Application Notes:

Prior to submitting a full application, applicants must submit a mandatory initial application, which should be submitted at least seven days prior to the full application deadline.

Initial applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Initial applications must include:

• SF 424
• Certification form regarding lobbying

Applicants will be notified as to whether their eligibility applications have been approved and will be invited to submit full applications, which will be accepted beginning on February 1, 2024, and must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET on April 30, 2024.

Full applications must be submitted online at portal.fema.gov.

Full applications must include:

• SF 424A
• SF 424B
• SF LLL
• Safeguarding Tomorrow revolving loan fund application
• Hazard mitigation plan
• Intended use plan
• Project proposal list
• Documentation that the intended use plan was provided for public comment and review

Applicants must provide access to their hazard mitigation plan in their application via a weblink. If the hazard mitigation plan is not publicly available online, applicants may contact FEMA-STORMRLF@fema.dhs.gov to coordinate submission of their hazard mitigation plan.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
• SAM (System for Award Management) registration
• SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.

Applications will be evaluated according to the programmatic criteria and financial integrity criteria detailed on pages 28-30 of the NOFA file.

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Notes:

Once an applicant receives notification from the funding agency of a potential award, the applicant must confirm its intent to contribute at least 10 percent of the proposed award amount to the entity loan fund. If the applicant indicates it will contribute less than 10 percent of the proposed award amount, the funding agency will reduce the amount of the award to an amount that is ten times that of what the applicant proposes to contribute. Thereafter, on or before the date on which the award is received, the applicant must contribute to the entity loan fund an amount equal to at least 10 percent of the award amount.

The source of the entity contribution may include entity programs or budgets, private investment, or other available sources. Award recipients may not use contributions from potential loan recipients to source the entity contribution.

Funding Notes:

A total of $150 million is available through this program to support awards anticipated to be no less than $5.1 million.

The project period is 24 months from the date of award, unless an extension is approved by the funding agency. Extensions to the project period may be permitted, as detailed on page 44 of the NOFA file.

Within the project period, award recipients must establish the revolving loan fund and utilize the full federal and nonfederal share of funding made available to issue loans. Projects funded by the loans do not need to be completed within the 24-month project period. Loans do not need to be fully repaid during the 24-month project period.

Entity loan fund administration costs may not exceed $100,000 per year, 2 percent of the capitalization grants made in that fiscal year, or 1 percent of the value of the entity loan fund, whichever amount is greatest, plus the amount of any fees collected by the entity for administrative purposes.

An entity loan may not commit more than 5 percent of a capitalization grant for technical assistance to loan recipients. In cases where the $100,000 per year or 1 percent of the value of the entity loan fund limits are applied, technical assistance costs may not exceed 5 percent of the award, even if additional administrative funding is available. In cases where the 2 percent of the capitalization award limit is applied, technical assistance costs may not exceed available administrative funding and 2 percent of the award.

An entity loan fund may not commit more than 10 percent of a capitalization grant for loans to implement zoning and land use planning changes.

An entity loan fund may not commit more than 10 percent of a capitalization grant for loans to perform mitigation planning.

An entity loan fund may not provide a loan greater than $5 million to finance a single hazard mitigation project.

Award recipients may provide a loan to a local government for its nonfederal cost share requirement of a grant under one of the funding agency's hazard mitigation assistance (HMA) programs; however, award recipients may not provide a loan to a local government for the nonfederal cost share requirement for any other federal grants/cooperative agreements.

Funds may not be used for:

• Lobbying
• Intervention in federal regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings
• Suing the federal government or any other government entity
• Procuring or obtaining any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services, as detailed on pages 23-24 of the NOFA file

For FY 2023, a total of $50 million was distributed via eight awards ranging from $5.1 million to $6,917,284 through this program. Refer to the Award file for details.

February 2, 2024
The required forms for submission have been released and appended to the Application folder as the Application, IUPTemplate, and ProjectProposalListTemplate files.