Homeland Security and Emergency Management Grant Allocation

Abstract

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides grants to fund all-hazards projects. For the Commonwealth of Virginia, these grants are administered by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. Each year, under the leadership of the governor's office, VDEM allocates millions of dollars to enhance homeland security across the Commonwealth to promote transparency and public safety stakeholder involvement for the allocation of these critical grant funds. A continuous challenge has been ensuring that investments are consistent with federal, state, and local priorities while balancing the differences in stakeholder discipline, risk profile, resources, and access to information. To achieve an objective and transparent decision rationale and to give decision makers confidence that public funds are being well spent; VDEM uses a portfolio decision analysis methodology for grant allocation. The approach supports continuous improvements to the grant process from initial kick-off to final funding decision, using a multi-objective decision analysis framework for benefit-cost analysis. This methodology has enabled decision makers to make traceable decisions consistent with the priorities of the emergency management community.