U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 
Fiscal Year 2008 

HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM 

INVESTMENT JUSTIFICATION REFERENCE GUIDE 

February 1, 2008 


U.S.DEPARTMENT OFHOMELAND SECURITY 


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CONTENTS 
PART I. PURPOSE......................................................................................................................................2 
PART II. IMPROVEMENTS FROM FY07 TO FY08 .....................................................................................3 
PART III. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................5 
PART IV. REVIEW PROCESS, WEIGHTS, AND SCORING ......................................................................7 
PART V. MULTI-APPLICANT SUBMISSIONS..........................................................................................13 
PART VI. COMPLETING THE INVESTMENT JUSTIFICATION...............................................................16 
PART VII. TECHNICAL GUIDANCE..........................................................................................................43 
APPENDIX A. DEFINITIONS .....................................................................................................................45 
APPENDIX B. ACRONYMS.......................................................................................................................48 
APPENDIX C. MULTI-APPLICANT PROCESS SUMMARY.....................................................................49 
APPENDIX D. TARGET CAPABILITIES AND NATIONAL PRIORITIES .................................................51 

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Part I. 
Purpose 
The purpose of the Investment Justification Reference Guide is to help States, 
Territories and Urban Areas develop and compile their Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) 
Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) Investment Justifications. This Guide 
complements the FY08 HSGP Guidance and Application Kit, developed by the 
Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA). 
The Investment Justification is the method by which States, Territories, and Urban 
Areas: 
• Request HSGP funding for the State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) and 
Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) 
• Demonstrate their planned use of funds for the Metropolitan Medical Response 
System (MMRS) and the Citizen Corps Program (CCP) 
• Describe specific funding and implementation approaches over the 36-month 
grant period of performance that will help enhance and sustain capabilities and 
achieve outcomes aligned with the National Preparedness Guidelines, their 
respective State/Territory/Urban Area Homeland Security Strategy, and their 
State Preparedness Report 
This Guide contains specific guidance on: 
• Changes incorporated into the FY08 Investment Justification based on feedback 
received from stakeholders 
• Scoring criteria against which each question will be evaluated 
• Detailed steps on how to complete each question in the Investment Justification 
• Overview of the new IJ Submission module available March 1, 2008 in the 
Grants Reporting Tool (GRT) 

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Part II. 
Improvements from FY07 to FY08 
A. Investment Justification in FY07 
In FY07, DHS required States, Territories, and Urban Areas to develop Investment 
Justifications as a part of their applications to request HSGP funds. These Investment 
Justifications included a description of each Investment’s ability to impact/enhance 
homeland security preparedness, as well as the ability of the applicant to successfully 
execute and implement the Investment. 
B. Feedback from Preparedness Partners 
Throughout the course of the FY07 HSGP review and scoring process, DHS collected 
and compiled recommendations from a variety of stakeholder sources, including peer 
reviewer surveys following the peer review conference, participant surveys from the 
After Action Conference, as well as formal and informal stakeholder discussions 
conducted throughout the year. 
The FEMA-sponsored After Action Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 
August 1, 2007 involved approximately 100 State, Territory, and local representatives 
from 45 States and Territories. Attendees participated in one of four working groups, 
which focused on HSGP programmatic objectives and integration, the HSGP guidance 
and application process, the effectiveness analysis, and linking risk management to 
investment planning. 
The feedback and recommendations provided by the stakeholder community were 
instrumental in refining the FY08 HSGP Investment Justification and peer review 
process. 
C. Updates Made to the FY08 Investment Justification 
In updating the FY08 Investment Justification, FEMA placed significant emphasis on the 
feedback and recommendations from stakeholders. In addition, FEMA continued to 
focus on the objectives of the Investment Justification when implementing changes. 
FEMA’s objectives for the Investment Justification include: 
• Supporting the National Preparedness Guidelines and State/Territory/Urban Area 
Homeland Security Strategy goals and objectives 
• Identifying the positive impacts and capability outcomes on the applicant’s overall 
homeland security program 
• Understanding the applicant’s ability, resources, plans, and strategies in place to 
successfully execute the Investment 

