CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG DISASTER PLANNING FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS MANUAL

Transcription

1 CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG DISASTER PLANNING FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS MANUAL PREPARED BY: AUDIT SERVICES DEPARTMENT City Auditor: Bradley H. Scott, CPA, CIA, CFE Contact: Jim Gilmore, CIA, CFE Contact: Melinda Jenzarli, CPA, CIA, CFE, CFST UPDATED: April 11, 2011

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION... 1 I. FEMA PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM I.A FEMA Cost Sharing... 2 I.B FEMA Public Assistance Reimbursement Categories... 2 I.C FEMA Project Formulation... 3 I.D FEMA Financial Recovery from a Disaster... 5 I.E FEMA Documentation for Damages... 6 I.F FEMA Force Account... 9 I.G FEMA Procurement I.H FEMA City Facilities I.I FEMA Pre-disaster Condition of Facility I.J FEMA Payroll Codes I.K FEMA Donated Services II. FHWA: FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION ER PROGRAM III. SMAA: STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT IV. FEMA APPENDIX A. FEMA SCHEDULE OF EQUIPMENT RATES... FEMA A 1 B. FORCE ACCOUNT LABOR SUMMARY RECORD... FEMA B 1 C. FORCE ACCOUNT EQUIPMENT SUMMARY RECORD... FEMA C 1 D. MATERIAL SUMMARY RECORD... FEMA D 1 E. RENTED EQUIPMENT SUMMARY RECORD... FEMA E 1 F. PROJECT WORKSHEET... FEMA F 1 G. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS QUESTIONS... FEMA G 1 H. TIMESHEET... FEMA H 1 V. FHWA APPENDIX A. List of FHWA ER Roadways in City... FHWA A 1 B. FHWA ER Road Map... FHWA B 1 C. Detailed Damage Inspection Report... FHWA C 1 D. FHWA Log... FHWA D 1 VI. SMAA APPENDIX A. Timesheet... SMAA A 1 VII. ORACLE APPENDIX B. Oracle Grants Accounting...ORACLE A 1

3 INTRODUCTION This manual is for use in preparing for cost recoveries related to all natural disasters and emergencies including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes and flooding. The information contained is applicable to all Federally declared disasters and emergencies. The objective is to assist the City in maximizing the ability to recover financially from a disaster or emergency by maximizing the use of state and federal disaster assistance program funds. The purpose of this manual is to help City departments to adequately document the City s disaster related cost and expenses and prepare the required forms. Depending on the nature and location of the disaster, the City will submit reimbursement documentation to one or all of the following: the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (FEMA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the State under the Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement (SMAA), or any other Federal and State agencies providing assistance. ORACLE GRANTS ACCOUNTING Effective October 1, 2010, a more efficient and effective method of collecting disaster cost recovery documentation was implemented. We will now utilize the Oracle Grants Accounting Responsibility to record disaster related usages and documentation. Instructions for using Oracle can be found in Appendix VII. Oracle Grants Accounting. If subsequent to a disaster the City s Oracle system is not available on a long term basis, and at the direction of Audit Services, we will revert to completing all of the FEMA forms included in the appendix of this manual. Some of the more critical procedural changes and requirements are as follows: KRONOS will continue to be used as in the past to record disaster pay codes with the addition of project and award information (PATEO). Disaster related invoices and materials are to be processed in the normal manner in Oracle Payables/iProcurement including appropriate project data PATEO. The Budget Department will advise of Oracle project and award numbers in the event of a disaster. Also, continue to complete the FEMA timesheet (FEMA-H-1). It allows multiple days to be recorded for each employee rather than one timesheet per day. Completed and signed timesheets along with the supporting signed daily KRONOS iseries History for each employee (attach the KRONOS history to each employee timesheet) are to be submitted to Audit Services. The timesheet is to be signed by the employee and supervisor while the KRONOS history should be signed by a Director or Manager. In order to obtain reimbursement from FEMA, it is important that each day on the timesheet includes a complete, detailed description of the disaster work/activity and location for the employee. Equipment usage is to be reported by departments in the Oracle Grants Accounting module. Unless advised differently by Audit Services at the time of the disaster, the FEMA Force Account Equipment Summary Record will not be required, but can be used to accumulate documentation for entry into Oracle Grants Accounting. Departments should periodically advise the Budget Department of newly acquired or disposed equipment. The Budget Department is responsible for maintaining the inventory of current City equipment in Oracle. A separate timesheet with detail specific to mutual aid should still be provided for SMAA purposes. A signed copy of the KRONOS Punch Detail History is also required to accompany the timesheet submitted to Audit Services. All structure and facility damage must be documented with numerous pictures, preferably in a digital format such as JPEG. All digital pictures should be labeled to indentify, at a minimum, the physical location (address and/or intersection cross streets), GPS Location (if available), date 1

