FEMA announces $970M in preparedness grants

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday final allocations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Preparedness Grants for 10 federal grant programs, totaling nearly $970 million in federal funding to assist state, local and tribal governments, and private industry in strengthening community preparedness. 

Awards will be made on a rolling basis over the summer. From 2003 through 2009, more than $26.7 billion will have been provided to strengthen the nation’s ability to prevent, protect, respond and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters or other emergencies, according to a DHS statement.

“Today’s grant allocations provide more transparency and openness than ever before, as stakeholder feedback drove significant improvements in the grant guidance and peer review process, increasing the value of what states get with their dollars,” said Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano. “As we continue to expand our state, local, tribal and private sector partnerships, our combined efforts will improve and hone our grant programs, which helps us strengthen and protect individual communities and the entire nation.”

Seven years of homeland security investments have established the foundation for future preparedness initiatives from the initial start-up years, building baseline capabilities in the states and increasing cross-border and regional preparedness.  The FY 2009 Preparedness Grants underline this effort by focusing on improving strategic planning and preparedness and measuring performance.

Grant program allocations for FY 2009 include:

Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) – $388.6 million to protect critical transit infrastructure from terrorism, including:

Freight Rail Security Grant Program (FRSGP) – $15 million to target resources for security plans, vulnerability assessments, employee security awareness training and GPS tracking systems for railroad cars transporting toxic inhalation materials.

Intercity Passenger Rail (Amtrak) – $25 million for Amtrak to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism, major disasters and other emergencies within the Amtrak rail system.

Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP) – $11.7 million to assist operators of fixed-route intercity and charter bus services to support security plans, facility security upgrades, and vehicle and driver protection.

Trucking Security Program (TSP) – $2.2 million to implement security improvement measures and policies that focus on the purchase, installation or enhancement of equipment and systems related to tractor and trailer tracking systems; to help develop a system for DHS to monitor, collect and analyze tracking information; and to develop plans to improve the transport and distribution of supplies and commodities during catastrophic events. DHS did not receive enough applications to fully fund the program through the initial solicitation, so only $2.2 million is being announced at this time. 

Further information on preparedness grant programs is available at www.dhs.gov and www.fema.gov/grants.