Oceanographic Facilities and Equipment Support | 23 525

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 525

The Oceanographic Facilities and Equipment Support opportunity is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program run through the Integrative Programs Section (IPS) in the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) within the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO). Its core purpose is to keep essential oceanographic platforms, shared-use facilities, and major equipment available and in working condition for federally funded researchers and educators. The program focuses on resources used in the ocean, coastal and near-shore waters, and the Great Lakes, and it supports activities such as procuring new capability, converting or upgrading existing assets, enhancing performance, and covering annual operations for qualifying platforms and facilities. A key theme throughout the solicitation is shared use: NSF is aiming to support infrastructure that serves a broad user community across federally supported research and education efforts, rather than equipment or facilities that mainly serve one project or a small group of investigators.

Funding under this opportunity often works alongside other sources of support. Many of the platforms and facilities NSF helps sustain also receive partial funding from other federal agencies, state and local governments, and private entities, commonly coordinated through a daily rate or cost-recovery mechanism. NSF describes its main objective as ensuring that appropriate, mission-ready oceanographic facilities are available when NSF-funded investigators need them. Because of this infrastructure-oriented objective, the solicitation draws a boundary around what should and should not be proposed: project-specific facilities and instruments that primarily benefit a single research team are expected to be requested through standard research programs, not through IPS facility and equipment support.

The solicitation is organized into three related programs that cover different parts of the shared-use ecosystem: Oceanographic Technical Services (Tech Services), Oceanographic Instrumentation (OI), and Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment (SSSE). Together, these cover the people and operational backbone that make shared facilities usable, the scientific instruments used across many projects, and the vessel and shipboard equipment needed to safely and effectively conduct oceanographic research.

The Oceanographic Technical Services (Tech Services) program supports institutional technical services that directly increase scientific productivity both aboard research vessels and within shore-based shared-use facilities. On the vessel side, this includes the practical work that makes complex cruises run smoothly and reliably: quality assurance, scheduling and coordination of technical support, logistical assistance, and at-sea supervision of onboard instrumentation and shared-use equipment used by visiting science parties. The program also provides baseline operational support for major University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) equipment pools, specifically the wire, van, and winch pools, which are key shared resources used across many expeditions. Funding under Tech Services typically covers salaries and related personnel costs, maintenance and calibration of sensors and instrumentation, and necessary travel connected to these responsibilities. An important restriction is that Tech Services requests must be clearly and directly tied to NSF-sponsored science. Also, with the exception of the wire pool, proposals seeking new or replacement capital equipment are generally not handled under Tech Services and instead must be routed through the OI or SSSE programs.

The Oceanographic Instrumentation (OI) program is aimed at improving the scientific capability and productivity of sea-going research that uses research vessels, as well as shore-based shared-use facilities. The emphasis is on shared-use scientific instrumentation used to collect, process, and analyze oceanographic data across multiple projects. The solicitation lists typical examples to clarify the scope, including sensors, acoustic systems, data loggers, water sampling rosettes, biological net systems, coring equipment, and auto-analyzers. A central requirement is that the proposed instrumentation must support multiple research projects, reinforcing the program's infrastructure and community-service orientation rather than single-project needs. In terms of who commonly leads these proposals, OI submissions are generally made by an institution's Tech Services manager, whose operational support is typically provided through OCE's Technical Services Program, reflecting how instrumentation acquisition and sustained technical support are expected to be closely connected.

The Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment (SSSE) program supports equipment that improves safety and strengthens the scientific capabilities of seagoing research programs using research vessels, with applicability to shore-based shared-use facilities as well. SSSE has a more vessel-outfitting and operations readiness flavor than OI, covering items needed to equip a vessel to conduct oceanographic research and to maintain or overhaul equipment previously funded through SSSE. The solicitation specifically highlights science handling systems such as winches, frames, and cranes, along with navigation and communication equipment and safety or regulatory-related items. This is also the program where requests for new capital equipment for the winch pool or van pool must be submitted. SSSE proposals are generally submitted by an institution's Marine Superintendent, whose operational funding is typically provided through OCE's Ship Operations Program, which matches the SSSE focus on shipboard readiness, compliance, and safe operation.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is an NSF discretionary grant (Funding Opportunity Number 23-525; CFDA 47.050) in the science and technology research and development category. The source data lists an award ceiling of $47,500,000 and anticipates around 50 awards, with an original closing date of February 28, 2023. Eligibility is noted as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full solicitation text. Overall, the program functions as a shared infrastructure backbone for ocean science, prioritizing community-accessible platforms, technical services, and equipment that enable a wide range of federally funded investigators and educators to conduct safe, efficient, and high-quality oceanographic research.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Oceanographic Facilities and Equipment Support" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.050.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 01, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 28, 2023. (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 $47,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 50 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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