Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, sec. 15, 15 U.S.C. 2214; Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1978, 3 CFR, 1978 Comp., p. 329, and E.O. 12127, dated Mar. 31, 1979, 3 CFR, 1979 Comp., p. 376.
49 FR 39845, Oct. 11, 1984, unless otherwise noted.
The regulations in this part are issued under the authority of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (the Act), 15 U.S.C. 2201
(a) The Nominating Officials nominating Firefighters and Civil Defense Officers shall submit their nominations for the President's Award or Distinguished Public Safety Service Award to the Executive Secretary, Joint Public Safety Awards Board, National Emergency Training Center, Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Copies of all nominations shall also be forwarded, depending on the category of the nominee, as follows:
(1)
(2)
(b) The Nominating Officials nominating law enforcement, corrections or court officers shall submit their nominations for the President's Award or Distinguished Public Safety Service Awards to: Assistant Attorney General for Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530.
(c) All nominations shall be submitted in writing in accordance with the requirements prescribed in this section and § 150.4 at the earliest practicable date after the performance of the act or acts for which the nomination is made. Nominations for each year shall be made before November 15; any received thereafter will be considered as having been made for the following year. However, for the year 1983, nominations may be made by February 28, 1985.
(d) Nominations for the President's Award or the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award should include the name of the candidate, his/her position, title and address, and public agency served, the locale where the candidate performs his/her duties, the name, address and telephone number of the nominating official, a summary describing the outstanding contribution, distinguished service or extraordinary valor, and the dates relating thereto. The description should be sufficiently concise and specific to justify the request for recognition of the public safety officer through the presentation of either of the awards. Copies of any published factual accounts of the nominee's accomplishment should also be attached when available.
(e) An annual invitation shall be issued by the Joint Board for nominations for the President's Award and, on behalf of the Attorney General and the Administrator of FEMA, for the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award. The invitation shall be issued by letter or by notice in apporpriate publications of interest to the public safety community. However, nominating officials need not wait for such invitation but may nominate at the most appropriate time in accordance with the other provisions of this part.
(a) Nominations for the President's Award or the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award shall be made on the basis of, and in conformity with, the following uniform criteria.
(1)
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(b) A nomination shall specify whether it is being submitted for the President's Award or the Distinguished Public Safety Award.
(a) A Joint Public Safety Awards Board (Joint Board) is hereby established to fulfill the responsibilities of the Administrator of FEMA and the Attorney General by administering the process of nomination for the President's Award and by participating in the selection process with the Executive Office of the President. The Joint Board shall consist of ten representatives who are Federal employees and are of appropriate rank (at or equivalent to grades GM-14 or above). Five persons shall be named by and represent the Administrator of FEMA, and five persons shall be named by and represent the Attorney General. The representatives serving on the Joint Board shall select one of their number to act as the chairperson.
(b) Representatives on the Joint Board shall serve in addition to their regular duties and without additional compensation. Consistent with the requirements of this part, the members of the Joint Board shall establish the procedures by which the selections for the President's Award shall be made to assure the timely presentation of these awards.
(c) A National Emergency Training Center employee shall act as Executive Secretary of the Joint Board. The Executive Secretary shall perform such functions as are appropriate to the Board's responsibilities, including the receipt of all nominations and the communication of nomination information, for the purpose of receiving comments thereon, from members of the public safety community pursuant to § 150.5(e). The Executive Secretary shall be appointed by the Associate Director, Training and Fire Programs of FEMA.
(d) The Joint Board shall review the nominations for the President's Award and shall recommend to the Administrator , FEMA, and the Attorney General by February 1 of each year, those nominees determined by it to merit consideration for the President's Award together with reasons therefor. The Administrator and the Attorney General shall then recommend to the President those nominees determined by them to merit the President's Award, together with the reasons therefor. Recommendations for 1983 shall be submitted on or before March 29, 1985.
(e) The Joint Board may request that persons representing a cross-section of the national public safety community comment upon nominations made to the Board for the President's Award. Both the request for comments and the comments themselves shall be made in writing.
(a) The Joint Board shall consult with the Department of the Treasury and the Executive Office of the President in regard to the design and procurement of the appropriate citations and medal for the President's Award in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
(b) Insofar as practicable, the designs for Distinguised Public Safety Service Awards of FEMA and the Department of Justice shall be coordinate so as to avoid distinctly different recognition of the various public safety officers.
