Several months after the sequester took effect and the President signed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 continuing resolution, the Department of Homeland Security finally released allocations for its major grant programs for state and local governments. Awards under the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP), Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and Operation Stonegarden (OPSG) total approximately $1 billion. The awards are based on risk and threat profiles and designed to enhance capacity to prohibit, respond to, and recover from manmade and natural disasters.
States and territories are eligible to apply through their State Administrative Agency (SAA). The deadline to apply for drawdown of these formula funds is June 24, 2013 and grantees will have 24 months to spend the funds beginning on October 1, 2013. In general, these funds can be used for planning, equipment, training, exercises, maintenance and sustainment, critical emergency supplies, and construction/renovation. There are no matching requirements. States and territories are required to pass through 80% of their allocated funds to local agencies, making every local government in the Country eligible for SHSP funds. For UASI funds, DHS has the discretion to set the number of UASI eligible communities and have capped the awardees to the top 25 most threatened urban areas.
If your local government has a need to enhance and further expand their emergency response capabilities, you should get in touch with your SAA and speak to them about tapping into a portion of their allocation. Contact information for each state’s SAA can be found here. The list of SHSP, UASI, and OPSG allocations can be viewed by reviewing the FY 2013 Homeland Security Grant Program Funding Opportunity Announcement.
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