44 CFR Part 152

Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS
the Administrator) of its receipt of
that determination notify the Administrator of its acceptance in writing accompanied by a properly executed document of release. Upon receipt of such
notice and document of release, the Administrator will forward the claim, a
copy of the Administrator’s final determination, and the claimant’s document
of release to the Secretary of the
Treasury for payment of the claim in
the amount of final authorization.
§ 151.14

Adjudication.

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.

Subpart C—Administration,
Penalties
§ 151.21

[Reserved]

§ 151.22

Audits.

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.
§ 151.23

Penalties.

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 sub-

§ 152.1

ject to the civil penalties set out in 31
U.S.C. 3729 and 3730.

PART 152—ASSISTANCE TO
FIREFIGHTERS GRANT PROGRAM
Sec.
152.1 Purpose and eligible uses of grant
funds.
152.2 Definitions.
152.3 Availability of funds.
152.4 Roles and responsibilities.
152.5 Review process and evaluation criteria.
152.6 Application review and award process.
152.7 Grant payment, reporting and other
requirements.
152.8 Application submission and deadline.
152.9 Reconsideration.
AUTHORITY: Federal Fire Protection and
Control Act, 15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.
SOURCE: 68 FR 12547, Mar. 14, 2003, unless
otherwise noted.

§ 152.1 Purpose and eligible uses of
grant funds.
(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

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§ 152.2

44 CFR Ch. I (10–1–11 Edition)

within the auspices of the municipality. When a municipality or fire district submits an application on behalf
of a fire department, the fire department is precluded from submitting an
additional application. Non-Federal
airport and/or port authority fire departments are eligible, but only if they
have a formally recognized arrangement with the local jurisdiction to provide fire suppression, on a first-due
basis, outside the confines of the airport or port facilities. Airport or port
authority fire departments whose sole
responsibility is suppression of fires on
the airport grounds or port facilities
are not eligible for this grant program.
Fire departments that are Federal or
contracted by the Federal government
and whose sole responsibility is suppression of fires on Federal installations are not eligible for this grant program. Fire stations that are not independent but are part of, or controlled
by a larger fire department or agency,
are typically not eligible. Fire departments that are for-profit departments
(i.e., do not have specific non-profit
status or are not municipally based)
are not eligible to apply for assistance
under this program. Also not eligible
for this program are ambulance services, rescue squads, auxiliaries, dive
teams, urban search and rescue teams,
fire service organizations or associations, and State/local agencies such as
a forest service, fire marshal, hospitals,
and training offices.
(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.
§ 152.2 Definitions.
Active firefighter is a member of a fire
department or organization in good
standing that is qualified to respond to
and extinguish fires or perform other
fire department emergency services
and has actively participated in such
activities during the past year.
Bay is the part or compartment of a
building that provides parking for one
or more pieces of firefighting apparatus.
Career department is a fire suppression
agency or organization in which all active firefighters are considered fulltime employees, are assigned regular

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Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS
duty shifts, and receive financial compensation for their services rendered on
behalf of the department. Departments
with active firefighters that are paid
stipends on a per-call basis are not career departments. See the definition of
combination department in this section.
Combination department is a fire suppression agency or organization in
which at least one active firefighter receives financial compensation for his/
her services rendered on behalf of the
department and at least one active
firefighter does not receive financial
compensation for his/her services rendered on behalf of the department
other than life/health insurance, workmen’s compensation insurance, length
of service awards, pay per-call or perhour, or similar token compensation.
Construction is the creation of a new
structure or any modification of the
footprint or profile of an existing
structure. Changes or renovations to
an existing structure that do not
change the footprint or profile of the
structure but exceed either $10,000 or 50
percent of the value of the structure,
are also considered construction for
the purposes of this grant program.
Changes that are less than $10,000 and/
or 50 percent of the value of the structure are considered renovations, for the
purposes of this grant program.
Direct delivery of training is training
conducted within a training organization’s own jurisdiction using the organization’s own resources (trainers, facilities, equipment, etc.).
Fire boat is a vessel designed primarily for firefighting operations, however, may also be capable of water rescue and hazardous materials spills
mitigation, etc. These vessels may also
have the capability to pump a large
volume of water from a drafting operation.
Fire department or fire department of a
State is 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 nonFederal 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

