The Public Safety Office (PSO) is soliciting applications for projects that support physical security enhancements and other security activities to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack based on the nonprofit organization's ideology, beliefs or mission.

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) seeks to integrate the preparedness activities of nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack with broader state and local preparedness efforts. The NSGP also serves to promote emergency preparedness coordination and collaboration activities between public and private entities.

Federal funds are authorized under Section 2003 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended (Pub. L. No. 107-296) (6 U.S.C. § 604). NSGP funds are made available through a Congressional appropriation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated federal funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Applications may be submitted by nonprofit corporations. Eligible nonprofit corporations are limited to those:

1. Described under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC) and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such code.
2. Determined to be at high risk of a terrorist attack by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Applicants must access the PSO’s eGrants grant management website at https://eGrants.gov.texas.gov to register and apply for funding.

Apply via eGrants

Applicants will respond to this funding announcement by creating, submitting and certifying an application in eGrants (https://eGrants.gov.texas.gov) by the deadline stated within this RFA.

• Applicants will be required to enter their 9-digit State Payee Identification Number (Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Vendor ID) to begin an application.
• Applicants will be required to enter basic organizational information on the Profile.Details Tab in eGrants, including contact information for three separate grant officials.
• Applicants must provide additional information as outlined throughout the eGrants application by responding to questions and information on each Tab within the system.
• Applicants must upload (Grant.Vendor Tab) the required Texas Direct Deposit Authorization Form, Texas Application for Payee Identification Number Form, and IRS W9 Form for each application prior to submission. The eGrants system will not allow an application submission until these forms are attached to the application. These forms are available on the My.Home tab under the Financial Management section of "Forms and Guides".
• Applicants must also upload (Upload.Files Tab) the following additional documents* to the application within ten (10) days of the federal 2024 NSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) release:
• FY 2024 NSGP Investment Justification (IJ). This is the FEMA application template that each applicant must complete and submit to the PSO. Each applicant must develop a formal IJ that addresses the investments proposed for funding.
• Vulnerability/Risk Assessment. Each applicant must conduct an organizational vulnerability/risk assessment on which the request in the IJ is based and must include the assessment in their submission. A free self-assessment tool for houses of worship is available on the DHS CISA website located at https://www.cisa.gov/house-of-worship.
• Mission Statement. Each applicant must include its Mission Statement and any mission implementing policies or practices that may elevate the organization’s risk. Recognizing the impact an organization’s ideology, beliefs, or mission may have on their risk of potential terrorist threats, The PSO will use the central purpose of the organization described in the Mission Statement, along with information provided in the applicant’s IJ, in order to validate the organization type as one of the following: 1) Ideology-based/Spiritual/Religious; 2) Educational; 3) Medical; or 4) Other.

The final date to complete and upload the IJ Document is 3/14/2024.

*Note: The PSO will require each applicant to complete and upload these documents by a specific deadline. The PSO will contact each applicant to communicate the deadline date for these documents after the federal 2024 NSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is released by DHS/FEMA.

Projects selected for funding must begin on or after September 1, 2024, and expire on or before February 28, 2027. Upon acceptance of the award, grantees should begin completing the actions required to satisfy any conditions of funding which have been placed on the awards prior to conducting any other project-related activities.

Minimum: None

Maximum*: $150,000

Match Requirement: None

*Note: Funding levels may change upon release of the NSGP federal NOFO. If the NSGP NOFO allows for a higher maximum, applicants may submit requests (budgets) up to the maximum amount.

Grantees must comply with standards applicable to this fund source cited in the Texas Grant Management Standards (TxGMS), Federal Uniform Grant Guidance, and all statutes, requirements, and guidelines applicable to this funding.

NSGP funds may be used for:

• Planning related to the protection of the facility and people within the facility.
• Equipment focused on target hardening and physical security enhancements.
• Training and Exercises for nonprofit security personnel to attend security-related training courses and programs or participate in security-related exercises within the United States.
• Contracted Security personnel are allowed under this program only as described in this NOFO. The recipient must be able to sustain this capability in future years without NSGP funding. NSGP funds may not be used to purchase equipment for contracted security.
• Construction and Renovation with pre-approval from the PSO and DHS/FEMA.
• Management and Administration (M&A) for costs directly related to the administration of NSGP funds.

