The Public Safety Office (PSO) is soliciting grant applications under the Local Border Security Program (LBSP) for projects that support Operation Border Star during state fiscal year 2024.

Operation Border Star centers on the use of intelligence to increase the effectiveness of federal, state, and local law enforcement assets. The purpose of the program is to sustain interagency law enforcement operations and enhance local law enforcement patrols to facilitate directed actions to deter and interdict criminal activity. Program participants shall assist in the execution of coordinated border security operations in an effort to:

• Increase the effectiveness and impact of Steady State and Surge Operations.
• Reduce border-related criminal activity in Texas.
• Implement and increase the effectiveness of operational methods, measures, and techniques for outbound/southbound operations.
• Decrease the supply of drugs smuggled into and through Texas from Mexico.
• Disrupt and deter operations of gang and cartel criminal organizations.
• Decrease specifically targeted tactics (such as conveyance methods) for drugs in the Texas border region.
• Decrease use of specific areas for crime as targeted in directed action missions.
• Increase the effectiveness of air operations mission planning and prioritization.
• Increase the coordination and integration of air-ground team operations to include Texas Military Forces (TMF) aviation, United States Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) Air and Marine, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Aircraft Division, and United States Coast Guard (USCG) aviation support.
• Increase the effectiveness of directed action missions based upon intelligence and analysis to ensure they target the most serious threats and are conducted in high pay-off areas.
• Increase the number and quality of analytical intelligence products developed at the Unified Command and state levels.
• Increase intelligence-based operations at the Unified Command level through integration of TxMap, sector specific information, and intelligence analysis.
• Aid in the humane retrieval and processing of the remains of undocumented migrants.

State funds for these projects are authorized under the Texas General Appropriations Act, Article I, Rider 20 for Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor. All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

1. Units of local government; and

2. Federally Recognized Native American tribes.

3. Eligible applicants must be located in a County within one of the six DPS Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers (JOIC) Regions including:

• El Paso JOIC: El Paso County.
• Coastal Bend JOIC: Aransas County, Bee County, Calhoun County, Dewitt County, Goliad County, Gonzales County, Guadalupe County, Jackson County, Jim Wells County, Karnes County, Kleberg County, Lavaca County, Live Oak County, Matagorda County, McMullen County, Nueces County, Refugio County, San Patricio County, Victoria County, and Wharton County.
• Marfa JOIC: Brewster County, Culberson County, Hudspeth County, Jeff Davis County, Pecos County, Presidio County, Reeves County, and Terrell County.
• Del Rio JOIC: Dimmit County, Edwards County, Kinney County, Maverick County, Real County, Uvalde County, Val Verde County, and Zavala County.
• Laredo JOIC: Duval County, Frio County, Jim Hogg County, La Salle County, Webb County, and Zapata County.
• Rio Grande Valley JOIC: Brooks County, Cameron County, Hidalgo County, Kenedy County, Starr County, and Willacy County.

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

Projects selected for funding must begin on or after September 1, 2023 and expire on or before August 31, 2024.

Minimum: None

Maximum: None

Match Requirement: None

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.

Funding may be used to provide additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, travel, and training in support of Operation Border Star activities, including for any one or more of the following activities.

Operation Border Star – Law Enforcement: Activities related to law enforcement operations in support of border operations.

1. LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL - OVERTIME

• Overtime for increased patrol and/or investigative capacity for certified peace officers.
• Overtime for law enforcement support personnel. These costs may include overtime for personnel necessary to support officers that are on patrol and participating in border security operations, such as Jailer overtime, or Communications Officer/Dispatcher overtime, necessary to maintain a safe Officer to Dispatcher ratio.
• Overtime for non-exempt administrative personnel supporting border security grants.
• Overtime for law enforcement support and administrative personnel should be limited and anything greater than 10% may not be funded or may require significant additional data and justification.

2. LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL - REGULAR or STRAIGHT-TIME

• Augmentees: Personnel costs for law enforcement personnel who are not regular employees of a funded agency, but are brought on as needed to specifically cover border security operations so that there can be a force multiplier during a period of “surge.”
• Regular time for law enforcement personnel working border operations. Grant funds must be used to supplement existing funds and not supplant funds that have been budgeted for the same purpose.
• Part-time to Full-Time: Personnel costs for part-time law enforcement personnel in order to bring them to temporary full-time status.
• Regular time for administrative personnel supporting border security grant activities.

