**FRSGP Workshop Summary**

**Chicago, IL**

**November 13, 2008**

**10 am -- 4 pm CST**

**[Opening Comments:]{.underline}**

**TSA/FR:** Welcome to the Freight Rail Security Grant Program (FRSGP)
workshop for FY09. We are glad that you came and hope that you find the
information that we share with you today very helpful.

**TSA/Grants:** As a member of the TSA grants team, I will be going over
the general program overview. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from the
freight rail division are here to answer your questions and present
aspects of the program as well today. These grants are co-led by TSA and
FEMA. TSA makes the programmatic decisions to include designing and
developing the program and FEMA approves the projects for funding and
awards the grants. Once TSA makes the award decisions through
coordinating a National Review Panel (NRP), the approved projects are
handed over to FEMA, which acts as the administrator and banker for the
program. In sum, TSA is the front-end and FEMA is the back end of the
grant award process.

After lunch, a representative from FEMA will present information on the
application process and reporting and management requirements that
accompany the grants. He can answer any questions on the administration
or FEMA side of the program. As we go through the presentation today,
keep in mind that this is a workshop, not a conference so please feel
free to ask questions at any time and do not be afraid to interrupt. We
want to ensure that you are receiving the information that you need
concerning the program.

**[Program Overview]{.underline}**

**TSA/Grants:** FRSGP grant funds this year can be used for three basic
activities. This year, we opened the grants to railroad car owners and
offerors that transport bulk TIH for the funding of Global Positioning
System (GPS) tracking systems. Essentially, the program will fund
security plans, vulnerability assessments, training and tracking
systems. There are two types of eligible recipients for the program. The
first is Class I railroads and the Class II and III railroads. Other
eligibility criteria includes railroads must operate in at least one
high density population area. The list of high population density areas
has expanded this year but if your railroad does not go through at least
one high population density area you not eligible to apply. Also, you
must certify that you have completed a vulnerability assessment and
security plan that conforms to 49 CFR. Class II and III railroad's can
primarily apply for vulnerability assessments and security plans.

Overall, eligible railroads are restricted to training and plans. For
owners of railcars and TIH **offerors** that transport by railroad you
are eligible for funding for GPS tracking systems. An Information
Bulletin (#299) is available on the website that outlines eligibility
for the GPS tracking systems. If you do not own the railcar (in other
words, you lease it), you must submit a form, which we have included in
IB #299 that says that the owner of the railcar has approved the
attachment of the GPS to their railcar. If owners and offerors both
apply for the GPS on the same railcar the owner gets preference. When
you complete the form, you must include the railroad car number so that
we can ensure that we are not duplicating funding.

The IB that was issued is a legal addendum to the grant guidance and it
corrects/replaces the current language in the guidance. Also, in IB #299
are the instructions and guidelines for the training that is available
under the grant. These instructions and guidelines were erroneously
omitted in FY09 but were included in the FY08 and it is basically the
same as it was last year. The FY09 FRGSP guidance and most of the other
forms that we will be discussing today are already posted.

Our website contains a lot of important information and I suggest that
you check it often as we will be updating our website frequently. We
will be posting the presentation from today's workshop as well as the
questions and answers asked today and on the weekly conference calls
that we will have from now until the application due date of January 13,
2009. The address for the TSA grants website is
[www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants). There are three
sections to our website, programs, awards and engage. For information on
FRGSP, you will look under programs.

While I am talking about the website, I will make a quick plug for our
secure blog. It is there to enable you to interact with the FRGSP grant
community. It is a restricted access blog and requires vetting to get
access which can take a couple weeks but we want to make sure that we
restrict access to only those that should have access. The blog is
accessible under the engage portion of the website. You will find the
blog access request form online as well as the protocols for requesting
access.

Freight rail carriers must meet one of the eligibility criteria listed
below to apply for the program:

Freight Railroad Carriers Eligibility Requirements

-   Transport Rail SSM;

-   Operate in or through at least one high population-density area, as
    listed in page 8 of the Guidance package; **AND**

-   Certify they have developed and adhere to a vulnerability assessment
    and security plan that conforms to the requirements of 49 CFR
    172.802.\[1\]

Owners of Railroad Cars and SSM Offerors Eligibility Requirements

-   Transport Rail Poisonous by Inhalation/Toxic Inhalation Hazardous
    (TIH).

