Tips on How to Get Started Early on Preparing Your Brownfields MARC Grant Application

Every year, the Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) receives numerous inquiries regarding the preparation of applications for the Brownfield Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant competitions. Many potential applicants find that it is difficult to prepare their applications in only 60 days, the typical amount of time the solicitation allows from publication until the applications are due. Brownfield Grant solicitations (commonly referred to as the “guidelines”) are typically released in the fall of each year. Listed below are several activities that applicants can perform before the solicitations are released.

GENERAL

Learn how to submit an application via www.grants.gov. All applications must be submitted via www.grants.gov.
- Applicants should obtain their organization’s Unique Entity ID (UEI) number and register in www.sam.gov now. Even if an applicant is already registered in www.sam.gov, the applicant must make sure the account is active.
- Review the Applicant FAQs on the www.grants.gov website.
- Applications that are not successfully received will be considered a late submission and will be rejected.
Review the last MARC Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The Brownfield Grant guidelines are updated each year. However, many of the criteria and requirements included in the grant guidelines come directly from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Brownfield Amendments. Reading the guidelines, thinking through and gathering the information required, and even putting together the plan for your brownfields program and brownfields project, will give you a step up when it comes to preparing your application. Previous year’s guidelines and FAQs are available on the OBLR website at www.epa.gov/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources.
Establish the framework (core elements) of your brownfields program. Think about the needs and goals of your community. How best could your community accomplish these goals? Which type of Brownfie l ds Grant would help your community to achieve these goals? Do you have the people power to manage a grant? If not, perhaps being part of an Assessment Coalition Grant or requesting Targeted Brownfield Assessment funding may be a better option for your community. Once you establish the framework, it will be easier to determine the next steps you need to take.
Establish key partnerships. Determine whether your community should apply as an individual or a coalition. If you are applying as a coalition, identify who will be part of the coalition, who will be the lead coalition member and manage the cooperative agreement, and who will be members. Also, be sure to discuss what each coalition member’s role will be in the program. Once all of that is determined, document your agreement through a memorandum of understanding/agreement.
Check out OBLR’s Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities (TAB) providers. The EPA’s TAB Program provides technical assistance to communities and other stakeholders on brownfield issues with the goal of increasing the community's understanding and involvement in brownfield cleanup and revitalization, and helping to move brownfield sites forward toward cleanup and reuse.
State Letter. Request your state letter indicating that the state knows about your plan to submit an application. Note: This can be done early, but should not be done too early that the letter is not from the current year.

THRESHOLD CRITERIA

Applicant Eligibility. Begin gathering the necessary information to document your eligibility status. Contact EPA Brownfields Program regional staff if an eligibility question arises. A list of the regional staff for your region can be found at www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-contacts-epa-regional-offices.
Site Eligibility. If applicable, prepare your defenses to CERCLA liability and request state determination for petroleum site eligibility. Non-Tribal applicants must provide the information required for a petroleum site eligibility determination to their state, so the state can make the necessary determination on petroleum site eligibility.
- Site Ownership. For Cleanup Grant applications, acquire ownership of the site. Remember, applicants must be the sole owner of the site that is the subject of its Cleanup Grant application in order to be eligible to receive a Cleanup Grant. For Multipurpose Grant applications, you must own at least one brownfield site in the target area by the submission deadline.
- Draft Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA). For Cleanup Grant applications, begin working on your draft ABCA which briefly summarizes information about the site and contamination issues, cleanup standards, applicable laws, cleanup alternatives considered, and the proposed cleanup remedy. This will allow you to see if there are critical data gaps so you can begin filling in those gaps and have the draft ABCA ready to go by the submission deadline.
- Site Characterization. As of FY23, there is an additional requirement for Cleanup Grant applicants to demonstrate that the proposed site(s) has been sufficiently characterized for the cleanup to begin. Depending on whether the applicant is a State or Tribal Environmental Authority, or whether the proposed site(s) is eligible to be enrolled in a voluntary response program, applicants must provide responses that pertain to their circumstance(s). Review the latest Cleanup Grant guidelines for details.

RANKING CRITERIA

Review the Ranking Criteria. Applicants are encouraged to use the most recent guidelines found at www.epa.gov/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources as a guide to begin gathering information and drafting their application. When the new guidelines are available, the applicant can then use the time prior to the submission deadline to organize the information into the required format, fill in any missing details, and further strengthen the application.
Develop a Grant Application Framework/Outline. You should begin by developing a framework or outline of your application. Think about the story your community wants to tell, and begin gathering the data needed to tell that story.
Identify the Needs of the Community. While the actual language in the new guidelines may vary slightly, EPA will be interested in seeing how brownfield sites have impacted your community, particularly sensitive or at-risk populations. You will need to gather data on demographics for the target area, your community, and state. For more information on sources and tools for locating data for your community, please refer to the last MARC Grant FAQs. EPA will also want to know about the community’s financial needs and their ability/inability to draw upon other resources to handle the brownfield sites in their community. Think about these issues and begin gathering specific data and information on brownfield sites in your community so that you can speak to this topic with some specificity.
Describe the Project. Start working with your brownfield partners to identify and develop the program/project that will be the subject of the grant. You should begin discussions early with key partners about your project area and how you envision your program operating. Decide the focus of your grant and what sites you want to prioritize/address or the process and criteria you will use to prioritize sites if that will be done after the project starts. Start thinking about how many and what type of sites you plan to address with the grant funding and other key aspects of your program. As more details of your program are developed, you should be able to start drafting a budget outlining how much it will cost to perform the work described.
- In addition, you can start looking for ways to leverage additional project funding. Begin tracking these resources so that they can be added to the application, if required. If you have already leveraged funding for the project, begin gathering documentation (letters, emails, etc…) that document the leveraged funding. Ask partner organizations that plan to provide resources for letters that document the specific contribution they plan to provide. Gathering these documents now will save time later, and ensure you have the necessary attachments to document secured commitments of leveraged funding/resources, if required by the grant.
Engage the Community and Establish Partnerships. Each applicant is required to incorporate community involvement into their grant and to notify the community that they are planning to apply for a brownfields grant. Start working with your community early to establish a process and procedures for engaging their community. These efforts can begin well in advance of the grant application. The same goes for establishing partnerships that are critical to the success of your program. Begin identifying and forming these partnerships early in the process.
Identify the Project Benefits. Begin identifying the health, environmental, economic, and other long-term benefits of addressing brownfield sites in your community. Thinking about the benefits in advance will facilitate your ability to identify and articulate these benefits in your application.
Demonstrate Your Capacity. Begin gathering information on any past grants you have received and your accomplishments and performance under these grants. If you had performance problems on past grants, identify the issues and put in place corrective actions, so that any performance issues are resolved by the time you apply for the Brownfield Grant. Also, think about how you will track and measure the progress of your project if awarded a grant.

We hope that these early preparation tips will facilitate your efforts to prepare a thorough, thoughtful, timely, and most importantly, successful application. If you have questions, please contact your EPA Regional Brownfield staff.