3. LAW ENFORCEMENT EQUIPMENT: Costs for equipment, or the rental of equipment, which will benefit the border security mission and will be routinely utilized during border security operations.

4. LAW ENFORCEMENT SUPPLIES and DIRECT OPERATING EXPENSE: Certain operational costs are also allowable, such as vehicle operating costs or costs for minor emergency repairs as described below, or for other services pre-approved by the HSGD that are critical to success of the program.

• The cost of fuel, lubricants, and minor emergency repairs or maintenance for vehicles, aircraft, boats, generators, and similar equipment used during the hours in which grant-funded staff are working.
• Only actual expenses supported by invoiced gas, oil, and repair or maintenance receipts may be reimbursed under this grant.
• Maintenance costs must be prorated to show the usage of vehicles or equipment for regular law enforcement duties as compared to usage while officers are working grant-paid patrols.
• The cost of minor emergency repairs, such as tire repair or fan belt replacement, to vehicles or equipment used in program operations is allowable.

Operation Border Star – Human Remains Processing: Activities related to the humane processing of the remains of undocumented migrants.

1. MEDICAL EXAMINER PERSONNEL – OVERTIME

• Overtime for death investigations conducted by a medical examiner, deputy examiner, trained technician, or a forensic pathologist as authorized under Article 49.25 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• Overtime for non-exempt administrative personnel supporting a County Medical Examiner’s Office.

2. MEDICAL EXAMINER PERSONNEL – REGULAR or STRAIGHT-TIME & TEMPORARY POSITIONS

• Regular time for county medical examiner personnel conducting death investigations. Grant funds must be used to supplement existing funds and not supplant funds that have been budgeted for the same purpose.
• Part-time to Full-Time: Personnel costs for part-time county medical examiner personnel in order to bring them to temporary full-time status.
• Regular time for administrative personnel supporting a County Medical Examiner’s Office.
• Hiring or contracting temporary staff to assist or conduct death investigations.

3. MEDICAL EXAMINER - EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

• Costs for equipment, technology, or the rental of equipment related to the processing of death investigations, temporary morgues, and/or additional body storage capacity.

4. MEDICAL EXAMINER - SUPPLIES and DIRECT OPERATING EXPENSE

• Costs for supplies and direct operating expenses related to conducting death investigations.

5. MEDICAL EXAMINER – CONTRACTUAL

• Costs associated with the outsourcing of death investigations, temporary body storage, and other contractual costs incurred by a county medical examiner’s office related to the humane processing of the remains of undocumented migrants.

1. Eligible applicants must agree to perform the following activities:

• Participate in operational planning and coordination meetings, information/intelligence sharing meetings, and After Action Reviews (AARs) established by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers (JOIC).
• Participate weekly on the JOIC Unified Command conference calls or meetings as required by the JOIC.
• Report significant border-related events that occur during each 24-hour period.
• Conduct enhanced law enforcement patrolling activities.
• Recognize and react to information/intelligence to adjust times and locations of enhanced patrol activities.
• Identify significant border-related trends or areas of interest that may be developed into focus areas for future operations.
• Conduct surveillance, interdictions, investigations, and collect and disseminate information within its jurisdiction or cross-jurisdiction lines as required.
• Conduct Steady State operations and respond to calls for service.
•  Integrate air, ground, marine, and remote operations.

2. Eligible applicants must agree to submit information on incidents using the Border Incident Assessment Report (BIAR).

The grantee shall report all border-related events to the JOIC using the BIAR. BIAR reporting shall include events that occur during Enhanced Operation activities AND events that occur during Steady State activities. Enhanced (Surge) Operations originate out of the use of LBSP funds when the local agency chooses to increase the hours of patrol or the number of investigative bodies. Steady State activities are defined as normal patrol or investigative duties that do not use grant funds, but directly impact the overall LBSP mission, such as organized crime arrests, terroristic activities, weapons trafficking arrests, kidnappings, human trafficking, human smuggling, home invasions with a border or organized crime nexus, illegal immigration, border-related murders, gang-related murders, vehicle thefts, or drug trafficking.

