Development and 

 Submittal of Annual 

 Work Plans and 

 Assistance Applications 



The Annual Work Plan for each estuary program must be approved 

 by the Management Conference before individual assistance 

 awards can be made. They should be prepared within 60 days of 

 the receipt of targets for that year. The Management Conference 

 must submit a draft Annual Work Plan to EPA headquarters, 

 through EPA regions, for review and comment before final ratifica- 

 tion by the Management Conference. 



Individual assistance applications may be developed at the same 

 time as the Annual Work Plan, but should not be submitted until 

 after the Annual Work Plan is approved by the Management 

 Conference. Since assistance application award decisions will be 

 made by EPA regions, applications should be sent to the ap- 

 propriate EPA regional grants administration office. 



It is necessary that each assistance application be endorsed by the 

 Management Conference before approval is granted. This require- 

 ment ensures that the Management Conference has control over 

 how funds are spent on an estuary. It also allows the Management 

 Conference to direct the effort, ensuring that each project is con- 

 sistent with the Conference's annual goals and objectives. 



Compilation of an Annual Work Plan allows each Management 

 Conference to review its current activities in the light of its goals 

 and past activities, and encourages direct focus on necessary 

 activities for the year to follow. The Annual Work Plan should be 

 the result of extensive planning and review by each of the Con- 

 ference committees and should represent a consensus on direc- 

 tions to be taken. 



The Management Conference's development of the Annual Work 

 Plan should address these questions: 



• Have successes and failures in the program been taken into 

 account in planning the new year's activities? 



• Is planned work consistent with the seven purposes of the 

 Management Conference specified in Section 320(b) of the 

 Clean Water Act? 



• Is planned work directed towards meeting negotiated mile- 

 stones contained in the Five-Year State-EPA Conference 

 Agreement? 



• Will individual projects obtain information necessary to fur- 

 ther define problems or develop solutions? 



• Are the problems addressed significant to the entire estuary? 



• Is there a demonstration of the 25 percent program cost 

 share? 



Evaluation of Annual 

 Work Plans 



A3 