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Several of the stakeholder recommendations and actions implemented by FEMA 
include: 
.. Providing a Multi-Applicant planning worksheet. FEMA has provided a Multi- 
Applicant planning worksheet in the FY08 HSGP Guidance and Application Kit, 
which Multi-Applicant partners may complete jointly to increase overall coordination 
across Multi-Applicant Investments. 
.. Modifying questions for better descriptions of Sustainment. The Milestones 
and Sustainability questions have been modified to provide applicants the 
opportunity to better describe how their Investment can be sustained. 
.. Consolidating Management and Administrative (M&A) costs. Applicants no 
longer need to outline M&A costs for each individual Investment. Instead, a single 
consolidated question will detail how M&A will be used for all Investments within an 
Investment Justification. 
.. Adding a Purpose Statement. The Purpose Statement was added to the 
Investment Justification form to give applicants a place to provide a high-level 
overview of the Investment, including its goals and activities. 
.. Replacing the Enhancement Plan with the State Preparedness Report. The 
previous HSGP application requirement for the State Program and Capability 
Enhancement Plan has been replaced by the State Preparedness Report, which 
incorporates much of the same content and purpose. 
.. Updating definitions for output and outcome. To reinforce the importance of 
determining the impact of Investments, the definitions of outcome and output have 
been clarified to support clear, concise responses. 
.. Providing the Investment Justification online. In response to user feedback 
concerning technical issues with the Excel-based Investment Justification of years 
past, the FY08 HSGP Investment Justification is now compiled using the IJ 
Submission module in the Grants Reporting Tool (GRT) available March 1, 2008. 
This new and more user-friendly Investment Justification format will provide 
applicants greater flexibility and ease of use when compiling their Investment 
Justifications for submittal to http://www.grants.gov. Prior to this March 1 release 
date, applicants are strongly encouraged to begin development of their Investment 
Justifications using the provided Investment and Multi-Applicant planning 
worksheets. All responses completed in these planning worksheets must then be 
transferred to the applicant’s Investments in the IJ Submission module. 

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Part III. 
Submission Requirements 
A. Investment Justifications 
States, Territories, and Urban Areas requesting FY08 HSGP funding must submit an 
Investment Justification. The Investment Justification may include up to 15 Investments 
and must account for all HSGP funds requested by the applicant. State and Territory 
applications should only include SHSP, MMRs, and CCP funds. MMRS Steering 
Committees and Citizen Corps Councils should be involved in the development of 
MMRS and CCP investments. Urban Area applications must account only for UASI 
funding. Per the requirements in the FY08 HSGP Guidance Application Kit, at least 25 
percent of the total award amount for each State across all four programs, where 
applicable, must be dedicated toward enhancing capabilities related to Improvised 
Explosive Devices (IEDs) and strengthening preparedness planning. While States and 
Urban Areas will develop separate Investment Justifications, they are strongly 
encouraged to coordinate with each other to present an overall application that 
represents a collaborative, integrated approach. 
For the FY08 HSGP, States, Territories, and Urban Areas may submit Multi-Applicant 
Investments, which represent a shared interest between two or more States and 
Territories, or a shared interest between two or more Urban Areas. For the purposes of 
this application, Urban Areas cannot submit a Multi-Applicant Investment in partnership 
with the State in which they are located. States, Territories, and Urban Areas must 
include any Multi-Applicant Investments as a part of their Investment Justification. 
All Multi-Applicant Investments will be reviewed by a separate Multi-Applicant panel of 
peer reviewers. Similar to other Investments, peer reviewers will evaluate the 
anticipated effectiveness of the Multi-Applicant Investments. Additionally, reviewers will 
evaluate: 1) how well the Multi-Applicant Investments collectively demonstrate 
collaboration between partners and 2) the overall merit of the Multi-Applicant 
Investments as a collective project that could not be accomplished by a single State, 
Territory, or Urban Area. 
B. State Preparedness Report 
The State Preparedness Report (SPR) will be used by the peer reviewers to provide 
context for the Investments outlined in State, Territory, and Urban Area Investment 
Justifications. The State Preparedness Report will only be used as a reference, and will 
not be scored. The Investment Justifications are expected to be self-sufficient and selfcontained, 
and should not rely on cross-references to any planning information 
contained in other sources. States are required to submit their State Preparedness 
Report by the deadline outlined in the State Preparedness Report guidance, which can 
be accessed on the FEMA Secure Portal at https://odp.esportals.com/login.cfm. 

