Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Port Security Grant Program (PSGP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 1. What is the purpose of the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP? The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 19, is designed to jumpstart the U.S. economy, create or save millions of jobs and address national needs—while supporting unprecedented levels of transparency, oversight and accountability. The purpose of the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP is to create a sustainable, risk-based effort to protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, particularly attacks using explosives and non-conventional threats that could cause major disruption to commerce. 2. How much funding was available under the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP? The total amount of funds distributed under the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP is $150,000,000. 3. What are the priorities for the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP? The Department has identified the following as its priority selection criteria for FY 2009 ARRA PSGP: • Enhancing Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) MDA is the critical enabler that allows leaders at all levels to make effective decisions and act early against threats to the security of the nation’s ports. In support of the National Strategy for Maritime Security, port areas should seek to enhance their MDA through projects, such as access control/standardized credentialing, command and control, communications, and enhanced intelligence sharing and analysis. • Enhancing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) prevention, protection, response and recovery capabilities Port areas should seek to enhance their capabilities to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks employing IEDs, WMDs and other non-conventional weapons. Of particular concern in the port environment are attacks that employ IEDs delivered via small craft (similar to the attack on the USS Cole), by underwater swimmers (such as underwater mines) or on ferries (both passenger and vehicle). • Efforts supporting implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) The TWIC is a congressionally mandated security program through which the Department of Homeland Security will conduct appropriate background investigations and issue biometrically enabled and secure identification cards for individuals requiring unescorted access to U.S. port facilities. Regulations outlining the initial phase of this program (card issuance) were issued by the Transportation Security Administration in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in 72 Federal Register 3492 (January 25, 2007). • Construction or infrastructure improvement projects that are identified in the Port Wide Risk Management Plan and/or Facility Security Plans, and/or Vessel Security Plans. 4. Who was eligible to apply for FY 2009 ARRA PSGP funds? 46 U.S.C. §70107 states that all entities covered by an Area Maritime Security Plan (AMSP) may submit an application for consideration of funding. A facility that was not expressly identified in an AMSP was considered covered under an AMSP if the facility in question had a risk analysis completed by the USCG. 5. How were the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP funds determined? Funds were awarded through a fully competitive process. Final allocations for FY 2009 ARRA PSGP totaled $150,000,000. Applications were evaluated through field-level reviews, as well as a National Review Panel. The projects awarded funding were aligned with the national priorities and create or save jobs. The panel specifically looked at the number of jobs created from each project when recommending funding amounts. A risk-based algorithm was applied to the National Review Panel’s validated, prioritized list for each port area and ferry system. The algorithm considers the following factors to produce a comprehensive national priority ranking of port security proposals: • Relationship of the project to one or more of the national port security priorities • Relationship of the project to the local port security priorities • Captain of the Port (COTP) ranking (based on each COTP’s prioritized list of projects) • Risk level of the port area in which the project would be located (based on a comprehensive risk analysis performed by DHS) • Once notice to proceed is provided by FEMA, the number of days it will take for the project to be started and number of days it will take for it to be completed. 6. What legislation authorized funding for the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP? The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) provided funding for this program. 7. What other resources are available to address programmatic, technical and financial questions? • For additional program-specific information, please contact the Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk (CSID) help line at (800) 368-6498 or askcsid@dhs.gov. CSID hours of operation are from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. • For financial-related questions, including pre-and post-award administration and technical assistance, please contact the FEMA Call Center at (866) 927-5646 or via E-mail to ASK-GMD@dhs.gov. 8. What is the FY 2009 ARRA PSGP period of performance? The period of performance of this grant is 36 months.