(a)
(b)
(c) Individuals nominated for the President's Award who are considered not to meet the criteria for the Award by the Joint Board or who are not recommended to or selected by the President shall be automatically considered by the appropriate authority for nomination for the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award.
(d) Individuals nominated for the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award may be considered by the Joint Board for the President's Award if the Administratorof FEMA or the Attorney General determines that consideration for the President's Award is merited.
(a) Presentation of the President's Award shall be made at such time, place and circumstances as the Executive Office of the President directs. There shall not be more twelve President's Awards given out during any calendar year.
(b) Presentation of the Distinguished Public Safety Service Award shall be made by the Attorney General or the Administrator of FEMA or a designee at such time, place and circumstances as the Administrator of FEMA or the Attorney General determines. There is no limit on the number of these awards made during any calendar year.
(a)
(b)
Nominations may only be submitted for acts, services, or contributions occurring within two years preceding the November 15 cut-off date described in § 150.3(c) of this part. However, nominations submitted prior to the February 28, 1985 cut-off date may be made for acts, services or contributions occurring on or after October 29, 1972 (two years before the effective date of the Act).
Secs. 11 and 21(b)(5), Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2210 and 2218(b)(5)); Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 (3 CFR, 1978 Comp., p. 379) and E.O. 12127, dated Mar. 31, 1979 (3 CFR, 1979 Comp., p. 376).
49 FR 5929, Feb. 16, 1984, unless otherwise noted.
Section 11 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, provides that “each fire service that engages in the fighting of a fire on property which is under the jurisdiction of the United States may file a claim with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the amount of direct expenses and direct losses incurred by such fire service as a result of fighting such fire.” This part, implements section 11 of the Act and governs the submission, determination, and appeal of claims under section 11.
Fire services, in any State, may file claims for reimbursement under section 11 and this part for the direct expenses and losses which are additional firefighting costs over and above normal operating costs incurred while fighting a fire on property which is under the jurisdiction of the United States. Section 11 requires that certain payments be deducted from those costs and that the Treasury Department will ordinarily pay the amount resulting from the application of that formula. Where the United States has entered into a contract (which is not a mutual aid agreement, defined in § 151.03) for the provision of fire protection, and it is the intent of the parties that reimbursement under section 11 is unavailable, this intent will normally govern. Where a mutual aid agreement is in effect between the claimant and an agency of the United States for the property upon which the fire occurred, reimbursement will be available in otherwise proper situations. However, any payments (including the value of services) rendered under the agreement during the term of the agreement (or the Federal fiscal year in which the fire occurred, if no term is discernible) shall be deducted from the costs claimed, pursuant to § 151.12.
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(d)
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Any fire service in any State which believes it has a claim(s) cognizable under section 11 shall submit its claim(s) in writing within 90 days of the occurrence of the fire(s) for which a claim(s) is made. If the fire is of such duration that the claimant desires to
(a) Name, address, jurisdiction and nature (volunteer, private, municipal, etc.) of claimant's fire service organization;
(b) Name, title, address and telephone number of individual authorized by the claimant fire service to make this claim in its behalf and his/her certification as to the accuracy of the information provided;
(c) Name and telephone number of Federal employee familiar with the facts of the event and the name and address of the Federal agency having jurisdiction over the property on which the fire occurred;
(d) Proof of authority to fight the fire (source of alarm, whether fire service was requested by responsible Federal official or whether such an official accepted the assistance when offered);
(e) Personnel and equipment committed to fighting of fire (type of equipment and number of items); and an itemized list of direct expenses (e.g., hours of equipment operation, fuel costs, consumables, overtime pay and wages for any specially hired personnel) and direct losses (e.g., damaged or destroyed equipment, to include purchase cost, estimate of the cost of repairs, statement of depreciated value immediately preceding and subsequent to the damage or destruction and the extent of insurance coverage) actually incurred in fighting the fire. A statement should be included explaining why each such expense or loss is considered by the claimant not be a normal operating cost, or to be in excess of normal operating costs;
(f) Copy of fire report which includes the location of the fire, a description of the property burned, the time of alarm, etc.;
(g) Such other information or documentation as the Administrator considers relevant to those considerations to be made in determining the amount authorized for payment, as set forth in § 151.12 of these regulations;
(h) Source and amount of any payments received or to be received for the fiscal year in which the fire occurred, including taxes or payments in lieu of taxes and including all monies received or receivable from the United States through any program or agreement including categorical or block grants, and contracts, by the claimant fire service or its parent jurisdiction for the support of fire services on the property on which the fire occurred. If this information is available when the claim is submitted, it should accompany the claim. If it is not, the information should be submitted as soon as practicable, but no later than 15 days after the end of the Federal fiscal year in which the fire occurred.
