UASI grant security funding: what FEMA funds, who qualifies, what Tec-Tel does

1. What UASI is

The Urban Area Security Initiative is the urban-area track of FEMA's Homeland Security Grant Program, authorized under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended. It exists to help the nation's highest-risk metropolitan regions build and sustain the capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism. Where the Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds individual at-risk nonprofits, UASI funds the broader urban region: the cities, counties, transit authorities, and agency partners that share a single threat environment.

FEMA awards UASI funds based on relative risk, calculated across the 100 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States. The result is a designated list of high-risk urban areas, each with a target allocation published in the annual Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Source: FEMA Homeland Security Grant Program, FY2025 NOFO and Fact Sheet (fema.gov).

2. The funding and the designated areas

The FY2025 Homeland Security Grant Program totaled approximately $1.008 billion, with the UASI share running near $553 million. FEMA distributed that across 44 designated high-risk urban areas, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., plus 41 others, allocated by relative risk rather than a flat per-area amount. There was no applicant cost-share requirement for FY2025.

UASI is a regional allocation, not a per-site cap. An individual project's size depends on how much its urban area received and how the urban area working group prioritizes the Investment Justifications it gathers from local jurisdictions. A camera-and-network project at a transit hub competes inside the same regional pool as a fusion-center upgrade and a soft-target hardening package at a stadium.

Source: FEMA FY2025 HSGP Fact Sheet and NOFO (fema.gov). Allocation totals and the designated-area list change each fiscal year; confirm the current figures against the active NOFO before planning.

3. Who is eligible and how the money flows

State Administrative Agencies are the only entities that apply to FEMA for UASI funds, including on behalf of the urban areas inside the state. The SAA may keep up to 20% for state-level needs and must pass at least 80% to local or tribal governments. That pass-through is what carries the money down to the city, county, and agency partners that actually own the buildings, transit systems, and public spaces being hardened.

A private facility, a stadium, a house of worship, a venue, generally does not apply to UASI on its own. It benefits when a participating jurisdiction or the urban area working group funds a project that includes it, most often under the soft-target and crowded-place priority. An organization that wants its own direct award should look at the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which funds up to $200,000 per site. See our NSGP grant guide for that path.

Source: FEMA FY2025 HSGP NOFO (fema.gov).

4. What UASI funds on the security side

UASI supports equipment, planning, organization, training, and exercises. On the physical-security and integration side, the categories below reflect what FEMA names and what urban areas commonly fund. A strong Investment Justification ties each item to a documented capability gap and a National Priority Area.

• Video surveillance and AI-assisted cameras. Fixed and pan-tilt-zoom IP cameras at transit hubs, civic plazas, stadiums, government buildings, and approach corridors, tied into a central video management system. FEMA names AI-assisted video and advanced camera systems among supported technologies. Analytics that flag unattended objects, crowd density, and movement against known patterns turn raw footage into something a fusion center or operations team can act on in real time.
• Access control and entry hardening. Card readers, mobile credentials, electrified hardware, and door-position monitoring at government facilities, emergency operations centers, utilities, and other critical sites. Visitor management at public entrances. Single-button lockdown that ties access, cameras, and intrusion detection together so one operator action secures a building during an incident.
• Soft-target and crowded-place protection. FY2025 directs a defined share of UASI funds to protecting soft targets and crowded places, a category FEMA explicitly extends to faith-based sites and polling locations. That covers perimeter cameras, hostile-vehicle barriers, weapons-detection and screening technology, public-address and mass-notification systems, and the analytics layer that watches large open spaces where a guard cannot stand at every door.
• Fusion centers and information sharing. Technology that supports state and major-urban-area fusion centers, where law enforcement and homeland-security partners share intelligence and coordinate response. On the integration side that means the cameras, networks, video walls, and data feeds that route field sensors into a shared operating picture, and the secure connectivity that links agencies across a region.
• Networking, cabling, and connectivity. The structured cabling, switching, and network design that every camera, reader, and sensor depends on. UASI projects routinely fund the backbone, not just the endpoints, because a surveillance investment is only as reliable as the network carrying it. Interoperable communications across jurisdictions is a recurring UASI priority.
• Planning, training, and exercises. UASI is not equipment-only. Funds support planning, organization, training, and exercises alongside the hardware. The strongest Investment Justifications pair a technology request with the operational plan and training that make the technology usable. Confirm the current planning-and-training allocations against the active Preparedness Grants Manual before final budget submission.

Source: FEMA Homeland Security Grant Program guidance, including the FY2025 National Priority Areas and the Preparedness Grants Manual (fema.gov). Allowable categories shift cycle to cycle; confirm against the active NOFO and Preparedness Grants Manual before final budget submission.

5. The spending rules that shape a UASI budget

UASI carries several allocation floors that decide how an urban area can spend its award. They matter early, because a project's eligibility often depends on which requirement it helps the region satisfy.

• No applicant cost-share. FY2025 UASI carried no match requirement for sub-applicants. The award covers the eligible scope without a local dollar-for-dollar contribution. Match rules can change by fiscal year, so confirm against the active NOFO.
• 30% to National Priority Areas. Recipients must allocate at least 30% of UASI funds across five National Priority Areas: protecting soft targets and crowded places, supporting homeland-security task forces and fusion centers, cybersecurity resiliency, election security, and border-crisis response support. Most physical-security and camera scope lands inside the soft-targets priority.
• 35% to LETPA. Recipients must dedicate at least 35% of combined SHSP and UASI funding to Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Activities. Surveillance, access control, and information-sharing projects with a documented terrorism-prevention rationale frequently count toward this floor.
• 80% pass-through to locals. The State Administrative Agency may retain up to 20% of UASI funds for state-level needs and must pass at least 80% to local or tribal governments. Practically, that means the funding reaches the city, county, and agency partners that own the soft targets being hardened.

Source: FEMA FY2025 HSGP NOFO and Fact Sheet (fema.gov). Percentage floors are set per fiscal year; verify against the active NOFO.

6. The application timeline

The UASI cycle runs on two layers. FEMA publishes the HSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity, the State Administrative Agency assembles and submits the state's application to FEMA by the federal deadline, and each urban area runs its own earlier sub-application window so local jurisdictions can submit Investment Justifications in time to be rolled up. Local deadlines often close weeks ahead of the federal one.

• NOFO publication. FEMA releases the HSGP NOFO with target allocations, National Priority Area requirements, and allowable-cost guidance. Read it the day it lands.
• Local sub-application window. The urban area working group opens its intake. Jurisdictions submit Investment Justifications tied to the region's priorities. This is the deadline that matters for a local agency; it closes first.
• Federal deadline. The SAA submits the consolidated state application to FEMA. In FY2025 this was August 15, 2025.
• Award and period of performance. FEMA reviews and announces awards, then the spending period of performance opens, typically running a few years to allow procurement, install, and closeout.

Read the active NOFO at fema.gov for the exact current-cycle federal date, and contact your urban area's working group or SAA for the local sub-application deadline, which is the one most local agencies actually need to hit.

7. NDAA Section 889 applies to every UASI install

UASI awards are federal grant dollars, which puts every install under NDAA Section 889. The statute prohibits federal grantees from using or procuring covered telecommunications and video-surveillance equipment from Hikvision, Dahua, Hytera, Huawei, ZTE, and their subsidiaries. The rule covers any system where the equipment is a substantial component, regardless of vintage.

The verification path runs three steps. First, walk the bill of materials and pull the manufacturer and model off every camera and recorder, because some integrators rebrand covered OEM gear under their own label. Second, match each model against the FCC Covered List and the manufacturer's own Section 889 self-certification. Third, document the result in writing. If covered equipment sits in the existing stack, build a phased rip-and-replace plan with budget and timeline before grant funds release. For the deeper walkthrough, see our NDAA Section 889 explainer and the compliance quick reference.

Source: NDAA Section 889 (Public Law 115-232; FAR 52.204-25); FCC Covered List.

8. What Tec-Tel does on a UASI project

Tec-Tel produces the security-side documentation and the buildable design that a strong UASI Investment Justification needs, and then performs the install when the award lands. The work splits into four deliverables, each tied to the federal evaluation logic.

• Site and capability-gap assessment. A walking assessment of the facility, venue, or corridor with your security and facilities leads. We document existing camera, access, and network posture, identify gaps against the National Priority Areas the region is funding, and mark up a plan with photographs and a gap matrix the Investment Justification can cite directly.
• Scope designed to the grant priority. Each line item in the bill of materials references the threat it addresses and the priority it serves, soft-target protection, fusion-center support, interoperable communications, so evaluators can see the capability gap each request closes. We design to the grant scope, not above it.
• NDAA-compliant equipment selection. We hold the Section 889-compliant subset of camera, access, and intrusion vendors on file, each with its own self-certification attached to the bill of materials. Covered manufacturers are excluded by default, and we audit existing gear so nothing rebranded slips through.
• Vendor documentation and the install. A letter on Tec-Tel letterhead confirming pricing validity through the review cycle, install timeline, NDAA posture, and our nationwide integrator track record, so the award amount matches the install cost when funds release. When the award lands, we run the install, commissioning, and training across single or multi-site regional scope.

What Tec-Tel does not do. We do not write the grant narrative, sign as the applicant, or replace your jurisdiction's grant team. The narrative and the Investment Justification belong to the public agency. Our job is the security-side design and documentation that scores well alongside it, and the buildable, compliant system behind it.

Last updated: 2026-06-05. We refresh this page when the FEMA HSGP NOFO publishes, when the National Priority Area or LETPA requirements change, or when NDAA enforcement guidance shifts. Figures reflect the FY2025 cycle; confirm current allocations, designated areas, and deadlines against the active NOFO at fema.gov.