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Update on BVP, AFGP & SAFER Award Dates

Press Release From CHIEF Grants
Update on BVP, AFGP, and SAFER Award Dates

The latest from Washington DC on the 3 Federal grant award programs everyone is waiting for. Our CHIEF Grants analysis of the information we are able to glean indicates the following...

Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program (BVP)
Via their buy-back program, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has finished collecting a sufficient number of Zylon fiber vests. This enables the NIJ to conduct a comprehensive analysis as to the safety for use of these types of vests.

That testing is currently being conducted. However, NIJ is as yet unable to say with any certainty when the testing and compilation of results will be completed. BVP program awards cannot be released until such time as the final report is compiled and published. The reason this is affecting the awards announcement is because only NIJ-approved vests are eligible for reimbursement under BVP.

NIJ is trying to ensure that they are allowing only "safe" vests on the streets. If Zylon is proven to be ineffective, those vests utilizing Zylon would be removed from the authorized list.

Law enforcement should be pleased that this testing is being conducted. It behooves us to have patience with the NIJ, in order to allow them to do their job correctly – after all, your lives are at stake here. Allowing NIJ some slack to complete testing and reporting the right way should be welcomed, even if it means we have to wait a while longer for the BVP awards announcement.

Assistance to Firefighters Grant program (AFGP)
It is our understanding that significant progress has been made on the house side of Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to have the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) published, which will allow the award funding rounds to begin.

As of the time of this release, all indications still lean towards an August 12 awards release date.

It is anticipated that up to 3000 departments may be announced in the first round of funding. The Eagle has taken flight, folks – it is just on final approach for landing! A little more patience is warranted.

There is also good news for EMS. During this past week more standalone EMS/Rescue squads have started receiving their "10 questions and 1199A form" emails. This was a long-awaited sign for the newest departments to be allowed to apply for AFGP funding. Congratulations are in order for those of you in these departments that have received your notices. If you haven't, remember, check your email, the mail and the messages area of your online AFGP application area!

After the first award announcement, subsequent funding rounds are anticipated to be announced every Friday and will continue through the end of the fiscal year. DHS continues to state that their goal is to have all of these awards announced by the end of October. The award rounds may be starting a little late this year, but the overall awards period will be much shorter. This means less "waiting with bated breath" time, as you'll know much sooner whether you're getting an award or a "Dear John letter."

If you who have not received your "notices" yet, there's no need to be overly concerned at this point. There will be a number of funding rounds, so there's still plenty of time to keep your fingers crossed. "Dear John" rejection notices should start going out after September 1, so at this point "no news is good news.

SAFER Program
Earlier this year Consultant Kurt Bradley guessed that this program's funds – with only $65 million of the requested $100 million being available – would be eaten up very quickly. The cause would be career departments seeking funds for additional positions, leaving only a small amount of volunteer departments getting any money for Recruitment & Retention.

If our theory and math is correct, the average application for SAFER would be around $500,000. Based on that, we predict that about 130-150 departments will be funded, with a single award announcement in early September. Just a prediction here folks, we could be wrong.

Check back to see how close to the mark we are and when the announcements begin.

Updates: Check CHIEF Grants, Contact Kurt
CHIEF Grants will continue to monitor these situations closely. As any award news is obtained, we will post it in our Grant News. Please continue to monitor the CHIEF Grants website for the most current updates.

If your department receives any communications from DHS concerning your grant applications, please email Kurt Bradley ().

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