Fiscal Year 2018 Boating Infrastructure Grant Program (Tier 1 - State) | F17AS00214

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00214

The Fiscal Year 2018 Boating Infrastructure Grant Program (BIG) Tier 1 State opportunity is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (CFDA 15.622). It is designed to help states and eligible U.S. jurisdictions build, renovate, and maintain boating infrastructure that serves transient recreational boats that are 26 feet or longer. The program exists because large recreational vessels need specialized docking and support amenities when traveling, and the federal government uses BIG funding to expand and improve those facilities in a way that benefits boaters moving from place to place.

This funding authority comes from the Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-178), which created the BIG Program under 16 U.S.C. 777g-1 and amended the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777). The program is supported through the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, and later reauthorizations continued the ability to spend trust fund dollars on boating infrastructure. The NOFO referenced here is specifically for FY 2018 Tier 1 State grants; Tier 2 National grants are handled under a separate Grants.gov announcement.

BIG funds target facilities that can accommodate eligible vessels and improve the experience and safety of traveling boaters. In this program, "boating infrastructure" is defined broadly to include the structures, equipment, accessories, and services that are necessary or desirable for a facility to host these larger recreational boats. The emphasis is on transient use, meaning the boats supported by these projects are typically passing through an area and staying no more than 15 days. That transient requirement helps ensure the funded infrastructure supports travel and navigation rather than long-term, private slip tenancy.

A key condition is that projects built or improved with BIG dollars must provide public access. The facilities themselves may be publicly owned or privately owned, but the benefits of the infrastructure must remain available to the public boating community consistent with the program rules. In practice, that can include improvements at marinas or harbors as long as the project supports transient boaters and meets public access expectations.

Eligibility under this Tier 1 announcement is limited to state governments and the eligible jurisdictions listed in the program description: the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The grant instrument type is a standard grant, and the funding activity areas are tied to community development, environment, and natural resources because boating facilities intersect with local economies, public recreation, and waterfront stewardship.

For this FY 2018 Tier 1 competition, the notice lists an award ceiling of $200,000 and an expectation of around 30 awards. The opportunity number is F17AS00214. The NOFO was created May 18, 2017, with an original closing date of September 11, 2017, set to allow applications to be received and reviewed ahead of an internal FBMS blackout period. Overall, the opportunity reflects the scale of recreational boating in the U.S. (roughly 12 million registered boats, with an estimated 560,000 at least 26 feet long) and aims to ensure that boaters traveling with larger vessels have reliable, publicly accessible places to stop, dock, and obtain essential services along their routes.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the community development, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year 2018 Boating Infrastructure Grant Program (Tier 1 - State)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.622.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 18, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 11, 2017 This due date allows applications to be received and evaluated prior to the FBMS blackout period. It is 117 days after the estimated posting date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 30 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for F17AS00214

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: