The Public Safety Office (PSO) is soliciting applications for projects that support state and regional efforts to improve or sustain interoperable emergency radio infrastructure.

State funds for these projects are authorized under the Texas General Appropriations Act, Article I, Rider 24 for Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor. PSO intends to make $20 million available under this funding announcement. All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

1. Regional Councils of Governments; and

2. State agencies.

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

***NEW APPLICATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT***

The following documents must be submitted with the application for the application to be considered complete and eligible for funding. See the Eligibility Requirements and/or Program-Specific Requirements Sections of this Funding Announcement for more details on the requirements for each attachment/certification:

• Resolution from Governing Body - Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution.

Failure to submit the fully executed required attachment(s) by the application deadline may result in the application being deemed ineligible.

Projects selected for funding must begin on or after September 1, 2026, and expire on or before August 31, 2028.

Minimum: $10,000

Maximum: $2,000,000.00

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.

Grant projects must be consistent with the program purpose stated above and must be submitted in support of one of the following approved activity areas:

1. Development or enhancement of primary interoperable emergency radio communications infrastructure;
2. Connection to a regional or statewide systems or expansion of a regional system;
3. Improving or establishing tower sites and/or related communications equipment (shelters, generators, etc.); or
4. Enhancement or maintenance of existing capabilities (e.g. life cycle replacement of equipment other than subscriber equipment).

Projects must enhance current capabilities or address capability gaps identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) or Texas Interoperable Communications Coalition (TxICC) in either the Texas Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan (SCIP), a COG Regional Communications Interoperability Plan (RICP) or the DPS Report on Interoperable Communications to the Texas Legislature.

Note: Projects that build capabilities will be prioritized over projects that sustain capabilities. Projects that increase voice communications interoperability for counties with the lowest interoperability levels are preferred over other types of communications projects.

Management and Administration (M&A) Costs: M&A costs are allowable but will be limited to 5 percent of the total grant award. Any request for indirect costs will be counted towards the 5 percent M&A total.

If a project is funded (once an agency receives a grant award), the planned expenditures must be submitted to and receive validation from the Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC) prior to purchase.

1. Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution with the application to be considered eligible for funding. The resolution must contain the following elements (see Sample Resolution):

• Authorization by your governing body for the submission of the application to the Public Safety Office (PSO) that clearly identifies the name of the project for which funding is requested;
• A commitment to provide all applicable matching funds;
• A designation of the name and/or title of an authorized official who is given the authority to apply for, accept, reject, alter, or terminate a grant;
• A designation of the name and/or title of a financial officer who is given the authority to submit financial and/or performance reports or alter a grant; and
• A written assurance that, in the event of loss or misuse of grant funds, the governing body will return all funds to PSO.

2. 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.

3. 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% of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety.

4. 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. Purchasing or maintaining radio subscriber equipment;
2. Amateur radios and equipment, FMS radios, Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), GMRS radios, or other radio equipment that is not P25 compliant;
3. Any expense or service that is readily available at no cost to the grant project;
4. Any use of grant funds to replace (supplant) funds that have been budgeted for the same purpose through non-grant sources;
5. Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state, or local law.

PSO will screen all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements included in the funding announcement.

Applications will then be reviewed by PSO staff members or a review group selected by the executive director. PSO will make all final funding decisions based on eligibility, reasonableness, availability of funding, and cost-effectiveness.

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.

Preference will be given to eligible border region applicants who DO NOT have an existing Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) project supporting activities or services within the fire department. PSO may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount requested. In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, PSO 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.