Every year, the Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) receives numerous inquiries regarding preparation of proposals for the Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grant competitions. Many potential applicants find that it is difficult to prepare their proposals in only 60 days, the typical amount of time the Request for Proposals (RFP) allows from publication until the proposals are due. While the RFP is on schedule to be available in early fall, there are still many activities that applicants can perform in advance of the RFP (commonly referred to as the ARC Guidelines) being made publicly available. We have listed many of these activities below. We hope that using this list to get started preparing your ARC proposal early will facilitate your efforts in the preparation of a thorough, thoughtful, timely, and most importantly, successful proposal.
THRESHOLD CRITERIA
Applicant Eligibility. Begin gathering the necessary information to document your eligibility status. Contact U.S. EPA Brownfield regional staff if an eligibility question arises. A list of the Brownfield regional staff for your region can be found at http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/corcntct.htm
Site Eligibility. 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.
State Letter. Request your state letter indicating that the state knows about your plan to submit a proposal. Note: This can be done early, but should not be done so early that the letter is not from the current year.
Site Ownership. For cleanup grant proposals, acquire ownership of the site. Remember, applicants must be the sole owner of the site that is the subject of its cleanup grant proposal in order to be eligible to receive a cleanup grant.
Draft Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA). For cleanup grant proposals, 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 proposal due date.
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