Restoration of the historic St. Marks Lighthouse | F18AS00247

Opportunity Information: Apply for F18AS00247

The funding opportunity titled "Restoration of the historic St. Marks Lighthouse" (Funding Opportunity Number F18AS00247) is a U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service notice stating an intent to make a single-source award. This is not a typical competitive grant solicitation and there is no full announcement attached to the notice. Instead, it functions as a formal public notification that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plans to enter into one cooperative agreement with one recipient, with only one award expected.

The purpose of the cooperative agreement is to support restoration work on the historic St. Marks Lighthouse, which is located on the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla County, Florida. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites, and its preservation is tied to federal stewardship responsibilities. The notice explains that the lighthouse was transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to the USFWS in 2013. At the time of transfer, the structure had seen limited maintenance, and deterioration was already visible in both the lighthouse tower and the keeper's house. Because the Department of the Interior requires proper maintenance of historic sites under its care, the project is framed as both a preservation effort and a compliance-driven need to stabilize and restore a nationally significant asset.

USFWS indicates that it partnered with the Friends of the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge soon after the transfer to develop a restoration strategy, and then began pursuing grant funding and donations to carry out that strategy. While the notice does not provide detailed scopes of work, timelines, or construction specifications, the clear intent is that the cooperative agreement will fund tangible restoration actions addressing the documented deterioration and helping return the lighthouse and associated structures to a properly maintained condition consistent with historic preservation expectations.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding using a cooperative agreement instrument, which typically implies substantial federal involvement during the project (for example, coordination, oversight, or shared project execution), rather than a hands-off pass-through award. The listing associates the opportunity with activity areas such as community development, education, and law/justice/legal services, and cites CFDA 15.654. Eligibility is described as "unrestricted" in the source data, but because the notice is explicitly a single-source intent to award, it should be understood as effectively closed to open competition; the practical outcome is that the agency is signaling its plan to fund a particular partner rather than inviting applications from the public.

Key dates in the record show the opportunity was created on July 17, 2018, with an original closing date of July 26, 2018, reflecting the short window typical of public notices of intent rather than open application periods. The expected number of awards is one, and the listed award ceiling is shown as 1 (as presented in the source data), reinforcing that this posting is primarily informational and meant to document the agency's intended award for the lighthouse restoration effort.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the community development, education, law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Restoration of the historic St. Marks Lighthouse" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.654.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 17, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 2018 THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD TO A SINGLE SOURCE ANNOUNCEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NOTICE.. (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 $1.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for F18AS00247

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