b'NEWSWIREGet Ready to Submit Small Shipyard Grant Application T heU.S.MaritimeAdministration (MARAD)willsoonsolicitpropos-als for the fiscal 2022 Small Shipyard Grant Program. A potential applicant should start preparing its proposal now.On March 15, President Biden signed into law the omnibus appropriations act that funds the federal government for the remainder of fiscal 2022 (that is, through this coming Sep-tember 30). Public Law 117-103 provides $20 million for the upcoming round of the Small Shipyard Grant program.PVA has consistently supported continuation of and increased funding for the Small Ship-yard Grant program. The law authorizing this program is found at section 54101 of title 46 United States Code and can be viewed here.SmallShipyardGrantsareprovidedforthe purpose of (1) making capital and related im-provementsinsmallshipyards(butnotthe construction of buildings or the acquisition of land), and (2) training workers in shipbuilding, ship repair, and associated industries. Federal funds can cover up to 75 percent of the project. There is a Buy America requirement. A small shipyard is a yard in one geographic location that has no more than 1,200 employees.MARAD has indicated that a public ferry sys-tem that has its own shipyard facility to service its fleet is eligible to compete for a grant.MARADs solicitation of applications should become public by the end of this month. This notice is likely to contain several policy prior-ities of the Biden Administration that should be addressed in the proposal. An application willneedtobesubmittedwithinaboutsix weeks of the formal solicitation.37 MARCH 2022'