LiDAR-based Resource Management for National Park Service Modification 1 | P18AS00504

Opportunity Information: Apply for P18AS00504

The grant opportunity titled "LiDAR-based Resource Management for National Park Service Modification 1" (Funding Opportunity Number P18AS00504) is a discretionary Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement focused on improving resource management in a targeted group of National Park Service units within the Southeast Coast Network (SECN). The central purpose is to assemble, process, and deliver LiDAR-based inventories and practical geospatial products that NPS staff can use for on-the-ground planning, monitoring, and decision-making. A key theme of the opportunity is demonstrating, through a proof-of-concept effort, how high-resolution LiDAR data can directly support resource management needs and why fine-scale elevation and surface structure information matters for coastal and near-coastal park environments.

The project is described as a three-phase effort. First, it will compile and catalogue all available LiDAR datasets relevant to NPS sites within the SECN, essentially creating a clear inventory of what data already exists, where it came from, its coverage, and its usability. Second, it will carry out full processing of LiDAR point clouds and any required ancillary datasets so the information becomes analysis-ready rather than remaining as raw or inconsistently formatted source data. Third, it will generate functional datasets and products tailored to NPS priorities, developed in close coordination with NPS staff to ensure the outputs are usable in real management workflows rather than being purely academic or exploratory. While the notice does not list every specific deliverable, the emphasis on "functional datasets and products" typically implies standardized elevation models and derived layers that can support tasks like habitat characterization, vegetation structure assessment, coastal change evaluation, flood or storm-surge planning inputs, infrastructure vulnerability screening, and other resource and asset management questions that depend on accurate terrain and surface structure measurements.

This opportunity is structured as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial involvement by the NPS during project execution, including coordination on priorities, methods, data standards, and product acceptance. Eligible applicants are limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, signaling that the intended recipient is a university or similar public academic entity capable of handling LiDAR processing, geospatial analysis, and applied research support for federal land management. The notice functions as a Notice of Intent to Award rather than an open call for proposals, explicitly stating it is not a request for applications and that the NPS intends to fund the project without full and open competition. In practical terms, this means the award is directed and not competitively solicited at the time of posting, serving mainly to satisfy public notice requirements.

Funding details indicate an expected single award with an award ceiling of $30,568. The announcement was created on August 7, 2018, under CFDA number 15.945, with the activity category labeled as Education, reflecting the partnership model with an eligible higher-education institution and the applied, capacity-building nature of the work. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted, relatively modestly funded, collaborative LiDAR data readiness and demonstration project designed to prove value, build standardized inventories and processed datasets, and deliver actionable geospatial products that directly support NPS resource management priorities in the Southeast Coast Network.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "LiDAR-based Resource Management for National Park Service Modification 1" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 07, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by This Notice of Intent to Award is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Services intention to fund the following federal financial assistance project without full and open competition.. (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 $30,568.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

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