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USTfields Qs & As: Selection Process

Q1: Can the state send all the proposals it receives from its local areas to EPA and let EPA select from the proposals?
A: No. The state can only submit three (3) proposals to its EPA Regional office. If a state receives more than three proposals from its local areas, the state must select what it considers to be its top three proposals and submit only those three to EPA.

Q2: Do the tribes have the same standing as the states?
A: All proposals go through the same review and evaluation process, so the states and tribal groups have the same standing as applicants. However, EPA has stated it would like to award at least one USTfields Pilot to an Indian tribe or intertribal consortium.

Q3: Will the EPA Regional offices review the proposals?
A: Yes. Each EPA Regional office will have a Regional Review Panel that will evaluate all the proposals submitted by the states and tribes to that Region. The Regional offices will evaluate, score, and rank the proposals and then send them to Headquarters for the Headquarters Review Panel to review from a national perspective and for geographic distribution (i.e., at least one pilot per Region).

Q4: Will each Regional office forward the proposals and its review notes to OUST?
A: Yes. All proposals and review notes from the Regional offices and Review Panels will be submitted to OUST.

Q5: Do the EPA Regional offices only send one proposal per state or all three state proposals to Headquarters?
A: The Regional offices are to submit all three of the proposals they receive from each of the states and tribes (plus their accompanying Regional Review Panel evaluation paperwork) to Headquarters.

Q6: How long will EPA Headquarters take to review the proposals after it receives them from the Regional offices?
A: Headquarters anticipates that it will complete review of the proposals in 30 days.

Q7: The time line for the proposal process seems a bit vague in the guidelines. Can you elaborate?
A: All proposals must be submitted to the EPA Regional offices postmarked no later than November 19, 2001. EPA anticipates that the Regional offices will take 30 days to do their review and that Headquarters will take 30 days to do its review. The final recommendations to the EPA Approval Official should be ready by the end of January 2002. It is expected that the selected pilots will be announced at the end of January 2002.

Q8: When will the selected pilots be announced?
A: EPA anticipates that the selections will be announced at the end of January 2002.

Q9: Will each state only receive one USTfields pilot award?
A: There are no limitations on which states will receive pilot awards other than that EPA would like to award one pilot in one state in each of the ten EPA Regions. EPA would also like to award one pilot to a proposal from an Indian tribe or intertribal consortium. Obviously, if states can submit only three proposals, no state could receive more than three pilot awards. Some states may receive no awards. This is a nationwide competition, and awards are based entirely on the quality of the proposals and their assessment using the evaluation criteria system outlined in the proposal guidelines.

Q10: What will be the deadline to get the applications to the state?
A: That is up to each state implementing agency to decide. However, all pilot proposals to EPA from state and tribal applicants must be postmarked no later than November 19, 2001.

Q11: Will the EPA Headquarters Review Panel consist of a national panel or a panel of people at Headquarters?
A: The Headquarters Review Panel will be made up of staff who work at Headquarters in various offices.

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