Dear Johns,

[Flochief]

Any one recieved a Dear John yet? At first they said they would start mid July, then mid August? It looks like this round, round 12, had a lot of vehicles awarded.
Good Luck to all!!!

[briontci]

WHERE DID YOU FIND ROUND 12 RESULTS? I JUST CHECKED FEMA SITE AND THEY WERE NOT THERE.

[sgvfccaptain]

Round 12 is on the firehouse.com home page. It's the second story from the top. Hope this helps.

Matt

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

You ain't just whistlin' Dixie. 6 out of 7 awards for Georgia were vehicles, and bunches more all over the place. That will lift the overall $$ amount. All of my breakdowns are at the office, so as soon as FEMA uploads the spreadsheet I'll update the reports I've got on my website. But with the 403 today, that comes close to 3100 awards. Only 3900 or so to go. Won't know about the $$ total until FEMA posts the Round 12 stuff, but we were only at $168mil after Round 11. Even with all of the vehicles the total still may not be over $200mil. There's still some big bucks coming down the pike. Keep all y'alls fingers crossed.

But not when you're driving, makes it tough to turn.

Stay safe.

[briontci]

THANKS MATT,
WE WEREN'T THERE TODAY, BUT I DIDN'T EXPECT TO BE; GOT CONFIRMATION OF 1199A DELIVERY AT 7.30 THIS MORNING, BUT ANYTHING NOT HAPPENING ON SCHEDULE MAKES ME NERVOUS.
THANKS, BRION

[toddmcbr]

I was just doing some checking and I believe South Dakota went 4 for 5 in the vehicle category.

[shoreops]

It would be helpful to hear from anyone who has either received a "Dear John" or knows of one being received and can pass on that info. That milestone is important. Come on you regulars, share what you have heard.

Thanks!

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Haven't heard a thing. I'm surprised since those 6,000 some odd that didn't make it to peer review should have been easy to notify, and should have been sent early on. It doesn't mean automatic award for those left because that would leave almost 14,000 that were reviewed, and since only 7,000 are being awarded, too many open spots to call not getting one right away a guarantee. I think this is definitely the fastest that they've given out so many awards, so they're probably swamped in awards stuff. The rounds will contain less and less awards, but more and more money. There's no other way to make it to 7000 awards and $700 mil at the rate they're going now. Almost half the awards, and barely a third of the money so far. Big bucks are coming down the pike for some.

[jboczek]

I don't see any reason they can't get all the awards out in a timely manner. After all, they didn't say they'd all be awarded by the end of the year, just by the end of June or so. We've got a lot of time to wait yet. I can see the same number of awards every week until they're done.

[orangebuster]

Just another confusing situation that I have come to expect from the Government. Yep, sure is nice to have the chance to apply. But since then, I can attest to the stress level being tremendous considering what we are hoping to achieve by being awarded assistance.

Just do not get the point. We are required to have these applications for assistance in on a specific date. O.K. then. Then these same said apps are digested by the computer system to kick out which ones that will make it to peer review, and the others are then graded if I am correct so far. So what then praytell is the problem? There are an estimated 6000 apps sitting around that were denied before peer review. Understand that FEMA is attaching a reason for denial to these, but come on folks, if this system is as fantastic as people claim it to be then why has not one rejection letter been sent out.

Granted these folks setting up the awards for departments are busy, but an agency such as this should have had their homework done before the process would have started. At least I think so. Just another reason why I am bothered by the system as a whole.

STILL STANDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Well it could be......

that the number of awards is going to be 10,000 not 7,000 because of some situations that developed. Situations that may or may not be known, but most likely departments either not taking awards, or FEMA finding out that they're not an eligible entity as they research to announce an award. But's that's just speculation on my part why there's more money. Speculation on a source's part was that they underestimated the number of awards that add up to all of the money. So it's looks like maybe 3,000 more departments will end up happy. I've only heard it through one source and all others haven't heard that yet, but it would be nice if it were true. With more than double the money of last year I was hoping that more than double the number of departments would be getting in the green.

[Bones42]

Well BC, that would be great.

And if the 6000 that never made peer review are part of that "additional group" that would now be under consideration, I would understand the delay.

But if that 6000 are still not eligible because they never made peer review....there is no excuse for not notifying them (or us).

[orangebuster]

BC, what was the total amount of departments applying this year as compared to previous years? If it is similar persay 19K, and if they do bump awards up to 10k from 7k, that would still leave 6K or better not getting awards.

Still, it would be nice to see more people getting a smile on their faces, and still, it would be nice to know you made it at least to peer reviewby now.


STILL STANDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

True, I don't know what the holdup might be on those that didn't make it to peer review. Incomplete applications can't even be considered, so they should have been really easy to spot and give a Dear John to. Same with ineligible entities. If the word that the bump has been made to 10,000 awards, there are between 3000 and 4000 left that went to peer review. The odds are slim but it some don't want to or can't wait this long for things, and buy them, then they won't take the grant and it moves on. I can't imagine that happening, but there were people that initially got Dear John's last year and ended up with awards because several large ones were passed on for various reasons, and they suddenly were in the money. I think they're definitely aiming to err on the safe side at least for a little while longer. I will be the first in line to email and call if those 6000 don't come out by the first of the year. They have to notify prior to the application start period for 2004. Maybe not legally but they really ought to so that everyone else can plan for the 2004 project.

The total applications for this year was 19,949. There are no numbers on USFA's site for 2001 or 2002, but I believe the numbers were just over 18,000 in 2001, and just under 19,000 in 2002. They have gone up by about 1,000 per year. I faintly remember that being the approximate increase. What's better is that it's gone from 1,845 awards in 2001, to 5,314 in 2002, to at least 7,000 if not 10,000 in 2003. The House keeps amending the bill to increase the amount by $150 million to make it an even $900 million for 2004, but the Senate keeps dropping it back to $750 million and placing is under DHS. You think the rich get richer now? If it goes under DHS it will be the same as the Homeland Security grant program most of you probably didn't even know existed. It was administered by the state, and basically passed on to the largest cities and their fire departments for terrorism preparedness. In TX, not a dime went outside of Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, or Houston. All hazmat. Get your Senators and keep the program under USFA. It is the most efficient grant program in terms of admin costs ever. It's been estimated that if it were run like an average grant program, right around 30% would be lost to admin costs, leaving about $520 million for grants, as opposed to the $680-700 million that people have seen for this year.

Stay safe, keep holding out. We'll all know shortly.

[orangebuster]

Thanks BC. I also would hate to see it go through DHS due to the case mentioned in TX. Also pretty much the same throughout the lower 48.

STILL STANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!