Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)

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A Transfer Payment is a monetary payment, or a transfer of goods, services or assets made to a third party (including a Crown corporation) that does not result in the acquisition by the Government of Canada of any goods, services or assets.

There are various forms of Transfer Payments. The Ecosystems and Oceans Science Contribution Framework (EOSCF) is DFO's departmental framework supporting science transfer payment projects funded by contributions.

Contribution transfer payment: Conditional funding support awarded to proponents in pursuit of specific project objectives, paid on the basis of completed milestones.

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A Contribution Agreement is a legal document that outlines the amount of funding that Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will provide the organization for eligible project costs, as well as the recipient's and the department's responsibilities and obligations.

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A project funded by a transfer payment should be independent of the funding department. Any reference to DFO in a third party's G&C proposal is discouraged, as it would suggest that the third party is directly collaborating with DFO on that project, which is not permitted. If a proposal is premised on collaboration with DFO and any employee of the Department is identified as a member of the project team, the proposal will not be accepted.

DFO's involvement in a funded project is restricted to providing scientific knowledge unique to DFO, if needed by the organization to meet the objectives of the project.

DFO will not manage or direct the activities related to a funded project.

A department cannot receive a direct benefit from a project funded by a transfer payment. If a proposal indicates that it will deliver any products or services to DFO, the proposal will not be accepted.

A core service that departmental staff are mandated to provide directly cannot be funded through a transfer payment. If a proposal indicates that the proposed project will generate specific scientific information needed by DFO, the proposal will not be accepted.

An individual or an organization that receives a transfer payment does not act on the government's behalf.

Contribution funding from DFO to an organization in a given fiscal year cannot be carried forward to future fiscal years.

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The starting date of the proposed project must take into account the timing of activities that would be undertaken if the proposed project was approved for funding. This also means that the budget of the proposed project must only include costs that would be incurred no less than at least 12 weeks from the date the full application is submitted to DFO for consideration. Given this timing, it is strongly recommended that activities should commence on or after June 1, 2025.

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LOIs don't require very detailed application documents and are generally used to reduce the level of effort required by both applicants and reviewers, compared to a process where all participants are required to apply to a program using fully detailed project proposals. A full application and budget will be requested only for selected LOIs that are best aligned with the objectives and program priorities.

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The letters of intent will be evaluated by a technical review committee associated with each priority area. Considerations will include eligibility and project feasibility. The committee will select LOIs that are best aligned with the objectives and expected results of the program priority area.

Applicants must concisely and clearly demonstrate linkages from the proposed work to the objective(s) identified under the priority area (i.e., programs) to which they are applying. It is the responsibility of the Lead Applicant to ensure that the information in the LOI is clear enough so it can be easily understood by the assessor.

Selection at this stage does not guarantee a project will ultimately be approved for funding.

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The proposals are evaluated by a technical review committee (established by each priority area) according to specific evaluation criteria and the rating protocol. Recommended projects are then reviewed by the Science Executive Committee.

Note: Fisheries and Oceans Canada personnel cannot communicate with applicants during the evaluation process to obtain information or clarifications regarding the application that may impact their evaluation.

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Eligible recipients are organizations able to conduct scientific research and related scientific activities, and organizations and groups associated with the management, conservation, protection and promotion of ocean and freshwater resources, including:

• Canadian post-secondary academic institutions;
• Canadian non-governmental organizations;
• Indigenous organizations or groups^{Footnote 1};
• Canadian provincial, territorial, and municipal governments;
• Businesses and industry, including business and industry associations;
• Community groups;
• Canadian not-for-profit organizations;
• Foreign governments and international non-governmental organizations;
• Foreign Academic Institutions; and
• Port Authorities.

All eligible recipients must possess the legal capacity necessary to enter into a contribution agreement.

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The eligible activities include scientific research and related scientific activities, such as data collection, integration, monitoring, and communication, including communication via conferences and symposia.

Additional eligible activities are available for Indigenous organizations or groups with regard to building scientific capacity. This includes building and sustaining Indigenous capacity to lead and engage in scientific research and related scientific activities, including via co-development processes. Indigenous ‘scientific capacity' is broadly defined. Among other items it may include hard and soft infrastructure, workshops, training and/or developmental needs.

