City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: May 23, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.K
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Joseph Cevetello, Chief Information Officer, Information Services Department Subject: Approval of Urban Area Security Initiative 2021 and 2022 Grant Acceptance Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept two grants with a total awarded amount of $2,120,000 from the 2021 and 2022 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) for homeland security projects in the Fire and Information Services Departments, and to accept all associated grant renewals.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the grant, grant modifications, and all associated grant renewals.
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a second modification to Contractual Services Agreement #10967 with Advanced Problem Solving, LLC, (APS) a California-based company, in an amount not to exceed $850,000 and on the same terms and conditions. This will result in a five-year amended agreement with a new total contract amount not to exceed $4,870,000 over a five-year period.
4. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and a finding of no possibility of significant effect on the environment pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) CEQA Guidelines.
5. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions section of this report.
Summary
Each year, the Federal government allocates grant funding to enhance regional preparedness for disasters, emergencies, and other threats to homeland security. The Los Angeles Mayor’s office awarded an additional $150,000 from UASI 2021 grant funds for the region to assist in a national emergency management exercise. Santa 2 of 7
Monica Fire will host these funds on behalf of the region and the training modules will be completed by Advanced Problem Solving (APS).
In the UASI 2022 grant cycle, $1,970,000 was awarded to the City of Santa Monica Fire Department and the Information Services Department as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Area Security Initiative grant:
• The Fire Department was awarded funding in the amount of $200,000 to be used for Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Training and Equipment, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Training and Equipment, and consumables for the Training Center.
• Santa Monica Fire will allocate $650,000 on behalf of the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs’ Association Regional Training Group (LAAFCA RTG) for training programs.
• The grant will use $750,000 to provide a secure cloud-based mapping portal for the operational area to be used for all hazard operational situational awareness, incident management, pre-planning, and reporting/analytics. The project mitigates threats to communications continuity and supports resiliency by allowing the region to purchase software that allows agencies to share data through the system as a redundant solution in case of a cyber-attack. • The Information Services Department was awarded funding totaling $370,000 to select consultants who will work with regional partners to identify current software platforms and road map implementation plan to ensure new software will meet the needs of the cybersecurity priority.
Staff recommends that Council authorize acceptance of the 2022 UASI grant funds and execution of a subrecipient agreement with the City of Los Angeles for a performance period of September 1, 2022, to May 31, 2025. The City of Los Angeles administers the UASI grant on behalf of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, which includes Santa Monica.
Discussion
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The UASI program’s focus is on enhancing regional preparedness and capabilities in major metropolitan areas. The Santa Monica Fire Department requested funds to send staff to trainings that support its core public safety missions as well as regional homeland security goals. The following are the four major regional homeland security focus areas of the UASI grant program, known as Investment Justifications:
1. Strengthen interoperable and communications capabilities;
2. Strengthen information sharing, collaboration capabilities, and law enforcement investigations;
3. Protection of critical infrastructure and key resources; and
4. Catastrophic incident planning response and recovery.
The Fire Department proposes to use $175,000 in grant funds to send members to training to support the City’s Type I Urban Search and Rescue and specialized Hazardous Materials CBRNE training. Funding in the amount of $650,000 would be used to host the LAAFCA’s RTG training delivery model, which creates and disseminates regional training. There are no direct staffing costs associated with the LAAFCA RTG funds. Santa Monica Fire and all other fire agencies in Los Angeles County have access to the training delivery modules and learning content provided under the grant funding. The remaining $25,000 funding would be used to support equipment purchases and consumables for the Fire Department’s Training Center.
There are no additional ongoing costs associated with Fire’s grant funding and any equipment will be replaced with ongoing grant funding at the end of the equipment’s useful life.
