CARES Act Emergency Management Funding Program Announced

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FEMA announced the release of the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Final Allocations for the $100 million in supplemental funding made available to the Emergency Management Performance Grant Program (EMPG) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG-S) Program - Supplemental assists states, territories, tribes and local governments with their public health and emergency management activities supporting the prevention of, preparation for, and response to the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19 public health emergency. Through this grant program, FEMA will award funding to support planning and operational readiness for COVID-19 preparedness and response; development of tools and strategies for prevention, preparedness, and response; and ongoing communication and coordination among federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial partners throughout the response.

Eligibility

All 56 states and territories are eligible to apply for FY 2020 EMPG program funds. Either the State Administrative Agency (SAA) or the State’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) is eligible to apply directly to FEMA for EMPG funds on behalf of each state or territory. However, only one application is accepted from each state or territory.

Funding Guidelines

All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico each receive a base amount of 0.75 percent of the total available funding appropriated for the EMPG-S program. Four territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) each receive a base amount of 0.25 percent of the total available funding appropriated for the EMPG-S program. The remaining balance of the funds appropriated for the EMPG-S are distributed on a population-share basis.

Application Process

FEMA is employing a streamlined application process for EMPG-S to expedite the issuance of awards and make the funds available to recipients as quickly as possible. Unlike the standard EMPG program, FY 2020 EMPG-S applications do not require submission of a completed Work Plan at the time of application. Instead, the required EMPG-S Work Plan will be due by July 30, 2020 in conjunction with submission of the first Performance Progress Report. Given this streamlined application process, the application period for EMPG-S is only 15-days. Applying for an award under the EMGP-S is a multi-step process: Eligible applicants should submit their initial application at least one day prior to the April 28, 2020 (at 5 p.m. EDT) application deadline through the Grants.gov portal at http://www.grants.gov.

Applicants needing Grants.gov support should contact the Grants.gov customer support hotline at (800) 518-4726. Eligible applicants will be notified by FEMA and asked to proceed with submitting their complete application package in the Non-Disaster (ND) Grants System by the application deadline. Applicants needing technical support with the ND Grants System should contact ndgrants@fema.dhs.gov or (800) 865-4076, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. EDT. Completed applications must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. EDT on April 28, 2020.

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