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Payments to eligible recipients may be used to offset reasonable costs (eligible costs) of projects under contribution agreements including:

• Salaries, stipends, scholarships, wages, and similar payments;
  • Only salary costs incurred as a direct result of the project (i.e., incremental salary costs) are eligible for DFO funding. Regular employees may not be funded by DFO, as these salary costs would be paid to the employee whether the proposed project is funded or not and therefore are not incremental to the project. Such non-incremental salary costs may count as the applicant’s own contribution (in kind) towards the project.
• Mandatory employee benefits;
• Professional fees;
• Rental and/or purchase costs of motorized vehicles (cars, trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, outboard motors), boats and boat trailers ("Motorized vehicles”).
  • Note that any request to purchase motor vehicles must clearly demonstrate both project need, as well as value-for-money for the Crown, when compared to a comparable rental arrangement. Rental of motor vehicles is the preferred project delivery method for such expenses, for projects other than those focused on building Indigenous scientific capacity.
• Purchase costs of laboratory and field equipment and instruments, including hydrophones and similar monitoring equipment but excluding Motorized vehicles;
• Rental and maintenance costs of laboratory, field equipment and instruments;
• Rental cost of space such as laboratory, rooms, office space and facilities;
• Travel and related costs (consistent with the National Joint Council's Travel Directive);
• Conference and symposia costs, including registration costs;
• Publishing costs;
• Communication costs;
• Data management costs;
• Costs of materials and supplies;
• Other costs that directly support scientific research and related scientific activities, pre-approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada up to a maximum of 10% of total eligible costs;
  • The organization should be able to clearly demonstrate how such costs directly support scientific or related science activities and that the cost does not fit into any other eligible cost category; and
• DFO may reimburse administrative support costs up to 15% of all eligible costs reimbursed by DFO. The total DFO contribution amount is inclusive of this administrative support. For example, if DFO is contributing $100k towards the eligible costs of the project (before overhead costs); the maximum that DFO will reimburse for overhead is $15k.

Additional costs eligible only to Indigenous organizations or groups:

• Ceremonial costs, including any ceremonial offerings/gifts and/or feasts
• Honoraria for, but not limited to:
  • Elders, and/or
  • Indigenous knowledge holders in recognition of providing Indigenous knowledge or community knowledge relevant to the initiative.

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When non-eligible costs are included in the proposal, their removal reduces DFO's maximum allowable contribution. Below are some examples of common non-eligible expenses:

• Administrative expenses and overhead costs of any kind. These may only be included in Part C of the budget template, as a percentage of DFO's total contribution, provided that the total DFO contribution does not exceed the maximum allowed contribution;
• Human resource costs for full-time/salaried personnel of the proponent working on activities not supported by the agreement;
• Capital value of equipment & software acquired prior to the start of the project;
• Internal charges for use of equipment & facilities; and
• Deemed value of uncompensated (volunteer) labor.

Answer:

If you are interested in applying for funding and have a question, please send a request to the general inbox: DFO.EOSGCSecretariat-SecretariatSCSEO.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca. Your query will be routed to the program staff who will be best able to answer your question.

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To apply, please ensure that you have reviewed the priority areas for funding listed on the Ecosystems and Oceans Science Contribution Framework (EOSCF) webpage. Complete a Letter of Intent and send it to DFO.EOSGCSecretariat-SecretariatSCSEO.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca on or before the deadline published on the website. Applicants selected to proceed to the full proposal submission phase will be contacted by email and invited to submit a more detailed project scientific and financial project plan.

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The following items will be requested from recipients as part of their financial and performance reporting obligations:

• Progress reports and statement of accounts;
• Final report and a final statement of account;
• An interim report in the form of an email in the fall of every year advising as to whether the project and associated expenditures for the fiscal year are progressing as per outlined within the contribution agreement;

Additional reporting requirements may be detailed within individual contribution agreements.

Letters or other proof of financial support from other organizations are acceptable to include with your application.

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Due to the anticipated high volume of LOIs, DFO will deploy all efforts to ensure applicants are informed in a timely manner as to whether their project has been selected for development of a full proposal. Notification of selected LOIs will be provided to applicants on or before February 10, 2025, for the development of full proposals.

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Notifications for selected proposals will be sent by DFO to the applicant within 12 weeks following the deadline for submission.

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Due to the timeframe of LOI and proposal submission, DFO will not be in a position to provide detailed feedback on individual project applications. All decisions for letters of intent or full project applications will be final. It is the responsibility of the Lead Applicant to ensure that we have a clear and accurate understanding of the project. DFO will not be in contact with applicants after the project is formally submitted.

