WASHINGTON, DC - Fire departments often contact USFA with similar questions about their application and the process of issuing decisions for their grant requests. In an effort to be responsive to fire departments, and at the same time reduce the resulting staff time needed to respond to inquiries, the USFA is releasing this list of the frequently asked questions. Since USFA staff cannot provide specific information on each of these application decisions, these questions and answers are presented as generic information.
USFA staff will begin the process this week of issuing grant decisions that turndown fire department requests by notifying 7500 fire departments of their grant request decline. It is hoped that these questions and answers will provide an explanation of this element of the grant process.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why didn't we receive funding for our request?
We don't have enough funding to support every request in FY2002. We received over 19,500 applications for a total of $2.2 billion in needs. Since we have $360 million to award, not every applicant can get an award. With $360 million, we estimate that we will be able to fund between 5,000 and 5,500 applicants.
USFA staff cannot provide specific information regarding an application or the evaluator’s decisions for rating the applications. There were over 19,500 applications that went through multiple layers of review, as such, e are not able to respond to specific requests for information on any one application. As you know from our program guidance, each of the eligible activities had funding priorities associated with it, and in most cases, a department’s application probably did not match up as well with those funding priorities as other departments did.
If President Bush signs the supplemental funding approval, will there be a chance for our award to be considered in the FY02 Fire Act?
No. If President Bush takes action to make additional emergency funds available to the grant program, the USFA staff has already identified those additional applications that would be reviewed.
Why did it take so long to find out about the turndown of our grant application?
It was important to expend as much staff time as needed to perform a thorough review of all the applications evaluated by the independent technical panels and address any concerns raised during paneling. Each application was given careful consideration so that we could be certain about application decisions. Also, since an additional $150 million had been proposed under an emergency supplemental appropriation, the parameters of the awarded range of grant requests have been difficult to determine.
What questions are graded and how did we do on them?
Departmental characteristics do not have scores associated with them. All ire department responses to the activity-specific questions of the four program areas do have value and affect the application’s score. Scoring is protected information and we are unable to discuss how particular departments scored on any given question. However, the areas where applicants have scored low is where the proposed program/activity did not match well with the grant program’s funding priorities, which are reflected in the program guidance.
Can I see my application?
Yes, your application is available to you on-line. However, scoring information is protected information by law, and cannot be released to anyone.
What was the process for scoring my application?
This is a competitive grant process where the applications are scored electronically during the first phase of review using the priorities established by the legislative process and the national fire service organizations. The second phase includes a peer review process. We brought in fire service professionals from across the United States to serve as panelists to apply a final score to the applications.
What could I have done better?
You may have presented a good case for funding. However, due to funding limitations we will need to turn down as many as 14,000 applications. Generally, unsuccessful applicants did not submit requests based on the priorities established by the legislative process. Without exception, fire departments’ applications should be for those activities that are the department’s top priorities. But, it is important for applicants to understand that the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program’s priorities may be different from their own. We encourage every department to review and become familiar with the Program Guidance, which lays out the top funding priorities of the grant program. The department can then determine which of its own priorities best fit those immediate needs of their community or fire department and those program-funding priorities.
Why are some departments receiving money for a second year in a row? Isn't priority given to departments who did not receive any money last year?
All departments are eligible to apply for the grants each year, regardless of whether they received a grant in the past. In fact, there are several reasons not to exclude last year’s grantees from this year’s program:
- Each year is an open competition and we want to fund the applications that best address the program’s priorities.
- We made significant changes to this year’s program. Last year an applicant could apply for only one category at a time, which was very limiting. Receiving an award last year did not mean that the applicant fulfilled all its needs in that area. This year we greatly expanded the activities available under one application making it much easier for an applicant to more completely improve its operations.
- Some departments aren't able to financially meet the match for all their operational needs in one year, so this policy allows these departments to apply incrementally in order to address their operational needs over multiple years.
