Starting Monday, July 29, 2013, online applications will be accepted for FY 2013 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. The deadline for all SAFER grant applications will be Friday, August 30, 2013, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).
How to Apply: For information on how to apply, visit the SAFER Grants Web Page on the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Website (www.fema.gov/firegrants).
The first step is to read the FY 2013 SAFER Funding Opportunity Announcement. This document describes how to apply for a grant, activities that will be funded, types of organizations that are eligible to receive awards, the evaluation criteria for making awards, and the federal requirements for grantees.
Activities Eligible for SAFER Grants:
- Hiring of Firefighters (Career, Combination, and Volunteer Fire Departments)
- Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters (Combination and Volunteer Fire Departments and national, state, local, or tribal organizations that represent the interests of volunteer firefighters)
Important: All Applicants and Grantees Must Register in the System for Award Management (SAM)
Starting with the FY 2013 AFG Program, all applicants are required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting their application.
All Grant Applicants: Please ensure that your entity has an active registration in SAM.gov. Registration is required to award all new awards for FY 2012 and 2013. It may take several days for a newly submitted registration to become active.
Potential Applicants? If you are thinking about applying for FY 2013 funds, you should register your organization on SAM.gov as soon as possible. Register in SAM.gov as soon as you can. Don’t wait for the application period to open.
Current Grantees: Current grantees must have an active registration in SAM.gov to avoid delays in receiving approval of amendment and payment requests.
Remember that registration on SAM.gov is completely free of charge. There is no fee for you to register or to renew or update your organization’s information on SAM.gov. You may see the websites of private businesses or contractors that will register your organization in SAM for you, for a fee. These websites often look like government websites at first glance. BUT remember that paying any fee is unnecessary to use SAM.gov and its resources.