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Scoring, Grant Writing, and Awards
Are there targeted funding amounts for the three program areas?
It is ODP's intent to fund the best applications regardless of the program area with the following legally required exceptions: (1) not more than 25 percent of grant funds can be used to purchase firefighting vehicles, and (2) at least 5 percent of funds must be expended on fire prevention programs.
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Do I need to hire a professional grant writer to complete an application?
No, the online application is designed to be straightforward and user friendly. There are a number of help buttons and pull-down screens that will clarify items on the application. The application is also designed to prevent incomplete or inaccurate applications from being submitted. Anyone with basic computer skills and knowledge of the fire service should be able to complete and submit an application. In addition, panels of your peers will review competitive applications. Therefore, your applications simply need to be written in a manner that your colleagues can understand.
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How are the grant applications scored?
In the first phase, each application will receive a numerical score based on the applicant's response to the activity-specific questions. Applications will then be rank-ordered, and the most competitive applications will be forwarded for review by a technical application panel comprised of peer fire service professionals. The panel will evaluate the narrative portion of the application and will assign a numerical score based upon the project description, cost-benefit statement, and the financial need of the applicant.
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How will the determination for an award be made?
In selecting applications for award, we will use the established applicant eligibility criteria, program priorities, the financial needs of the applicant, and an analysis of the benefits that would result from the grant award.
In the initial screening of the applications, every application will be evaluated based on the answers to the activity-specific questions. The applications that most closely address the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program's established priorities will be deemed to be in the "competitive range" and subject to a second level of review. This second level of review is conducted using technical review panels (made up of individuals from the fire service or fire service organizations) that assess the application's merits with respect to the detail provided in the narrative about the project, the applicant's financial need, and the project's benefit to be derived from the cost. At least three technical evaluation panelists will independently score each application and then discuss the merits and shortcomings of the application to reconcile any major discrepancies. A consensus on the score is not required. The scores of the panelists will be added together, and then divided by the number of panelists to arrive at the final score of the application. The highest scoring applications will then be considered for award. We will provide equal consideration to applications in each evaluation phase, regardless of the program for which the request was submitted, or the number of activities requested.
The law requires a specific distribution of grant funds between career departments and combination/volunteer fire departments. Specifically, we must ensure that fire departments that have either all-volunteer forces of firefighting personnel or combined forces of volunteer and career firefighting personnel receive a portion of the total grant funding that is not less than the proportion of the U.S. population that those departments protect. According to a survey by the NFPA, volunteer and combination departments protect 55 percent of the population of the United States, and career departments protect 45 percent of the population. To fulfill our obligations under the law, we may also make funding decisions using rank order as the preliminary basis then based on the size and character of the community a department serves (urban, suburban, or rural), and the geographic location of the fire department. In instances in which we make final decisions by including geographic location, we will use States as the basic geographic unit.
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Will there be any partial funding of grants?
Applications will be scored based on their entire request. We anticipate that the majority of grant awards will be for the funding level requested, provided that all items requested are eligible and meet the priorities of the program. In some cases, it may be necessary to negotiate the final grant award with an applicant. This will be accomplished on a case-by-case basis. We reserve the right to adjust any request, in whole or in part, that we deem to be excessive or otherwise contrary to the best interest of the program.
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