One agency in each eligible State may apply for a BIG grant if authorized to do so by:

(a) A statute or regulation of the eligible jurisdiction;

(b) The Governor of the State, Commonwealth, or territory; or

(c) The Mayor of the District of Columbia.

(a) The following actions are eligible for BIG funding if they are for eligible users or eligible vessels:

(1) Construct, renovate, or maintain publicly or privately owned boating infrastructure (see § 86.12) following the requirements at § 86.13. This may include limited repair or restoration of roads, parking lots, walkways, and other surface areas damaged as a direct result of BIG-funded construction.

(2) Conduct actions necessary to construct boating infrastructure, such as:

(i) Engineering, economic, environmental, historic, cultural, or feasibility studies or assessments; and

(ii) Planning, permitting, and contracting.

(3) Dredging a channel, boat basin, or other boat passage following the requirements at § 86.15.

(4) Install navigational aids to give transient vessels safe passage between a facility and navigable channels or open water.

(5) Produce information and education materials specific to BIG or a BIG-funded project and that credit BIG as a source of funding when appropriate. Examples of eligible actions include:

(i) Locating BIG-funded facilities on charts and cruising guides;

(ii) Creating Statewide or regional brochures telling boaters about BIG and directing them to BIG-funded facilities;

(iii) Advertising a BIG-funded facility in print or electronic media with the emphasis on BIG, the BIG-funded facility, or services for eligible users, and not on marketing the marina as a whole;

(iv) Marina newsletter articles, marina or agency Web pages, and other communications you produce that are directly related to the BIG-funded project;

(v) Giving boaters information and resources to help them find and use the BIG-funded facility; and

(vi) Public communication.

(6) Record the Federal interest in the real property.

(7) Use BIG Tier 1—State grant awards to administer BIG Tier 1—State and BIG Tier 2—National grants, or grant programs, Statewide. This includes coordinating and monitoring to ensure BIG-funded facilities are well-constructed, meet project objectives, and serve the intended purpose for their useful life; and to manage BIG grant performance or accomplishments.

(b) You may ask your Regional Office to approve preaward costs for eligible actions. You incur preaward costs at your own risk, as we will only reimburse you for preaward costs we approved if you receive a grant.

(c) Applicants may seek funding for installing pumpout facilities through the Clean Vessel Act Grant Program (CVA) instead of including the cost as part of a BIG grant application. A State may require a pumpout be funded through CVA, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number 15.616.

(d) Other actions may qualify for BIG funding, subject to our approval, if they achieve the purposes of BIG. We will describe actions we approve and how they are eligible for BIG funding in the full text of the annual Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Boating infrastructure may include:

(a) Boat slips, piers, mooring buoys, floating docks, dinghy docks, day docks, and other structures for boats to tie-up and gain access to the shore or services.

(b) Fuel stations, restrooms, showers, utilities, and other amenities for transient-boater convenience.

(c) Lighting, communications, buoys, beacons, signals, markers, signs, and other means to support safe boating and give information to aid boaters.

(d) Breakwaters, sea walls, and other physical improvements to allow an area to offer a harbor of safe refuge. A harbor of safe refuge is an area that gives eligible vessels protection from storms. To be a harbor of safe refuge, the facility must offer a place to secure eligible vessels and offer access to provisions and communication for eligible users.

(e) Equipment and structures for collecting, disposing of, or recycling liquid or solid waste from eligible vessels or for eligible users.

(a) At project completion, a facility where a BIG-funded facility is located must:

(1) Be open to eligible users and operated and maintained for its intended purpose for its useful life;

(2) Clearly designate eligible uses and inform the public of restrictions;

(3) Offer security, safety, and service for eligible users and vessels;

(4) Be accessible by eligible vessels on navigable waters;

(5) Allow public access as described at § 86.92;

(6) Have docking or mooring sites with water access at least 6 feet deep at the lowest tide or fluctuation, unless the facility qualifies under paragraph (c) of this section; and

(7) Have an operational pumpout station if:

(i) Eligible vessels stay overnight; and

(ii) Available pumpout service is not located within 2 nautical miles; or

(iii) State or local laws require one on site.

(b) We will waive the pumpout requirement if you show in the grant application the inability to install a pumpout.

(1) We will review your request and will grant the waiver if you present circumstances that show:

(i) A hardship due to lack of utilities or other difficult obstacles, such as a BIG-funded facility on an island with no power or a remote location where the equipment cannot be serviced or maintained regularly;

(ii) State or local law does not allow septic-waste disposal facilities at the location;

(iii) You are in the process of applying for a CVA grant for the same award year as the BIG grant to install a pumpout station as part of the BIG-funded facility; or

(iv) You have received a CVA grant and will install a pumpout station as part of the BIG-funded facility on or before the time the BIG-funded facility is completed.