§ 152.2

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 within the
auspices of the municipality. When a
municipality or fire district submits an
application on behalf of a fire department, the fire department is precluded
from submitting an additional application. Non-Federal airport and/or port
authority fire departments are eligible,
but only if they have a formally recognized arrangement with the local jurisdiction to provide fire suppression services, on a first-due basis, outside the
confines of the airport or port facilities. Airport or port authority fire departments whose sole responsibility is
suppression of fires on the airport
grounds or port facilities are not eligible for this grant program. Fire departments that are Federal or contracted
by the Federal government and whose
sole responsibility is suppression of
fires on Federal installations are not
eligible for this grant program. Fire
departments or fire stations that are
not independent but are part of, or controlled by a larger fire department or
agency, are typically not eligible. Fire
departments that are for-profit departments (i.e., do not have specific nonprofit status or are not municipally
based) are not eligible to apply for assistance under this program. Also not
eligible for this program are ambulance services, rescue squads, auxiliaries, dive teams, urban search and
rescue teams, fire service organizations
or associations, and State/local agencies such as a forest service, fire marshal, hospitals, and training offices.
Firefighter. See the definition of Active firefighter in this section.
First-due response area is a geographical area in proximity to a fire or
rescue facility and normally served by
the personnel and apparatus from that
facility in the event of a fire or other
emergency.
Formally recognized arrangement is an
agreement between the fire department
and a local jurisdiction such that the
jurisdiction has publicly or otherwise

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§ 152.2

44 CFR Ch. I (10–1–11 Edition)

formally deemed that the fire department has the first-due response responsibilities within a fixed geographical
area of the jurisdiction. Often this
agreement is recognized or reported to
the appropriate State entity with cognizance over fire departments, such as
registration with the State Fire Marshal’s office, or the agreement is specifically contained in the fire department’s or jurisdiction’s charter.
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.
New mission is a first-responder function that a department has never delivered in the past or that was once delivered but has since been abandoned by
the department due to the lack of funding or community support. Examples
include technical search and rescue,
emergency medical services, hazardous
materials response, etc. A new mission
does not include services already provided from existing facilities. Opening
additional stations to provide similar
services would be considered an expansion of existing services.
Population means permanent residents in the first-due response area or
jurisdiction served by the applicant. It
would include students but does not include seasonal population or any population in area that the fire department
responds to under mutual/automatic
aid agreements.
Prop is something that can be held up
in a classroom or moved from site to
site in order to facilitate or enhance
the training experience. A training
tower (pre-fabricated or constructed) is
not a prop.
Renovation is changes or alterations
or modifications to an existing structure that do not exceed either $10,000
and/or 50 percent of the market value
of the structure and do not involve a
change in the footprint or profile of the
structure.
Rural community is a community that
has low population density, zoned agri-