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Urban Areas are not required to submit their own Preparedness Reports. The State 
Preparedness Report should represent all statewide homeland security priorities, 
including those specific to Urban Areas. Likewise, Urban Area Investment Justifications 
must clearly reference support to Three-Year Targets from the State Preparedness 
Report within their Investment Justifications. Therefore, States are strongly encouraged 
to share their State Preparedness Reports with Urban Areas for optimal State and 
Urban Area planning purposes. 
C. Grants Reporting Tool (GRT) 
The FY08 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) Investment Justification will be 
compiled via the IJ submission module in the Grants Reporting Tool, available March 1, 
2008. The purpose of this module is to provide users with the ability to compile their 
FY08 Investment Justification without the use of an Excel template. Two planning 
worksheets have been provided to users in the FY08 HSGP Guidance and Application 
Kit so that they may begin drafting their Investment information prior to compiling them 
in the IJ Submission module. After reviewing the Investment Justification for accuracy, 
applicants may view and save their final Investment Justification report file from the IJ 
Submission module for subsequent submission to Grants.gov. 
D. Grants.gov 
The State Administrative Agency (SAA) must submit all State, Territory, and applicable 
Urban Area Investment Justification report files to http://www.grants.gov no later than 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, May 1, 2008. Urban Areas should work in 
accordance with their respective State’s timelines and processes identified by the SAA 
to ensure the Urban Area Investment Justification is submitted by the SAA to 
Grants.gov in compliance with the application deadline. 
E. Additional Information 
Additional information regarding Grants.gov requirements, FY08 HSGP grant programs, 
funding priorities, and allowable cost information can be found in the FY08 HSGP 
Guidance and Application Kit. 
Questions regarding the Investment Justification and the Investment Justification 
submission process should be directed to the Centralized Scheduling and Information 
Desk (CSID). CSID can be contacted at 1-800-368-6498 or askcsid@dhs.gov. CSID 
hours of operation are from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday. 

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Part IV. 
Review Process, Weights, and Scoring 
Each Investment Justification will be evaluated by a panel of peer reviewers to 
determine the anticipated effectiveness of an applicant’s plan to address national and 
local priorities (including the National Preparedness Guidelines and applicant-specific 
priorities), with the overall goal of managing risk and building capabilities. 
FEMA has defined anticipated effectiveness as: 
• The extent to which the Investment supports the vision of the State, Territory, or 
Urban Area Homeland Security Strategy and program planning activities 
• The ability to successfully execute and implement the Investment to achieve the 
planned Investment outputs and outcomes 
For each applicant, the FY08 Investment Justification consists of an Overall section and 
up to 15 Investments. 
Each of the 15 individual Investments contains four categories. Within these four 
categories there are a total of 13 individual Investment questions. The four categories, 
and the number of questions included in each, are detailed below: 
I. Baseline (includes three questions) 
II. Strategy (includes four questions) 
III. Implementation (includes four questions) 
IV. Impact (includes two questions) 
The Overall section and the four categories that will be used to evaluate anticipated 
effectiveness are defined as follows: 
.. Overall Section: Establishes context for the overall submission and outlines how 
the applicant understands their perceived risks, as well as how this 
understanding of risks influenced the applicant’s priorities and planning of the 
Investment Justification submission. Also outlines planned management and 
administrative costs associated with the implementation of the Investment 
Justification. 
I. Baseline category: Establishes context for and historical information related to 
the individual Investment to explain its current status. This helps to provide an 
understanding of the current state as well as future plans for the Investment. 
II. Strategy category: Ensures the Investment is aligned with the applicant’s State 
Preparedness Report and Homeland Security Strategy goals and objectives, 
Target Capabilities, and National Priorities. 
III. Implementation category: 
• Funding Plan question: Ensures the applicant has plans in place to use 
the requested funds efficiently and effectively. 