4 taken, building name (if applicable) and any other relative descriptive information. Our experience from Hurricane Frances and Jeanne indicates that FEMA relies heavily on photographs as part of their project formulation process. A Hold Harmless statement is required by FEMA and should be obtained from all landowners where storm debris and mulch is deposited. Environmental permits are also required for all sites where debris is staged and/or processed. Soil and composition samples should be obtained from all debris processing sites. It should be noted that the City also has a contract in place with a debris removal company (currently Crowder-Gulf). In the event of a major storm and at the discretion of the Mayor, it may be decided to utilize the contractor to remove most of the storm debris with City forces supplementing the effort. City forces will use this manual to document their debris removal activities. The contractor will produce FEMA acceptable documentation which will be reviewed by Audit Services prior to project formulation. The City may also utilize a monitoring firm to accumulate and collate documentation developed by the debris contractor. SECTION I FEMA PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM The Public Assistance Program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Under a Federally declared disaster the Florida Department of Community Affairs, Division of Emergency Management (DEM) becomes the grantee. The City is considered to be a sub-grantee. DEM has the authority under the Federal declaration to act on behalf of the City under the Federal program. The City is responsible to fully document the extent of our damages and to plan the repair work. Public Law as amended by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (PL ) is the authority for FEMA. Title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 206, (44 CFR 206) is the primary FEMA policies and procedures for implementing the Public Assistance Program. The Public Assistance Program is for State and local governments, special districts, school districts and certain nonprofit organizations. Section I.A FEMA: Cost Sharing In most Federally declared disasters, FEMA has reimbursed the City for 75% of the eligible costs. However, FEMA has the option of providing 100% reimbursement of eligible cost for certain disasters as they did for Hurricane Georges in Over the past several years the State has reimbursed the City for one half of the remaining balance of the eligible cost that was not reimbursed by FEMA or 12.5% of eligible cost. However, there have been times when the remaining balance of the eligible costs not paid by FEMA was absorbed by the City. For the 2004 hurricane season, FEMA increased the 75% reimbursement rate to 90%. Section I.B FEMA: Public Assistance Reimbursement Categories To be eligible for public assistance funding, the damages must fall into one of the following seven categories: 2

5 Category A Debris Removal This category includes all storm induced debris on non-federal public roads, including the right-of-way, non-federal public waterways, other public property, and private property when undertaken by local government forces. It can also cover the cost of demolition of public structures, if those structures were made unsafe by the disaster. Category B Emergency Protective Measures This category addresses the need to provide appropriate emergency measures designed to protect life, safety, property and health (i.e. barricades, sandbags, police, and fire personnel). It is important that Police and Fire Department Personnel specifically indicate on their timesheets the disaster activity they are engaged in and in the case of a police cruiser specify whether the activity is patrolling as compared to being stopped and posted at a barricade. FEMA requires that mileage be recorded to obtain protective measures reimbursement for patrolling whereas the hours are recorded for a police cruiser stopped with lights on. Category C Road System Repairs This category addresses damage to non-federal roads, bridges, streets, culverts and traffic control devices. Category D Water Control Facilities Eligible damage under this category includes costs to repair or replace dikes, dams, drainage channels, irrigation works and levees. Category E Buildings and Equipment Eligible damage under this category includes costs to repair public buildings and equipment, supplies/inventories that were damaged and transportation systems such as public transit systems. Vehicles are also included under this category. Category F Public Utility Systems Under this category, assistance is available for damaged water systems, landfills, sanitary sewer systems, storm drainage systems and light/power facilities. Category G Other (Parks, Recreational Facilities, etc.) The Other category includes park and recreational facilities, or other public facilities damages that do not reasonably fit in one of the other six categories. For Categories A and B, only overtime wages, the related fringe benefits for permanent employees and all labor costs of extra hires are normally eligible. However, FEMA may elect to include regular time as an eligible cost as they did with Hurricane Georges in For this reason and that FEMA does reimburse the City for any equipment used during Category A and B activities, the department must keep track of both regular and overtime hours worked on the provided timesheet and reconcile the hours worked with the equipment reported on the FEMA Force Equipment Summary (in Excel format) and/or the Oracle Grants Accounting module. For Categories C through G, gross salaries or wages, which include regular, overtime and fringe benefits, are eligible for FEMA reimbursement. In order for the City to be reimbursed for wages, the department is required to keep track of all hours worked on disaster related activities and must reconcile the hours worked with the equipment used. When the decision is made to approve public assistant funding, FEMA will also specify which of the above seven reimbursement categories will be applicable. Section I.C FEMA: Project Formulation The first step the department needs to take is to fully document the extent of the department s damages and to plan the repair work. As part of their documentation, the department should either photograph or videotape all damaged sites. Digital pictures in JPEG format are preferable. This 3