(2) When we waive the pumpout requirement, the BIG-funded facility must inform boaters:

(i) They are required to properly treat or dispose of septic waste; and

(ii) Where they can find information that will direct them to nearby pumpout stations.

(3) If we deny your request, we will follow the process described in the annual NOFO.

(4) If you seek an allowance based on this paragraph, you must include supporting information in the grant application as described at § 86.43(n)(1).

(c) We will allow water access at a depth less than 6 feet if you can show that the BIG-funded facility will serve its intended purpose for typical eligible users that visit that location.

(d) Any of these design features may already be part of the facility, or be funded through another source, and need not be included as part of the BIG project.

(a) For BIG Tier 1—State and BIG Tier 2—National grants:

(1) You may request BIG funds for facility maintenance only if you will complete the maintenance action during the period of performance.

(2) You may apply user fees collected at the BIG-funded facility after the period of performance to the maintenance of the facility.

(b) For BIG Tier 1—State grants:

(1) You may request BIG funds for one-time or as-needed maintenance costs at any BIG-eligible facility as long as the costs are discrete and follow paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) If you use BIG funds for maintenance at a facility that has received a BIG grant in the past, you must extend the useful life of each affected capital improvement accordingly.

(3) States may limit or exclude BIG maintenance funding they make available to subgrantees.

(c) For BIG Tier 2—National grants, you may request BIG funds for maintenance if it directly benefits eligible users and is directly related to the BIG project. You are responsible for all maintenance costs after the period of performance except as provided at paragraph (b) of this section.

(a) Dredging in this part includes the physical action of removing sediment from the basin and any associated actions, such as engineering, permitting, dredge-material management, and other actions or costs that occur because of the dredging. Dredging can qualify as an eligible action under the grant only if the costs for the dredging-related actions do not exceed $200,000.

(b) When you complete the project, the BIG-funded dredged area must:

(1) Have navigable water depth to accommodate eligible vessels as described at § 86.13(a)(6);

(2) Allow safe, accessible navigation by eligible vessels to, from, and within the BIG-funded facility; and

(3) Allow eligible vessels to dock safely and securely at transient slips.

(c) You must show in the grant application that:

(1) Dredging is needed to fulfill the purpose and objectives of the proposed project; and

(2) You have allocated the dredging costs between the expected use by eligible vessels and ineligible vessels.

(d) You certify by signing the grant application that you have enough resources to maintain the dredged area at the approved width and depth for the useful life of the BIG-funded facility, under typical conditions.

(a) These actions or costs are ineligible for BIG funding:

(1) Law enforcement.

(2) Direct administration and operation of the facility, such as salaries, utilities, and janitorial duties. Janitorial duties may include:

(i) Routine cleaning;

(ii) Trash and litter collection and removal; and

(iii) Restocking paper products.

(3) Developing a State plan to construct, renovate, or maintain boating infrastructure.

(4) Acquiring land or any interest in land.

(5) Constructing, renovating, or maintaining roads or parking lots, except limited action as described at § 86.11(a)(1).

(6) Constructing, renovating, or maintaining boating infrastructure for:

(i) Shops, stores, food service, other retail businesses, or lodging;

(ii) Facility administration or management, such as a harbormaster's or dockmaster's office; or

(iii) Transportation, storage, or services for boats on dry land, such as dry docks, haul-outs, and boat maintenance and repair shops.

(7) Purchasing or operating service boats to transport boaters to and from mooring areas.

(8) Marketing. Examples of ineligible marketing actions include:

(i) Giveaway items promoting the business or agency;

(ii) General marina or agency newsletters or Web sites promoting the marina or agency;

(iii) Exhibits at trade shows promoting anything other than the BIG-funded facility; and

(iv) Outreach efforts directed at the marina as a business or the agency as a whole and not focused on BIG or the BIG-funded facility.

(9) Constructing, renovating, or maintaining boating infrastructure that does not:

(i) Include design features as described at § 86.13;

(ii) Serve eligible vessels or users; and

(iii) Allow public access as described at § 86.92.

(10) Purchase of supplies and other expendable personal property not directly related to achieving the project objectives.

(b) Other activities may be ineligible for BIG funding if they are inconsistent with the:

(1) Purpose of BIG; or

(2) Applicable Cost Principles at 2 CFR part 200, subpart F.

(a) You or another entity approved by us must own or have a legal right to operate the site of a BIG-funded facility. If you are not the owner, you must be able to show, before we approve your grant, that your contractual arrangements with the owner of the site will ensure that the owner will use the BIG-funded facility for its authorized purpose for its useful life.

