Climate Program Office FY 2026 - Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA)

The Climate Program Office Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. The funding opportunity supports cooperative agreements intended to improve long-term climate resilience, preparedness, and decision making across regions of the United States that face increasing weather and climate-related hazards. NOAA explains that states and communities are confronting recurring risks such as flooding, extreme temperatures, severe storms, wildfires, and water shortages that affect housing, public safety, health, transportation systems, businesses, and local economies. The RISA program supports interdisciplinary science teams that work directly with regional and local decision makers to improve preparedness, planning, and adaptation outcomes before disasters occur. The program is designed to strengthen regional resilience by integrating social, physical, behavioral, natural, engineering, and economic sciences with local and regional planning needs. The FY 2026 competition solicits applications for a maximum of one RISA team in each of nine designated regions: Alaska; Great Lakes; Intermountain West; Lower Northeast; Mid-Atlantic; Pacific Islands; Pacific Northwest; South-Atlantic; and South Central. NOAA emphasizes that successful applications must demonstrate regional expertise, strong partnerships with public and private stakeholders, and the ability to connect scientific knowledge to actionable planning and risk management. Proposed projects must address regional weather resilience challenges affecting sectors such as land use planning, water management, emergency management, housing, insurance, public infrastructure, transportation, and public health. Applicants are expected to demonstrate meaningful engagement with local governments, tribal entities, utilities, planners, businesses, and other regional stakeholders. Teams should be primarily located within the regions they intend to serve and should balance rural and urban geographic coverage while maintaining flexibility to adapt activities as regional needs evolve. Funding under this opportunity will be provided through cooperative agreements with substantial NOAA involvement. NOAA anticipates funding up to nine awards total, with up to $1,800,000 per award available and a recommended budget of approximately $1,000,000 for the single budget year covering September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. Funding availability remains contingent on Congressional appropriations and NOAA spending allocations. The funding instrument is specifically intended for research and development activities, and NOAA states that contractual arrangements for products or services delivered directly to NOAA are not allowable under this announcement. Cooperative agreement involvement may include regular information sharing, evaluation of progress, adjustments to project priorities in response to regional conditions, and collaboration between NOAA scientists and recipient teams. The competition does not require cost sharing or matching contributions. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, commercial organizations, and state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. NOAA allows both current and prior grantees to apply so long as the proposed activities build upon rather than duplicate previously funded work. Applications must contain several mandatory components, including a title page, abstract, project narrative or statement of work, project management plan, prior research results, data management and sharing plan, bibliography, institutional commitment letter, vitae, current and pending support documentation, budget narrative, federal forms, and indirect cost documentation. The project narrative must describe the regional context, proposed research activities, expected scientific and societal outcomes, and benefits for preparedness and resilience. NOAA strongly encourages inclusion of a dedicated program manager position responsible for coordination and reporting across the interdisciplinary team. The application process includes an optional but strongly encouraged Letter of Intent stage. Letters of Intent must be submitted by email and are intended to help NOAA assess project relevance before applicants prepare full proposals. The LOI must include the competition name, project title, lead investigators, participating organizations, anticipated regional resilience issues, methodology, expected partnerships, estimated costs, and alignment with RISA program goals. NOAA states that applicants who do not submit an LOI or who receive discouraging feedback may still submit a full application. Full applications must be submitted through Grants.gov, and applicants must also maintain active registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eRA Commons. NOAA notes that organizations should begin registration processes early because setup may require several weeks. Applications submitted by fax or email will not be accepted. Applications will undergo administrative review followed by merit review conducted by panels of federal and non-federal experts. Evaluation criteria include importance and relevance to program goals, technical and scientific merit, qualifications of the applicant team, and project costs. Importance and relevance carry a weight of 40 percent, technical and scientific merit carry 42 percent, qualifications account for 12 percent, and project costs account for 6 percent. NOAA will also consider factors such as geographic balance, duplication with existing federal projects, applicant performance on prior awards, partnerships with targeted groups, and alignment with program priorities when making funding decisions. Applications scoring below 3.0 out of 5 will not be considered for funding. NOAA anticipates review activities occurring during the six to seven months following the application deadline, with funding decisions expected during Spring 2026 and awards beginning during Summer 2026. Semiannual financial and performance reporting through eRA will be required for funded recipients. Key timeline dates include a Letter of Intent deadline of May 13, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time and a full application deadline of June 5, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. NOAA identifies the opportunity as part of its broader Climate and Societal Interactions Division mission to strengthen preparedness and resilience through weather and climate information. Questions regarding the funding opportunity may be directed to Kathleen Palermo at Kathleen.Palermo@noaa.gov for general NOFO inquiries or to Sean Bath at oar.cpo.risa@noaa.gov for competition-specific information. Additional information and application materials are available through the NOAA Climate Program Office and Grants.gov. The opportunity appears to be part of a recurring annual competition cycle associated with NOAA fiscal year funding announcements.

Emphasize interdisciplinary integration across social and physical sciences. Demonstrate strong regional partnerships with decision makers and stakeholders. Clearly connect scientific activities to actionable resilience outcomes and preparedness planning. Show institutional commitment and mechanisms for adaptive management as regional needs evolve.