Investment Justification (IJ) Requirements

The investments or projects described within eGrants must:

• Support security enhancements for the physical location that the nonprofit occupies at the time of application;
• Address an identified risk, including threat and vulnerability, and build or sustain a core capability;
• Demonstrate the ability to provide enhancements consistent with the purpose of the program and guidance provided by DHS/FEMA;
• Be both feasible and effective at reducing the risks for which the project was designed; and

Be able to be fully completed within the period of performance

Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation (EHP) Compliance

All NSGP projects will have an EHP hold placed on their grant award if funded. Grantees may not commence any activities until EHP compliance has been documented and the hold on the project has been lifted by the PSO. Applicants proposing projects that have the potential to impact the environment, including but not limited to modification or renovation of existing buildings, structures and facilities, or new construction including replacement of facilities must participate in the DHS/FEMA EHP review process. The EHP review process involves the submission of a detailed project description that explains the goals and objectives of the proposed project along with supporting documentation so that DHS/FEMA may determine whether the proposed project has the potential to impact environmental resources and/or historic properties.

1. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) database and have a UEI (Unique Entity ID) number assigned to its agency (to get registered in the SAM database and request an UEI number, go to https://sam.gov/).

2. Eligible applicants must have an active/valid filing with the IRS or the Texas Secretary of State to ensure 501c3 status.

Failure to comply with program eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or suspension or termination of grant funds.

Grant funds may not be used to support the unallowable costs listed in the Guide to Grants or any of the following unallowable costs:

1. Hiring of public safety personnel;
2. General-use expenditures;
3. Overtime and backfill;
4. Travel expenses;
5. Initiatives that do not address the implementation of programs/initiatives to build prevention and protection-focused capabilities directed at identified facilities and/or the surrounding communities;
6. The development of risk/vulnerability assessment models;
7. Initiatives that fund risk or vulnerability security assessments or the development of the Investment Justification;
8. Initiatives in which federal agencies are the beneficiary or that enhance federal property;
9. Initiatives which study technology development;
10. Proof-of-concept initiatives;
11. Initiatives that duplicate capabilities being provided by the Federal Government;
12. Organizational operating expenses;
13. Grant writing costs;
14. Pre-award costs of any kind;
15. Reimbursement of pre-award security expenses;
16. Cameras for license plate readers/license plate reader software;
17. Cameras for facial recognition software;
18. Firearms or firearms related training; and
19. Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state, or local law.

Application Screening: The Office of the Governor will screen all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements included in the funding announcement. NSGP applications will be reviewed through a two-phased State and Federal review process for completeness, adherence to programmatic guidelines, feasibility, and how well the IJ (project description and justification) addresses the identified risk.

State Review: The Office of the Governor will review applications to understand the overall demand for the program and for significant variations in costs per item. After this review, the Office of the Governor will determine if all eligible applications can be funded based on funds available, if there are cost-effectiveness benefits to normalizing or setting limits on the range of costs, and if other fair-share cuts may allow for broader distribution and a higher number of projects while still maintaining effectiveness.

• The PSO is also required to prioritize the NSGP applications for FEMA based on need and impact. As such, the PSO may assign bonus points to applications with the highest scores for the Risk and Target Hardening sections of their IJ. The PSO will rank projects from highest to lowest based on the average final score assigned to each project. Ties will be broken through review of an application's average score before bonus points were assigned and the score each application received for the Risk section of the IJ.

Federal Review: The federal NSGP evaluation criteria in prior years has been as follows:

• State and Federal verification that the nonprofit organization is located within the eligible areas as outlined in the NOFO.
• Identification and substantiation of current or persistent threats or attacks (from within or outside the U.S.) by a terrorist organization, network, or cell against the applicant based on their ideology, beliefs, or mission.
• Symbolic value of the site(s) as a highly recognized regional and/or national or historical institution(s) that renders the site a possible target of terrorism.
• Role of the applicant nonprofit organization in responding to or recovering from terrorist attacks.
• Findings from previously conducted threat and/or vulnerability assessments.
• Integration of nonprofit preparedness with broader state and local preparedness efforts.
• Complete, feasible IJ that addresses an identified risk, including the assessed threat, vulnerability, and consequence of the risk, and proposes building or sustaining a core capability identified in the National Preparedness Goal.
• History of prior funding under NSGP.

For complete information on the process used last year to review and score IJs at the state and federal levels, please refer to the FY 2023 FEMA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) – Review and Selection Process section located at the following link: Nonprofit Security Grant Program - Notices of Funding Opportunity. A copy of the previous Investment Justification can be located at the following link: NSGP Investment Justification Template.

Final Decisions: After FEMA makes final funding decisions, each applicant will receive either an unfunded notice or a preliminary decision notification from the PSO. Then, the PSO will issue award notices to grant recipients within 45 days of receipt of the federal NSGP award to the State of Texas. The award notice will provide all of the conditions and requirements of the grant. Release of final grant awards are always contingent on the PSO’s receipt of the federal grant award under which the program is funded and the PSO cannot release or guarantee funding to any applicant until that award is received, acceptance is processed, and a determination is made that adequate funding is available

For more information, contact the eGrants help desk at eGrants@gov.texas.gov or (512) 463-1919.