SR 05-10-2022 3B
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: May 10, 2022
Agenda Item: 3.B
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Authorization to accept the 2021 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant
Funds for Homeland Security Projects and enter into a Subrecipient
agreement with the City of Los Angeles
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant awarded in the amount of
$1,869,845 from the 2021 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) for homeland
security projects in the Fire and Information Services Departments, and for
authority to accept all associated grant renewals.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the
grant, grant modifications, and all associated grant renewals.
3. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
section of this report.
Summary
Each year, the Federal government allocates grant funding to enhance regional
preparedness for disasters, emergencies, and other threats to homeland security. In
2021, $1,869,845 was awarded to the City of Santa Monica Fire Department and the
Information Services Department as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Area Security
Initiative (UASI) grant:
• The Fire Department was awarded funding totaling $1,177,692 to be used for
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Equipment,
Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Training and Equipment, Urban Search and
Rescue (USAR) Training and Equipment, Tactical Emergency Medical Support
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(TEMS) equipment, equipment and props for the Training Center, and programs
on behalf of the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs’ Association Regional Training
Group (LAAFCA RTG).
• The Information Services Department was awarded funding totaling $692,153 to
be used on cybersecurity program enhancements. These enhancements include
implementing solutions that provide adequate means to monitor and safeguard
City’s data stored with cloud-based providers, strengthen identity management,
and provide greater cybersecurity risk prioritization to aid in cyberattack
prevention.
Staff recommends that Council authorize acceptance of the 2021 UASI grant funds and
execution of a subrecipient agreement with the City of Los Angeles for a performance
period of September 1, 2021 to May 31, 2024. The City of Los Angeles administers the
UASI grant on behalf of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, which includes Santa
Monica.
Discussion
The UASI program’s focus is on enhancing regional preparedness and capabilities in
major metropolitan areas. The Santa Monica Fire Department requested funds to send
staff to trainings that support its core public safety missions as well as regional
homeland security goals. The following are the four major regional homeland security
focus areas of the UASI grant program, known as Investment Justifications:
1. Strengthen interoperable and communications capabilities;
2. Strengthen information sharing, collaboration capabilities, and law enforcement
investigations;
3. Protection of critical infrastructure and key resources; and
4. Catastrophic incident planning response and recovery.
The Fire Department proposes to use $277,692 in grant funds to send members to
training to support the City’s Type I USAR and HazMat teams and specialized
Hazardous Materials CBRNE training. Funding in the amount of $900,000 would be
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used to host the LAAFCA’s RTG training delivery model, which creates and
disseminates regional training. There are no direct staffing costs associated with the
LAAFCA RTG funds. Santa Monica Fire and all other fire agencies in Los Angeles
County have access to the training delivery modules and learning content provided
under the grant funding. The remaining funding would be used to support equipment
purchases for the TEMS program and new equipment and props for the Fire
Department’s Training Center. There are no additional ongoing costs associated with
Fire’s grant funding and any equipment will be replaced with ongoing grant funding at
the end of the equipment’s useful life.
The Fire Department was also able to secure $692,153 from this year’s grant for use by
the Information Services Department (ISD) to fund the City’s ongoing cybersecurity
program. This funding will assist the information security team with applying
enhancement measures to strengthen identity management, safeguard City data stored
with cloud-based vendors and provide greater cybersecurity risk prioritization to aid in
cyberattack prevention. The purchase of the requested measures will require an
equipment and software subscription renewal in subsequent years, beginning in Fiscal
Year 2023-24. Staff has secured UASI 2022 funds to cover the subscription costs in FY
2023-24. While ongoing funding for these tools has not been secured, staff believes the
City will benefit from the enhanced cyber security tools for at least two years. Staff will
pursue additional grant funding opportunities for future funding. If future grant funds are
not available for the ongoing subscription expenses thereafter, staff will discontinue its
use of these tools. Procurement for projects funded by the UASI grant will follow Santa
Monica’s policies regarding competitive procurement processes.
The UASI program directly supports the national priority of expanding regional
collaboration within the National Preparedness Goal, which defines what it means for
the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The
UASI grant is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated
regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or
human-made disasters. These funds can not be used for general purposes and must be
specified at the time of application. Homeland security purchases must be pre-
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approved by the state and align with grant guidelines.
The UASI grant program is 100% federally funded from the Department of Homeland
Security and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services.
The City of Santa Monica has received over $20 million in homeland security grant
funding since 2003. These funds have been used to purchase necessary interoperable
communication and infrastructure equipment, supplies, and training in direct support of
overall regional goals to promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response
to threats and/or acts of terrorism.
Financial Impacts
Staff seeks authority to accept a grant totaling $1,869,845 from the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2021 UASI
program to fund training and equipment in direct support of overall regional goals to
promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response to threats and/or acts of
terrorism.
There are no ongoing costs related to the Fire Department’s grant funding. Future grant
funding will be requested to fund any equipment replacement at the end of its useful life.
Staff plans to utilize future UASI funds to support the on-going operational costs for the
cybersecurity solutions. If future grant funds are not allocated to the City to cover the
costs of the subscription renewals, staff will discontinue its use of these tools.
FY 2021-22 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue Budget Amount Appropriate Funds Amount
20140001.40428F $692,153 20140001.55518F $692,153
20190001.40428F $1,177,692 20190001.55518F $1,177,692
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Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
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