Disaster Cost Recovery Training 2017

The Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management is sponsoring several Disaster Cost Recovery Trainings by The Martinet Group, LLC.

All trainings are free of charge and will be held at the Fort Bend County Gus George Law Enforcement Academy, located at 1521 Eugene Heimann Circle, Richmond, TX 77469.

For any questions about these trainings, contact Caroline Egan at 281-342-6185 or caroline.egan@fortbendcountytx.gov.

Trainings:

Disaster Cost Recovery Training – 2 Day
Dates: August 7-8, 2017
Time: 8am-5pm both days
Description: This training will provide participants with an overview of disaster cost recovery processes, including requirements for obtaining and retaining federal disaster assistance grants—specifically, FEMA’s Public Assistance Program. It includes detailed information on disaster response cost documentation and disaster assistance eligibility guidelines. To aid in the experience, participants will benefit from FEMA case studies, group exercises, examples taken from actual disasters, and Department of Homeland Security audits.

Purchasing for Disaster Cost Recovery – 1 day
Date: August 10, 2017
Time: 8am-2pm
Description: The purchasing function is the single most important part of effective disaster cost recovery, and the most often cited for failure in the Department of Homeland Security’s audits. Most agencies’ purchasing policies and procedures DO NOT comply with Federal requirements, exposing the agency to losses that can easily run into the tens of millions of dollars.

Financial Aspects of Damage Assessment – 1/2 day
Date: August 11, 2017
Time: 8am-12pm
Description: Damage assessment is the first and most critical phase of the long disaster cost recovery process. Most local agencies do not have an effective method for disaster damage
assessment and can lose millions of dollars because of undiscovered and undocumented damage. The damage assessment process will involve many other city or county departments before the process is completed.

Volunteers and Donations / Victim’s Services – 1/2 day
Date: August 11, 2017
Time: 1pm-5pm
Description: This is a two-fold working session. When properly documented, the dollar value of donations and volunteer time can be used by the local agency for the cost share with FEMA that is required by the Stafford Act. This is potentially worth millions of dollars to the local agency when properly handled. The second part of the workshop deals with the proper acceptance of both monetary and in-kind donations to avoid reductions in FEMA disaster assistance. If donations are not properly handled, FEMA will reduce its payments for individual projects, sometimes affecting millions of dollars of funding.