Course Overview, Course Goal, and Objectives

Welcome to the Conditions of the Public Assistance Grant course.

This course discusses conditions of Public Assistance grant.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Identify strategies to better enable Applicants to execute the Public Assistance Grant
  • Describe the Federal requirements for receipt of Federal funds
  • Inform Applicants of actions that may jeopardize Public Assistance grant funding and potential remedies for non-compliance
Lesson 1 Overview and Objectives

This lesson provides a brief overview of the conditions of Public Assistance grants.

Upon completion of this lesson, participants will be able to:

  • Identify administrative requirements of the course
  • State the goals and objectives of the course
  • Explain requirements imposed by receiving Federal funds
Requirements and Conditions of Receiving Federal Funds

FEMA provides Public Assistance grants based on authority in statutes, executive orders, regulations, and policies that collectively outline requirements and conditions of receiving Federal funds.

Once an Applicant's project(s) is determined to be eligible, receiving Public Assistance grant funding is impacted by several of these requirements and conditions.

This course covers the various requirements and conditions Applicants and Recipients can expect throughout the Public Assistance process. Each lesson presents a broad category of these requirements and conditions that notionally align with the order in which they appear in the Public Assistance process.

This lesson provides the general overarching requirements and conditions Applicants agree to when receiving Federal grant funds for standard projects.

In addition, this lesson identifies the additional and funding-specific conditions within the Public Assistance Grant Program that each carry corresponding requirements and conditions should Applicants opt-in to them.

Funding is Dependent Upon the Approved Scope of Work

First and foremost, Public Assistance funding is dependent upon the completion of the approved scope of work.

Applicants must ensure that the approved scope of work is completed in order to receive Federal funding.

Furthermore, Applicants must demonstrate the completion of the approved scope of work through project worksheets and other documentation.

FEMA Corps member works on a project worksheet for the Public Assistance team.
Change in Scope of Work

The Applicant should engage the Recipient and FEMA as soon as a change to the scope of work has been identified. This allows FEMA time to review changes for eligibility and compliance requirements prior to beginning work.

The Applicant should provide sufficient explanation for any changes to the scope of work including errors, feasibility, and omissions due to hidden damage.

Beginning work associated with a change before FEMA review and approval may jeopardize an Applicant's grant funding.

For additional information on the scope of work, please refer to the courses: IS-1008 Scope of Work Development (Scoping and Costing and IS-1017 Scope Change Requests, Time Extensions, Improved/Alternate Project Requests.

Conditions on the Use of Federal Funds

In addition to being dependent upon the completion of the approved scope of work, additional conditions apply to the use of Federal funding.

These conditions are both general and project-specific, and specify what requirements the Applicant must adhere to in order to receive Federal Funds.

Conditions will vary depending of the project. Both general and project-specific conditions can be found for each project in Grants Portal.

please refer to appendix 1-1 for a full image description
Documentation and Reporting Requirements

Maintaining documentation and meeting reporting requirements is important in order for Applicants to receive grant funding.

Documentation and reporting is how Applicants demonstrate to FEMA that the approved scope of work is completed and the requirements and conditions of Federal funding have been met.

The importance of documentation and reporting applies to both standard projects and funding conditions, as well as any additional and funding-specific conditions (e.g., hazard mitigation programs, improved and alternate projects, alternative procedures).

The Program Delivery Manager will help the Applicant identify Federal documentation and reporting requirements during the initial Exploratory Call and Recovery Scoping Meeting.

  • For more details on this process, please refer to the course: IS-1003 Exploratory Call, Damage Inventory List, and the Recovery Scoping.
FEMA Public Assistance Officer and member of a Preliminary Damage Assessment team sights down a metal roof to gauge the damage caused by hail from a tornado.
Documentation Requirements

Documentation requirements will depend on the type of project and work being performed.

The Program Delivery Manger will help the Applicant identify the documentation requirements for each of his/her projects. Initial documentation requirements are identified the following way:

  • During the Recovery Scoping Meeting, the Program Delivery Manager will ask the Applicant a series of questions from the Essential Elements of Information questionnaire based on the Category of Work and enter the responses into the Grants Manager software
  • Grants Manager generates specific documentation requirements for each project using the information provided and communicates with the Applicant's Grants Portal
  • The Program Delivery Manager and Grants Portal communicate these documentation requirements to the Applicant

General documentation requirements also include recording and tracking expenses associated with Direct Administrative Costs and procurement requirements. For large project closeouts, additional documentation will also be required.

For additional information on documentation requirements, please refer to the course: IS-1006 Documenting Disaster Damage and Developing Project Files.

Reporting Requirements

In addition to documentation requirements, Recipients and Applicants are also required to meet specified reporting requirements. Reporting requirements are based on multiple sources which are sometimes project specific (e.g., the reporting of the disposition of real property), while others are based on the binding agreements (e.g., FEMA-State Agreement and Recipient-Applicant Agreement) that are influenced by both State/Tribal/Territorial laws and Federal requirements

The FEMA-State Agreement may specify reporting requirements between the FEMA and Recipient. An example of this is the:

  • Annual Report
    • The Recipient provides information on the obligation of Public Assistance grant funds to FEMA so that FEMA can report this information to Congress and the President

The Recipient may also specify reporting requirements for the Applicant. This typically occurs in the Recipient-Applicant Agreement. An example of this is the:

  • Quarterly Report
    • The Recipient can request that Applicants provide information on Public Assistance Grant obligation so they may provide information to FEMA
Lesson 1 Summary

In this lesson, participants learned how to:

  • Identify administrative requirements of the course
  • State the goals and objectives of the course
  • Explain requirements imposed by receiving Federal funds
  • Identify additional funding options and flexibility within the Public Assistance Program
The next lesson provides an in-depth look at Federal contracting and procurement requirements.