

The SF-424 form will serve as a cover page to the pre-proposal. Each pre-proposal may not exceed two pages, single-spaced in at least 12 point font and must provide:

• Name of organization, Title of project, and Project Leader(s), with email contact(s). 
• Identify how you are part of the Fishing Community as defined in the Executive Summary (Applicants that are not part of the fishing community should provide the name for a member or entity of the fishing community who can verify the project’s fishing community’s support, cooperation and/or collaboration.)
• Priority: Applicants should identify the single priority that is most addressed by the preproposal.
• Background section that sets the stage for the work and identifies which one of the priorities in Section I.B the pre-proposal addresses directly.
• Clear statement of why the work would benefit the fishing community 
• Clear statement of objectives and a brief description of how objectives will be accomplished.
• Identification of required permits (i.e. ESA, MMPA) and permit numbers, if applicable.
• Estimated budget amount (a detailed budget narrative is not required).

Pre-proposals must be submitted through grants.gov under opportunity number NOAA-NMFS-FHQ-2025-26840, postmarked, or provided to a delivery service by 11:59 p.m. EST, July 23, 2024, 60 days after the posting date of the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Reviewers will assign scores to pre-proposals ranging from 0–100 points based on the four evaluation criteria below, each of which needs to be addressed in the pre-proposal. Scoring will be determined by subject matter experts. The maximum score for each criterion is indicated in the parentheses below:  

• Need and Relevance (0–30 points)—Does the pre-proposal:
  • Define the need of a fishing community?
  • Address the identified need?
  • Describe its relevance to the S-K priority described in Section B?
• Objectives and approach (0–25 points)—Does the pre-proposal:
  • Clearly identify the objective(s)?
  • Provide a clear description of the approach to be used?
• Connection to the fishing community (0–30 points)—Does the pre-proposal:
  • Clearly demonstrate involvement/collaboration with the fishing community?
  • Meaningfully incorporate participation of the fishing community into the project design?
  • Clearly demonstrate a commitment from the collaborators?
• Benefit of project (0–15 points)—Does the pre-proposal:
  • Demonstrate direct benefits to U.S. fisheries?
  • Demonstrate return on investment (cultural, economic, or other)?

NOAA will inform the authorized representative identified on the SF-424 by September 25, 2024 if the S-K Program encourages or discourages submission of a full proposal.

Step 2: Full Proposal

A separate full proposal Notice of Funding Opportunity will be posted to grants.gov in September 2024. Full proposals will not be reviewed or evaluated if a pre-proposal was not received and ranked.

Detailed guidance on how to prepare proposals will be provided in that NOFO. That document should be read carefully to ensure that proposals meet eligibility requirements and are complete upon submission. Complete instructions for preparing and submitting proposals are available through Grants.gov.

Additional information on the full proposal process will be forthcoming after the pre-proposal selection process is complete.

Funding

The total federal amount requested can be no less than $25,000 and no greater than $500,000, for up to a 2-year period, including direct and indirect costs. Project applications that request funding outside of this range will not be accepted or reviewed.

For the FY25 competition, the anticipated distribution of available funds is as follows:

• Priority 1: Approximately 50%
• Priority 2: Approximately 25%
• Priority 3: Approximately 25%

Across the three priorities, around 10% of available funding may be awarded to projects requesting $100,000 or less.

The program will not consider expenses associated with:

• Fees
• Fund-raising activities
• Travel for activities not directly related to project implementation
• Travel or salaries for federal employees
• Profit as allowable costs in the proposed budget

The total costs of a project consist of all allowable costs incurred in accomplishing project activities during the project period. Project costs can only include support for activities conducted between the effective start date and end date of the award, and cannot include activities undertaken either before or after the agreed upon dates. Applicants will not be reimbursed for time expended or costs incurred in developing a project or in preparing an application, or in any discussions or negotiations with the agency prior to the award.

More details about budget information can be found in the Frequent Questions About the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program and in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.