(a) The Administrator shall determine the amount to be paid on a claim (subject to payment by the Department of the Treasury). The amount to be paid is the total of eligible expenses, costs and losses under paragraph (a)(1) of this section which exceeds the amount of payments under paragraph (a)(2) of this section. The Administrator shall establish the reimbursable amount by determining:
(1) The extent to which the fire service incurred additional firefighting costs, over and above its normal operating costs, in connection with the fire which is the subject of the claim, i.e., the “amount of costs”; and
(2) What payments, if any, including taxes or payments in lieu of taxes, the fire service or its parent jurisdiction has received from the United States for the support of fire services on the property on which the fire occurred.
(b) The Administrator will first determine the costs as contemplated in paragraph (a)(1) of this section. The Administrator will then notify the claimant as to that amount. The claimant must indicate within 30 days its acceptance or rejection of that amount.
(1) If the determination is accepted by the claimant, this will be the final and conclusive determination of the amount of costs by the claimant in conjunction with the fire for which the claims are submitted.
(2) If the claimant rejects this amount, it must notify the Administrator , within 30 days, of its reasons for its rejection. Upon receipt of notification of rejection, the Administrator shall reconsider his determination and notify the claimant of the results of the reconsideration. The amount determined on reconsideration will constitute the costs to be used by the Director in determining the reimbursable amount.
(c) Upon receipt of documentation from the claimant on the amount of payments the Federal Government has made for the support of fire services on the property in question, the Administrator will, following such verification or investigation as the Administrator may deem appropriate, calculate the full amount to be reimbursed under the section 11 formula as set forth in § 151.12(a). This calculation of the reimbursable amount is based upon the costs determined pursuant to § 151.12(b) and the documentation of Federal payments that the claimant submitted.
(d) The Administrator's determination of the reimbursable amount will be sent to the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon receipt of the claim and determination made under § 151.12 (a), (b), and (c), determine the amount authorized for payment, which shall be the amount actually available for payment from any monies in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated but subject to reimbursement (from any appropriations which may be available or which may be made available for the purpose) by the Federal department or agency under whose jurisdiction the fire occurred. This shall be a sum no greater, although it may be less, that the reimbursable amount determined by the Administrator , FEMA, with respect to the claim under § 151.12 (a), (b) and (c).
(e) Upon receipt of written notification from the claimant of its intention to accept the amount authorized as full settlement of the claim, accompanied by a properly executed document of release, the Administrator will forward the claim, a copy of the Administrator's determination and the claimant's document of release to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment of the claim in the amount authorized.
(f) Subject to the discovery of additional material evidence, the Administrator may reconsider any determination in this section, whether or not made as his final determination.
(a) If the claimant elects to protest the amount authorized for payment, after the applicable procedures of § 151.12 have been followed, it must within 30 days of receipt of notification of the amount authorized notify the Administrator in writing of its objections and set forth the reasons why the Administrator should reconsider the determination. The Administrator will upon notice of protest and receipt of additional evidence reconsider the determination of the amount of Federal payments under § 151.12(a)(2) but not the determination of the amount of costs under § 151.12(a)(1). The Administrator shall cause a reconsideration by the Secretary of the Treasury of the amount actually available and authorized for payment by the Treasury. The Administrator, upon receipt of the Secretary of the Treasury's reconsidered determination, will notify the claimant in writing of the amount authorized, upon reconsideration, for payment in full settlement of the claim.
(b) If the claimant elects to accept the amount authorized, upon reconsideration, for payment in full settlement of its claims, it must within 30 days (or a longer period of time acceptable to
If the claimant, after written notice by the Administrator of the amount authorized for payment in full settlement of the claim and after all applicable procedures of §§ 151.12 and 151.13 have been followed elects to dispute the amount authorized, it may then initiate action in the United States Claims Court, which shall have jurisdiction to adjudicate the claim and enter judgment in accordance with section 11(d) of the Act.
