ARC 2327C
HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT[605]
Adopted and Filed
Pursuant to the authority of Iowa Code section 17A.3, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department hereby amends Chapter 8, “Criteria for Awards or Grants,” Iowa Administrative Code.
These amendments implement changes that have been made in Iowa Code chapter 29C that transformed the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division of the Department of Public Defense to a stand-alone department.
Notice of Intended Action was published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin as ARC 2213C on October 28, 2015. A public hearing was held on November 17, 2015. No public comment was received during the comment period or during the public hearing. These amendments are identical to those published under Notice of Intended Action.
The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management adopted these amendments on December 2, 2015.
After analysis and review of this rule making, no impact on jobs has been found.
These amendments are intended to implement Iowa Code chapter 29C.
These amendments will become effective January 27, 2016.
The following amendment is adopted.
	Amend 605—Chapter 8 as follows:
CHAPTER 8
CRITERIA FOR AWARDS OR GRANTS
605—8.1(29C,17A) Purpose. The homeland security and emergency management division department receives and distributes funds to a variety of entities throughout the state for support of emergency management planning, training, and other initiatives. Unless otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, rule or regulation, the administrator director may make such funds subject to competition. Where such funds are designated by the administrator director to be competitive, the division department shall ensure equal access, objective evaluation of applications for these funds, and that grant application material shall contain, at a minimum, specific content.
605—8.2(29C,17A) Definitions. For the purpose of these rules, the following definitions shall apply:
“Administrator Director” means the administrator director of the homeland security and emergency management division within the Iowa department of public defense.
“Competitive grant” means the competitive grant application process to determine the grant award for a specified project period.
“Division Department” means the homeland security and emergency management division of the Iowa department of public defense.
“Project” means the activity(ies) or program(s) funded by the division department.
“Project period” means the period of time for which the division department intends to support the project without requiring the recompetition of funds.
“Service delivery area” means the defined geographic area for delivery of project services.
605—8.3(29C,17A) Exceptions. The division department considers funds subject to competition except in those cases where:
	1. and 2. No change.	
	3.	There is mutual agreement among the division department and contract organizations.
	4.	The administrator director designates such funds to be noncompetitive.
605—8.4(29C,17A) Public notice of available competitive grants. When making funds available through a competitive grant application process, the division department shall, at least 60 days prior to the application due date, issue a public notice in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin that identifies the availability of funds and states how interested parties may request an application packet. A written request for the packet shall serve as the letter of intent. Services, delivery areas, and eligible applicants shall be described in the public notice.
If the receipt of a grantor’s official notice of award to the division department precludes a full 60-day notice in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin, the division department shall nonetheless issue the public notice in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin at the earliest publication date.
In the event the publication date would not allow at least 30 days for interested parties to request and submit an application packet, the division department shall notify current contractors and other interested parties of the availability of funds through press releases and other announcements.
605—8.5(29C,17A) Requirements. Where funds are designated as competitive, the following shall be included in all grant application materials made available by the division department:
	1. to 17. No change.	
605—8.6(29C,17A) Review process (competitive applications only). The review process to be followed in determining the amount of funds to be approved for award of a contract shall be described in the application material. The review criteria and point allocation for each element shall also be described in the grant application material.
The competitive grant application review committee shall be determined by the division bureau chief administrator administering the grant or award, with oversight from the administrator director. The review committee members shall apply points according to the established review criteria in conducting the review.
In the event competitive applications for a project receive an equal number of points, a second review shall be conducted by the administrator director and the bureau chief division administrator administering the grant or award.
605—8.7(29C,17A) Opportunity for review and comment. Program advisory committees or related task forces of the program may be provided with an opportunity to review and comment on the criteria and point allocation prior to implementation. Exceptions may occur when the funding source to the division department has already included such criteria and point allocation within the award or the time frame allowed is insufficient for such review and comment.
605—8.8(29C,17A) Awards. Once applications have been scored and ranked, the division department shall award all available funds to eligible applicants based on the ranking of their applications. Should there be more eligible applications than funds available, those remaining eligible applications shall be kept on file by the division department.
In those cases in which applicants have received an award but actual project costs are less than anticipated or established in the application, remaining funds shall become deobligated funds. The division department shall award deobligated funds to remaining eligible applications on file with the division department. Should deobligated funds remain after satisfying all eligible applications, the division department shall republish the availability of funds.
These rules are intended to implement Iowa Code chapter 17A and section 29C.13.
[Filed 12/2/15, effective 1/27/16]
[Published 12/23/15]
Editor’s Note: For replacement pages for IAC, see IAC Supplement 12/23/15.