Utah Department of Public Safety

Tanner Patterson
tpatterson@utah.gov

Introduction

The NSGP is a competitive grant program appropriated annually through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is intended to help nonprofit organizations increase their physical security posture against acts of terrorism as defined by law.

Who can apply?

Eligible organizations are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits or otherwise are organizations as described under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and tax-exempt under section 501(a). Find more information on tax-exempt organizations at IRS.gov.

How do we apply?

To apply for NSGP funds, interested nonprofit organizations must apply through their State Administrative Agency (SAA), in this case the Utah Division of Emergency Management (DEM). Interested applicants do not apply through grants.gov, but instead submit their investment justification via email to the identified grant manager within DEM. More information on the investment justification below. The State of Utah does not require any additional forms or documentation than what is identified on FEMA’s NSGP Website.

How much can we apply for?

Nonprofit organizations must fully answer each question in all the sections of the Investment Justification(s). In their Investment Justification (IJ), nonprofit organizations should summarize the most critically important, impactful, and salient information. You may submit up to three (3) Investment Justifications, which function as an application document, per organization for up to three (3) unique physical locations/addresses. You must submit one (1) unique Investment Justification form and required documents as part of a complete submission package for each physical location/unique address. Each Investment Justification can request up to $150,000 per location for a total of $450,000 across three (3) Investment Justifications for three (3) unique physical locations/addresses. The amount of funding requested, and number of submissions, may not exceed these limits.

What should we do ahead of time? 

Potential applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), which is obtained through SAM.gov. Nonprofit organizations must only register in SAM.gov to obtain the UEI but are not required to maintain an active registration in SAM.gov. Guidance on obtaining a UEI in SAM.gov can be found at GSA UEI Update and SAM.gov Update. 

Potential applicants must also complete a vulnerability assessment used to identify and validate physical security deficiencies. The vulnerability assessment is the foundation of an NSGP applications. Vulnerability assessments can be provided in the form of a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Self-Assessment (Facility Security Self-Assessment | CISA), state or local law enforcement assessment, contractor assessment, or other valid method of assessment. DEM does not require a specific format/type of vulnerability assessment. Projects and activities requested through the NSGP should align to mitigate items identified in the vulnerability assessment. For assistance with this process, please contact Matt Beaudry (matthew.beaudry@cisa.dhs.gov).

Potential applicants can also prepare their investment justification prior to a new grant cycle being announced. We recommend this as application period are often very short. Depending on the release of a new investment justification template, applicants may need to transfer the information over from the older version to the new version prior to submitting their investment justification to DEM’s grant manager. 

How do we know if we’re receiving an award? 

DEM will set a submission deadline before the official deadline to give us time to compile and score the applications before the federal deadline. Once the applications are submitted, we wait for FEMA to notify us of which were awarded and provide us with an award letter. Once the award is accepted by the state, you will be notified within 45-days if your nonprofit organization received an award from the relevant grant year. This typically happens sometime in late Sept-early Oct. 

When do we receive the money? 

NSGP through DEM is a reimbursement based grant program. Meaning as your organization incurs costs for carrying out its approved projects, it will submit for reimbursement via DEM’s reimbursement request document (form 85-21).

Where can we find more information? 

FEMA’s NSGP website has many useful links for learning more about this program. These are updated each year, so be sure to check in on this website for the most up-to-date guidance. Be sure to read the NSGP portion of the “Preparedness Grants Manual” found on this website as it is the most complete guidance for participating in this program.

Forms: