DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING, INDUSTRY & ENVIRONMENT

Guidelines for Applicants 2019-20 Coastal and Estuary Grants Program – Bushfire affected coastal waterways

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© 2020 State of NSW and Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

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ISBN 978-1-922318-34-3 X EES 2020/0053 January 2020

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iii

Contents

Introduction 1

Eligibility 1

Program objectives 1

Funding – objectives and priorities 2

What will be funded? 2

What will not be funded? 2

What applicants will need to contribute 3

Partnerships 3

Project implementation timeframe 3

Obligations of applicants 3

Obligations of successful applicants 4

Competitive tenders 4

Assessment process and criteria 4

Contacts for assistance 5

General administration inquiries 5

Submission process 5

Lodging the application 5

Instructions for completing the application form 6

1a. Project title 6

1b & c. Organisation and contact person 6

2a. Project detail - emergency nature of works 6

2b. Project timeframe 7

2c. Project location – where will the project take place? 7

2d. Project summary 7

2e. Budget overview 7

2f. What will the project achieve? 8

2g. Outcome if the project is not undertaken now 8

3b. Capacity to deliver and maintain the project 8

3c. Funding agreement 8

3d. Land ownership and planning approvals 9

Authorisations 9

Grant application checklist 9

iv

List of tables

Table 1 Regional contacts 5

Coastal and Estuary Grants - Guidelines for Applicants – Bushfire affected coastal waterways

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Introduction

The NSW Government has established a new regulatory framework for coastal management with the commencement of:

• a new Coastal Management Act 2016

• a consolidated Coastal Management State Environmental Planning Policy

• a coastal management manual.

The Coastal and Estuary Grants program underpins the implementation of the new coastal management framework and supports local councils and communities to achieve the state’s long-term vision for the coast.

This is a one off-funding stream under the Coastal and Estuary Grants Program to enable local councils to implement urgent post-fire environmental remedial actions to minimise and mitigate the impacts of the bushfires on sensitive estuary and coastal ecosystems.

Councils are able to apply at any time up until 10 March 2020 unless the $5 million allocation has been exhausted.

Councils should only apply for funding to implement actions that cannot wait until the next funding round and need to be urgently undertaken.

This grant program is administered by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE).

Eligibility

Only local councils are eligible to apply.

Where multiple councils are working together, one council is required to be the lead agency (or regional organisations of councils, county councils or joint organisations), in terms of signing of the funding agreement, managing monies and reporting on the project.

To be eligible to apply under this stream, the following need to apply:

1. A bushfire in the 2019-20 financial year triggered the emergency works to be conducted.

2. It is clearly articulated and justified as to why the works are urgent and cannot wait until the next coastal and estuary implementation funding round opens.

3. The action to be undertaken will result in an overall reduction in environmental harm to the coastal zone as a result of the bushfire.

4. The action can be managed sustainably into the future without creating any material adverse impacts or risks in other areas or on other projects.

Note: The action for which funding is sought is not required to be identified in Council’s certified Coastal Zone Management Plan, Emergency Action Sub Plan or certified Coastal Management Program.

Program objectives

The program supports local councils to carry out eligible remedial actions for fire impacted areas within the coastal zone for two of the areas under the Act; the coastal environment and coastal wetlands and littoral rainforest areas. Areas in the upper catchment will also be considered if there is a direct benefit to the parts of the estuaries defined under the State Environment Planning Policy (SEPP) as coastal zone.

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Funding – objectives and priorities

Funding is available to support local councils to implement remedial actions to minimise and mitigate the impacts of bushfires on heavily impacted and highly sensitive coastal and estuarine ecosystems. The principles for funding are:

• The actions will result in an overall reduction in the risk of further degradation of the coastal or estuary area within the SEPP defined coastal zone as a result of the recent bushfires.

• The action being undertaken is a direct result of damage due to the recent bushfires.

• The action will deliver broad public benefit.

• The overall, environmental, social and economic benefits outweigh the cost on a qualitative assessment.

• The works are urgent and cannot wait until the next funding round.

What will be funded?

Some examples of the types of projects that may attract funding in bushfire impacted areas are:

• Sediment and erosion control actions

• Dune management and restoration

• Estuarine foreshore restoration

• Littoral rainforest regeneration and restoration

• Coastal wetland restoration

• Habitat restoration

• Riparian corridor management

• Water quality monitoring to determine the impacts of recent fire activity

• Other post-fire actions that minimise further environmental impacts on coastal waterways and estuaries.

