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National Brownfields Program (Part F): Assessment Grants (Assessment Coalition Grants) - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CFDA: 66.818
Federal FON: EPA-OLEM-OBLR-24-07
Office: Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)
Multipart Grant: Yes
Next Due: 11/14/2024 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 09/03/2024
   
Match Required: No
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $35,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $500,000 (Min) / $1,200,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 29 (Estimated)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. For the purposes of this program, a brownfield site is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, controlled substances, or petroleum or petroleum products, or is mine-scarred land.

Funding will be provided for the following program components:

  • (Part A): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants)
  • (Part B): Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants
  • (Part C): Cleanup Grants
  • (Part E): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes)
  • (Part F): Assessment Grants (Assessment Coalition Grants)

The purpose of the Assessment Grants (Assessment Coalition Grants) component is to provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. This component is designed for one lead eligible entity to partner with two to four eligible entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own cooperative agreement from the funding agency and otherwise would not have access to resources through this program.

A portion of the funding must be used to conduct site assessments. Funding may also be used for direct costs associated with programmatic management of the award, limited health monitoring and enforcement activities, and purchases of environmental insurance.

Where multiple sites are connected through location, infrastructure, or economic, social, or environmental conditions, the funding agency encourages communities to take an area-wide approach to planning for the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of these sites. This focus on multiple brownfield sites will result in more coordinated strategies for cleanup and area revitalization versus a site-by-site focus.

An optional webinar is scheduled for this component, and optional technical assistance calls are available. Refer to the Application section for details.

Last Updated: June 16, 2025

Eligibility Notes:

This component is designed for one lead eligible entity to partner with two to four eligible entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own cooperative agreement from the funding agency and otherwise would not have access to resources through this program. The lead applicant will submit one application on behalf of the coalition members. The following entities are eligible to apply as the lead entity for this component:

  • States
  • County governments
  • Regional councils established under governmental authority
  • Groups of general purpose units of local government established under federal, state, or local law to function as a single legal entity with authority to enter into binding agreements with the federal government
  • Federally recognized Indian tribes, other than those in Alaska, and intertribal consortia comprised of eligible Indian tribes
  • Alaska Native regional corporations, Alaska Native village corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian community

For the purposes of this program, states include the District of Columbia, as well as any U.S. territory, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Coalitions must have at least one non-lead member that has never had a Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup (MARC) award.

Refer to pages 15-16 of the NOFA file for a list of entities that are eligible to participate as non-lead members for this component.

Applicants that are current award recipients through this program overall must demonstrate that payment has been received from the funding agency, and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 70 percent of the funding for each award by October 1, 2024.

Applicants may not submit multiple applications under this component. The funding agency considers departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the same state, tribal, or city governments to be the same applicant if they are directly supervised or controlled by the same elected/appointed executive.

The non-lead coalition members may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with the lead member, except for coalitions in which the state is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a state legislature through a charter or another official action. In addition, a non-lead member may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with another non-lead member in the same coalition. The non-lead members must be separate legal entities.

Coalition members may not be members of other applications to this component, nor may coalition members submit an individual application to this program's Community-Wide Assessment Grants or Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes components, known in eCivis Grants Network as US0079A and US0079E, respectively. In addition, coalition members may not apply to this program's Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants or Cleanup Grants components, known as US0079B and US0079C, respectively. Coalition members wishing to apply as part of a different coalition or as an individual applicant must withdraw from the coalition.

FY 2022, FY 2023, or FY 2024 award recipients, or pending award recipients, of this program's Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes component, known as US0079E, may not apply or be a member of a coalition.

Ineligible entities include:

  • For-profit organizations
  • 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that are engaged in lobbying
  • Nonprofit organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status

Previous award recipients include:

  • Safe Harbors of the Hudson, Inc. (NY)
  • Pulaski (VA)
  • Coastal Regional Commission of Georgia (GA)
  • Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission (IN)
  • Wayne County (NY)

Refer to the Award file for additional information on previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 14, 2024.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424A
  • EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54
  • EPA Form 4700-4
  • Narrative information sheet (3 pages max)
  • Letter from the state or tribal environmental authority (if applicable)
  • Narrative (12 pages max)
  • Threshold criteria responses, as detailed on pages 26-27 of the NOFA file
  • Grants.gov lobbying form (if applicable)
  • Negotiated/proposed indirect cost rate agreement (if applicable)

The narrative and narrative information sheet must be formatted on standard-sized, single-spaced pages, using a 12-point standard Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri font. If possible, the narrative information sheet, threshold responses, and narrative should be submitted as one file.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration
  • SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.

Applicants may email optional draft applications for review to the appropriate address provided in the Contact section by November 1, 2024.

Optional technical assistance calls may be scheduled online at calendly.com.

An optional webinar is scheduled for this component as follows:

September 19, 2024
Noon ET
Call-in: (646) 828-7666
Meeting ID: 161 063 9674
URL: usepa.zoom.gov

Recordings of webinars held for this program can be found online at epa.gov/applicationresources and epa.gov/brownfields.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Project area description and plans for revitalization (45 points)
  • Community need and community engagement (40 points)
  • Task descriptions, cost estimates, and measuring progress (45 points)
  • Programmatic capability and past performance (35 points)

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Required: No
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $35,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $500,000 (Min) / $1,200,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 29 (Estimated)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this component, and voluntary cost sharing will not be accepted; however, the applicant's strategy for leveraging resources will be considered during the application evaluation process.

