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Conference Calls

Intercity Bus Security Grant Program FY 2007

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Conference Call Summaries

02/16/07 Conference Call

1:00 pm

Opening Comments:

Good afternoon! Welcome to the conference call. I would like to start with a couple reminders. First, applications and investment justifications (IJ) are due for Tier II on March 6, 2007. Tier I applications are due on that same date, March 6, 2007. You can submit applications and investment justifications at www.grants.gov. Please note that you will need to register at grant.gov before you submit your application and/or IJ. There may be a week or 10 days delay after registering before you can submit your application materials, so please register early. Second, there is a Tier 1 Intercity Bus Conference this Tuesday, February 20, in Washington, DC.

If you would like any additional information or to see intercity bus Q&As, please go to the TSA website: www.tsa.gov/grants. At this site, there are three grants programs that you can investigate: Transit, Ferry, and Intercity Bus. Also, if you have any additional questions, please submit them to askcsid@dhs.gov

Questions and Answers:

Click here to read the questions and answers from all IBSGP confrence calls.

Wrap Up:

We will reach out to the G&T IT folks regarding technical issues and address those issues on TSA's website (www.tsa.gov/grants) and will also address those issues at Tuesday's conference call.

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02/02/07 Conference Call

1:00 pm

Opening Comments:

TSA: Please check our website for recent information bulletins, including the most recent, Information Bulletin #238.

I'd now like to clarify some issues for potential Tier 1 stakeholders. To be eligible, your company must make 50 trips to UASI jurisdiction in one year, using over the road motor coaches. To clarify, neither school buses nor buses in the employ of transit service are eligible for this grant. Also, you must have a minimum of 250 buses in your fleet. February 9 is the deadline for data submission to determine Tier 1 eligibility. Applications and Investment Justifications are due March 6. Funding will be awarded through a competitive, risk-informed process, including the evaluation of the number of buses in your fleet, number of UASI jurisdictions serviced, and the number of trips you make to UASI jurisdictions in a year.

We have added a date to your calendars. February 20, at 10:00 am EST, TSA will host a conference for Tier 1 applicants at our headquarters here in the Washington, DC area. During the conference we hope to address any concerns or questions you may have regarding your selection and application submission requirements as a Tier 1 stakeholder.

Questions and answers from the previous conference calls have been posted to our website, www.tsa.gov/grants. Please visit the website to see if you have questions that may have already been answered on a previous call.

I'd now like to open up the floor for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Click here to read the questions and answers from all IBSGP confrence calls.

Wrap Up:

We encourage you to attend the next conference call, which has been listed below.

Date and Time: February 16, 2007, 1:00pm, EST
Phone: (888) 323-4702
Pass Code: 2356

Thanks for attending the call this week. We look forward to answering more questions that have been submitted to askcsid@dhs.gov. Thanks and have a good weekend.

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01/19/07 Conference Call

1:00 pm

Opening Comments:

Welcome to the call. I hope you've all had a chance to take a look at this year's grant guidance. Let's open up the floor for questions and open discussion.

Questions and Answers:

Click here to read the questions and answers from all IBSGP confrence calls.

Wrap Up:

If there are no more questions at this point in time I'd like to say thanks for calling. As a reminder, we will be hosting on the following dates

Date & Time Telephone Number Pass Code
February 2, 2007, 1:00pm, EST (888) 323-4702 1278
February 16, 2007, 1:00pm, EST (888) 323-4702 2356

Thanks for attending the call this week. We look forward to answering more questions that have been submitted to askcsid@dhs.gov. Thanks and have a good weekend.

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01/10/07 Conference Call

3:00 pm

Opening Comments:

Doyle: Welcome. We're joined by Ray Cotton, the Acting General Manager for Highway and Motor Carriers; Jack Kalro, Manager of Grants at TSA; and Kerry Thomas of the Office of Grants and Training. I'd like to turn things over briefly to Mr. Ray Cotton.

Ray: Good afternoon. I think the process this year should meet expectations, and address feedback from last year. I'd like to also point out that this year's Intercity Bus Security Grant guidance, which will be released in the next day, incorporates five Intercity Bus Security Priorities:

  1. Protection of high risk/high consequence assets that have been identified through system-wide risk assessments
  2. Use of visible, unpredictable deterrence
  3. Targeted antiterrorism training for key front-line and operations center staff
  4. Emergency preparedness drills and exercises
  5. Public awareness and preparedness campaigns

Kerry: I now want to walk through the highlights of the IBSGP guidance, which will be posted shortly on www.grants.gov, along with the rest of the FY 07 Infrastructure Protection Program, of which the IBSGP is a part, focused on enhancing critical infrastructure. I'm going to start by outlining the new areas of the IBSGP.

New for FY 07 – IBSGP is adopting a tiered structure, similar to Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP); tier placement is determined by risk factors:

Own/operate a charter bus service using over-the-road buses and provide a minimum of 50 trips annually to one or more defined UASI jurisdictions.

There is $11.64M available funding in IBSGP – $8.1M for Tier I, and $3.5M for Tier II

An investment justification will be used this year, very similar to the program narratives, to level and normalize the collection of information across the grant programs

DHS has established minimum funding levels for projects as follows:

For Tier I:
$50,000 for projects focused on training and/or exercises
$100,000 for other projects

For Tier II:
$5,000 for projects focused on training and/or exercises
$25,000 for other projects

The period of performance (POP) for this grant cycle will be 36 months, rather than 30 months

The UASI list has been updated to include new eligible UASI jurisdictions

We are awaiting permission to post the IBSGP guidance soon on grants.gov The Application period is open from January 9 through March 6, 2007 (approximately 60 days). Given this extended timeframe, there is a lot of opportunity for collaboration and feedback throughout the process. Awards are expected to be announced late April.

Doyle: I want to reaffirm our commitment to stakeholder outreach. We want to work with the applicants to explain risk and the tiered structure. Tiers allow us to get to large fleets, and collaborate and work together to address risk, while still allowing smaller bus companies to receive funding.

Questions and Answers:

Click here to read the questions and answers from all IBSGP confrence calls.

Wrap Up:

Doyle: If there are no more questions at this point in time I'd like to say thanks for joining us today; we look forward to your participation in future calls. As a reminder, we will be hosting bi-weekly calls on Fridays, starting January 19. The following table outlines the information for conference calls that we have scheduled.

Date Time Telephone Number Pass Code
January 19, 2007 1:00 p.m. EST (888) 323-4702 1245
February 2, 2007 1:00 p.m. EST (888) 323-4702 1278
February 16, 2007 1:00 p.m. EST (888) 323-4702 2356

We will also add more events as/if necessary. Please submit your questions to askcsid@dhs.gov. Thank you.

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