U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
Washington, DC 20472 

Grant Programs Directorate Information Bulletin 
No. 313 April 22, 2009 
TO: All State Administrative Agency Heads 
All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact 
All Core City/Core County Points of Contact 
All State Homeland Security Directors 
FROM: W. Ross Ashley, III 
Assistant Administrator 
Grant Programs Directorate 
SUBJECT: Introduction to Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) Grant 
Program Assistance 

This Information Bulletin (IB) announces the establishment of PSIC assistance for each of the 56 
States and Territories. PSIC assistance will provide support to your State to help effectively 
implement PSIC Investments and comply with programmatic requirements within the period of 
performance (by September 30, 2010). The program has allocated administrative funds for this 
assistance effort. 

PSIC assistance provides ongoing support through the coordinated components (detailed below) 
for the duration of the PSIC Grant Program. The program components comprise a number of 
support areas and service offerings including, but not limited to the following: 

Project Management Templates and Best System Engineering Support 

Practices 

. 
Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system 
. 
Timeline development and tracking analysis 
. 
Budgeting . 
LMR system migration 
. 
Project and financial tracking . 
Radio frequency drive test 
. 
Implementing investments measurements 
. 
Purchasing and outsourcing . 
Project 25 (P25) information sharing 

. 
P25 LMR workshops 
Understanding Grant Requirements . 
Microwave design analysis 
. 
Gateway information and training 

. 
Matching funds 

. 
Allowed expenses 

Planning and Operations Workshops 

. 
Reporting requirements 

. 
Standard Operating Procedures 
National Environmental Protection Act . 
Memoranda of Understanding 
Review . 
Training and exercises 

. 
Environmental requirements 
compliance 

Please note that this assistance is not the same as the Office of Emergency Communication’s 
(OEC) technical assistance that is delivered through the Interoperable Communications Technical 
Assistance Program (ICTAP). However, the PSIC Grant Program is coordinating with OEC 
ICTAP to identify any PSIC related technical assistance requested through ICTAP that may be 
fulfilled through PSIC’s assistance. 

www.fema.gov 


To request PSIC assistance, please complete the attached Technical Assistance Request form and 
email it to FEMA-TARequest@fema.gov. PSIC assistance requests must be submitted by the 
State Administrative Agency, including support for sub-grantees. PSIC assistance requests 
submitted from any other source will not be granted. Submitted PSIC assistance requests will be 
coordinated with your State or Territory’s FEMA Program Analyst (PA) and the PSIC assistance 
team. 

If you have any questions regarding PSIC assistance, please email PSIC@dhs.gov. We look 
forward to assisting you in successfully implementing your interoperable communications 
projects.