in responding to the disaster — and rebuilding to become whole again. The PA Program is complicated and includes guidelines to ensure that the funding needed by a devastated community will arrive in a timely manner. FEMA and state PA personnel will coordinate efforts with the authorized representative of the eligible applicant or “sub-recipient” via an Exploratory Call and eventual Recovery Scoping Meeting to jumpstart the process. These PA personnel will likely be working with various department supervisors and other personnel to conduct site visits at the damaged areas and subsequently develop Streamlined Project Applications (SPA) in the FEMA Grants Portal (FGP) and eventual Sub-grant Applications (SA) that are the formal grant requests for funds. Advance knowledge of the PA Program can go a long way in expediting the process. However, a thorough understanding is usually lacking. Local officials have enough on their plate meeting the demands of their everyday duties while becoming proficient in the PA Program is not always a priority for department heads and supervisors. Additionally, there are standard operating procedures (SOPs) that local government departments can adopt and implement in preparation for a disaster. These SOPs will help expedite the PA process and secure funds when FEMA arrives following a disaster declaration. If several years have passed since you were last involved in a presidentially declared disaster you will see that the process to submit disaster-related expenditures has changed. Transmitting hard copy documentation prone to
“The Public Assistance Program is complicated and it includes guidelines to insure that the funding needed by a devastated community will arrive in a timely manner.”
misplacement or loss has been diminished significantly. Since 2017, submitting project documentation and Sub-grant Applications includes receiving access to and utilizing a new delivery model and a secure cloud- based website: FEMA’s Grants Portal, a U.S. Government information system. There are several training and support sites including the FEMA Support Hotline to guide you through navigating the Grants Portal.
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