F25AS00378 - FY 2025 - Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act - Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) Tier 2 | F25AS00378

Opportunity Information: Apply for F25AS00378

F25AS00378 is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) Program, Tier 2, authorized under the Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998 and codified at 16 U.S.C. 777g-1. The program is tied to amendments to the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777) and is supported through the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. The core purpose is to help fund construction, renovation, and maintenance of boating infrastructure that serves larger recreational boats, reflecting the scale of recreational boating in the U.S. (about 11 million registered motorized recreational vessels overall, with an estimated 596,000 vessels that are 26 feet or longer).

This opportunity specifically targets facilities that accommodate transient recreational vessels at least 26 feet long that are operated, leased, rented, or chartered primarily for pleasure. In this program, "transient" generally means boats that are traveling through an area and stay at a location for up to 15 days. The types of improvements BIG can support are broadly described as boating infrastructure, meaning the structures, equipment, accessories, and services that are necessary or desirable for a facility to serve eligible vessels. In practical terms, that framing is meant to cover the kinds of marina and harbor features that make short-term visiting stays possible and safe for larger boats, including upgrades and ongoing upkeep, not just brand-new construction.

A key requirement is public access: projects completed with BIG funds must provide public access benefits even if the facility is privately owned. In other words, ownership can be public or private, but the funded improvements must ultimately support public use by eligible transient recreational boaters rather than functioning as a restricted or members-only amenity that excludes the public.

Eligibility to apply is limited and structured: applicants must be the Governor-designated state agency in each of the 50 states, the Mayor-designated agency in the District of Columbia, or the designated agencies for eligible insular areas and territories (Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Individuals, local governments, nonprofits, tribes, and private marina operators generally cannot apply directly under this Tier 2 NOFO; instead, they typically participate through their state or territorial designated agency if that agency chooses to sponsor or include their project(s). If eligibility is unclear, the NOFO directs prospective applicants to consult the national contact listed in the full announcement or reach out to the appropriate FWS Regional Coastal/Boating Infrastructure (CI) office contact for their state or territory.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity (not a formula entitlement), listed under CFDA 15.622, with an award ceiling of $1,500,000. The opportunity was created on 2024-06-13 and had an original closing date of 2024-09-18. The administering agency is the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. For application and coordination support, the NOFO provides regional points of contact by geography, including contacts for Alaska; California and Nevada; the Pacific Northwest and Pacific territories; the Southwest; the Midwest; the Southeast including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic including DC; and the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain region.

• The Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "F25AS00378 - FY 2025 - Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act - Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) Tier 2" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.622.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-09-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for F25AS00378

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