The BIAR is the primary incident and information-reporting tool for the grantee in local border security operations. The grantee shall ensure all BIARs conform to the respective standards outlined by the JOIC and are submitted within 24 hours of the end of shift and/or the timeframes established by the JOIC.

3. Applicants must provide a copy of the local overtime policy as approved by its governing board. This policy will be considered the official policy for grant purposes and must be used throughout the grant period.

• The policy must:
  • Clearly describe how overtime will be calculated;
  • Be consistent with the agency’s local overtime policy;
  • Treat overtime for grant-paid personnel the same as non-grant paid personnel.
  • Project Overtime (OT) shall be reimbursed following the grantee’s overtime policy and the requirements as stated below:
  • OT is time actually worked that exceeds the required number of hours during an employee’s designated work period, as per grantee’s policies and procedures.
  • OT must be worked to support border security operations.

• The project OT rate shall be no more than one-and-one-half (1.5) times the employee’s regular pay rate.
  • Exempt salaried employees working border security operations may be reimbursed for overtime only if the grantee’s overtime policy specifically allows for this.
  • HSGD will only reimburse the grantee for OT that does not exceed a total of 16 hours worked (regular plus OT) during any 24-hour period.

1. Local units of governments must comply with the Cybersecurity Training requirements described in Section 772.012 and Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code. Local governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity requirements required by Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible. Government entities must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the Cybersecurity Training Certification for State and Local Governments. A copy of the Training Certification must be uploaded to your eGrants application. For more information or to access available training programs, visit the Texas Department of Information Resources Statewide Cybersecurity Awareness Training page.

2. Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 66. The disposition completeness percentage is defined as the percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system.

Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county will report at least 90 percent of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety.

3. Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated by 411.042 TGC, to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS. Due to the importance of timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the Texas-mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests from DPS related to the data submitted.

4. Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement agency, must comply with all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal aliens in Agency’s custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS. Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from justice or aliens illegally in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3). Lastly, eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties found in Chapter 752, Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code.

Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements. This Form is required for each application submitted to OOG and is active until August 31, 2024 or the end of the grant period, whichever is later.

5. In accordance with Texas Government Code, Section 420.034, any facility or entity that collects evidence for sexual assault or other sex offenses or investigates or prosecutes a sexual assault or other sex offense for which evidence has been collected, must participate in the statewide electronic tracking system developed and implemented by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Visit DPS’s Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking Program website for more information or to set up an account to begin participating.

6. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) database and have an 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/).

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. Inherently religious activities such as prayer, worship, religious instruction, or proselytization;
2. Lobbying;
3. Any portion of the salary of, or any other compensation for, an elected or appointed government official;
4. Backfill costs for personnel participating in operations;
5. Vehicles or equipment for government agencies that are for general agency use;
6. Aircraft (fixed-wing & rotary-wing);
7. Weapons, ammunition, tasers, or explosives;
8. Admission fees or tickets to any amusement park, recreational activity or sporting event;
9. Promotional gifts;
10. Food, meals, beverages, or other refreshments, except for eligible per diem associated with grant-related travel;
11. Membership dues for individuals;
12. Any expense or service that is readily available at no cost to the grant project;
13. Any use of grant funds to replace (supplant) funds that have been budgeted for the same purpose through non-grant sources;
14. Fundraising;
15. Construction;
16. Medical services;
17. Legal services for adult offenders; and
18. 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.

Peer/Merit Review: Applications will be reviewed by PSO staff in consultation with DPS Regional JOIC representatives. Funding decisions will be based on eligibility and operational content, which includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Compliance – Past compliance with grant requirements, reporting, and information sharing.
• Performance – Impact and effectiveness of the Applicant’s participation in previous border security operations or activities, and effectiveness in using grant funds awarded for border security.
• Risk – The Applicant’s need as indicated by data available on border-related criminal activity, population, number of officers, and other factors.
• Other Funding – The Applicant’s history of applying for, receiving, and/or effectively utilizing other sources of funding available to support border security activities (e.g. Operation Stonegarden or Operation Lone Star).

Final Decisions: The Executive Director will consider rankings along with other factors and make all final funding decisions. Other factors may include cost effectiveness, overall funds availability, or state government priorities and strategies.

The Office of the Governor may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount requested. In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, the Office of the Governor may revise projects to address a more limited focus.

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