Funding Notes:

An unspecified amount of funding is available for this program overall, with an estimated $35 million available to support an estimated 29 cooperative agreements ranging from $500,000 to $1.2 million through this component.

Award notifications are expected to be issued by late spring 2025. The time between award notification and issuance of the award may take up to 90 days or longer.

The project period is up to four years.

Local governments may use up to 10 percent of their award funds for health monitoring of populations exposed to hazardous substances from a brownfield site, as well as monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance from a brownfield site.

The cost of assessment activities is limited to $200,000 per approved, eligible site.

Administrative costs, with the exception of financial and performance reporting costs, are limited to 5 percent of the total award amount.

Funding may not be used for:

  • Conducting cleanup activities
  • Direct costs for application preparation
  • Penalties or fines
  • Federal cost-share requirements
  • Response costs at a brownfield site for which the award recipient is potentially liable under Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
  • Costs of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup
  • Unallowable costs, such as lobbying, under Title 2, Part 200, Subpart E of the CFR
  • Marketing brownfield properties for redevelopment
  • Area-wide zoning and/or design guideline development that is unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area
  • Area-wide master planning, community visioning, or comprehensive planning that are unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area

Refer to page 48 of the FAQ file for information regarding additional ineligible costs.

For FY 2025, a total of $267 million was distributed through this program overall. For FY 2024, more than $300 million was distributed through this program overall. For FY 2023, a total of $215 million was distributed via 267 awards through this program overall, with 19 awards through this component. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Elyse Salinas
brownfields@epa.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to Elyse Salinas, or to the appropriate regional contact listed on page 55 of the NOFA file.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Optional draft applications must be emailed to [email protected].

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US0079F_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (647.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_SampleApp_FY2025.pdf (2.1 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_Overview_FY2025.pdf (199.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_FAQ_FY2025.pdf (2.0 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_ChangesSummary_FY2025.pdf (243.7 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_EligibilityChart_FY2025.pdf (177.4 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_WebinarTranscript_FY2025.pdf (133.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_WebinarTranscript2_FY2025.pdf (103.9 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079F_WebinarPresentation_FY2025.zip (7.4 Mb)
Award File: US0079F_Award_FY2025.pdf (3.8 Mb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this component. The SampleApp file contains a sample of federal forms for the application and should be used for reference purposes only. The Overview file contains general program information, including information regarding an optional webinar scheduled for this component. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program overall. The ChangesSummary file contains a summary of changes to guidelines for this program overall for FY 2025. The EligibilityChart file contains an eligibility chart for this program overall. The WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files contain transcripts from the webinars held for this program. The WebinarPresentation folder contains presentation slides for the webinars held for this component and this program overall. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program. Additional program resources can be found online at www.epa.gov/brownfields.

June 16, 2025
Information regarding awards through this program overall has been released and appended to the Award file. A sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section, and a brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section.

October 21, 2024
Slides from a webinar held for this program overall have been released and attached as the OverviewWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder. All relevant sections have been updated accordingly. A recording of a webinar held for this program has also been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section.

October 4, 2024
Transcripts from the webinars held for this program have been released and attached as the WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files.

September 26, 2024
A recording of a webinar for this component has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, presentation slides for the webinar have been released and attached as the RankingCriteriaWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder.

Project: Region 1 Planning Council Assessment Coalition (1.1 Mb)
Applicant: Region 1 Planning Council
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. The Region 1 Planning Council requested and received $1 million to identify and prioritize brownfields sites for Phase I and Phase II assessment to further revitalization efforts and transportation connectivity. The project will increase connectivity to local and regional transportation through the redevelopment of identified and assessed brownfields and tax delinquent properties. Funds will go towards project management; site identification, prioritization, and community engagement; Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments (ESAs); and cleanup and reuse planning.

 
Grant Keywords
EPA, OLEM, OBLR, redevelop, revitalization, renewal, environment, environmental, conservation, contamination, pollution, community development, economic development, playground, dog park, school, environmental hazard, oil spill, chemical, industrial waste, empowerment zone, toxic, toxicity, remediation, blight, factory, asbestos, rebuild, sustainability, sustainable development, housing development, infill development, urban infill, smart growth, zoning, urban planning, city planning, demolition, demolish, slum clearance, health hazard, public health, public safety, recycle, recycling, nature preserve, industrial park, land bank, creek, river, natural, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, convert, sustainable reuse, mining, coal, economic growth, waste site, community involvement, land acquisition, landfill, trash, prevent, prevention, wildlife conservation, land management, land use, strategic plan, disposal, CERCLA, urban sprawl, green infrastructure, ecology, greenspace, public welfare, PCB, RCRA, TSCA, brownfields, cleanup, clean-up, contaminant, contaminated, dangerous, hazardous waste, illegal dumping, leak, leakage, leaking, poison, poisonous, spill, storage tank, toxic waste, Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, Brownfields Law, inventory, inventories, plan, planning, assessment, assess, cleanup plan, reuse plan, coalition, site-specific, community-wide, tribe, tribal, Native American, American Indian, Indian, native, indigenous, intertribal, Alaska Native, state, territory, territories, county, county government, regional council, federally recognized tribe, Indian tribe, intertribal consortium, intertribal consortia, Alaska Native Regional Corporation, Alaska Native Village Corporation, Metlakatla Indian Community, Metlakatla, U.S. territory, U.S. territories, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, MARC, petroleum, mine-scarred land, pollutant, petroleum product
Grant Categories
Community Development
Economic Development
Hazardous Waste/Remediation/Brownfields
Environment/Natural Resources