Assistance to Firefighters Grant (97.044)
Program
97.044 Assistance to Firefighters Grant
Federal Agency
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Authorization
Defense Authorization Bill of 2001, Public Law 106-398, which amended Section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, 15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.
Program Number
97.044
Last Known Status
Active
Objectives
To provide direct assistance, on a competitive basis, to fire departments of a State or tribal nation for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.
Types of Assistance
Project Grants.
Uses and Use Restrictions
Firefighting Operations and Firefighter Safety, Eligible Uses: Training, Wellness and Fitness, Firefighting Equipment, Personal Protective Equipment, Other Equipment and Supplies; Restrictions: One-year Funds, Funding Restrictions and/or Limits on Certain Equipment, Personnel, Construction, Vehicles. Protecting the Public from Fire and Fire Related Hazards, Eligible Uses: Public Awareness, Public Education, Inspector Certifications, Building Code Development and Enforcement, Arson Prevention and Detection, Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Medical Vehicles, Training, Equipment/Props/Supplies, Transportation, Contracts/Consultants, Program Personnel; Restrictions: One-year Funds, Funding Limits on Certain Equipment, Construction. Firefighting Vehicles, Eligible Uses: Pumpers/Engines, Tankers/Tenders, Brush Trucks/Attack Pumpers, Rescue, Quints, Aerial Apparatus, Hazardous Material, Ambulance/Transport, Communications/Command, Foam Units, Boats, Equipment for the Vehicle; Restrictions: Aircraft, Hazardous Material, Construction, Personnel, 1- year Funding, Funding Limits on Certain Equipment.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicant Eligibility
Eligible applicants for this grant program are limited to fire departments located in the fifty United States, tribal nations, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A fire department is defined as an agency or organization that has a formally recognized arrangement with a State or local authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other governing body) to provide fire suppression, fire prevention and rescue services within a fixed geographical area. An emergency medical services unit can apply for assistance provided the unit falls organizationally under the auspices of a fire department as defined above. Also, States, Tribal Nations, U.S. Territories, and national, local, or community organizations, that currently have a fire prevention or fire safety program or activity focused on the prevention of injuries to children from fire, are eligible for funding under this grant program expand or enhance their existing fire prevention or fire safety program. Fire departments, which are Federal or contracted by the Federal government and whose sole responsibility is suppression of fires on Federal installations, are not eligible for funding under this grant program. Also not eligible for this program are Ambulance Services, Rescue Squads, Auxiliaries, Dive Teams, Urban, Search and Rescue Teams, Fire Service Organizations and Associations, and State/local agencies such as Forest Service, Fire Marshals, Hospitals, and Training Facilities. Tribal fire departments are not eligible to apply for functions, activities, or materials under this program that are funded by other Federal agencies.
Beneficiary Eligibility
The ultimate beneficiaries of this program are the local or tribal communities serviced by the fire department including, but not limited to, local businesses, homeowners and property owners. Additionally, children under 16 years-of-age, seniors, and firefighters would be the beneficiaries since these groups are the targeted "risk groups" for the fire prevention program.
Credentials/Documentation
Each applicant must certify: 1) that they are an eligible applicant, i.e., a fire department, as defined above; 2) as to the characteristics of their community, i.e., Urban, Suburban, or Rural; 3) to the population size of the community served; and, 4) to the type of department, i.e., volunteer/combination or career.
Application and Award Process
Preapplication Coordination
There is no preapplication form required under this grant program. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.
Application Procedure
Eligible applicants are required to apply for this program on-line via FEMA's new "e-grants" application process. The information requested on-line is an electronic version of the SF-424 (for background/contact information), FEMA Form 20-20 (for budget information), and FEMA Form 20-16A (for assurances and certifications). Each applicant will also be asked some additional questions which are designed to provide general, profile-type information on the applicant. Then, the applicants are required to answer some specific questions that are relative to the activities they plan to carry out with the grant funds. In addition to the activity-specific questions, the applicants are also required to provide a five-page-or-less narrative on their planned activity that explains the activity, the applicant's financial need, and the benefits to be derived from the costs of the activity.