What will not be funded?

• GST: the project cost is to exclude GST

• Administration costs: all internal costs (including on-costs) associated with core activities of the applicant are ineligible for funding. An applicant’s core activities include preparing study briefs, reviewing proposals and tenders, researching and copying records, attending meetings, administering contracts and grants, accounting costs and liaising with government agencies and the public

• Contingencies: should not be included in the application. Project costs should be listed as accurately as possible

• Projects the applicant can reasonably be expected to undertake without financial assistance from this program

• Maintenance of projects once complete, this includes maintenance of existing infrastructure for its design life

• Projects that are funded or eligible for funding as part of a natural disaster relief declaration

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• Amenity works that have no environmental benefit

• Projects that are in the freshwater environment unless they can be shown to be a significant contributor to improved estuary health

• Projects that do not demonstrate they are cost-effective for the outcomes achieved.

What applicants will need to contribute

It should be noted that while 100 per cent funding is available under this program, the program is a contestable grants program and an application may or may not be approved for the full amount requested. Value for money is a key assessment criterion under the program. Applicants who can demonstrate better value for money will rank higher than others. This includes in-kind support and co-funding.

Partnerships

Where a group of local councils is working together in partnership (either under the lead of one of the councils or a relevant regional organisation of councils), then the lead council or Regional Organisation of Councils can claim project management costs incurred by either:

• a dedicated project manager selected by a competitive process, or

• a staff member from one of the councils or a Regional Organisation of Councils.

Any eligible project management costs (referred to above) must be directly related to the funded project and can include the administrative costs noted under ‘What will not be funded?’ The amount eligible for funding is to be capped at 10 percent of the total project cost.

Project implementation timeframe

Projects should be completed within three years of the grant offer. While requests for variations to projects are available, it should be noted that projects which go beyond the approved time can impact available project funds for future rounds. No additional funding will be considered for projects during their implementation unless there are exceptional circumstances, and these will be considered on their merits.

It is recommended that for projects that contain a weeding, bush regeneration or revegetation element that the full three-year timeframe is used to ensure the works are in a state that can be easily managed by council once funding ceases. Shorter duration projects will still be considered and assessed on their merits.

Obligations of applicants

The application form for this program stream is short due to the emergency nature of this program. It has been designed for easy completion, applicants may be asked through the assessment process for additional information to support the initial application.

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Obligations of successful applicants

Successful applicants must enter into a funding agreement that stipulates all funding obligations and conditions.

The agreement will need to be signed by the general manager (or by someone with delegated authority) within 42 days of the formal grant offer.

One approved a detailed work plan will need to be submitted and approved prior to work commencing. The work plan must be based on the information provided by the successful tender for the project that outlines key milestones to be achieved and related claim for payments and must relate to the project plan submitted with the application.

The project will be tracked and managed against the work plan, which must be kept current by the grant recipient, in consultation with Department of Planning, Industry and Environment throughout the funded period.

Competitive tenders

Proposals to undertake actions other than via a competitive tender process require specific approval. If the applicant’s organisation has a business arm that undertakes works relevant to the project, it is expected that the works will still be put to tender, and that the business arm applies for works in an open and transparent process.

Any applicant proposing to use their own resources without going to tender should provide a detailed justification for the work to be done in-house in a separate attachment to the application.

Applicants need to provide full details of the key staff to be involved and clearly demonstrate they have the expertise, skills, qualifications, and experience to undertake the work and detail why this option is more efficient from both a time and financial perspective than going to competitive tender.

Applicants must also demonstrate that the staff and other resources required will be committed to the project to ensure that work is completed within the specified time period. The program should not be used to cost shift so that permanent council staff or teams that have been employed to undertake certain roles are subsidised by the program to do their job.

If the applicant later chooses to undertake the project or elements of the project in-house, a variation request will need to be submitted and assessed on its merit which may delay the commencement of the project.

All procurement activities must be undertaken in a way that complies with the grantee organisation’s procurement policies and must be legal.

Assessment process and criteria

Applications will initially be checked to confirm eligibility and completeness. Ineligible or incomplete applications will not be assessed.

Applications will then be assessed against the following criteria:

• The method proposed to undertake the work.

• The project is good value for money (compared to similar projects).