At the discretion of the Administrator, all claims submitted under section 11 of the Act and all records of the claimant will be subject to audit by the Administrator or his/her designee. In addition, the Comptroller General of the United States or his/her designee shall have access to all books and records of all claimants making claims under section 11.
Claimant's officials or others who provide information or documentation under this part are subject to, among other laws, the criminal penalties of Title 18 of the United States Code, sections 287 and 1001, which punish the submission of false, fictitious or fraudulent claims and the making of false, fictitious or fraudulent statements and which provide for a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. For such a violation, the person is likewise subject to the civil penalties set out in 31 U.S.C. 3729 and 3730.
Federal Fire Protection and Control Act, 15 U.S.C. 2201
68 FR 12547, Mar. 14, 2003, unless otherwise noted.
(a) This competitive grant program will provide funding directly to fire departments of a State for the purpose of enhancing departments abilities to protect the health and safety of the public, as well as that of firefighting personnel, facing fire and fire-related hazards. Eligible applicants can submit only one application per application period. Departments that submit multiple applications in one application period will have each of their applications deemed ineligible.
(b) Eligible applicants are fire departments or fire departments of a State which is defined as an agency or organization that has a “formally recognized arrangement” with a State, local or tribal authority (city, county, parish, fire district, township, town, or other non-Federal governing body) to provide fire suppression services within a fixed geographical area. A fire department can apply for assistance for its emergency medical services unit provided the unit falls organizationally under the auspices of the fire department. A municipality or fire district may submit an application on behalf of a fire department when the fire department lacks the legal status to do so, e.g., where the fire department falls
(c) Congress included in the legislation a list of fourteen activities eligible for funding under this program. Those activities are as follows:
(1) To hire additional firefighting personnel;
(2) To train firefighting personnel in firefighting, emergency response (including response to a terrorism incident or use of a weapon of mass destruction), arson prevention and detection, or the handling of hazardous materials, or to train firefighting personnel to provide any of the training in this paragraph (c);
(3) To fund the creation of rapid intervention teams to protect firefighting personnel at scenes of fires and other emergencies;
(4) To certify fire inspectors;
(5) To establish wellness and fitness programs for firefighting personnel to ensure that the firefighting personnel can carry out their duties;
(6) To fund emergency medical services provided by fire departments;
(7) To acquire additional firefighting vehicles, including fire trucks;
(8) To acquire additional firefighting equipment, including equipment for communications, monitoring, and response to a terrorism incident or use of a weapon of mass destruction;
(9) To acquire personal protective equipment required for firefighting personnel by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and other personal protective equipment for firefighting personnel, including protective equipment to respond to a terrorism incident or the use of a weapon of mass destruction;
(10) To modify fire stations, fire training facilities, and other facilities to protect the health and safety of firefighting personnel;
(11) To enforce fire codes;
(12) To fund fire prevention programs;
(13) To educate the public about arson prevention and detection; and
(14) To provide incentives for the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighting personnel for volunteer firefighting departments and other firefighting departments that utilize volunteers.
(d) The specific activities that will be eligible for funding will be announced in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) that we will publish pursuant to the program's annual appropriation.
Integrated communication systems and devices are equipment or systems for dispatch centers or communication infrastructure. Examples of these include 911 systems, computer-aided dispatch systems, global positioning systems, fixed repeaters, etc. Towers are an integral part of any communication system, but they are not eligible to be included in any award under this program.
(a) Fire departments that have received funding under the Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program in previous years are eligible to apply for funding in the current year. However, due to our responsibilities under this program to assure adequate distribution of awards amongst certain types of departments (career, combination and volunteer) and certain types of communities (urban, suburban or rural) as well as an equitable geographic distribution, we reserve the right to fund or not to fund previous recipients of grants under this program in order for us to fulfill these responsibilities.
(b) No applicant can receive more than $750,000 in Federal grant funds under this program in any fiscal year.
(c) No applicant can submit more than one application per fiscal year. Applicants that submit multiple applications will have each of their applications deemed ineligible.
(d) The scoring of the applications will determine the distribution of the funding across the eligible programs. Notwithstanding anything in this part, no more than twenty-five (25) percent of the funds appropriated for grants shall be used to assist grant recipients to purchase firefighting vehicles and not less than five (5) percent of the funds shall be used for fire prevention programs.
(e) We will not provide assistance under this part for activities for which another Federal agency has more specific or primary authority to provide assistance for the same purpose. We may disallow or recoup amounts that fall within other Federal agency's authority.
(a) Applicants must:
(1) Complete the application and certify to the accuracy of all the information contained therein;
(2) Certify that they are an eligible applicant,
(3) Certify that the person submitting the application is duly authorized to do so, and
(b) Recipients (Grantees) must agree to:
(1) Share in the costs of the projects funded under this grant program. Fire departments in areas serving populations over 50,000 must agree to match the Federal grant funds with an amount of non-Federal funds equal to thirty (30) percent of the total project cost. Fire departments serving areas with a population of 50,000 or less will have to match the Federal grant funds with an amount of non-Federal funds equal to ten (10) percent of the total project cost. No waivers of this requirement will be granted except for fire departments of Insular Areas as provided for in 48 U.S.C. 1469a.
(2) Maintain operating expenditures during the grant's period of performance in the areas funded by a grant at a level equal to or greater than the average of their operating expenditures in the two years preceding the year in which this assistance is received.
(3) Obtain the appropriate Federal, State, or local permits necessary to fulfill the grant's scope of work including historical and/or environmental clearances as required.
(4) Retain grant files and supporting documentation for three years after the official closeout of the grant.
(5) Report to FEMA on the progress made on the grant and financial status of the grant. The award documents will detail the specific period of performance for each grantee and provide instructions on the frequency and timing of the required performance reports.
(6) Maintain documentation to support the expenditure of grant funds as well as pertinent grant decisions.
(7) Make their grant files and other books and records related to the grant, available if requested for an audit to ensure compliance with any requirement of the grant program.
(8) Agree to provide information to the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) for the period covered by the grant. If a grantee does not currently
(c) FEMA activities:
(1) We will ensure that the funds are awarded based on the priorities and expected benefits articulated in the statute, this part, USFA's strategic plan, and the Notice of Funds Availability.
(2) We will ensure that not more than twenty-five (25) percent of the appropriated funding will be used to purchase firefighting vehicles.
(3) We will ensure that not less than five (5) percent of the funds are made available to national, State, local, or community organizations, including fire departments, for the purpose of carrying out fire prevention programs.
(4) We will ensure that fire departments with volunteer staff, or staff comprised of a combination of career fire fighters and volunteers, receive a proportion of the total grant funding that is not less than the proportion of the United States population that those firefighting departments protect.
(5) We will ensure that grants are made to fire departments located in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
(6) We will strive to ensure geographic diversity of awards as stipulated in § 152.6.
(7) We will strive to ensure that activities funded under this grant program are consistent with the programs goals and intent, and generally in the government's best interest.
(8) We will provide the chief executives of the States with information concerning the total number and dollar amount of awards made to fire departments in their States; the program areas and activities supported by these grants; and other information about specific awards when generated and available.
(a) Every application will be evaluated based on the answers to the activity-specific questions during our initial screening. The applications that are determined to best address the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program's established priorities during this initial screening will be in the “competitive range” and subject to a second level of review. We will use the narratives/supplemental information provided by the applicants in their grant applications to evaluate, on a competitive basis, the merits and benefits of each request for funding. In selecting applications for award, we will evaluate each application for assistance independently based on established eligibility criteria and the program priorities. Eligible applicants that best address the priorities will advance to a second level of review. The second level of review involves an assessment of the financial needs of the applicant, and an analysis of the benefits that would result from the grant award.
(b) In order to be successful at this second level of the evaluation, an applicant must complete the narrative section of the application package. The narrative should include a detailed description of the planned program, uses for the grant funds including details of each budget line item. For example, if personnel costs are included in the budget, please provide a break down of what those costs are for. The narrative should explain why the grant funds are needed and why the department has not been able to obtain funding for the planned activities on its own. A discussion of financial need should include a discussion of any Federal funding received for similar activities. Finally, the applicant's narrative should detail the benefits the department or community will realize as a result of the grant award.
(c) This second level of review will be conducted using a panel of technical evaluation panelists. These panelists are largely made up of non-Federal experts with a fire service background. The panelists will assess the application's merits with respect to the clarity and detail provided in the narrative
(d) In addition to the project narrative, the applicant must provide an itemized budget detailing the use of the grant funds. If an applicant is seeking funds in more than one eligible activity within a program, separate budgets will have to be generated for each activity and then an overall or summary budget will have to be generated. For those applicants applying on line, the summary budget will be automatically generated by the e-grants system.
