Five Keys to Securing a State Homeland Security Grant For Physical Security Upgrades

Federal funding for physical security upgrades has been in flux all year. Fortunately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law this July allocated billions to an important source of funds for security-related projects: FEMA’s State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP). 

The deadline for 2025 applications just passed, but it’s not too early to get started for 2026. (For more tips and best practices on applying, check out this comprehensive guide.)

What is the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP)?

The SHSGP is a major component of the broader Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). This is a roughly $1 billion program managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). SHSGP is designed to assist states, tribes, local governments, law enforcement, regional groups, and some non-profits (like utilities and K-12 schools). The goal is to help these recipients enhance their capacity to prevent, prepare for, protect against, and respond to the threat of terrorist attacks and other significant hazards and disasters. 

SHSGP specifically provides financial support for activities such as planning, organizing, equipping, training, and exercising local emergency response capabilities. That can include ballistic barriers and other physical security upgrades. 

On the surface, SHSGP seems similar to other grant programs, such as FEMA’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which has proven vital to schools, houses of worship, and nonprofit organizations looking to improve their physical security. 

Like NSGP, SHSGP exists to support the resilience of local organizations and agencies dedicated to the public good and well-being. As is the case with NSGP, applicants pursuing funding through SHSGP don’t apply directly to FEMA, but instead work through their state emergency management agencies and State Administrative Agency (SAA). Like NSGP, the SHSGP application hinges on a narrative Investment Justification (IJ) that clearly connects the dots between each security project and the larger goals of the program.

One major difference between the programs is the scope. The NSGP is tightly focused. An organization, like a school, applies for a grant for a specific project at a single specific location. SHSGP is meant to foster cooperation among organizations and resiliency at the community or regional level.

How to Support a Strong SHSGP Application for Your Region

 An SHSGP grant is awarded to a regional authority, government agency, or intergovernmental organization involved in emergency management, public safety, or homeland security. Your organization or agency would be one of many sub-recipients, including individual schools or state agencies, whose security project helps the recipient support a robust set of projects to meet FEMA’s broad goals. 

The 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) includes three simple guidelines for maximizing your chance of winning these grants: 

• Clearly explain how projects meet law-enforcement, anti-terrorism, and other goals, such as “enhancing the protection of soft targets and crowded places”, and school hardening, both of which incorporate enhanced physical security such as ballistic barriers
• Ensure projects align with homeland security strategies and fill capability gaps
• Maintain detailed records to support the application and facilitate FEMA’s review

There are five steps you can take to help ensure that any application you’re attached to can check all three of these boxes.

1. Review the Notice of Funding and Contact Your State Agency Early

Start by reviewing the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to see if you could be eligible as a sub-recipient. This notice is published each year by FEMA on their site. Review the 2025 notice to see if your security project meets this criteria, and contact your State Administrative Agency. The agency submits the application to FEMA on behalf of your state and local agencies and then receives and distributes funds. Each state agency will have their own set of deadlines and requirements for your project and application.

Be mindful of those deadlines, and use the agency as a resource to provide technical assistance or and understanding whether your proposed project may qualify. 

2. Complete Your Threat Assessment

Any successful SHSGP application must demonstrate how each proposed project will fill capability gaps and address identifiable risks and hazards. You can’t do that if you haven’t clearly identified your current capability gaps, threats, and hazards. That’s why it is so important to complete a physical security risk assessment prior to planning your project.

Often called a Threat, Vulnerability, and Risk Assessment (TVRA), it should include: 

• Specific, credible threats based on your operations, law enforcement input and crime reports
• Your facility’s unique vulnerabilities
• Gaps in your existing safety and physical security solutions
• Areas for improvement
• Industry standards, including common standards for bulletproofing and forced entry protection

Many communities have trained security consultants who can help you prepare a TVRA at little or no cost. For example, in many communities the local sheriff’s office, mayor’s office, or a first responder task force will help you complete a rigorous threat assessment. 

Your state agency can offer guidance, templates and other resources for completing a TVRA. This checklist also offers guidelines for assessing your risks, planning your project and understanding your timeline.

3. Plan a Project that Aligns with the Applicable THIRA and SPR

Successful applications include projects that not only meet specific security needs but address broader threats, risks, and gaps in your region. FEMA requires that regional authorities or agencies applying for SHSGP have completed a recent Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) and Stakeholder Preparedness Review (SPR). 

The THIRA helps communities identify risks and determine the capabilities they need to manage them. It should be updated every three years. The Stakeholder Preparedness Review (SPR) is an annual self-assessment of a jurisdiction’s current capabilities relative to what was identified in the THIRA. It is designed to identify capability gaps and determine what areas need improvement. 

As a sub-recipient, you don’t have to complete these assessments; that job falls to the state, region, or urban area that will be the primary grant recipient. This is often coordinated by the SAA. 

However, you do need to clearly explain how your project fills a gap found in the SPR to address a threat or hazard outlined in the THIRA. For example, if the THIRA for your jurisdiction includes a threat of anti-government protests and violence targeting courthouses, you would want to plan a project that prioritizes hardening critical areas where people are most often present (entryways, reception areas, lobbies, etc.) to address threats of forced entry, blasts, or gunfire. Be mindful that in the case of security renovations and retrofits, such hardening must take into account ADA compliance, unobstructed public access, and possibly retaining key features of a historical building.

4. Prepare a Detailed Budget and Timeline

A successful SHSGP application must demonstrate that the proposed projects are feasible in terms of effectively reducing the risks for which they are designed and can be completed on budget and within the three-year period of performance.

That means that for each project included in the SHSGP application, your SAA needs a detailed budget and a timeline with clear milestones. The more detailed you can be, the more likely that the grant proposal will be accepted.

At Total Security Solutions, we frequently implement physical security upgrades for government agencies, schools, municipalities, utilities, and other organizations. While we don’t submit grant applications, we frequently collaborate with agencies on projects, helping their architects find the right solution and specify materials. We can handle all aspects of the design in-house, working directly with the end users to collaborate through the planning process and provide detailed cost estimates and drawings. 

If you’re totally new to bullet-resistant physical security solutions, the free resources in our Ballistic Education Center are a good place to start getting an idea of what timelines and budgets might look like for various types of projects.

5. Support Drafting of the Investment Justification and Application

The Investment Justification (IJ) is the heart of the formal SHSGP grant application your state administrative agency includes with the materials sent to FEMA. Sub-recipients do not usually draft the IJ themselves, but they do provide project proposals, plans, budgets, architectural drawings, data, and other information that informs this document.

Your agency needs a clear explanation of how your proposed physical security project will align with FEMA’s priorities, such as mitigating the effects of a terrorist attack or protecting soft targets (like community centers, schools, or utility offices) by enhancing their physical security and ballistic barriers.

You may also need to include short biographies and resumés for key employees involved in your project. Be ready to supply your state agency with personnel information and ensure that all employees are properly vetted in accordance with all applicable government policies and security requirements.

Your Next Step Toward Safer Spaces: How TSS Helps You Succeed with Grant Applications

The State Homeland Security Grant Program is competitive, and the sooner you start planning, the more time you’ll have to gather all the supporting documentation you need. 

Our team can help you plan a project that has the best possible chance of receiving funding, drawing on decades of experience across more than 30,000 ballistic and physical security projects. We’ve worked with a wide range of municipal, state, local, regional, and federal agencies. Our proven process supports you through every stage of your project, from consultation and planning to fabrication, delivery and installation. 

When you’re ready to get started on your grant application, you can schedule a free consultation with a TSS security expert.

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have related to planning, specifying materials, budgeting or finalizing a timeline.