SVPP grant for school security: what the COPS Office funds, how to apply, what Tec-Tel does

1. What SVPP is

The School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) is a federal grant administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, known as the COPS Office. It was authorized by the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, and it funds physical-security improvements at K-12 schools through evidence-based programs and technology. Where FEMA's NSGP serves at-risk nonprofits, SVPP is the dedicated funding path for public school districts and the local governments that serve them.

The program is structured as a cost-share grant. The federal government covers up to 75% of an eligible project, and the applicant supplies the remaining 25% as a local cash match. The COPS Office publishes a Notice of Funding Opportunity each cycle with the exact caps, deadlines, and allowable-cost rules.

Source: U.S. DOJ COPS Office, School Violence Prevention Program; STOP School Violence Act of 2018.

2. What SVPP funds

The authorizing statute defines a small set of purpose areas, and a complete application maps every line item to one of them. The statute names four physical-security measures directly: metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures, plus a separate purpose area for technology that expedites notification of local law enforcement during an emergency. The COPS Office Director can also approve any other measure that provides a significant improvement in security. Each item below reflects how those purpose areas translate into a real school install.

• Surveillance cameras and video management. Interior and exterior IP cameras at entrances, hallways, cafeterias, gymnasiums, parking lots, and approach roads, feeding a central video management system. SVPP treats camera systems as deterrent and security-improvement measures under the program's purpose areas. Federal grant dollars require NDAA Section 889-compliant gear (Public Law 115-232; FAR 52.204-25).
• Access control and door hardware. Card readers, electronic locks, electrified strikes, classroom barricade-compliant hardware, vestibule and visitor-management controls at the main entrance, and door-position monitoring. The statute names "locks" explicitly. A secure single front-entry vestibule with controlled access is one of the most-funded SVPP scopes.
• Metal detectors and entry screening. Walk-through and handheld metal detectors and weapons-detection screening at building entrances and event entries. This is one of the four deterrent measures the authorizing statute names by name, so it sits squarely inside SVPP’s allowable scope when the application ties it to a documented security need.
• Exterior lighting and physical deterrents. Exterior LED lighting at entrances, parking lots, walkways, and athletic fields, plus fencing, gates, bollards, and other physical-deterrent hardening. The statute lists "lighting" and "other deterrent measures" as allowable. Lighting is frequently underweighted in early applications even though reviewers expect it on a complete plan.
• Emergency notification and law-enforcement alerting. Technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency: panic and duress buttons, mass-notification systems, automated lockdown triggers, and integrations that route a verified alert to dispatch in seconds. The statute calls this out as its own purpose area, separate from the deterrent-measures category.
• Coordination and law-enforcement training. Coordination with local law enforcement and training for officers to prevent student violence against others and themselves. These are non-equipment purpose areas, but they pair with the technology scope. A complete application shows how the deployed systems route to, and are operated alongside, the local agency.

Source: SVPP statutory purpose areas, U.S. DOJ COPS Office. Allowable categories and any per-category limits can shift cycle to cycle. Confirm against the active NOFO at cops.usdoj.gov/svpp before final budget submission. Note: indirect costs are not allowable under SVPP, so everything must be budgeted as direct project cost.

3. The award amounts and the match

SVPP awards a maximum federal share of $500,000 per award over a 36-month grant period. The federal share covers up to 75% of eligible project cost, and the applicant supplies a local cash match of at least 25%. On a full $500,000 federal award at the 75/25 split, the total project runs about $666,000, with roughly $166,000 coming from the applicant. The COPS Office may waive the 25% match for applicants with demonstrated severe financial need, and waives it automatically for microgrant applicants selected for funding.

In the FY25 cycle, the COPS Office made up to $73 million available across roughly 200 anticipated awards, with about $1 million reserved for microgrants aimed at rural, tribal, and low-resourced school districts. Those totals are cycle-specific; the dollar figures and award counts reset with each year's NOFO.

Source: U.S. DOJ COPS Office SVPP program page and FY25 Notice of Funding Opportunity. Confirm current-cycle figures against the active NOFO.

4. Who is eligible

SVPP funds flow to government applicants, not to schools directly. Eligible applicants are states, units of local government, Indian tribes, and their public agencies, including law enforcement agencies. The most common applicant is a public school district. Individual schools, independent schools, and private schools cannot apply on their own; they are served through one of the eligible applicant types, sometimes as a subaward.

• States and state agencies. State governments and their public agencies, including state law enforcement agencies, apply directly and may subaward to local educational agencies or local government.
• Units of local government. Counties, cities, and other units of local government in the recipient jurisdiction. This includes public school districts, which are the most common SVPP applicant.
• Indian tribes and tribal agencies. Federally recognized Indian tribes and their public agencies, including tribal law enforcement. A microgrant set-aside specifically supports tribal and rural districts.
• Law enforcement agencies. State and local law enforcement agencies apply on behalf of the schools in their jurisdiction and coordinate the security improvements with the district.
• Who cannot apply directly. Individual schools, independent schools, and private schools cannot apply directly. They are served through a state, local-government, district, or tribal applicant, often as a subaward or covered site inside the application.

Applicants must also comply with federal immigration information-sharing requirements (8 U.S.C. § 1373) and the standard federal grant conditions. Eligible applicants may contract with or subaward to local educational agencies, nonprofit organizations other than schools, or units of local government and tribal organizations. Confirm subaward eligibility against the active NOFO before structuring the application around a specific school site.