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Once applicants receive their official proposal notification letter, DFO and the successful applicant will proceed with the negotiation of a contribution agreement between the two parties.

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Eligible expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with the terms of the signed Contribution Agreement.

Organizations located in the United States (US) may present budgets in US dollars.

Funding for a contribution project will be disbursed on the basis of the submission of satisfactory project scientific and financial reporting related to work performed.

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DFO assistance for Indigenous organizations or groups may be 100% of eligible costs per project;

DFO assistance for Canadian not-for-profit organizations and community groups who have 4 or fewer permanent employees, including no employees (0), may be 100% of costs per project, otherwise DFO assistance shall not exceed 75% of eligible costs per project; and

DFO assistance for business and industry recipients, including business and industry associations, shall not exceed 50% of eligible costs per project; and

DFO assistance for all other recipients shall not exceed 75% of eligible costs per project.

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All eligible costs and expenditures that would be incurred by an organization to perform a project and which are not covered by DFO financial contribution qualify as in-kind contributions, regardless of the origin of the funding used by the organization to pay for these costs and expenditures. i.e. your own financial resources as well as from third parties other than DFO in support of the project.

• Example: if the organization receives $25,000 project support from any other organization, and the amount is used by the organization to pay the partial salary of an employee working on the project, the salary cost in question represents an in-kind contribution for the project by the organization.

In-kind contributions may not include any overhead costs.

Specifically, project costs and expenditures that qualify as in-kind contributions include:

• The portion of Eligible Costs that would not be covered by DFO's financial contributions.
• University salaries (e.g., salary of university technician, salary corresponding to project manager's time on a project, etc.);
• Purchase price of laboratory equipment and instruments required for the proposed project, less any amount claimed as eligible cost; and
• Any costs or expenditures funded by government of Canada organizations other than DFO, or by any other organizations providing funds for the project, must be listed in section 11 of the LOI.

Project costs must not include depreciation costs and non-incremental costs attributed to organization-owned equipment, facilities and platforms (such as a ship) used for the project.

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DFO in-kind contributions may include scientific support (i.e. access to data or scientific samples) to funded recipients, if needed for funded projects.

To ensure the project is independent of the funding department, DFO will confirm internally its authority to contribute in-kind scientific support, to determine that DFO is the only organization that is able to contribute the in-kind resources that are absolutely necessary for the project.

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In general, DFO contributions are paid in arrears (i.e. applicants are reimbursed) on receipt of satisfactory project and financial reporting. However, in exceptional cases, DFO may provide payment of a portion of the contribution in advance where such payments are deemed crucial to the successful advancement of the project. Advance payments are based on the cash flow requirements of the project, and are provided at the discretion of DFO. The applicant requesting advance payments will need to satisfactorily demonstrate that the project's cash flow requirements are substantial, and the applicant lacks the financial resources to manage these requirements.

After notification by the Department that a project proposal has been successful, applicants wishing to request an advance payment should submit:

• a written request justifying the need for an advance payment and identifying the potential impacts of not providing the advance payment; and
• a completed project statement of cash flows illustrating quarterly planned budget expenses by federal fiscal year (April 1 to March 31). The project cash flow template will be provided to applicants upon request.

Projects receiving an initial advance payment will need to submit all required project scientific and financial reporting before qualifying to receive a subsequent advance.

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The recipient can only start incurring expenses from the date of signature of the contribution agreement by both the department and the recipient organization. This includes DFO and non-DFO sources.

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Good value for money is the extent to which a project demonstrates relevance and performance. Relevance is achieved by addressing a demonstrable need that is appropriate for the federal government and is responsive to the needs of Canadians. Performance is achieved by using taxpayer resources well, producing project outputs in an affordable manner, and achieving outcomes consistent with program objectives.

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The individual priority area to which you are applying will provide guidance as to whether multi-year projects are possible.

If the length of the project is expected to cover more than one Fiscal Year, then a multi-year project is recommended. The funding would be approved for the project for up to 3 years of funding. You would not need to submit another proposal in the following years for the same project.

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Contribution funding cannot be carried forward to a different fiscal year by the Department. Therefore, under the contribution agreement, recipients commit to advising DFO by November 30th of each year of anticipated deviations from their planned expenditures and project activities. This allows the Department an opportunity to identify options in response to deviations: surplus funds that would otherwise lapse can be reallocated, and deficits potentially mitigated.