Furthermore, you are eligible for certain types of projects based on who
you are. If you have a security plan and vulnerability assessment that
is certified, you may apply for training. Class II railroads must have a
vulnerability assessment and security plan first before they can apply
for funding. It is a good idea to use federal money to pay for these if
you do not currently have them. The last eligible group is owners and
offerors that transport bulk TIH.

**Allowable expenses**. Expenses must be allowable under the grant. Some
examples of what we can fund include training courses, security plans
and vulnerability assessments. We cannot pay for salaries or for
personnel under the grant. You will find templates for the vulnerability
assessments and security plan included in the guidance. You will find
more information on the training that is allowable in IB #299. The GPS
tracking guidelines are also in the guidance, and will be broadened with
an IB that will be released shortly.

Management and Administration (M&A) cannot exceed 3-percent. There are
management and administrative responsibilities that accompany any
federal grant. This includes reports that you must submit to FEMA on a
regular basis. M&A may be used costs associates with personnel salaries
or travel related expenses. If want M&A, you must line item it in your
budget. If you do not request it, you do not have any approved M&A under
the grant. Again, you can take up to 3% but it must be a line item in
your budget.

**Applications**. There are two components to an application: the
Investment Justification (IJ) and a detailed budget. Both the IJ and the
detailed budget template are included in the guidance as well as posted
on the website ([www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants)). Each
project type has its own review criteria. They are listed in guidance.
All applications are reviewed by a National Review Panel (NRP) given
they meet the minimum program eligibility criteria. The NRP is composed
of subject matter experts and security experts from TSA, FEMA, Freight
Rail and DOT/FTA.

For security plans and assessments, we evaluate on compliance, cost
appropriateness and timelines. Timelines are very important. You have to
tell us how you will accomplish the project within the project period of
performance (36 months). Do not list actual dates; provide us with
months or spans of time within which the milestone will be accomplished.
We recommend putting plus months (i.e. 3+ months) on timelines.

Training projects are evaluated on compliance and feasibility (i.e.
timelines). We look at the feasibility to get the project done in the
time stated. We are looking for you to train frontline employees -- to
train people. We are not looking for you to develop training. There are
already plenty of training programs that are available and DHS-approved.
If you focus the training on people, that is much more effective.

GPS projects are evaluated on its compliance with the information
provided in the guidance; cost appropriateness or cost effectiveness;
and, timelines. Do not mention vendors by name in your application. If a
specific vendor is mentioned when your application comes to FEMA it
looks like sole sourcing and sole sourcing is not allowed. Do some
research and obtain an average or cost value and some detailed
specifications. For the timelines component, think about the feasibility
of the timelines: Will you be able to complete it within the period of
performance? Is the risk reduction value feasible for the cost?

You do not have a cost share requirement in FY09 because it was removed
from the Transportation Security Grant Program (TSGP) by Congress in the
FY09 appropriation. FY09 FRSGP projects will be funded 100-percent by
the federal government.

**[Project Rundown: Vulnerability Assessments, Security Plans, Training,
and GPS tracking]{.underline}**

**[TSA/FR:]{.underline}** Funds for vulnerability assessments and
security plans are only available to class II and III. We will not walk
through that today though since no one here is a Class II or III
railroad. The guidance and IB #299 contains information about what we
are looking for when you apply for security training. Some training
courses are for passenger properties. A lot of the approved training
courses have resulted from TSA corridor assessments particularly
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and vehicle born explosives. We are
looking to target those people that "touch the trains" with the
training. That would include yard managers, field personnel, and
dispatchers.

Based on your comments and the number of questions that we have receive
today regarding the GPS tracking requirements, we will be issuing
another IB to clarify and refine these requirements. This IB will be
posted on our website ([www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants))
along with the IB referenced earlier, once both are available.

**[Application Process]{.underline}**

**[FEMA:]{.underline}** The process of registering for grants.gov, the
application system, can take several weeks. There are several steps in
the process that must be completed. A bunch of assurances and
certifications are also part of the process along with lobbying forms
and the standard 424 forms. All of these forms must be submitted via
grants.gov.

Applicants are allowed up to 2 IJs and each IJ requires a detailed
budget. Each IJ should address the initiative they are applying for and
state the amount funds that are requested along with a breakdown of
those funds.