5. The application cycle

SVPP runs on an annual cycle. The COPS Office publishes the NOFO, applicants submit through the federal grants system, awards post later in the year, and the 36-month clock starts at the award date. The FY25 cycle is a useful reference point for the rhythm.

• Spring: NOFO publication. The Notice of Funding Opportunity drops with the year's caps, allowable-cost guidance, and the match rules. Read it the week it lands.
• Early summer: Application deadline. The FY25 application closed June 26, 2025, at 4:59 PM ET. The school-safety assessment, the technology plan, and the vendor documentation should be complete before submission.
• Late summer through fall: Award announcements. Selected applicants receive an award package; the 36-month performance period begins.
• Year one through three: Design, procurement, install, commissioning, and law-enforcement coordination. Most districts schedule disruptive work for summer breaks and run commissioning and training during the school year.

Read the active NOFO at cops.usdoj.gov/svpp for the exact current-cycle dates. The application portal and any pre-application registration steps (SAM.gov, Grants.gov) take time, so start the registration well before the deadline.

6. What Tec-Tel does on an SVPP project

Tec-Tel produces the security-design and documentation a complete SVPP application needs, and then installs the system if the award lands. That is four deliverables, each tied to the program's purpose areas.

• School safety assessment. A walking assessment with your facilities lead, administration, and where possible the local law enforcement liaison. We document the existing camera, access, and notification posture, identify gaps against the SVPP purpose areas, and mark up floor plans with photographs and a vulnerability matrix. Output: a written assessment the application can cite directly.
• Purpose-area-aligned technology plan. Every line item in the bill of materials references the SVPP purpose area it satisfies: a secure front-entry vestibule under "locks," weapons screening under "metal detectors," parking-lot LED under "lighting," panic and lockdown integration under "expedited notification of local law enforcement." Reviewers score whether each request maps to an allowable purpose area and a documented need.
• NDAA-compliant vendor selection. Federal grant money requires NDAA Section 889-compliant gear. We hold the NDAA-compliant subset of camera, access, and notification vendors on file, with each manufacturer's 889 self-certification attached to the bill of materials. Hikvision, Dahua, Hytera, Huawei, ZTE, and Lorex are excluded by default.
• Signed vendor scope and pricing. A scope and pricing letter on Tec-Tel letterhead, valid through the review cycle, confirming the install timeline, NDAA compliance, and our 15-year nationwide integrator track record. Pricing holds so the awarded budget matches the install cost when the project starts.

What Tec-Tel does not do. We do not write the grant narrative, we do not sign as the applicant, and we do not replace your district's grant team or grant consultant. Grant writing is the district's job. Our job is the security-design and documentation that scores well alongside their narrative, and the install itself once the award lands. Keeping the applicant's voice and the vendor's documentation distinct reads stronger to a federal reviewer.

7. NDAA Section 889 implications

SVPP awards are federal grant dollars, which puts every install under NDAA Section 889. The statute prohibits federal grantees from using or procuring covered video surveillance and telecommunications equipment from Hikvision, Dahua, Hytera, Huawei, ZTE, and their subsidiaries. The rule covers any system where the equipment is a substantial component, regardless of when it was installed. Schools are a common place to find covered cameras, because budget-driven purchases over the past decade frequently landed on Hikvision and Dahua OEM gear, sometimes rebranded.

The verification path runs three steps. First, walk the existing bill of materials and pull the real manufacturer and model off every camera and recorder, not the sticker on the dome. Second, match each model against the FCC Covered List and the manufacturer's own NDAA Section 889 self-certification. Third, document the result. If covered equipment is in the building, build a phased rip-and-replace plan with budget and timeline before federal funds release.

Source: Public Law 115-232, Section 889; FAR 52.204-25. The full statutory text and FAR clause are linked from our compliance reference.

For the deeper compliance walkthrough, see our NDAA Section 889 explainer. For the full NDAA-filtered vendor matrix, see the compliance quick reference.

8. SVPP next to NSGP and state school-safety grants

SVPP is not the only security-funding path a school can use, and the strongest plans coordinate more than one source. The distinctions matter when you scope a project.

• SVPP (this program). COPS Office. K-12 schools through government applicants. Up to 75% / $500,000 federal share over three years, 25% match. Purpose areas: deterrents, screening, lighting, locks, and emergency notification.
• NSGP. FEMA. At-risk 501(c)(3) nonprofits, including faith-based schools and houses of worship. Up to $200,000 per site. Threat-narrative driven. See our NSGP grant security installs guide.
• State school-safety grants. Many states run their own school-hardening programs that can fund the local-match portion or scope beyond the federal cap. The SVPP 25% match cannot come from another federal source, so a state program is a common match source where its rules allow.

Coordinating the stack before final budget submission keeps federal and state dollars from double-counting the same line items, and it lets a district fund a complete plan rather than a partial one. For the install side of any grant-funded project, see our grant install playbook, which follows the same award-to-commissioning rhythm.

Last updated: 2026-06-05. We refresh this page when the COPS Office SVPP NOFO publishes, when the STOP School Violence Act guidance changes, or when NDAA enforcement guidance shifts. Program figures cited reflect the FY25 cycle and reset each year; confirm current-cycle caps, deadlines, and allowable costs at cops.usdoj.gov/svpp.