Rifle-Resistant Body Armor Grant Program, FY2027 is sponsored by Texas Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office. Supports law enforcement agencies in Texas by providing funding for rifle-resistant body armor to enhance officer protection.

Rifle-Resistant Body Armor Grant Program, FY2027 Rifle-Resistant Body Armor Grant Program, FY2027 The purpose of this announcement is to solicit applications from law enforcement agencies to equip peace officers with rifle-resistant body armor. State funds for these projects are authorized under the Texas General Appropriations Act, Article I, Rider 25 for Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law. The Public Safety Office (PSO) expects to make available $3M for FY2027. Applications may be submitted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, units of local government and educational institutions that operate law enforcement agencies employing peace officers under Article 2A.

001, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; including municipalities, counties, independent school districts, universities, federally recognized Native American tribes, community colleges, and hospital districts. All applications submitted by local law enforcement agencies/offices must be submitted by a unit of government affiliated with the agency, including an authorizing resolution from that unit of government.

For example, police departments must apply under their municipal government, and community supervision and corrections departments, district attorneys, and judicial districts must apply through their affiliated county government (or one of the counties, in the case of agencies that serve more than one county). Applicants must access the PSO’s eGrants grant management website at https://eGrants. gov.texas.

go v to register and apply for funding. ***NEW APPLICATION SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT*** The following documents must be submitted with the application for the application to be considered complete and eligible for funding.

See the Eligibility Requirements and/or Program-Specific Requirements Sections of this Funding Announcement for more details on the requirements for each attachment/certification: Resolution from Governing Body - Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution.

CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances For m - Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must certify compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements. Failure to submit the fully executed required attachment(s) by the application deadline may result in the application being deemed ineligible.

Funding Announcement Release Online System Opening Date Final Date to Submit and Certify an Application Earliest Project Start Date Projects must begin on or after 09/01/2026 and may not exceed a 12 month project period.

Grantees must comply with standards applicable to this fund source cited in the Texas Grant Management Standards ( TxGM S ), Federal Uniform Grant Guidanc e , and all statutes, requirements, and guidelines applicable to this funding. Eligible Activities and Costs Funds may be used for obtaining body armor compliant with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) standard (Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor NIJ Standard-0101.

06) type III (rifles) or type IV (armor piercing rifle) body armor; including bullet-resistant vests, ballistic plates, and plate carriers. Due to the limited availability of funds, applicants are encouraged to consider the reasonable cost of their request. PSO will evaluate applications based on number of frontline peace officers and the average cost per vest.

Program-Specific Requirements Eligible officers to equip. Grant funds may only be used to equip peace officers (as defined by Article 2. 12, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure) directly employed by a law enforcement agency operated by the applicant.

Funds may not be used to equip officers employed by other agencies that are not eligible to apply. PSO may prioritize the equipping of certain types of officers or applicants if the total requested funds exceed the funds appropriated by the Legislature. Required Agency Policies.

As required by Chapter 772. 0075, Texas Government Code, an eligible organization may apply for grant funds only after its law enforcement agency adopts a policy addressing the: 1) Deployment and allocation of vests or plates to its officers; and 2) Usage of vests or plates by its officers.

PSO requires that the policy on usage of vests or plates include mandatory training on the proper care, fitting, inspection, use, storage, and maintenance of the armor. PSO also requires that the policy specify that body armor may not be left in patrol vehicles when an officer is not on duty to minimize the heat damage to the armor.

In crafting these policies, applicants should be aware that the inspection, storage, and replacement of body armor were identified as potential points of failure in body armor use by the Police Executive Research Forum. See “A Practitioner’s Guide To the 2011 National Body Armor Survey of La w Enforcement Officers ” f or more information. Personally Fitted Vest Requirement .

All body armor vests purchased with grant funds must be personally fitted for individual officers, including vests specifically fitted to individual female law enforcement officers.

“Personally fitted” does not require armor be individually manufactured based on the measurements of a specific wearer, but rather that it provide the best possible fit and coverage, through a combination of: 1) Correctly-sized panels and carrier, determined through appropriate measurement; and 2) Properly adjusted straps, harnesses, fasteners, flaps, or other adjustable features.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International has made available the Standard Practice for Body Armor Wearer Measurement and Fitting of Armor ( Active Standard ASTM E300 3 ) . The Personal Armor Fit Assessment checklist , i s excerpted from ASTM E3003. 1.