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• The action will result in an overall reduction in the risk of further degradation of the coastal or estuary area within the SEPP defined coastal zone as a result of the recent bushfires.

• The action will deliver broad public benefit.

• The overall, environmental, social and economic benefits outweigh the cost on a qualitative assessment.

• The works are urgent, a result of a 2019-20 bushfire and cannot wait until the next funding round.

All applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application.

Note: An application will be awarded a reduced ranking if it is not well thought out, has unclear objectives or outcomes, will only partially achieve program objectives or does not meet funding priorities.

Contacts for assistance

For assistance with grant applications, contact the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment offices listed below.

Table 1 Regional contacts

Region Telephone number

North East 02 8289 6318

Hunter/Central Coast 02 4927 3248

Greater Sydney 02 8837 6097

South East 02 4224 4153

General administration inquiries

For general grant administration inquiries, contact the Grants Branch – Coast, Estuary and Flood on 02 9895 6494 or by email at coastalestuary.floodgrants@environment.nsw.gov.au

Submission process

The round is open for applications to be submitted at any time up until 5pm 10 March 2020.

Any application that is incomplete or ineligible will not be considered.

Lodging the application

Submit the entire application by email: coastalestuary.floodgrants@environment.nsw.gov.au.

Please email the application form as a Word document - do not send as a PDF. Other attachments can be emailed as Word, Excel or PDF documents.

If the application form is not submitted in the format specified above, it will not be accepted. Ensure the entire application, including all attachments, e.g. letters of support from project partners; maps; etc. is emailed.

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Emailed applications must not be larger than 10MB including all attachments.

Instructions for completing the application

form

Separate application forms should be completed for each project.

Applications that are incomplete or do not provide the necessary level of detail to facilitate an adequate assessment will be considered ineligible for funding.

These explanatory notes correspond to the items on the application form.

1a. Project title

Provide a title for the project in 80 characters or less. If the application is successful, this project name will be used in the grant documentation and for promotional purposes. The title should be self-explanatory and, where possible, include the location name.

1b & c. Organisation and contact person

The applicant must be a local council or be explicitly included in the section above under ‘Who can apply’.

Please provide a contact for the project, this person should be the person responsible for managing the project if it is successful and someone that can be contacted if additional information is required throughout the application assessment process.

2a. Project detail - emergency nature of works

The applicant must outline why the remedial action is urgent and cannot wait until the next funding round and describe how the recent bushfire created the issue that funding is being sought to resolve. This section should include a detailed explanation of how the work will protect the local environment.

In this section please specify the type of activity the project represents from the list provided below. The activity should represent the major activity describing the project. Only one activity should be listed. If unsure which activity to use, contact the DPIE regional representative.

• Coastal wetland rehabilitation

• Dune restoration/revegetation

• Erosion/sediment control works

• Estuarine riparian restoration

• Habitat restoration/conservation

• Littoral rainforest regeneration or restoration

• Restoration/revegetation

• Water quality monitoring to determine the impacts of recent fire activity

• Other post-fire action to reduce environmental impacts

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2b. Project timeframe

List the expected commencement and completion dates for the project. The timeframe should be realistic, as this will set the funding term duration for the funding agreement if the application is successful.

Being realistic about the timeframe required to successfully deliver the project will minimise the need for future paperwork to vary timeframes, which can take time to be assessed and can stall progress on the project.

The maximum project duration is 36 months.

It would be expected that revegetation, dune management or rehabilitation projects would extend over the full 36-month period to ensure the work is sufficiently established and maintained before the funding period ceases. Shorter duration projects will still be considered and assessed on their merits.

2c. Project location – where will the project take place?

Describe the geographical location of the project including the name of the site (if it has one), the address and a general description of the location. The applicant should also attach a locality diagram or map along with GPS coordinates for the project location and where relevant, attach photographs of the site to be worked on.

GPS coordinates can be found using a conventional map or visit Google Maps. To find the decimal degree coordinates on Google Maps locate the site, right click on the map on the project location and in the menu that appears select what’s here. The coordinates will appear in the search box. Copy these coordinates onto your submitted map.

For example: Latitude -32.190189 Longitude 149.945062

Please specify the project’s relevant Local Government Area, State electorate (not federal electorates) and catchment. This information is required for program reporting purposes, only the catchment detail will be considered as part of the assessment process.

2d. Project summary

Provide a succinct summary of the project (maximum of 300 words) for promotional and media purposes.