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• Milestones question: Ensures the applicant has sufficient plans for 
implementing the Investment over the 36-month grant period of 
performance, including discrete tasks and timelines. 
• Project Management question: Ensures the applicant has the 
appropriate management team and skill sets in place to oversee the 
implementation and execution of the Investment. 
• Investment Challenges question: Ensures the applicant has identified 
challenges to successful implementation and execution of the Investment, 
and has proactive or anticipatory mitigation strategies to address those 
challenges. 
IV. Impact category: Ensures that the funds dedicated to the Investment will result 
in measurable, achievable outputs and outcomes aligned with target capabilities 
and program needs, and to maintain the capability level provided by the 
Investment after FY08 HSGP funds have been expended. 
Weights have been assigned to reinforce priority areas. While the applicant’s response 
to every question will not be individually scored by the peer reviewers, the peer 
reviewers will review every response for context. The following table contains the 
scoring criteria for each question and the weights that will be applied: 
FY08 HSGP Scoring Criteria and Weights 
Overall Investment Justification and Management and Administrative Costs 
Section Question and Scoring Criteria Weight 
Overall Investment Justification Question: 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
Overall Management and Administrative Costs 
Question: 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
N/A 
Individual Investments 
Section Question and Scoring Criteria Weight 
State/Territory name 
Response should include the State, Territory, or 
Urban Area submitting the Investment 
Investment Name 
Investment 
Heading 
Investment Phase 
Ongoing – An ongoing Investment is one that has 
received prior HSGP funding. 
New – A new Investment is one that has not 
received prior HSGP funding in the past. 
N/A 

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Is this a Multi-Applicant Investment? If yes, who 
is the submitting partner? 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
I.A. Previous HSGP Request Name and Funding 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
I.B. Purpose Statement 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
I. Baseline 
I.C. Description 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
N/A 
II.A. State Preparedness Report 
• Response provides linkage between the 
Investment and initiatives from the State 
Preparedness Report 
• Response demonstrates how the Investment will 
contribute to reaching State Preparedness Report 
targets 
II.B. Homeland Security Strategy goals and 
objectives 
• Response provides linkage between the 
Investment and Homeland Security Strategy 
goals and objectives 
• Response demonstrates how the Investment will 
support the Homeland Security Strategy goals 
and objectives 
II.C. Target Capabilities 
• Explanation provides linkage between the 
Investment and primary Target Capability 
• Explanation demonstrates how the Investment 
will support the primary Target Capability 
II. Strategy 
II.D. National Priorities 
The information provided will be scored in terms of 
its contribution to setting context and its relationship 
to other questions. 
15% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 

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III.A. Funding Plan 
• Explanation references appropriate activities, 
services, or products for the solution area 
• Explanation describes how the requested HSGP 
funds will be used specifically towards this 
Investment 
10% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 
III.B. Milestones 
• Each response provides a clear description of the 
milestone, its associated activity, and start and 
end dates 
• Milestones collectively present a clear sequence 
of events that will allow the Investment to reach 
its objectives for this period of performance 
10% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 
III.C. Project Management 
• Response describes, at a high-level, the roles 
and responsibilities of the management team, 
governance structures, and subject matter 
expertise required to manage the Investment 
• If the management team is the same as in other 
Investments, the response explains why this is 
appropriate 
25% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 
III. Implementation 
III.D. Investment Challenges 
Response identifies the following: 
• Investment challenge(s) 
• Mitigation strategy for each challenge listed 
• Probability of occurrence 
• Level of impact should the challenge occur 
5% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 
IV.A. Impact 
• Response identifies specific measurable outputs 
• Response identifies specific outcomes that will 
demonstrate the Investment’s impact on the 
applicant’s preparedness environment 
• Response describes how the outcomes will 
mitigate risks outlined in the Overall Investment 
IV. Impact Justification question 
IV.B. Sustainability 
• Response describes how the capabilities created 
or enhanced by this Investment will be maintained 
or sustained long term, or 
• Response describes why the Investment will not 
be maintained or sustained long term 
35% of 
Investment 
Categories 
Score 
Weight Total 100% of 
Investment 
Category 
Score 

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A. Scoring 
For FY08, the expected method for calculating an Investment Justification’s anticipated 
effectiveness score will remain the same as FY07. An illustration of how the FY08 
anticipated effectiveness score is calculated has been provided below. Please note that 
this overview should be considered a general guideline and is subject to change. 
FY08 Anticipated Effectiveness Calculation 
The individual question scores, as described and weighted in the FY08 HSGP Scoring 
Criteria and Weights table, comprise the Investment Categories Score, represented 
by the blue boxes. The weightings applied to the questions were determined by FEMA. 
The Comprehensive Investment Score, represented by the yellow box, assesses how 
well the individual responses collectively demonstrate the applicant’s vision (Baseline 
and Strategy sections, and the Impact question) for and ability to execute 
(Implementation section and the Sustainability question) the proposed Investment. 
The sum of the Investment Categories score and Comprehensive Investment score 
make up the Individual Investment Score, represented by the light green box. All 
Individual Investment Scores are used to produce one Overall Investment Score. 
Effectiveness Score 
(100 Points) 
Portfolio 
Score 
(20 Points) 
Overall Investment 
Score 
(80 Points) 
+ 
Impact 
(35%) 
Comprehensive 
Investment Score 
(20 Points) 
Strategy 
(15%) 
Funding 
Plan 
(10%) 
Milestones 
(10%) 
Program 
Management 
(25%) 
Investment 
Challenges 
(5%) 
Investment 
Categories Score 
(80 Points) + 
Individual 
Investment Score 
Multi-Applicant 
Investment Bonus 
(where applicable)

