Outreach News - 03/03/11

1. Emergency Communications Grants

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Emergency Communications, in coordination with the Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, develops the annual SAFECOM Guidance on Emergency Communications Grants. The guidance provides recommendations to grantees seeking funding for interoperable emergency communications projects, including allowable costs, items to consider when funding emergency communications projects, grants management best practices for emergency communications grants, and information on standards that ensure greater interoperability. The guidance is intended to ensure that Federally-funded investments are compatible and support national goals and objectives for improving interoperability nationwide.

NOTE: SAFECOM is not a grant program. Funds are not available under SAFECOM. SAFECOM provides guidance to grantees applying for Federal grant funding.

Click here for the FY 2011 SAFECOM Guidance for Federal Grant Programs. Please click here for information on Federal grants that fund emergency communications, including recurring grants that support emergency communications, research grants that fund innovative and pilot projects, and past grants that may be funding ongoing projects. To search for new (FY 2011) grants funding emergency communications, please go to www.grants.gov, the Federal government’s clearinghouse for active grant notices.

2. NPSTC has filed comments relative to the FCC’s Docket entitled, “Rapidly Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture Capable of Providing Immediate Communications to Disaster Areas”. The NPSTC filing is attached.

3. In a study released Tuesday, the Phoenix Center finds that assigning the 10 megahertz of contiguous 700 MHz spectrum, the D block, to public safety could provide at least $3.4 billion more in social benefits than auctioning the spectrum for commercial use. For details, please click on http://radioresourcemag.com/newsArticle.cfm?news_id=6734.

4. The Phoenix Study described in Number Three above is attached.