EXPEDITED FUNDING FOR COVID-19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE COSTS

FEMA has advised that Expedited Funding may be available for Covid-19 costs for applicants responding to the Covid-19 disaster. An agency or local government may have a cash flow need for funding to conduct response activities that address an immediate threat. If governments undertake these activities in response to a Presidentially-declared disaster, FEMA may provide expedited funding for Public Assistance Emergency Work projects. FEMA will base the funding amount on estimated costs instead of actual costs or site inspections, as is required for non-expedited projects.

The official FEMA Covid-19 Expedited Funding policy has not been released yet (4/6/20), but the established Expedited Funding guidance from FEMA should provide a reasonable outline of what to expect.

• FEMA may provide expedited funding for Emergency Work projects (Category A or B) that meet or exceed the large project threshold ($131,000).

•  FEMA funds Expedited Projects at 50 percent of the Federal share (75%) of the estimated project cost. 

• Requests for Expedited Projects must be submitted to FEMA within a specific period. (Your State will advise)

• Applicants must provide enough information for FEMA to validate that the work and costs are eligible.

• Applicants must substantiate its legal responsibility for the work. 

• Applicant needs to provide the estimates or actual costs broken down by the Applicant’s monthly (or bi-weekly) operational periods a limited timeframe(Could impact cost share % and balance of funding obligations)

Emergency Work projects for Covid-19 will be difficult to estimate due to the type of work conducted. Unlike Permanent Work, where a detailed SOW is usually determined and estimated with unit pricing in advance, the detailed scope of work to address Covid-19 Emergency Work is unknown and therefore, difficult to estimate in advance. Additionally, emergency response activities do not generally have established unit pricing and have a lot of variables that can impact pricing. If the Applicant provides sufficient information, FEMA may process Emergency Work projects based on estimates. Force Account labor could be based on daily estimates of related Covid-19 payroll costs. Actual costs for supplies and materials and contracts should also be used in estimates.

The Expedited Funding policy below is NOT the official Covid-19 expedited funding policy which is expected to be quicker and easier, but provides an initial guide on the process.  Keep in mind that Expedited Funding must ultimately be reconciled and supported at a later date.

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To request an expedited project, applicants must provide FEMA with detailed lists containing high-level descriptions of activities the applicant has performed, or will perform. PA activity descriptions must include:

- How the activities were or will be performed;

- How the threat created a necessity for action;

- Locations where activities were or will be performed; and

- Dates emergency work was or will be performed.