Total Funding Available in FY 2013: $83,716,813
Purpose: The FY 2013 TSGP is one of the Department’s FY 2013 grant programs that directly support transportation infrastructure security activities. TSGP is one tool in the comprehensive set of measures authorized by Congress and implemented by the Administration to strengthen the Nation’s critical infrastructure against risks associated with potential terrorist attacks. TSGP provides funds to owners and operators of transit systems (which include intra-city bus, commuter bus, ferries, and all forms of passenger rail) to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism and to increase the resilience of transit infrastructure.
The FY 2013 TSGP plays an important role in the implementation of the National Preparedness System (NPS) by supporting the building, sustainment, and delivery of core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal (NPG) of a secure and resilient Nation. The building, sustainment, and delivery of these core capabilities are not exclusive to any single level of government, organization, or community, but rather, require the combined effort of the whole community. The FY 2013 TSGP supports core capabilities across the five mission areas of Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery based on allowable costs.
Eligible Applicants: Eligible transit agencies are determined based on daily unlinked passenger trips (ridership) and transit systems that serve historically eligible Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) jurisdictions. Certain ferry systems are eligible to participate in the FY 2013 TSGP and receive funds. However, any ferry system electing to participate and receive funds under the FY 2013 TSGP will not be eligible to participate under the FY 2013 Port Security Grant Program (PSGP), and will not be considered for funding under the FY 2013 PSGP. Likewise, any ferry system that participates in the PSGP will not be eligible for funding under the TSGP.
Program Awards: DHS intends to focus its available transit security grant dollars on the highest-risk systems through a competitive process.
DHS has identified critical infrastructure assets of national concern through the Top Transit Asset List (TTAL). Critical infrastructure assets are those vital to the functionality and continuity of a major transit system that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, public health or safety, or any combination thereof. With the creation of the TTAL, DHS can now target funding to the remediation of those assets on the list in an informed and risk-based approach.
DHS will also identify priority project types and placed them into groups based on their effectiveness to reduce risk. These groups have been prioritized based upon departmental priorities and their ability to strengthen security on a system-wide level, to strengthen security to critical infrastructure assets, and to reduce the risk of catastrophic events and consequences.