Applications from nonprofit corporations, local units of governments, and other political subdivisions must submit a fully executed resolution with the application to be considered eligible for funding.

The resolution must contain the following elements (see Sample Resolution) : Authorization by your governing body for the submission of the application to the Public Safety Office (PSO) that clearly identifies the name of the project for which funding is requested; A commitment to provide all applicable matching funds; A designation of the name and/or title of an authorized official who is given the authority to apply for, accept, reject, alter, or terminate a grant; A designation of the name and/or title of a financial officer who is given the authority to submit financial and/or performance reports or alter a grant; and A written assurance that, in the event of loss or misuse of grant funds, the governing body will return all funds to PSO 2.

Local units of governments must comply with the Cybersecurity Training requirements described in Section 772. 012 and Section 2054. 5191 of the Texas Government Code.

Local governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity requirements required by Section 2054. 5191 of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible.

Government entities must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the Cybersecurity Training Certification for State and Local Governments . A copy of the Training Certification must be uploaded to your eGrants application. For more information or to access available training programs, visit the Texas Department of Information Resources Statewide Cybersecurity Awareness Training page.

3. Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 66.

The disposition completeness percentage is defined as the percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system.

Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county will report at least 90% of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety. 4. Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated by 411.

042 TGC, to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS.

Due to the importance of timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the Texas-mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests from DPS related to the data submitted. 5. In accordance with Texas Government Code, Section 420.

034, any facility or entity that collects evidence for sexual assault or other sex offenses or investigates or prosecutes a sexual assault or other sex offense for which evidence has been collected, must participate in the statewide electronic tracking system developed and implemented by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Visit DPS’s Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking Program website for more information or to set up an account to begin participating. Additionally, per Section 420. 042 "A law enforcement agency that receives evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense...

shall submit that evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory for analysis no later than the 30th day after the date on which that evidence was received." A law enforcement agency in possession of a significant number of Sexual Assault Evidence Kits (SAEK) where the 30-day window has passed may be considered noncompliant. 6.

Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement agency, must comply with all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal aliens in Agency’s custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS.

Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from justice or aliens illegally in the United States, 8 U.S.C.

§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii); (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3); (3) encourage or induce an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States in violation of law, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv); (4) result in the illegal transport or movement of aliens within the United States, 8 U.S.C.

§ 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii) . Lastly, eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties found in Chapter 752, Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code.

Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements.

This Form is required for each application submitted to OOG and is active until August 31, 2027 or the end of the grant period, whichever is later. 7. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) database and have an UEI (Unique Entity ID) number assigned to its agency (to get registered in the SAM database and request an UEI number, go to https://sam.

gov/ ). Failure to comply with program eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or suspension or termination of grant funds.

Grant funds may not be used to support the unallowable costs listed in the Guide to Grants or any of the following unallowable costs: Any costs ancillary to the purchase of eligible body armor, such as policy development, training costs, and staff; and Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state or local law or regulation.

Application Screening: The Office of the Governor will screen all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements included in the funding announcement. Peer/Merit Review: The Office of the Governor will review applications to understand the overall demand for the program and for significant variations in costs per item.

After this review, the Office of the Governor will determine if all eligible applications can be funded based on funds available, if there are cost-effectiveness benefits to normalizing or setting limits on the range of costs, and if other fair-share cuts may allow for broader distribution and a higher number of projects while still remaining effective.

Final Decisions: The Office of the Governor will consider rankings along with other factors and make all final funding decisions. Other factors may include cost effectiveness, overall funds availability, or state government priorities and strategies, legislative directives, need, geographic distribution, balance of focuses and approaches, or other relevant factors.

The Office of the Governor may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount requested. In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, the Office of the Governor may revise projects to address a more limited focus. For more information, contact the eGrants help desk at eGrants@gov.texas.

gov or (512) 463-1919. Contact the Office of the Governor (OOG) Contact the Office of the Governor (OOG) 1100 San Jacinto Blvd. , Austin, Texas 78701 P.

O. Box 12428, Austin, Texas 78711-2428 Public Safety Office (PSO)