MARAD Announces Small Shipyard Assistance Program Grant Solicitations
January 13, 2010
Contact: Ian Bennitt
(202) 347-5462
Today, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced its grant solicitation for the Small Shipyard Assistance Program, funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 (Minibus) at $14, 700,000.
Click here to read the Federal Register notice.
NOTE: The announcement states that the period for submitting grant applications commenced on December 16, 2009, the day the Minibus was passed. This is due to language in the Minibus that read, "...a qualified shipyard shall submit an application for assistance no later than 60 days after enactment of this Act." In reality, MARAD needed administrative time to prepare the solicitation, leaving a submittal period of just over a month from today, the day it was announced publicly in the Federal Register.
Key Dates: The period for submitting grant applications, as mandated by statute, commenced on December 16, 2009 and will terminate on February 16, 2010. The applications must be received by the Maritime Administration by 5 p.m. EST on February 16, 2010. Applications received later than this time will not be considered. The Maritime Administration intends to award grants no later than April 15, 2010.
Funding Opportunity: Section 54101 of Title 46, United States Code, and the section entitled ``Assistance to Small Shipyards'' in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117), provide that the Maritime Administration shall establish an assistance program for small shipyards. Under this program, there is currently $14,700,000 available for grants for capital and related improvements for qualified shipyard facilities that will be effective in fostering efficiency, competitive operations, and quality ship construction, repair, and reconfiguration. ($300,000 of the $15,000,000 appropriated for the program is reserved for program administration.) Such grants may not be used to construct buildings or other physical facilities or to acquire land unless such use is specifically approved by the Maritime Administration as being consistent with and supplemental to capital and related infrastructure improvements. Grant funds may also be used for maritime training programs to foster technical skills and operational productivity in communities whose economies are related to or dependent upon the maritime industry. Grants for such training programs may only be awarded to ``Eligible Applicants'' as described below but training programs can be established through vendors to such applicants.