The National Environmental Preservation Act (NEPA) or the Environmental
Historical Preservation Act (EHP) does not usually become involved when
you are applying for training, vulnerability plans or security plans. If
you are planning to install GPS tracking on railcars then yes, you will
need to do a NEPA assessment but we suggest that you do not do the
assessment until you hear from us that your project was approved for
funding and a grant award. The best thing that you could do if your
project requires a NEPA review is to submit pictures. Also, NEPA/EHP
will definitely apply if the railcars are over 50 years old. THIS
HAPPENS AFTER YOU RECEIVE THE AWARD LETTER and is not a part of your IJ.

**[Administrative Submission]{.underline}**

When you are in grants.gov, you will get one of several messages. Keep
the grants.gov phone number for reference and questions. You can upload
information and forms and track information but do not hit the submit
button until your application is complete. It is an anomaly of the
system that if you submit before you have a complete application, you
cannot change or resubmit it. The system blocks you out if you try
again.

You are required to submit quarterly reports. Some of these reports may
be zero reports in the beginning, before the funds are released. If you
do not submit these reports within 30 days of the end of the quarter,
you are not in compliance. If you are found to be not in compliance, it
will impact your eligibility for grant funds in the future.

If you have any questions for us, send an email to ASKCSID
(<ASKCsid@dhs.gov>), which is the FEMA hotline and also drop a copy to
TSA grants (<TSAgrants@tsa.dhs.gov>). Collectively, we will give you an
answer to your question and we also post the questions and answers for
everyone since we are on a competitive field.

In the future FEMA will be shifting these programs to non-disaster
related programs as we are evolving and growing.

**[How to Write an Investment Justification (IJ)]{.underline}**

**[TSA:]{.underline}** The IJ template and other information are
available on line on our website
([www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants)).

The "impact" question in the IJ drives at the risk reduction potential
and the effectiveness of your project. In addition, this is the section
where the NRP will find your scores for cost-effectiveness and
feasibility. So for example, if you are equipping your fleet with the
highest risk rail cars with grant funds tell us how those cars are
"higher risk" than others. IJ Question 1B is a good place to discuss
higher risk assets and lower risk assets. This helps us to determine the
cost effectiveness of the project because the "benefit" we look for is
risk reduction---or risk reduction "bang for the buck".

Section 3A is basically a chart that will be a summary of your budget.
[This is not your detailed budget]{.underline}; the detailed budget is
separate and must be submitted on the OMB-approved form which requires
you to list each line item of your budget. Section 3A is asking for the
same information as contained in your detailed budget but at a much
higher level. The OMB-approved Sample Detailed Budget worksheet included
in the guidance and posted on our website
([www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants)) is your budget
template to use for all application submissions.

The IJ also asks you to identify challenges and some were identified
here today. Here we are asking you to tell us that you have considered
the challenges that you may face and how you might deal with them.

For the overview of your company and staff, we do not need resumes of
every staff member but do tell us generally how your organization is set
up and how you are organized.

Your timelines should be realistic. You should have at least five
milestones with time spans for completion. If you present your timelines
clearly and realistically, it could give you an easy 10 points on your
project score.

The detailed budget form (OMB form) lists sections A through G asking
for information from the line items in your budget. Note that personnel
and fringe benefits are not eligible expense categories for the FRSGP.
IF an expense category does not apply to you, do not delete it, just
write "N/A". Other budget categories include; Equipment (e.g. GPS
components, supplies for training); Consultants and Contracts (e.g.
contracting out to a vendor for service or training): and, Other. M&A
should be included under the "Other" category. Note that indirect costs
are not allowed. As mentioned previously, you must complete your budget
in the OMB form. That is a FEMA requirement. You cannot receive your
clearance memo and draw down funds until your budget is approved and you
must complete your budget using this template.

**[Questions and Answers:]{.underline}**

The questions and answers are available at the following website:
[www.tsa.gov/grants](http://www.tsa.gov/grants).

**[Closing Comments:]{.underline}**

We heard your comments and concerns regarding the GPS tracking
requirements and we believe that we have enough information to craft the
GPS tracking IB in the way that we want it. We cannot establish a
national system without some standards so this workshop and the
subsequent GPS tracking initiative are ways for us to gather the data we
need to develop standards.

While we cannot work one-on-one with any one agency since this program
is competitive, we are sure that after the application period TSA/FR
would be interested in your thoughts and feedback to help inform the
FY2010 program. TSA Grants will also have an After Action Conference
Call and Conference to solicit your feedback on the program and its
processes. We would also expect to have an in-person conference at the
end of grant period.

If there are no further questions, we thank you once again for joining
us here today for this workshop. We hope that you found it informative
and we look forward to hearing from you and to receiving your
applications.