cultural or parkland, and whose fire department has a relatively low volume
of fire calls.
State means any of the fifty States,
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands.
Suburban community is a community
that has a medium density population
with a portion of their jurisdiction
being zoned for industrial and/or commercial uses, and whose fire department has a high call volume relative to
a rural community.
Supplies means any expendable property that typically has a one-time use
limit and an expectation of being replaced within one year.
The United States Fire Administrator’s
(USFA) operational and performance objectives are to reduce losses of life and
reduce economic losses due to fire and
related emergencies. Specific target
groups are children under 14 years old,
seniors over 65 years old, and firefighters.
Urban community is a community
with a high density population with a
major proportion of its jurisdiction
zoned for commercial and/or industrial
use and a significant call volume.
Vehicle is a mechanized device used
for carrying passengers, goods, or
equipment. Examples of vehicles include, but are not limited to: pumpers,
brush trucks, tankers, tenders, attack
pumpers, rescue (transport and nontransport), ambulances, foam units,
quints, aerials, ladders, hazmat vehicles, squads, crash rescue (ARFF),
boats, hovercraft, planes, and helicopters. Details concerning vehicle eligibility will be provided in the NOFA
that will be published pursuant to this
program’s annual appropriation.
Volunteer department is a fire suppression agency or organization in which
no active firefighters are considered
full-time employees, and which no
members receive financial compensation for their services rendered on behalf of the department other than life/
health insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, length of service
awards, pay per-call or per-hour, or
similar token compensation.
Watercraft is a small boat (less than
13 feet in length) or other watercraft

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Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS
designed and equipped for water and/or
ice rescue, rather than basic firefighting operations. Generally, these
vessels will be equipped with water rescue equipment, flotation devices, and
other basic medical and rescue equipment and their primary function will
be rescue activities.
§ 152.3 Availability of funds.
(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.
§ 152.4 Roles and responsibilities.
(a) Applicants must:
(1) Complete the application and certify to the accuracy of all the information contained therein;

§ 152.4

(2) Certify that they are an eligible
applicant, i.e., a fire department, as defined in this part;
(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

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§ 152.5

44 CFR Ch. I (10–1–11 Edition)

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 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.
(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.
[68 FR 12547, Mar. 14, 2003, as amended at 74
FR 15344, Apr. 3, 2009]

§ 152.5 Review process and evaluation
criteria.
(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

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Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS
about the project, the applicant’s financial need, and the project’s purported benefit to be derived from the
cost. Technical evaluation panelists
will independently score each application before them and then discuss the
merits/shortcomings of the application
in an effort to reconcile any major discrepancies. A consensus on the score is
not required. The highest scoring applications resulting from this second level
of review will then be considered for
award. We seek to maximize the benefits derived from the funding by crediting applicants with the greatest financial need and whose proposed activities provide the greatest benefit
versus the cost.
(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.
§ 152.6 Application review and award
process.
(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 pro-

§ 152.7

posed 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, i.e., we will fund
the highest scored applications before
considering lower scored applications.
(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.
§ 152.7 Grant payment, reporting and
other requirements.
(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

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§ 152.8

44 CFR Ch. I (10–1–11 Edition)

and services contracted for, or purchased prior to the effective date of the
grant. However, we will consider requests for reimbursement for these on
an exception basis. Expenses incurred
after the application deadline but prior
to award may be eligible for reimbursement if the expenses were justified, unavoidable (i.e., urgent and compelling),
consistent with the scope of work, and
specifically approved by the Assistance
Officer. Expenses, obligations, commitments or contracts incurred or entered
into prior to the application deadline
are not eligible to be included as an expense.
(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.
[68 FR 12547, Mar. 14, 2003, as amended at 74
FR 15344, Apr. 3, 2009]

§ 152.8 Application submission and
deadline.
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.
§ 152.9 Reconsideration.
(a) Reconsideration of initial grant
award decisions. We will review our decision with respect to an initial grant
award decision only when the applicant
asserts that we have made a material
technical or procedural error in the
processing of the application and can
substantiate such assertions. As grants
are awarded on a competitive basis, in
accordance with the findings of an
independent panel of experts, we cannot consider requests for reconsideration based upon the merits of an original application. Similarly, we will not
consider new information provided
after the submission of the original application. In the case of new information, we encourage applicants to incorporate their changed circumstances
into their applications for future grant
cycles.
(b) Reconsideration of other decisions.
We will consider requests for reconsideration of decisions other than those
related to the initial grant award on
their merits.

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Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS
(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 Admin-

§ 152.9

istrator, Grant Programs Directorate,
Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, FEMA, 800 K Street, NW., South
Tower 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20001.

PARTS 153–199 [RESERVED]

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