Increase Accountability of Public Access to Bureaus' Museum Tree-Ring Specimens | P18AS00116

Opportunity Information: Apply for P18AS00116

The grant opportunity titled "Increase Accountability of Public Access to Bureaus' Museum Tree-Ring Specimens" (Funding Opportunity Number P18AS00116) is a Department of the Interior, National Park Service discretionary funding program offered through a cooperative agreement. It focuses on natural resources and is tied to CFDA number 15.945. The project is designed to improve the accountability, organization, and public accessibility of museum tree-ring related holdings by systematically inventorying and cataloging a large volume of specimens housed at LTRR. At a practical level, the work centers on bringing order and visibility to a major collection by standardizing how specimens are identified, recorded, and made discoverable through modern cataloging systems and online access points.

The core objectives are highly operational and data-driven. The funded partner is expected to use existing, already-developed protocols and templates, updating them when needed, to conduct an inventory of bureau collections located at LTRR. A key deliverable is the entry of information for an estimated 71,000 archeological and natural history specimens into a web-accessible catalog. This catalog is not intended to be a standalone list; it is meant to be connected to centralized scientific data repositories so that specimen records are linked with broader research data ecosystems. In addition to publishing records online for public discovery and research use, the project also requires formal cataloging of these specimens into ICMS, ensuring that the collection is tracked in an established interior collections management system rather than remaining in scattered or inconsistent local documentation.

A notable feature of the opportunity is its emphasis on continuous process improvement. Rather than treating protocols as fixed, the project calls for joint evaluation of the specimen identification and processing methods, with ongoing refinement to improve efficiency over the course of the work. This signals an expectation that the awardee will collaborate closely with relevant stakeholders, troubleshoot workflow bottlenecks, and iteratively adjust templates and procedures so the large-scale cataloging effort can be completed more effectively and with consistent data quality. In practice, this typically means developing clearer decision rules for specimen classification, standardizing metadata fields, improving handling of legacy labels or incomplete provenance information, and tightening quality control steps so the resulting records are reliable and usable.

The funding parameters indicate a single anticipated award with an award ceiling of $409,634. Eligibility is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, meaning the program is structured to leverage university-based expertise and staffing, such as museum studies professionals, collections managers, archaeologists, dendrochronologists, data managers, and trained student assistants. Because the instrument is a cooperative agreement, the federal agency is likely to have substantial involvement during the project, often including coordination on standards, periodic review of progress, and alignment with bureau requirements for museum documentation and public access.

Timing details in the notice show the opportunity was created on April 6, 2018, with an original closing date of April 15, 2018, reflecting a short application window. Overall, the opportunity is essentially a large-scale collections accountability and digitization initiative: it aims to locate and inventory specimens, standardize and improve processing workflows, publish records in a web-accessible way linked to broader scientific repositories, and ensure the holdings are properly cataloged in ICMS so that both stewardship obligations and public access expectations are met.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Increase Accountability of Public Access to Bureaus' Museum Tree-Ring Specimens" 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 Apr 06, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 15, 2018. (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 $409,634.00 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.

Apply for P18AS00116

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