Funding and grants
Grant programs that pay for camera detection at your site
Most schools, congregations, and civic buildings buy this with somebody else's money. These are the programs that fund it, and the paperwork an application needs from a vendor.
Federal
Federal programs
Six programs fund work in this category, and one of them cannot buy equipment at all. Each row opens a page of its own.
No deadline is printed here. Windows move every fiscal year, and the notice is the only place that is current.
Process
How to apply
Two of these five are ours. The other three are yours, and no vendor can do them for you.
- 01
Confirm who applies
Read the notice. Most of these take an application from a district or a city, not from one school.
- 02
Rate the cameras
Setup rates every camera at its working distance. You see what would be refused before you buy.
- 03
Price the scope
An itemised quote per camera from the published catalog. Refused cameras are excluded, not counted.
- 04
Write the narrative
Describe what the money buys and what it does not. Overclaiming is a risk to the award.
- 05
Collect the paperwork
W-9, insurance certificates, and whatever procurement needs. Ask before the deadline, not on it.
Attachments
What we supply
An application has to describe what the money buys. The coverage report is the part most vendors cannot give you before a purchase order.
A camera-by-camera coverage report
Every camera is rated for the weapon classes it resolves. You see what is refused before you buy.
An itemised quote
Priced per camera from the published catalog. A reviewer can tie every line to a device.
Scope and timeline
What gets installed, what has to exist already, and how long a rollout takes.
The limits, in writing
The four claims this product makes about itself, stated plainly. Attach them to the narrative.
Vendor paperwork
W-9, insurance certificates, and the forms your procurement office needs.
Procurement
Section 889
Federal agencies and many recipients of federal funds cannot use video equipment from covered manufacturers. This does not change what the camera does here. It is a question about your funding, and your grants office can answer it.
- Hikvision
- Dahua
- Hytera
- Huawei
- ZTE
Many cameras are covered equipment sold under another name. A brand alone cannot rule that out, so a federally funded site should check with its vendor.
A camera on that list is analysed and billed here exactly like any other. Setup flags one where it finds it, and settles nothing.
State
State programs
Every state runs something, on its own calendar and its own rules. The federal clearinghouse is the place to start rather than a vendor page.
Fifty states run their own programs and no vendor page tracks them honestly. The clearinghouse below is run by four federal departments and is current.
SchoolSafety.gov Grants FinderQuestions
Common questions
- Can this be sole-sourced?
- Your procurement office decides that, under its own rules and the program's. Setup produces the specification and the vendor paperwork it asks for.
- Is there a cooperative purchasing contract?
- No. There is no cooperative vehicle to buy through today, and pointing you at one that does not exist would cost you a week.
- Can the coverage report go into the application?
- Yes. It names each camera, the weapon classes that camera resolves at its working distance, and the ones that are refused.
- The award landed after the quote expired. Now what?
- Ask for it to be reissued. Amounts come from the published catalog rather than a saved number, so a stale figure is never carried forward.
- Do our existing cameras affect the award?
- They can. Federal money carries procurement rules about who made the camera, and that is a question for your grants office rather than a technical one.
Limits
Where we stop
Said in advance rather than at the deadline.
We do not write your application, and we cannot review it for you.
We cannot tell you whether you are eligible. The program decides that.
No vendor can promise an award, and any vendor who does is telling you something else that is untrue.
Program rules change every fiscal year. Read the notice, not a vendor page.
Figures are as published for the fiscal year shown. Each was read off the program page on the date beside it. Confirm there before planning around one.
Ask for a quote
Say which programs you are looking at and roughly how many cameras are on the building. That is enough to produce a scope and an itemised quote.
Working to a deadline? Say so in the message, or write straight to grants@optiarms.com.