SEQUESTRATION BUDGET CUTS WILL NOT IMPACT CURRENT 2012 ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTER GRANT (AFG) APPLICATIONS OR AWARDS

SEQUESTRATION BUDGET CUTS WILL NOT IMPACT CURRENT 2012 ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTER GRANT (AFG) APPLICATIONS OR AWARDS

SEQUESTRATION BUDGET CUTS WILL NOT IMPACT CURRENT 2012 ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT APPLICATIONS OR AWARDS

NOTIFICATION OF APPLICANTS THAT APPLIED IN 2012 FOR ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANTS

REMINDER: REGISTRATION WITH SAM.GOV IS SIMPLE AND FREE! DON'T PAY UNNECESSARY FEES TO REGISTER ON THE SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM)

AFG CALENDAR
Current 2012 awards and those issued in earlier years for the AFG, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER), and Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Programs will NOT be impacted by the anticipated sequestration budget cuts. In other words, the budget cuts will not impact the funding of AFG awards EMW-2012-XX, and earlier years. Furthermore, AFG applications now under consideration for award will not be affected by these cuts. However, we encourage all grantees to begin procurement procedures and spend their awarded funds in a timely manner.

In his March 4, 2013, letter, David J. Kaufman, the Grant Programs Directorate's (GPD) Acting Assistant Administrator, stated that the sequestration budget cuts will affect FY 2013 grants but will not affect grants awarded in FY 2012 or previous fiscal years.The sequestration budget cuts will likely affect FY 2013 funding levels for all GPD grants, including AFG, subject to FEMA's final FY 2013 appropriation. But current AFG awards and applications now under consideration for award will not be affected by these cuts.

NOTIFICATION OF APPLICANTS THAT APPLIED IN 2012 FOR ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANTS
Grants are being awarded currently to those who submitted applications in 2012 for Operations and Safety, Regional, and Vehicle grants. These grants will continue to be awarded until all AFG funds have been obligated. To see the current list of 2012 awardees, go to Award Year 2012 on the AFG Website.

Notification Letters. Starting the second week of March 2013, notification letters will be sent to those applicants whose 2012 requests were not awarded funding because their applications did not receive prescores high enough to qualify them for peer review panel evaluation. Please note that these notifications are in no way related to the sequestration budget cuts; sequestration cuts will have no impact on current grant applications or awards with the numbers EMW-2012-XX-.

Notification letters will be sent in a message to the applicant's AFG Mail Center inbox and an e-mail message to the Point of Contact (POC) listed for the application; no hard copies of letters will be mailed to applicants.

The notification letters will identify the primary reasons why applications fell outside of the competitive range in the hopes that this information will help applicants to improve their chances of success when preparing future AFG applications. The AFG program is highly competitive. Even though an organization may not have been awarded a 2012 grant, it does NOT lessen the chance of receiving a grant next year. We want to strongly encourage all applicants to reapply for AFG funding assistance.

How to Check for Notification Letters and Application Status. The POC for each application can find notification letters and check the status of their application in two ways:

1. Check the individual e-mail account that was listed for the POC of the application. If the application is approved for award, the POC will receive a single e-mail notification from firegrants@fema.dhs.gov. If no message is received, then no decision has been made yet on that application. (Check "Junk" mail inboxes also.)
2. Log in to the application at the AFG e-Grant Application portal, the same website used to submit the original application.
o After logging in, click the "Mail Center" link in the upper right-hand section of the screen.
o On the next screen, three folders appear in the header bar: "New Messages," "Old Messages," and "Archive." Click the "New Messages" folder and look for a copy of an e-mail message to the POC from firegrants@fema.dhs.gov. If no new messages from this e-mail address are in the folder, then no decision has been made yet on the request. Note that any previously opened messages will have been moved automatically to the "Old Message" folder, so that folder should be checked if more than one individual has access to the e-Grant Application inbox.
Reasons for Receiving No Message on Application Status. There are two reasons why an applicant may not have received a notification letter or an update on the status of their request:

1. The application may still be under consideration for award, OR
2. One or more of the application's projects qualified for peer review evaluation but ultimately were not recommended for funding. Notification letters will be sent to these applicants in the near future.
All Applicants Will Be Notified. Please be patient until a decision is made on your application. All applicants will be notified of the final decision made on their request regardless of whether they will receive an award.

REMINDER: REGISTRATION WITH SAM.GOV IS SIMPLE AND FREE! DON'T PAY UNNECESSARY FEES TO REGISTER ON THE SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM)
An active SAM registration is required to process all grant actions regardless of the year the grant was awarded. Please ensure that your entity has an active registration in the SAM.gov. If your SAM registration status is not active, it may significantly delay the approval of your awards, payments, and amendment requests.

Registration on SAM.gov is completely free of charge. There is no fee for you to register or to renew/update your organization's information on SAM.gov.

If you use a search engine to find the SAM.gov website, you may come across the websites of private businesses or contractors that will register your organization in SAM for you — for a fee.These websites often will look like government websites at first glance. BUT remember that paying any fee is unnecessary to use SAM.gov and its resources. You can register and update your SAM data on your own by using the resources and Help Desk contacts listed on the AFG website and the SAM.gov website.

The SAM/Federal Service Desk (Help Desk), can be reached toll-free at 1-866-606-8220,Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Online help, FAQs, and access to the Federal Service Desk are available anytime via www.fsd.gov.