The Fire Department was also able to secure $370,000 from this year’s grant for use by the Information Services Department (ISD) to fund the City’s ongoing cybersecurity program. This funding will assist the information security team with applying enhancement measures to strengthen identity management, safeguard City data stored with cloud-based vendors and provide greater cybersecurity risk prioritization to aid in cyberattack prevention. The purchase of the requested measures will require an equipment and software subscription renewal in subsequent years, beginning in Fiscal Year 2023-24. Staff has secured UASI 2022 funds to cover the subscription costs in FY 4 of 7
2023-24. While ongoing funding for these tools has not been secured, staff believes the City will benefit from the enhanced cyber security tools for at least two years. Staff will pursue additional grant funding opportunities for future funding. If future grant funds are not available for the ongoing subscription expenses thereafter, staff will discontinue its use of these tools. Procurement for projects funded by the UASI grant will follow Santa Monica’s policies regarding competitive procurement processes.
The UASI program directly supports the national priority of expanding regional collaboration within the National Preparedness Goal, which defines what it means for the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The UASI grant is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or human-made disasters. These funds cannot be used for general purposes and must be specified at the time of application. Homeland security purchases must be preapproved by the state and align with grant guidelines.
The UASI grant program is 100% federally funded from the Department of Homeland Security and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services.
The City of Santa Monica has received over $20 million in homeland security grant funding since 2003. These funds have been used to purchase necessary interoperable communication and infrastructure equipment, supplies, and training in direct support of overall regional goals to promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response to threats and/or acts of terrorism.
There are no ongoing costs related to the Fire Department’s grant funding. Future grant funding will be requested to fund any equipment replacement at the end of its useful life.
Information Services Department’s staff plans to utilize future UASI funds to support the on-going operational costs for the cybersecurity solutions. If future grant funds are not allocated to the City to cover the costs of the subscription renewals, staff will discontinue its use of these tools.
Environmental Review
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The use of grant funds to fund emergency preparedness equipment is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Section 15301 (Class 1 Existing Facilities) of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 15301 exempts projects that consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, leasing, licensing, permitting, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of the existing or former use. Grant funding will be used to replace equipment at the end of the equipment’s useful life as previously stated. Furthermore, the use of grant funds for cybersecurity, programs, equipment, supplies, and training would have no possibility of significant effect on the environment, and therefore, is also exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines. Grant funds would support the administration of programs to ensure regional preparedness and would not result in physical effects on the environment.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
5/10/2022
(Attachment A)
Authorization to accept the 2021 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant Funds for Homeland Security Projects and enter into a Subrecipient agreement with the City of Los Angeles
10/13/2020
(Attachment B)
Acceptance of 2019 Measure B Grant and increase to the Agreement with Advanced Problem Solving, LLC for the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs Regional Training Group (LAAFCA RTG) Training Delivery Model 11/12/2019
(Attachment C)
Award of agreement with Advanced Problem Solving for video and curriculum development services for the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs Regional Training Group
Attachment D Original Contractual Agreement
Attachment E Modification 1
Attachment F Renewal 1
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to accept a grant totaling $1,970,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2022 UASI program to fund training and equipment in direct support of overall regional goals to promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response to threats and/or acts of terrorism.
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Staff also seeks authority to accept a grant totaling $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2021 UASI program. This is in addition to the $1,177,692 previously awarded from the 2021 UASI program.
FY 2022-23 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue
Budget
Amount Appropriate Funds Amount
20190001.40428F $150,000 20190001.55518F $150,000
20140001.40428G $370,000 20140001.55518G $370,000
20190001.40428G $1,600,000 20190001.55518G $1,600,000
Contract Modification Request
Agreement #
Current
Authorized
Amount
Modified
Request
Amount
Account Number Total Amount
10967 $850,000 - 20190001.55518F $3,000,000
10967 Mod 1 $1,020,000 - 20190001.556530 $4,020,000
10967 Mod 2 - $200,000 20190001.55518F $200,000
10967 Mod 2 - $650,000 20190001.55518G $650,000
Total Revised Contract Amount $4,870,000
Prepared By: Deanna Kendall, Administrative Analyst
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Staff Report May 10, 2022 - UASI 2021
B. Staff Report October 13, 2020 - APS Mod #1
C. Staff Report November 12, 2019 - APS Award
D. CSA 10967 expires 12-05-22
E. CSA First Modification with APS 10967
F. CSA APS through 12.5.23 Renewal
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G. 07 APS Oaks