(b) Subgrantees or concessioners may be a local or tribal government, a nonprofit organization, a commercial enterprise, an institution of higher education, or a State agency other than the agency receiving the grant.

(c) Subgrantees that are commercial enterprises are subject to 2 CFR part 200, subparts A through D, for grant administrative requirements.

(a) When you design and build your BIG-funded facility, you must consider the features, location, materials, and technology in reference to the geological, geographic, and climatic factors that may have an impact on its useful life.

(b) You must record the Federal interest in real property that includes a BIG-funded capital improvement according to the assurances required in the grant application and guidance from the Regional WSFR Office.

(c) If we direct you to do so, you must require that subgrantees record the Federal interest in real property that includes a BIG-funded capital improvement.

(d) If we do not direct you to act as required by paragraph (c) of this section, you may require subgrantees to record the Federal interest in real property that includes a BIG-funded capital improvement.

(e) You must state in your subaward that subgrantees must not alter the ownership, purpose, or use of the BIG-funded facility as described in the project statement without the approval of you and the WSFR Regional Office.

(f) You may impose other requirements on subgrantees, as allowed by law, to reduce State liability for the BIG-funded facility. Examples are insurance, deed restrictions, and a security interest agreement, which uses subgrantee assets to secure performance under the grant.

You may assign any share of the costs to the BIG grant only if the BIG-funded facility or a discrete element of the BIG-funded facility benefits only eligible users. If a cost does not exclusively benefit eligible users, you must allocate costs accordingly. A discrete element has a distinct purpose, such as a fuel station, pumpout facility, breakwater, or dock system.

(a) You must clearly show and explain in the project statement:

(1) The anticipated benefits of each project, discrete elements, and major components;

(2) The breakdown of costs, as described at § 86.43(i), including the basis or method you use to allocate costs between eligible and ineligible users; and

(3) Your reasoning in determining how to allocate costs, based on paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section and any other guidance in the annual NOFO.

(b) After you submit the application, if we do not agree with your cost allocation using paragraph (a) of this section, we will contact you. We may ask you to clarify your information. If we do not agree that the allocation is equitable, we may negotiate an equitable allocation. We must be able to agree that you are appropriately allocating costs between eligible and ineligible users based on the expected use before we consider your application for award.

(c) If a proposed BIG-funded facility, or a discrete element, minor component, or single action of the BIG-funded project, gives a secondary or minimal benefit to all users, we will not require you to allocate costs between eligible and ineligible users for that benefit. Examples of how we will apply this rule are:

(1) The primary purpose is to benefit eligible users directly, with the secondary benefit for both eligible and ineligible users. You must clearly state the exclusive benefit to eligible users in your application. The secondary benefit cannot exclude eligible users from the primary purpose. For example, if you construct a dock system for exclusive use by eligible vessels and a secondary benefit of the dock system is protection of the marina from wave action, you would not have to allocate costs for the secondary benefit. However, the secondary benefit cannot be docking for ineligible vessels because it would exclude eligible users from the primary purpose.

(2) The secondary benefit to ineligible users is not the primary purpose, is minimal, and you do not add special features to accommodate ineligible users. For example, you do not have to allocate costs between user groups for a gangway from the transient dock, designed exclusively for eligible users, even though it is accessible to the general public. However, if you construct the gangway to accommodate the expected ineligible users, then you must allocate costs between user groups.

(3) The expected benefits to both eligible and ineligible users have minimal value. If the component has a value of .0025 percent or less than the maximum available Federal award plus required match, you do not have to allocate costs for that component. We will post the amount of the minimal value each year in the annual NOFO. For example, if the total maximum Federal award and required match for a BIG Tier 2—National project is $2 million, you do not have to allocate costs between user groups for any discrete project element, component, or action with a value of $5,000 or less.

(d) Examples of actions for which you must allocate costs between user groups are the following, unless paragraph (b) of this section applies:

(1) You propose a 200-foot dock for eligible user tie-up spaces that you attach to the shore at a boat launch. It will attract ineligible use as a tie-up for boaters as they enter and exit the water. You must allocate costs between the expected eligible and ineligible use.

(2) You propose a breakwater, fuel station, pumpout station, restroom, dredging, navigational aids, or other multiuse or multipurpose action.

(e) Examples of actions for which you do not need to allocate costs between user groups are:

(1) You propose to construct, renovate, or maintain docks specifically for eligible vessels.

(2) You propose to produce information and educational materials specific to BIG.

(f) You must clearly inform boaters when access by ineligible users is limited or restricted following the guidance at § 86.94.

(g) We may ask you to clarify or change how you allocate costs in your grant application if they do not meet our standards. We may reject costs or applications that do not allocate costs between eligible and ineligible users according to the requirements of this section and the NOFO.