American Infrastructure Magazine


Recovering from a disaster is a timeconsuming and complicated process. Without administrative preparation and maintenance, your recovery can take on a life of its own, whether you’re funded through insurance, FEMA or a combination of both. There are several actions any organization can take prior to a disaster to improve their recovery outcome. To maintain control over the administrative disaster recovery process and ensure compliance with funding program requirements, organizations should develop a dedicated disaster recovery team. Led by a Disaster Recovery Coordinator, the team should be comprised of members from all potentially impacted departments (i.e., risk management, engineering, purchasing, finance, etc.). Timely, coordinated information sharing among all impacted departments will prove essential to receiving payment for eligible costs. Generally, as a condition for receiving FEMA Public Assistance funds for permanent work, applicants must obtain and maintain insurance in the amount of federal assistance to cover that facility for the hazard that caused the damage. Exceptions to this requirement are when eligible damages to a facility are below $5,000 or when the State Insurance Commissioner certifies that the required insurance is not reasonable or available. It is imperative that applicants and their brokers ensure this requirement is met. If it is not, FEMA will not provide assistance for damage sustained to that facility for another disaster of the same type. Disaster-related procurement that also meets FEMA’s eligibility requirements is a challenge for	most applicants. FEMA has become increasingly cautious in paying contract costs for disaster-related work, and in some instances, have denied a significant portion of otherwise eligible project funding. Many of these issues can be overcome by pre-selecting contractors prior to a disaster event. Recovery services such as debris management, clean-up, architectural, engineering and construction should be pre-qualified/selected in accordance with both an applicant’s and FEMA’s procurement policies. Applicants are encouraged to use local procurement rules and policies, provided they comply with federal standards outlined in CFR 44 §13.36. This step will also enable the contractor to begin work immediately following a disaster. Examples include pre-qualified contractors -- this approach allows organizations to advertise a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in order to develop a short list of qualified contractors, and pre-event contracts -- this approach allows an organization to solicit bids and award contracts in non-disaster times. Knowing ahead of time what your insurer and/ or FEMA will require provides a big head start to organizations that choose to take advantage of the information. To do so, when preparing and maintaining your risk management and disaster response plans, consider and include administrative actions that will not only expedite, but enhance your financial recovery. Jeff Shaw, senior policy specialist for Adjusters International, has specialized in disaster recovery consulting for more than 20 years. For more information, visit www.AdjustersInternational.com