(e) Specific rating criteria for each of the eligible programs will be published in a Notice of Funding Availability that we will publish pursuant to the program's annual appropriation.
(a) As stated in § 152.5, we will evaluate each application in the preliminary screening process to determine which applications best address the program's established priorities. The best applications as determined in this preliminary step will be deemed to be in the “competitive range.” All applications in the competitive range will advance to a second level review by a technical evaluation panel. Using the evaluation criteria detailed in the Program Guidance and in the NOFA (both of which are published pursuant to this program's annual appropriation), the panelists will score each application they evaluate. The assigned score will reflect the degree to which the applicant: clearly relates their proposed project; demonstrates financial need; and, details a high benefit to cost value of the proposed activities. We will provide the panelists the complete application content for their evaluation. We will also provide them with reference materials for national standards or regulations and guidelines with respect to typical costs for proposed apparatus and equipment purchases.
(b) Our award decisions will be based on the stated priorities of the grant program first, then on the demonstrated need of the applicant and the benefits to be derived from the proposed projects. We will make awards on a competitive basis,
(c) In a few cases, to fulfill our obligations under the law to make grants to a variety of departments, we may also make funding decisions using rank order as the preliminary basis, and then analyze the type of fire department (paid, volunteer, or combination fire departments), the size and character of the community it serves (urban, suburban, or rural), and/or the geographic location of the fire department. In these instances where we are making decisions based on geographic location, we will use States as the basic geographic unit. We may also base our funding decisions on previous grant awards funded by this program and/or grantees' performance on previous grants and a technical evaluation of reasonable costs for labor, services, materials or equipment.
(a) Grantees will have twelve months to incur obligations and complete the scope of work to fulfill their responsibilities under this grant program. The performance period of each grant will be detailed in the Articles of Agreement that we provide each grantee. Grantees may request funds from FEMA as reimbursement for expenditures made under the grant program or they may request funds for immediate cash needs under FEMA regulations (44 CFR 13.21). Advances of funds may also be approved to meet immediate cash needs.
(b) Generally, fire departments cannot use grant funds to pay for products
(c) All grantees must follow their own established procurement process when buying anything with Federal grant funds (as provided in 44 CFR 13.26). If the grantee does not have an established procurement process, they must seek a minimum of two bids for any acquisition.
(d) When requesting funding, grantees can only request an amount that is necessary to satisfy their immediate cash needs directly related to the grant, i.e., an amount equal to the total eligible grant expenses due within 30 days. Grantees can request payments of up to one hundred (100) percent of the federal share of the award amount but only if delivery of the ordered products and/or services is imminent (approximately 30 days) and the resulting payment will require the entire amount of funds.
(e) A grantee may request sufficient funding for a down payment if required to do so by the seller, such as in grants involving some purchases of firefighting vehicles. The grantee may request as much as fifty (50) percent of the federal share of the award amount at the time of the order placement to pay the down payment. The grantee may request the balance of the federal share upon delivery of the ordered equipment or vehicle.
(f) The recipients of funding under this program must report to us on how the grant funding was used and the benefits that resulted. This will be accomplished via submission of performance reports. Details regarding the reporting requirements will be provided in the Articles of Agreement provided to each grantee.
(g) Fire departments that receive funding under this program must agree to provide information to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) for the period covered by the assistance. If a grantee does not currently participate in the incident reporting system and does not have the capacity to report at the time of the award, that grantee must agree to provide information to the system for a twelve-month period commencing as soon as possible after they develop the capacity to report. Capacity to report to the NFIRS must be established prior to the termination of the one-year performance period.
In each year that this program is authorized and receives an appropriation, we will announce the grants availability via Notice of Funds Availability. That Notice will contain all pertinent information concerning the eligible funding activities, funding priorities, funding levels, application period, timelines, and deadlines.
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(c) We must receive a request for reconsideration under this section within 60 days of the date of the notice of the decision for which reconsideration is requested.
(d) Requests for reconsideration should be directed to: Assistant Administrator, Grant Programs Directorate, Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, FEMA, 800 K Street, NW., South Tower 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20001.