104g Program

USGS Water Resources Requests for Proposals Announced 

The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) facilitates three Request for Proposals through the Water Resources Research Act Program Competitive Grants Program by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the National Institutes for Water Resources. 

The FY2025 Request for Proposals is closed. Per USGS’ guidelines, all applications to any of these programs must be submitted through the Texas Water Resources Institute.

Eligibility: Any investigator at an institution of higher education whose work addresses water-related research needs of regional and national significance is eligible to apply.

A notice of intent form is required if you plan to apply so we know how many proposals to anticipate. Proposals that are not preceded by an on-time notice of intent form will not be able to be accepted due to the short turnaround time.

The FY2025 full proposal submission deadline to TWRI_Proposals@ag.tamu.edu has passed. The TWRI deadline is prior to USGS’ deadline so we can compile and review each proposal package for completeness, route internally for approval and upload to grants.gov to submit to USGS.

Only proposals submitted to TWRI will be transmitted to the National Grants Competition Proposal Peer Review Panel. 

Please see the links to each funding opportunity below as well as specific notes further down on this page regarding processes for those submitting within and outside of Texas A&M University.

The three programs for FY2025 are below.

• National Competitive Grants Program, G25AS00485 (also known as 104g)
  • Research Priorities
    • Priority 1: Economic value of Information
    • Priority 2: Model Advancement and Machine Learning Integration
  • Up to $310,000 per award, 6 awards anticipated
• Per-And Polyflouroalkyl (PFAS) Substances Competitive Grants Program, G25AS00484,
  • Research Priorities:
    • Media-specific methods – enhanced methods for detection on specific media. Media of interest (in ranked order):
      • (1) Tissues/plasma, (2) sediment, (3) air or interfaces, and (4) water
    • Atmospheric sources – improved understanding of atmospheric exchange in PFAS distribution and fate
    • Processes oriented at molecular level, physical or biological – process-oriented research of PFAS fate, transport, and effects
  • Up to $309,000 per award, 9 awards anticipated
• Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Competitive Grants Program (specific to the Mississippi River basin), G25AS00483
  • Research Priorities:
    • Effects – improves our understanding of the effects of AIS on lakes, rivers and associated tributaries
    • Characteristics – identifies physical, biological, and chemical characteristics of waterbodies that infer resistance and resilience to the distribution, establishment, and effects of AIS
    • Management – assessment of detection, spread, and management of AIS species
  • Up to $346,875 per award, 4 awards anticipated

For each program, proposals may be for projects of 1 to 3 years in duration and require a 1:1 match. Please closely read through and adhere to the grant requirements. Ensure that:

• Final proposal budgets are in the USGS budget template (budget instructions)
• Budget justifications are detailed and complete (Good example from USGS and bad example)
• NEW for FY2025: USGS now requires that PIs and Co-PIs/Is submit a Biographical Sketch and Current & Pending.

Focus Categories are the same for each opportunity. Additional information about research priorities, proposal content, format and review process are available in the RFPs. Please also see the example for including USGS involvement.  

Proposals must address the research priorities for each program as listed in their respective RFPs above. Projects will only be awarded if funds are appropriated to the USGS to support the program.

NOTE for TAMU (on-campus), TEES and AgriLife PIs/Co-PIs: For those submitting proposals within Texas A&M University, considered “on-campus,” Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, etc., do not route your proposal through Sponsored Research Services (SRS). We encourage you to work with your proposal administrator on budgeting appropriately in the SRS template prior to completing the USGS-required budget, but all proposals submitted to TWRI must be routed (separately) with TWRI (Giovanni Piccinni) as the lead PI (facilitated), the research/proposal PI will be listed as a Co-PI along with any other Co-PIs. The proposal package will route accordingly for approvals through maestro prior to us submitting the packages to USGS. Hence the earlier deadline.

If your proposal budget includes subawards to external partners (outside of “on-campus” Texas A&M), several additional documents will be required. Each subrecipient’s organization must complete a subaward commitment form and provide a detailed budget, budget justification, scope of work, and a letter of commitment for any required cost share. These materials should be submitted along with your full proposal package for internal routing.

We are anticipating a large response, so you’re welcome to submit your final budget, budget justification, draft proposal, and any supplemental documents ahead of the deadline so we can begin our internal processing and routing.

EXTERNAL/SUBAWARDS to Texas A&M AgriLife: If you will be a subaward to AgriLife Research, please work with your university’s sponsored program office to ensure routing/approvals are obtained prior to submission to TWRI. In addition, we will need a completed, signed subaward commitment form from your organization along with your submission package unless your organization is part of the FDP, then provide the link to that information instead.

We are anticipating a large response, so if your budget is final and the subaward commitment form is signed by your officials, you are welcome to submit your package prior to the established deadline so we can start processing and routing earlier.

Questions regarding these grant programs as well as documentation requirements (internal to TAMU or external to TAMU) can be directed to Danielle Kalisek at Danielle.Kalisek@ag.tamu.edu.