State Border Security Reinforcement Fund

The State Border Security Reinforcement Fund (SBSRF) is a federal grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Established by the Working Families Tax Cut Act of 2025, Public Law 119-21, the program provides $9,985,436,000 to reinforce border security through state-level projects selected under a competitive framework. SBSRF is intended to support DHS efforts to reduce unlawful entries, combat illegal drug flows, strengthen public safety, and improve coordination among state, local, and federal agencies. The program supports both forward-looking activities and eligible retroactive activities dating to January 20, 2021. SBSRF funding supports four principal activity areas. These are construction or deployment of border walls, fencing, barriers, or buoys along the southern border; ground preparation necessary for construction and maintenance of border barriers; detection and interdiction of illicit substances and unlawfully present aliens; and relocation of unlawfully present aliens. Allowable expenses can include eligible personnel, equipment, construction, transportation, surveillance, communications, planning, and other costs directly supporting these activities. Management and administration costs are allowed up to 2 percent of an award or subaward and must be supported by actual costs or known contractual amounts. Indirect costs are not allowed. Weapons, ammunition, weaponized vehicles or aircraft, real-property purchases, unrelated construction, legal services, lobbying, and other specifically prohibited expenditures are not allowable. There is no cost-sharing requirement. Only State Administrative Agencies are eligible to apply directly to FEMA. For this opportunity, state means U.S. states and excludes the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. SAAs may solicit proposals and distribute subawards to eligible local governments as defined by 2 CFR 200.1. Potential subapplicants include county sheriff's offices, state police or highway patrol units, local emergency management agencies, regional joint task forces or multi-agency border security groups, county or city detention facilities, and regional fusion centers or intelligence units. Subapplicants must demonstrate operational capacity and active coordination with ICE or CBP through mechanisms identified in the NOFO. Territories, Tribal Nations, private organizations, and nonprofit organizations are not eligible applicants or subapplicants. At the federal level, applications are submitted through FEMA GO. Applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier, Employer Identification Number, login.gov account, active SAM registration, FEMA GO registration, and an established Authorized Organization Representative. Required application materials include SF-424, the Grants.gov Lobbying Form, applicable SF-424A or SF-424C budget forms, applicable SF-424B or SF-424D assurances, and SF-LLL. Applicants must also upload the SBSRF Application Worksheet and between one and four Investment Justifications, with one Investment Justification for each allowable activity objective for which funding is requested. Retroactive reimbursement requests must include the required supporting documentation at application. Georgia's program notice states that Georgia applications are accepted online through the Georgia EM Grants Manager System at ga.emgrants.com. Applications are evaluated through state and federal review processes. FEMA considers eligibility, completeness, program compliance, project feasibility, Investment Justification quality, capacity to perform the proposed activities, consistency of deliverables with program objectives, realistic project timelines, and whether costs are allowable, reasonable, and cost-effective. Funding recommendations use a risk-informed methodology addressing threat, vulnerability, and consequence. Applications are pre-scored and ranked, and applications within the competitive range may undergo technical review by subject matter experts from CBP, ICE, FEMA, and other DHS components. Final funding recommendations are made to the Secretary of Homeland Security, who makes final funding determinations. The federal NOFO originally projected an application period beginning June 4, 2026 and ending July 6, 2026, but the subsequently provided Georgia program notice states that the FY26 SBSRF application is open and will now close at 11:59 PM on Monday, August 31, 2026. Accordingly, August 31, 2026 is used as the current deadline for the provided Georgia opportunity. The federal NOFO identified funding selections no earlier than July 31, 2026 and awards no earlier than August 1, 2026; no revised selection or award date accompanying the extended Georgia deadline was provided. The period of performance runs from January 20, 2021 through September 30, 2034, and extensions are not allowed. Questions concerning the Georgia application should be directed to HSGrants@gema.ga.gov. FEMA also provides general grant assistance through fema-grants-news@fema.dhs.gov and (800) 368-6498.

Propose only activities expressly allowable under the NOFO; demonstrate operational capacity and federal coordination; clearly connect each Investment Justification to existing capability levels, identified gaps, proposed activities, and SBSRF objectives; ensure project timelines are realistic and within the performance period; document that proposed costs are allowable, reasonable, and cost-effective; address threat, vulnerability, consequence, need, and operational impact; provide complete supporting documentation with any retroactive reimbursement request.