This lesson provides an overview of applicable building codes and standards and their effect on repair/replacement projects of buildings, contents, vehicles, and equipment. This lesson also covers additional eligibility considerations, such as special considerations, for buildings, contents, vehicles, and equipment.

At the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:

• Provide an overview of applicable codes and standards for facilities
• Explain the special considerations for buildings, contents, vehicles, and equipment

FEMA provides Public Assistance funding to restore facilities on the basis of pre-disaster design and function in conformity with current applicable codes, specifications, and standards.

Facility repairs and new construction may "trigger" upgrade requirements established by codes and standards. Upgrades required by Federal, State, Territorial, Tribal, or local governments to repair or replacement codes and standards are eligible, only if the code and standard:

• Applies to the type of restoration required
• Is appropriate to the pre-disaster use of the facility
• Is reasonable, in writing, formally adopted by the State, Territorial, Tribal, or local government, and implemented by the Applicant on or before the declaration date, OR is a legal Federal requirement
• Applies uniformly
• Was enforced during the time it was in effect

Refer to the course IS-1019: Codes and Standards for more information about FEMA's applicable codes and standards.

Codes and standards must be in writing, formally adopted by the State, Territorial, Tribal, or local government, and implemented by the Applicant on or before the declaration date, OR be a legal Federal requirement. An appropriate legislative body or regulatory authority within the jurisdiction must:

• Approve the code or standard
• Make it a matter of public record
• Formally incorporate it into the building code or other applicable ordinance

The code or standard must apply to the facility in question.

Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act requires Federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision-making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security publishes National Environmental Policy Act requirements and provides a specific decision-making process that FEMA must follow before funding a project. The process ensures consideration of environmental consequences of the project and informs the general public.

Permanent Work projects to restore a damaged facility to pre-disaster design are excluded from a National Environmental Policy Act review through a Statutory Exclusion. All others require a National Environmental Policy Act review. Many projects may qualify for one of the Categorical Exclusions, which are actions that typically have little or no impact on the environment.

Although many projects are statutorily excluded from a National Environmental Policy Act review or are covered by a Categorical Exclusion, ALL projects still require review for compliance with other Environmental and Historic Preservation laws, regulations, and Executive Orders.

Federal Requirement

If the facility is listed in, or meets the criteria to be listed in, the National Register of Historic Places and an applicable code and standard requires repair in a certain manner, costs associated with work to comply with that code or standard are eligible, even if repair costs exceed replacement costs. This is an exception to the regulatory requirement that when a facility is eligible for replacement, FEMA limits eligible costs to the less expensive of repairs or replacement and appropriate compliance documentation for both codes and standards and environmental and historic preservation shall be required.

State, Territorial, or Tribal Government Requirement

If a State, Territorial, or Tribal historic building codes and standard requires specific work be performed, FEMA evaluates the code and standard using the eligibility criteria. Most State historic building codes and standards encourage code officials to allow less intrusive alternatives to requirements of the prevailing codes and standards, but do not require any particular work be performed. As a result, the codes and standards usually fail to meet the eligibility criteria.

When Environmental and Historic Preservation laws, regulations, or Executive Orders require actions to mitigate adverse effects, the Applicant is responsible for all costs associated with performing the required mitigation measures, unless such actions are directly related to the restoration of disaster-related damage.

Section 406 Hazard Mitigation

FEMA evaluates proposed mitigation measures for cost-effectiveness, technical feasibility, and compliance with Environmental and Historic Preservation laws, regulations, and Executive Orders. In addition, FEMA ensures that the mitigation does not negatively impact the facility's operation or surrounding areas or create susceptibility to damage from another hazard.

Section 406 Hazard Mitigation opportunities usually present themselves during facility repair. However, in cases where the Applicant must repair a facility in an expedited manner, they may miss an opportunity to implement mitigation measures during repair. If the Applicant implements mitigation measures after the Public Assistance funded repair is complete, the mitigation work may be eligible; however, FEMA will not provide Public Assistance funding for any duplicative work as a result of the subsequent mitigation.

Refer to the course IS-1014: Integrating 406 Mitigation Considerations into Your Public Assistance Grant for more information.

