U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20472 National Preparedness Directorate Information Bulletin No. 254, May 10, 2007 TO: All State Administrative Agency Heads All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact All State Administrative Agency Grant Points of Contact All State Homeland Security Directors All UASI City/County/State Points of Contact Transit Security Grant Program Points of Contact FROM: Corey D. Gruber Acting Deputy Administrator, National Preparedness Directorate Kip Hawley Assistant Secretary, Transportation Security Administration SUBJECT: Options for Remaining Allocated Funds for FY 2006 Tier I Transit Systems This Information Bulletin (IB) applies to Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) funds for Tier I transit systems. Under the FY 2006 TSGP, awards decisions were made according to a two-tiered approach. Regional rail and intracity bus transit systems were assigned to two-tier levels according to a DHS threat and risk analysis. Funding allocations were pre-determined for the highest risk, Tier I transit systems with allocation amounts announced in July 2006. Regional transit systems assigned to Tier II competed for available funding with award decisions announced in September 2006 following a review of applications by subject matter experts according to criteria outlined in the FY 2006 Infrastructure Protection Program: Transit Security - Program Guidelines and Application Kit. The project plans that TSGP Tier I transit systems submitted for FY 2006 were reviewed by the National Review Panel (NRP) and evaluated in accordance with the criteria described in the program guidelines and application kit. Funding for those projects that the NRP determined met the criteria in the program guidelines is being released and made available for obligation and drawdown. In some regions there are remaining allocated funds. This Information Bulletin addresses options regions can pursue for those remaining funds. Options All funds allocated to a region will be used to reduce the risk to transit systems and assets in that region. No allocated funds will be removed from a region. There are four options to release the remaining allocated funds within a region: www.fema.gov 1) Resubmit project plans with clarifying and/or additional information Project plans may be resubmitted for consideration with clarifying and/or additional information if the applicant believes the project would have been awarded grant funds if the NRP had this additional information in their original deliberations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Preparedness Directorate sent a list of those projects that have been awarded grant funds and the issues with the projects that were not awarded funds to the State Administrative Agency (SAA). If the reasons that projects were not approved included a lack of necessary information or the information provided was unclear to the NRP, the applicant may resubmit the project plan with the additional information. The additional information provided does not guarantee that the project will automatically meet the evaluation criteria and be funded. 2) Use of Funds to Support Security Training Remaining un-awarded funding can be distributed to stakeholders interested in enrolling employees in security training – DHS’ highest priority, along with securing underwater/underground assets. Eligible applicants interested in this option should refer to the procedures detailed in Information Bulletin #243 issued February 28, 2007, on “Focusing the Transit Security Grant Program on Security Training” and Information Bulletin #253 issued May 2, 2007, on “DHS-Approved Training Courses for the Transit Security Grant Program”. These Bulletins provides the abbreviated steps that need to be taken to request funds for front-line employees to receive training listed on the Training Matrix which is an attachment to IB #253. 3) Use of Funds to Support Tunnel Security Once stakeholders have had an opportunity to seek supplemental funding for security training, funds still remaining can be dedicated to the protection of high risk/high consequence underwater and underground rail assets. Tier I transit systems may submit additional project plans, following the guidance in the FY 2006 Program Guidelines and Application Kit, which raise the level of protection of high risk/high consequence underwater and underground rail assets. These projects, along with security training requests for front-line employees, will be given priority over all other projects. 4) Use of Funds to Support New Projects Having exercised the above three options, new project proposals may be submitted for review. If the transit security training needs for front-line employees have been met for the region, and there are no high risk/high consequence underwater and underground rail assets to protect, the region may submit additional project plans for new proposed activities. The project plans and submission process is found in the FY 2006 Program Guidelines and Application Kit. www.fema.gov Submission Process One or more of the options may be selected for the remaining funds. In considering the above options, the region should keep in mind the time limitation on the expenditure of FY 2006 funds. FY 2006 funds expire 30 months after the award announcement, which occurred on September 29, 2006. The expiration date for these FY 2006 funds will be March 29, 2009. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) will prioritize the above options in the following manner: 1) The highest priority will be given to requests for funds to support front-line employees’ security training for courses listed on the Training Matrix and project plans addressing protection of high risk/high consequence underwater and underground rail assets. 2) Resubmitted project plans with clarifying information and new project plans submitted from the region will be evaluated equally. Projects in alignment with the criteria as described in the FY 2006 Infrastructure Protection Program: Transit Security - Program Guidelines and Application Kit, but not dealing with front-line employee training or protection of high risk/high consequence underwater and underground rail assets, will be given the next highest priority. In the interest of maximizing the time to implement project plans, Tier I systems are invited to submit requests and project plans for any remaining FY 2006 allocated funding within their region immediately. The deadline to complete and submit all project plans for remaining FY06 TSGP Tier I funds is 30 days from the issue date on this Information Bulletin. These project plans should be submitted by the SAA to the NPD Secure Portal (https://odp.esportals.com/). For questions regarding this bulletin, please contact the NPD Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk at 1-800-368-6498, or via email at askcsid@dhs.gov. www.fema.gov