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Finally, a Portfolio Score, represented by the orange box, will be given to the 
Investment Justification submission as a whole. The purpose of this score is to 
examine how well all of the applicant’s Investments, including Multi-Applicant 
Investments, collectively support the applicant’s State Preparedness Report and 
Homeland Security Strategy goals and objectives, whether there are overlapping 
requests or duplication of efforts, and how well the Investments collectively tie together 
is based on the applicant’s understanding of risk as outlined in the Overall Investment 
Justification question. 
The sum of the Overall Investment Score and Portfolio Management Score make up the 
Anticipated Effectiveness Score, represented by the dark green box. Additionally, all 
applicants that submit a Multi-Applicant Investment are eligible for up to a 5 point bonus 
to their anticipated effectiveness score for submitting one Multi-Applicant Investment 
and up to an 8 point bonus for submitting multiple Multi-Applicant Investments. 

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Part V. 
Multi-Applicant Submissions 
For the FY08 HSGP submission process, States, Territories, and Urban areas may 
choose to submit Multi-Applicant Investments as a part of their application. States and 
Territories may only submit Multi-Applicant Investments with other States or Territories, 
while Urban Areas may only submit Multi-Applicant Investments with other Urban Areas 
(either with an Urban Area in the same State or with an Urban Area in another State). 
For the purposes of this application, Urban Areas cannot submit a Multi-Applicant 
Investment in partnership with the State in which they are located. Working together 
with other eligible FY08 HSGP applicants, States, Territories, and Urban Areas will be 
able to develop or enhance a capability by sharing the costs among a group of partners, 
strengthen and build partnerships within their region, benefit from the experience of their 
peers, and increase their region’s overall preparedness. 
The Multi-Applicant submission process for FY08 HSGP has been revised to include a 
Multi-Applicant planning worksheet to reduce the overall workload on applicants and 
help facilitate greater coordination across Multi-Applicant Investments. The Multi- 
Applicant planning worksheet provides space to identify each of the partners submitting 
a Multi-Applicant Investment and allows partners to jointly describe their Multi-Applicant 
Investment planning. This planning worksheet has been provided to help applicants in 
drafting their Multi-Applicant Investments prior to the March 1, 2008, release of the IJ 
Submission module in the Grants Reporting Tool (GRT). 
The Multi-Applicant Task Guide in Appendix C provides further information regarding 
the FY08 Multi-Applicant submission process, including details of specific partner roles 
and responsibilities when submitting Multi-Applicant Investments. Applicants 
participating in a Multi-Applicant submission will need to identify one of the partners to 
act as the submitting partner. The Multi-Applicant Task Guide highlights certain 
questions that the submitting partner will include as part of their Multi-Applicant 
Investment on behalf of all partners. These questions were chosen because they best 
reflect and require group effort, and the responses to them should be drafted by all 
participating partners and should not be the work of only one partner. The questions 
listed for completion by individual partners reflect those aspects that are relevant to 
each Multi-Applicant partner, including the submitting partner. Please note that the 
submitting partner will not receive any additional bonus, nor incur any additional 
responsibilities, by submitting the partnership’s responses as a part of their Multi- 
Applicant Investment. 
Multi-Applicant Investments will be reviewed using the same criteria as other 
Investments outlined in the FY08 HSGP Scoring Criteria and Weights table. The review 
panel will also consider the degree to which the Multi-Applicant Investments 
demonstrate collaboration among partners and the overall merit of the Mutli-Applicant 
Investments as a collective project that could not be accomplished by a single State, 

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Territory or Urban Area. The Multi-Applicant Investment Criteria table details how these 
additional criteria are applied to certain Inve