Improve Records Management for the National Trails Program | P17AS00367

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00367

The Department of the Interior, National Park Service is offering a discretionary funding opportunity titled "Improve Records Management for the National Trails Program" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00367). The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means the National Park Service expects to stay actively involved during the period of performance rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The opportunity sits in the natural resources funding activity category and is listed under CFDA 15.945, reflecting its alignment with National Park Service assistance programs.

The focus of the grant is the improvement of records management for the National Trails Program, specifically for resource management records created as part of the NPS daily work. These records are described as permanent and historically significant because they capture a long-running body of knowledge and documentation built up over roughly the past century. They include information tied to both cultural and natural resource management, which can range from field notes and inventories to monitoring data, reports, maps, photographs, and other forms of documentation that support stewardship decisions. The core problem the opportunity is addressing is accessibility: the NPS has permanent records that exist but are not readily usable, and the demand for using that information is increasing over time as management needs, compliance requirements, and research questions continue to grow.

Only public and state-controlled institutions of higher education are eligible to apply, which indicates this opportunity is intended for universities and similar public academic entities that can provide archival, library science, information management, digitization, metadata, and related technical expertise. The program appears designed to leverage higher-education capacity to help the NPS bring order, usability, and long-term access to a backlog or ongoing stream of resource management records that are currently difficult to retrieve, interpret, or integrate into modern workflows. Because the records are described as permanent, the work implied by the opportunity likely emphasizes durable solutions: organizing collections, improving description and indexing, applying consistent metadata practices, and setting up systems and processes that preserve and make these records findable and usable over the long term.

The funding details indicate a single expected award with a ceiling of $70,000. The opportunity was created on June 14, 2017, with an original application closing date of June 23, 2017, suggesting a short turnaround window at the time of posting. In practical terms, the scale of funding and the single-award structure suggest a targeted project rather than a broad multi-recipient program, likely aimed at producing concrete improvements for the National Trails Program records environment within a defined scope, such as processing and organizing a priority subset of records, developing an improved records management approach, and enabling staff and partners to more easily locate and use historical and current resource information that supports trail management decisions.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Improve Records Management for the National Trails Program" 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 Jun 14, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 23, 2017. (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 $70,000.00 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 P17AS00367

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