[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 44, Volume 1] [Revised as of October 1, 2002] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 44CFR152.6] [Page 396] TITLE 44--EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND ASSISTANCE CHAPTER I--FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY PART 152--ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT PROGRAM--Table of Contents Sec. 152.6 Application review and award process. (a) As stated in Sec. 152.5, we will evaluate each application in the preliminary screening process to determine which applications best address the program's established priorities. The best applications as determined in this preliminary step will be deemed to be in the ``competitive range.'' All applications in the competitive range will be subject to a second level review by a technical evaluation panel. Using the evaluation criteria delineated in Sec. 152.5, the panelists will score each application they evaluate. The assigned score will reflect the degree to which the applicant: clearly relates their proposed project; demonstrates financial need; and, details a high benefit to cost value of the proposed activities. (b) Our award decisions will be based on the stated priorities of the grant program, the demonstrated need of the applicant, and the benefits to be derived from the proposed projects. We will make awards on a competitive basis, i.e., we will fund the highest scored applications before considering lower scored applications. (c) In order to fulfill our obligations under the law, we may also make funding decisions using rank order as the preliminary basis then based on the type of fire department (paid, volunteer, or combination fire departments), the size and character of the community it serves (urban, suburban, or rural), and the geographic location of the fire department. In these instances where we are making decisions based on geographic location, we will use States as the basic geographic unit.