This should include an overview of the project including project location, the issues the project will address, expected outcomes and how these will be achieved. Please ensure this captures the main elements of the project in an informative way. Please include in this section any other councils or project partners that will be helping to deliver this project.

Please ensure correct spelling and grammar are used, as this summary will be used for the DPIE website and other promotional purposes.

2e. Budget overview

Provide a breakdown of the projected project expenditure. This should be consistent with the more detailed budget outlined in the project plan at question 3a.

Please ensure the funding amount requested is accurate as additional funding towards projects will only be provided in exceptional circumstances.

Taxation – goods and services taxes (GST): organisations administering a grant (and are registered for GST) are not to include any GST in the application budget.

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2f. What will the project achieve?

Outline the outcomes and objectives, impact or benefits (including any environmental benefits or improvements to resilience) of the project.

The applicant will be required to report against these outcomes in the final report.

2g. Outcome if the project is not undertaken now

Outline the likely outcomes of inaction at this site. This will help to build a picture of the need to undertake this project.

3a. Project plan

The project plan should detail the project’s expected milestones, activities, timeline, budget and grant amount sought for each milestone. A template for the plan is available at Bushfire affected coastal waterways.

Projects are to be completed within 36 months of the grant offer.

Do not allocate milestone dates in June.

Provide sufficient detail so assessors can understand the key steps in the project and how outcomes will be delivered.

It would be expected that relevant details such as number of plants, steps as to how the project will be delivered, hectares to be managed and how, detailed elements of works to be constructed and what they will be constructed of will be provided. This information will be used to help determine the reasonableness of costs and the project methodology.

The plan should include at least six very detailed milestones if the applicant is seeking funds for a project over $500,000.

Ensure the total funding amounts equals the amounts provided in question 2e.

Note: for successful applications, submission of a detailed project work plan based on the project plan will be required.

3b. Capacity to deliver and maintain the project

Applicants must demonstrate that they have the capacity to deliver the project as outlined. The justification should outline the applicant’s available resources. It needs to show that the proposed timeframe is realistic. Only applications that clearly demonstrate this will be considered for funding.

Please detail how the project will be maintained, as this will be an important consideration during the assessment phase.

3c. Funding agreement

Applicants must enter into a performance-based funding agreement. By ticking the box, the applicant agrees to be bound by all the conditions in the funding agreement.

It is unlikely that approval will be granted to change the conditions in the funding agreement once a grant is awarded.

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3d. Land ownership and planning approvals

Generally, actions will only be funded if they are on public land owned by either a council or the Crown. For works projects, detail the necessary approvals and licences required and whether these have been obtained. If approvals have not yet been obtained, list who they will need to be obtained from and the approximate timeline for obtaining those approvals.

Authorisations

Provide the name of a senior officer in the organisation, with appropriate delegation, who has authorised the submission of this project and has the delegation to authorise the commitment of the resources and expenditure required to deliver this project. Note: Signature is not required.

Grant application checklist

Use the following checklist to make sure that the application is complete and accurately represents the project.

Answer all questions in the application form.

Submit the entire application by email.

Submit one application per project.

Type only in the spaces provided in the application form. The boxes provided for answers to questions are a set size; the boxes will not expand to accommodate additional text if you continue to type beyond the bottom of the text box. Please ensure answers to questions are fully contained within the limits of the text boxes.

Manually spell check the application (the Microsoft Word spelling and grammar function is disabled in this form).

Enter monetary amounts in full, i.e. $10,000 not $10k.

Check the budget amounts outlined in the project plan at Question 3a is consistent with the Budget Overview at Question 2e.

Have the application authorised by the appropriately delegated person.

If council decide to undertake the project in-house at a later date council will need to submit a variation request, therefore it is in council’s best interest to advise at the application stage if it intends to undertake the project in-house. The applicant should provide justification as a separate attachment to the application form.

Include organisation name then project name in the subject line of the email when lodging the application (e.g. XX Council – XX Coastal Zone Management Plan).

Email to: coastalestuary.floodgrants@environment.nsw.gov.au

Please email the application form as a Word document - do not pdf. Attachments can be emailed as Word, Excel or PDF documents.

If the application form is not submitted in the format specified above, it will not be accepted.

Ensure you email your entire application, including all attachments, e.g. letters of support from project partners; maps; etc.

Emailed applications must not be larger than 10MB including all attachments.