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Equipment Grants

Guidelines for FFY 2024 Equipment Grants with List of Approved Support Items

The Vermont State Highway Safety Office has received guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on proportional funding of equipment, as well as changes to how equipment funds can be distributed for FFY2024.  Please refer to your FFY 2024 grant agreement for full requirements and guidelines.

Effective in FFY17, the Vermont State Highway Safety Office can no longer create a project to solely purchase equipment. “Equipment is eligible for reimbursement as a direct expense chargeable to a specific project, provided the equipment is needed to perform that project (NHTSA, Use of NHTSA Highway Safety Grants for Certain Purchases, 2016).”  As a result, FFY24 funds will be available to purchase equipment in support of the Occupant Protection (OP)/Impaired Driving (DUI) Enforcement projects and/or other applicable enforcement projects.

  1.  When equipment purchases are made under NHTSA sub-awards, your agency certifies that the equipment will be used in compliance with the performance measures associated with the respective project.
  2.  Only agencies receiving OP Enforcement and/or DUI Enforcement grants in FFY24 can receive equipment funds in FFY24.

Please see the list of Approved Highway Safety Support Items by below:

Note: Equipment with a cost per unit of $5,000.00 or more must have prior approval of both the Vermont State Highway Safety Office and NHTSA.  The $5,000 includes shipping and all costs associated with making that item operable.

Equipment purchased with federal funds must comply with the Buy America Certification guidelines.

Approved Equipment List: 

  •     Checkpoint Lighting Systems
  •     Checkpoint Sign Packages
  •     Cruiser Idling Conservation Systems
  •     High Visibility Rechargeable flashlights
  •     Reflective traffic vests
  •     Speed monitoring devices - Lidar
  •     Speed monitoring devices - Radar
  •     Stationary and pole mounted speed detection and traffic measurement systems
  •     Speed Carts
  •     Tire deflation devices
  •     Traffic cones
  •     Traffic warning systems - flares, chemical and/or electronic battery-powered
  •     Fatal Vision Goggle kits
  •     Handheld preliminary breath testing devices (PBTs)
  •     PBT Calibration Kits and Breath Sampling Tubes
  •     Body-worn and in-car camera systems (Proportional time-study required - please see below)      

Guidelines for FFY 2024 Equipment Funding

Funded in full:

Equipment purchased solely for traffic safety enforcement purposes can be reimbursed in full (i.e. traffic safety units).  Please send a letter from your agency head certifying the equipment is to be used 100 percent for traffic safety enforcement use. Pre-approval with written justification for use required.

Proportional funding with study:

NHTSA and the Vermont State Highway Safety Office recognize the proportional use rate for equipment within agencies will differ.  If the equipment purchased has a both related and unrelated traffic safety enforcement use, a proportional use study is required to determine NHTSA's participation amount.  Please submit a time study to your Vermont State Highway Safety Office program coordinator. Pre-approval with written justification for use is required.

Questions and pre-approval requests can be directed to:

The Law Enforcement Grant Program Coordinator position is currently vacant. 

Please contact Sue McAvoy or Evelyn McFarlane

Highway Safety Grant Funding Guidance