Water Conservation Field Services Program | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Water Conservation Field Services Program (WCFSP) is a Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) funding opportunity for fiscal year 2016 focused on improving water-use efficiency and modernizing water management practices across the Upper Colorado Region. The program is built around Reclamation's broader mission to manage and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound way for the public. The core idea behind this announcement is that many Reclamation-related delivery systems and local water-use practices in the region were designed decades ago using the best technology available at the time, and there is still significant room to upgrade operations to more current, efficient approaches. Reclamation also points to high per-capita urban water use in parts of the region as another reason for investing in conservation planning and on-the-ground efficiency work.

This specific Funding Opportunity Announcement is BOR-UC-16-F001 under CFDA 15.530, administered by Reclamation's Upper Colorado Region office in Salt Lake City, Utah. The agency is seeking applications for grants and cooperative agreements supporting water conservation activities. The deadline listed is January 11, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, and applications are submitted through the standard federal grant process (with the full application package and forms available on grants.gov). While the notice references online program pages for additional background, the FOA itself lays out what kinds of projects are eligible and what Reclamation expects to see in the application narrative, schedule, and budget.

Eligible applicants are public and quasi-public entities with water or power delivery authority located in the Upper Colorado Region, including States, Indian tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, and similar organizations. Eligibility is not just about the applicant type; the proposed work also has to meet the program's eligible project criteria and must occur within the Upper Colorado Region service area (or in areas outside it that are authorized to be served by a project under the region's jurisdiction). In practical terms, this program is aimed at organizations that actually deliver or manage water (and sometimes power) and can show real operational or planning outcomes tied to conservation.

Reclamation prioritizes three categories of work, listed in order of funding preference. First is water management planning, meaning assistance to develop written water management and conservation plans, particularly those modeled after Reclamation's agricultural water conservation planning guidebook ("Achieving Efficient Water Management"). Proposals in this category are expected to explain why financial assistance is needed, what regulations or requirements drive the need for a plan (federal or state), what planning tasks will be completed, when and to whom the plan will be submitted, and how federal funds will be used to produce the plan. Second is implementation of efficiency measures, which supports "starter" implementation of fundamental practices such as measuring and metering, seepage or leak detection and reduction, and rebate programs for water-saving fixtures or equipment. A key point here is that Reclamation is not trying to fund large-scale rehabilitation of distribution systems or major on-farm modernization under this particular FOA; it is emphasizing core, scalable actions that improve accountability and reduce losses. For implementation proposals, applicants are expected to connect the work to an existing written water conservation/management plan, quantify or describe anticipated water savings, describe monitoring of effectiveness, and explain how full implementation will be achieved given that federal funds may not cover everything. Third is demonstration projects, meant to test and publicly showcase unfamiliar water management or conservation practices that have not been used locally before, paired with outreach or a process to inform other organizations and the public about what happened and what was learned.

Funding is modest and structured to spread across multiple awards. The total funding available is stated as approximately $213,000, contingent on final FY 2016 appropriations, with the possibility that additional funds could later allow Reclamation to fund additional proposals in rank order. Individual award limits depend on project type: implementation awards can be up to $75,000, while demonstration and planning awards are capped at $25,000. Reclamation estimates making somewhere between 5 and 12 agreements, depending on appropriations and overall availability of funds.

Cost sharing is a major requirement: recipients must provide at least 50 percent of total project costs from non-federal sources. In addition, for any infrastructure improvements supported under an award, the non-federal share of operating and maintenance costs is 100 percent, meaning the recipient is expected to fully carry ongoing O&M costs after the project is built or installed. The FOA also includes federal compliance expectations typical for this kind of program: recipients must follow applicable federal, state, territorial, and local laws and codes; secure necessary permits and approvals; and coordinate with site owners and operators as needed.

The program authority is tied to Public Law 111-11, Section 9504(a), and the FOA highlights a specific statutory restriction for irrigation-water conservation improvements. If a project conserves irrigation water, the applicant must agree not to use the water savings to expand total irrigated acreage and not to increase consumptive use of water in its operations, as determined under the relevant state's water law. In other words, the program is designed to reduce waste and improve efficiency without turning those savings into expanded consumption. The FOA also addresses ownership and liability: if improvements modify a federally owned facility in a way that is integral to existing operations, the federal government retains title to the facility and the integral improvements; if improvements are not integral to existing federal water delivery operations, title generally stays with the project sponsor. Liability language clarifies that, outside of the Federal Tort Claims Act, the United States is generally not liable for damages related to facilities created or improved under the award when the United States does not hold title.

On the application mechanics, applicants are expected to submit standard federal forms (including SF-424 and the appropriate assurances forms), along with a title page and a technical application package. The technical package is expected to include a scope of work, a narrative or executive summary, a description of anticipated water management benefits, and a project schedule. Applicants must also answer supplemental questions tailored to the project category, provide a detailed budget and budget narrative using the appropriate SF budget form (SF-424A or SF-424C), and include a funding plan showing how the non-federal cost share will be met. An official resolution or statement of intent is also required, with some flexibility to submit it after a board meeting if timing requires. A DUNS number is required for application submission, consistent with federal assistance practices at the time of the FOA.

For questions, the FOA notes there is no pre-application conference and directs both submission and technical questions to the listed Grants Management Specialist contact in the Upper Colorado Region office (Richard B. Pew in Salt Lake City), with the expectation that questions be raised before the application deadline. Finally, the award process follows standard federal steps: being recommended for funding does not authorize work to begin; only an executed Notice of Award signed by the recipient and Reclamation's Grants Officer serves as the formal authorization to proceed.

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