LOCAL, COUNTY AND TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Fiscal Year 2013 Tactical Team Grant Program seeks applications for up to $100,000 in federal State Homeland Security Program funding made available by the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES). The focus of this grant opportunity is on sustaining, maintaining, and improving tactical teams currently in existence to enhance their capabilities, specifically relating to an IED or counter-terrorism mission, through the implementation of adopted statewide standards.

Grants will be awarded to local, county, and tribal law enforcement agencies with an active tactical team as part of their law enforcement operations that responds to calls for service outside of a correctional setting. The four primary objectives of this grant are: 1) The advancement of tactical team capabilities through the adaptation of standards within this community; 2) Participation in DHS’s Office for Bombing Prevention’s (DHS-OBP) SWAT Capability Analysis Program; 3) Encourage and support joint training among law enforcement specialty teams to include bomb squads and explosive detection canine teams; and, 4) The promotion of regional partnerships in the development of tactical team capabilities.

Applications will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. on October 7, 2013 through the State’s Electronic Grants Management System (E-Grants).

For the Request for Applications (RFA) please visit the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) website at http://www.dhses.ny.gov/grants or DHSES’s Grant Hotline at (866) 837-9133.

An informational webinar will be held on September 9, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. Details will be posted on the DHSES website.

LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND AUTHORITIES

DATE ANNOUNCED: August 13, 2013

FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR: Implementing Hazard Mitigation Projects

The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) is pleased to announce the availability of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) FY 2013 Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Program grants to qualified sub-applicants in New York State. This program is available only to qualified local and state government agencies and authorities. Individuals, businesses, or private non-profits (PNPs) are not eligible applicants and cannot apply.

What is the Unified HMA Program?

The Unified HMA Program consolidated the deadlines and many of the procedures for four earlier FEMA mitigation grant programs run annually and not tied to Presidential declarations. The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 further revised the Unified HMA, leaving only two programs:

• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDM) to support planning and address all-hazards;

• Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA) to address flooding.

These funds are not part of New York’s response to Superstorm Sandy, including the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) announced on June 10, 2013 with Letters of Intent (LOIs) due August 1, 2013.

Information is available from our Regional Offices, on our website www.dhses.ny.gov and on FEMA’s website at http://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance. Please note the Guidance is effective for all Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) activities for disasters declared on or after the July 12, 2013, and for the Programs opened with this announcement.¹

State Priorities

The State will accept applications for projects mitigating Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) properties, as determined by FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Please note the State cannot accept applications from communities or counties without a valid all-hazards mitigation plan at the time of submission. These priorities were established to maximize funding, and because the State has recently offered several opportunities for communities to create or update all-hazards plans and access grants for flood-damaged properties:

• DHSES processed $3.5 million in grants supporting planning efforts covering 13.4 million people in its Irene and Lee HMGP cycle, and offered planning grants again in its Sandy HMGP;

• Since 2012, New York State offered acquisition and elevation grants in its combined Irene and Lee HMGP cycle (closed), the still-open NY Rising Program (www.NYSANDYHELP.ny.gov and 1-855-NYS-SANDY), and the $16 million Mohawk Valley, Niagara County and 2013 Upstate Flood Recovery Program (https://flood2013.aidrc.com/ and 888-769-7243), also still open.

FEMA has cut the application development period from 180 to 90 days, and because the appropriated funding is smaller than in years past, has advised its priorities will focus on SRL program activities, which offer Federal reimbursement up to 90% (compared to the normal 75%).

The State will also prioritize the acquisition of properties substantially-damaged by flooding after the LOI window closed on its last HMGP cycle August 1, 2013. (Substantial damage determinations must be made by the local administrator with jurisdiction under a local floodplain law.)

Important Requirements

Subapplicants should carefully review the following sections of FEMA’s “Hazard Mitigation Assistance Unified Guidance” document:

• “Additional Program Information” (Guidance pg. 3), which explains the document’s format;

• Funding limits for the Programs (Guidance pp. 39 -41);

• Program requirements (Guidance pp. 87 and 89);

• Eligible activities (Guidance pp. 22-29), including activities that are eligible only when included as a functional component of eligible mitigation activities (Guidance pg. 12);

• Ineligible activities (Guidance pg. 28 and 30). Please read this carefully.

Eligible Activities

Per FEMA’s guidance, the following are examples of eligible activities at SRL properties:²

• Acquisition and demolition or relocation of structures, with the conversion of underlying property to deed-restricted open space;

• Elevation of existing structures to at least the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) or an Advance Base Flood Elevation (ABFE) or higher. (New York State requires BFE plus two feet.);

• Dry floodproofing (historic structures only);

• Minor and localized flood reduction projects.

How to Apply

Please note: The State is handling its registration process differently for this grant cycle.

Only SRL communities designated by FEMA are eligible to apply, and proposed activities must mitigate SRL properties within those communities with current National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies. A list of SRL communities can be found on the DHSES website www.dhses.ny.gov/oem/mitigation/, as can the LOI that must be used for eligible sub-applicants with SRL properties to register.

Eligible sub-applicants will be notified of the application process. Applications must be filed using FEMA’s electronic grants (e-Grants) system located at http://www.grants.gov/. After completing the pre-registration process, sub-applicants must notify DHSES to have their access validated. Sub-applicants will have to provide DHSES with an original and two paper copies of any supporting documentation that cannot be electronically attached to the e-Grant application.

Important 2013 Deadlines

September 6 @ 5:00 pm: Applicants must submit LOIs.

October 4 @ 11:59 pm: Complete applications must be submitted via FEMA’s eGrants system.

October 18: DHSES must submit its applications to FEMA via eGrants.

Information Dissemination

To disseminate program information to the widest possible eligible audience, DHSES has placed program information on its website and disseminated it to County Emergency Managers, Mitigation Coordinators and Planners, as well as regional and metropolitan planning organizations, soil and water conservation districts, and other mitigation stakeholders and partners.

If you have questions or need further information, please visit www.dhses.ny.gov/oem/mitigation or telephone DHSES’s Mitigation Section at (518) 292-2304.

¹ Page numbers used in this notice refer to FEMA’s “Hazard Mitigation Assistance Unified Guidance” document, which remains valid for this year’s grant cycle and can be found on DHSES’s website, with this mailing, and on FEMA’s website at http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=7851.

² Please note: All properties must be National Flood Insurance Program-insured at the time of application. The State will not accept applications for mitigation reconstruction projects.