State Homeland Security Program

The State Homeland Security Program is administered in Oregon by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management as part of the federal Homeland Security Grant Program of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency. The program assists eligible Oregon local and Tribal units of government in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism. Projects must have a demonstrated terrorism nexus and must be consistent with the 2025-2028 Oregon State Homeland Security Strategy, the applicant's most recent capability assessment, and applicable state and federal priority areas. Oregon emphasizes whole-community preparedness, including consideration of individuals with access and functional needs and communities that may be disproportionately affected by terrorism. Projects must implement at least one of five Investment Justifications: Training - State Qualification System; Planning, Assessment, and Exercise; Soft Target Hardening and Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems; Emergency Communications and Interoperability; or Information Sharing. Allowable activities can include eligible planning, training, exercises, equipment, personnel, and related program activities within the applicable Investment Justification and federal requirements. Planning projects that develop or update plans must validate those plans through an appropriate HSEEP-consistent exercise during the period of performance. Training projects must be coordinated with OEM's Training Program before application submission. Equipment is subject to federal and state requirements, including property tracking requirements, and certain equipment and general-purpose expenditures are prohibited. Federal funds may not supplant state or local funds. Applicants may not seek indirect costs, while subrecipients may retain up to 5 percent of passed-through funding for allowable management and administration purposes. Eligible applicants are local and Tribal units of government in Oregon. The guidance defines local units broadly to include counties, cities, villages, towns, districts, boroughs, parishes, port authorities, transit authorities, rail providers, water districts, regional planning commissions, councils of government, Indian Tribes with jurisdiction over Indian country, authorized Tribal organizations, independent authorities, special districts, and other political subdivisions of Oregon. Applicants must coordinate with their Tribal or county emergency manager. Applications generally must be submitted by county or Tribal emergency managers or their assigned staff, while Regional Bomb Team Leads may submit directly. Counties and Tribes must include the required Combined Coversheet identifying projects approved for submission; projects omitted from that coversheet will not be considered. Applicants must also meet applicable NIMS requirements and must have completed a NIMS assessment between January 1, 2025 and the application submission date. For the current formula-based allocation opportunity, a separate project application is required for each proposed project. Applicants must select the application form corresponding to the Investment Justification under which funding is requested and submit through the OEM application process provided to the county or Tribe. Counties, Tribes, and bomb teams may submit as many eligible projects as necessary to use their formula-based allocation, and projects may serve eligible recipients within the jurisdiction or may be regional projects benefiting multiple jurisdictions. The application deadline is October 21, 2026 at 10 a.m.; late applications will not be accepted. OEM states that applicants should receive a Qualtrics submission confirmation email and should contact shspadmin@oem.oregon.gov if confirmation is not received. Competitive project applications are not currently being accepted and will be addressed separately if competitive funds become available. OEM reviews applications to determine whether proposed projects satisfy the minimum requirements of the State Program Guidance and the federal HSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity. Projects integrating planning, training, and exercises in addition to equipment procurement are identified as priorities during competitive review. Competitive projects providing a local match of at least 20 percent may also receive priority, although no match is federally required for SHSP projects and there is no required match for emergency communications equipment or end-user radios. Matching funds offered for competitive priority may not come from other federal or state funding sources. The program operates as a reimbursement grant, so subrecipients must document eligible expenses with invoices and proof of payment. Reimbursement applies only to eligible equipment purchased and services performed during the grant period. Successful applicants receive a 24-month period of performance. For this cycle, the period will begin sometime after October 1, 2026 and end September 30, 2028. Projects must be completed and grants closed before the period of performance expires. Quarterly progress reports are due no later than 15 days after the end of each calendar quarter, and reimbursement requests may be submitted as often as monthly but no less than quarterly when expenditures have occurred. For general FY26 SHSP application questions, applicants should use shspadmin@oem.oregon.gov. The program page also identifies Kevin Jeffries, Grant Coordinator, at 971-719-0740 and kevin.jeffries@oem.oregon.gov, and Carin Sherman, Grant Specialist, at 971-433-7957 and Carin.Sherman@oem.oregon.gov. Virtual Q&A sessions are scheduled for September 16, September 30, and October 8, 2026. No award notification date is stated in the supplied materials.

Demonstrate a clear terrorism nexus and alignment with the Oregon State Homeland Security Strategy, capability assessment, and applicable state and federal priorities. Select the correct Investment Justification and coordinate through the county or Tribal emergency manager. Ensure every county or Tribal project is included on the Combined Coversheet. For competitive projects, integrated planning, training, exercises, and equipment are prioritized; a voluntary local match of at least 20 percent can also receive priority. Verify training eligibility with the State Training Officer before submission and coordinate emergency communications projects with the appropriate interoperability officials.