Funding and Opportunities

Guidelines for BIL Competitive Grant Funding

• Projects should be for Land Acquisition, Habitat Restoration, or Habitat Restoration Planning on public land.
  • VA CZM Submission – Project can be up to $6 million (or $500,000 for planning projects) with $44.6 million available nationally.
  • CBNERR-VA Submission – Project can be up to $4 million (or $350,000 for planning projects) with $12.9 million available nationally. Projects should be focused in CBNERR-VA Focal Area. 
• Submit LOI to VA CZM ahead of the state deadline, via email to Manweiler@deq.virginia.gov.
• LOI’s and scoresheets will be sent to voting CPT body. CPT members have 7 business days to score. A CPT meeting will be held after all the LOI’s have been received to review the projects.
  • Applicants will be expected to join and answer questions from reviewers on their project.
• Voting CPT members may score ALL LOI’s.
  • Mean scores will be determined, with the two highest and two lowest scores from each project being dropped to normalize the average score between projects.
  • Scoresheet will be based off criteria in NOFO with additional clarification to improve consistency of scoring.
• VA CZM and CBNERR-VA can each submit three LOI’s to NOAA for a total of up to six LOI’s for Virginia.
  • VA CZM will submit 3 LOI’s based on CPT scoring. CBNERR-VA will submit up to 3 LOI’s that are focused within their focal area and address program needs.
  • After final LOI’s have been finalized and submitted to NOAA, they will be shared with CPT.
• If you intend to apply through CBNERR-VA, it is highly recommended that you contact Erin Reilly (emreilly@vims.edu) before you submit.