VA emissions question

hi all.

I just moved to VA. I have a slightly modified 01 GT that has failed emissions testing. Ford and a mustang performance center told me the Mac cats are bad they have to be replaced. Mac told me the combo of long tube headers with their cats makes the mixture too lean that I would need a laptop or remap or chip to retune the computer to make it richer and that would bring down the nox and I could pass. The place I called said $500-$600 for a chip. Is there a better way I can do this? Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. I also have a cold air intake and larger throttle body with American thunder cat backs.

Thanks.