Award Procedure
Awards will be made on a competitive basis. Each application will be evaluated based on the answers to the activity- specific questions. The applications that best address the program's established priorities will be deemed to be in the "competitive range" and subject to a second level of review. This second level of review is conducted via a panel of subject-matter experts that will assess the applications' merits with respect to the detail provided in the narrative on the activity, the applicant's financial need, and purported benefit to be derived from the cost. The subject-matter experts will independently score each application before them and then discuss the merits/shortcomings of the applications in order to reconcile any major discrepancies. A consensus is not required. Once every application in the competitive range has been paneled, the applications are ranked according to the average score awarded by the panel. The ranking will be summarized in a Technical Report prepared by the Fire Grants Program Branch. The Fire Grants Program Branch will then make award recommendations to the Grants Management Branch of the Financial and Acquisition Management Division. The Grants Management Branch then contacts the applicant to discuss and/or negotiate the merits of the application and then make the award.
Deadlines
This program has a 30-day application period. All applications must be submitted during the application period and no applications will be accepted if not submitted within the 30-day period. As of this writing, the application period for the FY 2002 program have not been established.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time
Appeals
Applicants that were denied grants can request a reconsideration of the decision. Such a request may be successful if it is determined that the rating criteria were not appropriately applied, or there was a flaw in the competitive process that unfairly disadvantaged the applicant, or there was human error in the processing of the grant application. Requests for reconsideration must be submitted in writing within 30 days of the date of the notification of denial.
Renewals
Grant period is 12 months for this program. In the event that the grantees are unable to fulfill their grant obligations within the 12-month grant period, they may request an extension of the performance period. Such requests will be considered and approved based on the written justification.
Assistance Considerations
Formula and Matching Requirements
This program has no statutory formula. Applicants who protect a population of 50,000 or less are required to provide a nonfederal cost-share of not less than 10 percent of the total award. Applicants who protect a population in excess of 50,000 are required to provide a nonfederal cost-share of not less than 30 percent of the total award. This program also has a Maintenance of Effort requirement intended to ensure that the Federal funds are used to supplement, not supplant, existing resources. See FEMA for further details concerning this requirement.
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance
This program has a 12- month performance period within which the grantee must obligate their grant funds. Grantees then have an additional 90 days to liquidate their grant funds after the end of the performance period. Assistance is disbursed on a reimbursable basis or, if warranted, the funds can be disbursed on an immediate needs basis. All grant funds are electronically transferred to the grantee's bank account via direct deposit.
Post Assistance Requirements
Reports
The bulk of the awards in this program are for the purchase of equipment or vehicles and we expect that they will be accomplished within a short period of time. Therefore, we are only requiring these grantees to submit a final financial report and a final program summary narrative. Grantees whose project is expected to extend throughout the performance period are required to submit a progress report every 6 months and a final financial report and a final program summary narrative.
Audits
Audits will be conducted on the grantees at the discretion of the Office of Inspector General. The grant program office will conduct grantee monitoring or oversight activities on all grantees. These activities will range from a teleconference to a site visit. The program specialists, the grants management specialists, or regional personnel assigned to this function will conduct these monitoring activities. Additionally, in accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular A-133 (Revised, June 24, 1997), entitled "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that receive financial assistance of $300,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $300,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in the Circular.
Records
Grantees are required to maintain a grant file for 3 years after the end of the grant's performance period. The records that should be maintained in the file should be any records that support any and all activities conducted on behalf of the grant. These records should include, but not be limited to, the grant agreement, correspondence, procurement procedures, bids and quotes, personnel time and attendance (supporting any personnel expenses charged to the grant), requests for advances, disbursement records, etc.