In previous lessons within this course, we touched briefly on insurance and the requirement to obtain and maintain insurance. However, the Applicant is not required to obtain and maintain insurance on facilities with less than $5,000 in eligible costs (prior to any reductions).

44 Code of Federal Regulations 260.262(d) for flood insurable items states, "The Recipient or Subrecipient is required to obtain and maintain flood insurance in the amount of eligible disaster assistance, as a condition of receiving Federal assistance that may be available. This requirement also applies to insurable flood damaged facilities located outside a special flood hazard area when it is reasonably available, adequate, and necessary. However, the Regional Administrator shall not require greater types and amounts of insurance than are certified as reasonable by the State Insurance Commissioner. The requirement to purchase flood insurance is waived when eligible costs for an insurable facility do not exceed $5,000."

As well, 44 Code of Federal Regulations 260.253(d) for non-flood insured disaster items states, "The requirements of Section 311 of the Stafford Act are waived when eligible costs for an insurable facility do not exceed $5,000. The Regional Administrator may establish a higher waiver amount based on hazard mitigation initiatives which reduce the risk of future damages by a disaster similar to the one which resulted in the major disaster declaration which is the basis for the application for disaster assistance."

The Applicant may request that FEMA modify the insurance requirement when:

• Required insurance is not reasonably available
• An alternative to the insurance requirements provides adequate protection against future loss to the property
• Required insurance is not necessary to protect against future loss to the property

The Applicant will coordinate with the FEMA Program Delivery Manager, who coordinates with the FEMA Insurance Specialist in order to meet project compliance needs. The FEMA Insurance Specialist will articulate insurance needs and compliance requirements to the FEMA Program Delivery Manager through this coordination with the Applicant and will make comments in Grants Portal.

According to the FEMA Public Assistance Policy on Insurance FP 206-086-1, FEMA does not require greater types and amounts of insurance than are certified as reasonably available, adequate or necessary by the appropriate State Insurance Commissioner.

The State Insurance Commissioner cannot waive Federal insurance requirements but may certify the types and extent of insurance reasonable to protect against future loss to an insurable facility.

If the Applicant is aware of a change to the scope of work, this change needs to be identified immediately in order to prevent jeopardized funding.

1. During project development (prior to the obligation of the initial project award), the Applicant should immediately coordinate with the FEMA Program Delivery Manager in the field. The Program Delivery Manager will coordinate with the FEMA Consolidated Resource Center in order to address the needed scope change.
2. For awarded and obligated projects post project development, The Applicant will need to engage the Recipient (applicable State, Tribe, or Territory) in writing to identify the Scope Change needs/issue. If the Recipient is in approval, the Scope Change request will be processed to the FEMA Region in order to address the scope change and ensure eligibility.
3. All Scope Change requests require a full compliance review to include an examination by FEMA Mitigation, Insurance, and Environmental and Historic Preservation in order to ensure there are no additional compliance requirements as a result of the requested change.

With the exception of Permanent Work Alternative Procedures Projects, FEMA may approve revisions under any of the following circumstances (this is not an all-inclusive list):

• Applicant discovers damage during project development
• Applicant discovers hidden damage during the course of completing previously approved work
• Repair method documented in the Project is not feasible
• Professional recommendations for repair differ from the repair documented in the Project scope of work, provided the recommendations are limited to the least costly method of repairing only the agreed upon disaster-related damage
• Project contains inadvertent errors or omissions
• Applicant wishes to pursue an Improved or Alternate Project

Refer to the course IS-1017: Scope Change Requests, Time Extensions, Improved/Alternate Project Requests for more information.

FEMA engages subject matter experts for technical assistance, when necessary, to reach a determination of whether the request change is eligible for Public Assistance funding.

Changes in scope of work due to one of the following reasons are generally eligible:

• Alternate repair method is more cost-effective than the original proposed repair method
• Original repair method is not technically feasible
• Increase in previously approved quantities due to errors or omissions
• Hidden damage is discovered during construction and is disaster-related

Refer back to Lesson 3 of this course for required documentation for a change in scope of work.

In this lesson, you learned how to:

• Provide an overview of applicable codes and standards for facilities
• Explain the special considerations for buildings, contents, vehicles, and equipment

The next lesson will review the course objectives. Participants will take also take a Post-Course Assessment.