Program Accomplishments
In fiscal year 2001, FEMA received 31,295 grant requests from 18,915 different fire departments that totaled more than $3.0 Billion. FEMA awarded 1,886 grants to fire departments and fire service organizations that totaled $96,586,668 in Federal assistance. The awards by category are as follows: 240 awards for Fire Prevention totaling $13,661,713, 404 awards for Firefighting Equipment totaling $14,919,464, 706 awards for Personal Protective Equipment totaling $34,136, 809, 160 awards for Firefighter Training totaling $5,199,356, 208 awards for Firefighting Vehicles totaling $20,412, 606, 168 awards for Wellness and Fitness programs totaling $8,256,720. Volunteer or combination departments received 1,375 awards totaling $54,089,497 or 59 percent of available funding. Career departments received 480 awards totaling $37,906,943 or 41 percent of available funding. There were also 31 awards to fire departments or fire service organizations to enhance their fire prevention programs that targeted children, seniors and/or firefighters. These awards totaled $4,590,228. Urban departments received 48 grants totaling $7,535,313 (represents one percent of all grant requests and three percent of all grants awarded). Suburban departments received 428 grants totaling $29,083,329 (represents 13 percent of all grant requests and 23 percent of all grants awarded). Rural departments received 1,379 grants totaling $55,377,798 (represents 86 percent of all grant requests and 74 percent of all grants awarded). In fiscal year 2002, with the $150 million appropriation, there was a 50 percent increase in available funding. Even with that increase, we expect a similar amount of interest (approximately 20,000 applications), but we expect the average awards will be larger. Therefore, we are expecting about the same amount of awards, i.e., 1,800 to 2,000, in fiscal year 2002.
Financial Information
Account Identification
70-0700-0-1-999; 70-0705-0-1-999.
Obligations
(Grants) FY 02 $350,000,000; FY 03 est $350,000,000; and FY 04 est $745,125,000.
Range and Average of Financial Assistance
The range of financial assistance (Federal share) granted in this program's first year was $900 to $700,000. The average award was approximately $51,000.
Regulations, Guidelines and Literature
44 CFR Part 152, Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
Related Programs
15.031, Indian Community Fire Protection; 15.228, Wildland Urban Interface Community and Rural Fire Assistance; 97.018, National Fire Academy Training Assistance; 83.542, Fire Suppression Assistance; 97.038, First Responder Counter-Terrorism Training Assistance; 97.043, State Fire Training Systems Grants.
Information Contacts
Regional or Local Office
Detailed information about the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program can be obtained from the FEMA Fire Liaisons in FEMA's regional offices. See Appendix IV of the Catalog for a listing of FEMA Regional Office addresses.
Headquarters Office
Department of Homeland Security 245 Murray Drive, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20528 Tel. (202) 282-8000.
Web Site Address
Examples of Funded Projects
Training: A fire department where a high percentage of firefighting staff needs basic firefighting training. Wellness and Fitness: A fire department that wants to establish a wellness and fitness program that offers an entry-level physical and a job-related immunization program. Firefighting Vehicle: A fire department that has few or no vehicles of the type for which they are applying and whose existing fleet is old with high mileage and/or high volume of calls. Firefighting Equipment: A fire department that needs basic firefighting equipment to satisfy a statutory requirement but has never been able to purchase such equipment. Personal Protective Equipment: A fire department where a high percentage of firefighting staff has never had personal protective equipment and wants to purchase enough equipment to protect all of the firefighting staff. Fire Prevention Programs: A fire department that wants to establish a public education program that focuses on children under 16 years of age, seniors, and/or firefighters, in a community that has no such program.
Criteria for Selecting Proposals
Every application is subject to a preliminary screening to determine the degree to which the application meets the program's published criteria. The priorities of the program will be published in the Federal Register and other program guidance. A panel of subject matter experts then reviews the applications that best address the program's priorities. The panel rates each application based on how clearly the applicant's project narrative explains: 1) the proposed use of funds, 2) the applicant's financial need, and 3) the benefits to be derived from the project costs. The applications with the highest rating from the panels were recommended for award.