6 process of documenting the eligible facility, the eligible work and the eligible costs for damaged projects is called project formulation. Project formulation will allow the Audit Services Department to consolidate similar work items into projects in order to expedite approval funding, and to facilitate project management. A project is a logical method of performing work requires as a result of the declared event. The department can include more than one damage site in a project. This offers flexibility in organizing and managing the work that needs to be done. Some examples of project formulation: Specific Site All work at a specific site may be a project, such as a single road washout site. This method is often used if the site has special considerations. Specific Facility All work on a bridge may be a project, or restoration of a building and its contents may be a project. This method is used most often for large projects. Type of Damage All work under a specific category may be a project such as debris removal (Category A) or all work at certain types of facilities may be a project, such as all gravel roads on one project and all paved roads on another. System All work to a system may be a single project, for example, repairs to the water distribution system including multiple waterline breaks maybe a project. Jurisdiction All work within a specific area such as a park may be a project or all work within a department, such as the Police Department, Fire Department and Water Resources Department may each be a project. Method of Work A project may be grouped around how the work will be completed. For example, all work completed under a single contract may be a project or all work undertaken by a force account crew may be a project. Complex For extensive damage to several facilities at a complex (for example, Fleet Maintenance Complex) all damages to the Fleet Maintenance Complex could be combined into one project, or separated into several projects, such as roof repairs, or work done by a single contractor, or all repairs done by force account. Special Considerations A project may be grouped by special issues that might take longer to resolve, such as environmental or historic concerns. In addition, more than one category of work may be combined into a single project if the combination is practical. For example, if the project is to repair a park (Category G) it may include work to repair a road within the park (Category C). For the most part, emergency work (Category A and B) should not be combined with permanent work (Category C through G) unless the emergency work is incidental to the permanent repair. For example, some debris removal (emergency work) may be required prior to repairing a bridge abutment (permanent work). Since the debris removal is incidental to completing the bridge repair, the work may be formulated on a single project. Wherever possible, including emergency work as part of the permanent work is encouraged because regular time is eligible under permanent work. 4

7 Note: If sites are combined in such a way that the cost estimate exceeds the large project/small project threshold, the project is considered a large project. This is true even if all individual sites within the project are damaged less than the large project threshold amount. Formulated projects will result in one of four types of projects with different funding restrictions. The four types of projects are: Small Project A small project is any project which has a cost estimate less than the current threshold for large/small projects. This threshold changes every October 1 st based on the consumer price index. For federal fiscal year 2011, the threshold is $63,900. Funding for small projects is based on the approved estimate to complete the scope of work. If the applicant discovers a significant cost overrun related to actual cost to complete all estimated small projects, then an appeal may be submitted for the additional funds within 60 days of completing the last small project. Large Project A large project is any project which has a cost estimate greater than the threshold for large/small projects. As mentioned above, for federal fiscal year 2011, the threshold is $63,900. All large projects are funded based on actual cost to complete the eligible scope of work. The funding for each large project will be adjusted after all work is complete. Improved Project An improved project is any project (large or small) where the applicant chooses to make improvements (not required by any applicable code, standard, or hazard mitigation measure) to the facility while making disaster repairs. Funding for improved projects is limited to the approved federal estimate to complete the eligible scope of work. The State may approve an improved project. However, FEMA must review the project for compliance with environmental and historic statutes and other special considerations that apply. If improvements are required (e.g., ADA ramp) the project is not considered an improved project, but an environmental review may still be required. An example of an improved project would be if a two-lane bridge was destroyed by a flood and the City decided to build a four-lane bridge in its place. In this example, FEMA funding would be limited to costs associated with building a two-lane bridge. Alternate Project An alternate project is any permanent restoration project (large or small) where the applicant chooses to abandon the facility rather than make disaster repairs. The applicant may use any federal share funds, limited to the approved federal estimate to complete the eligible scope of work, at another facility. There is a 10% reduction in the FEMA funds for all alternate projects. FEMA must perform an environmental review and approve all alternate projects. An example of an alternate project would be if the City decides not to rebuild a destroyed recreation center and builds a new library instead. Section I.D FEMA: Financial Recovery from a Disaster Recovering from a major disaster can be a long and arduous road. Damages to structures and water resources may require action ranging from cosmetic repairs to demolition and rebuilding. Things do not always go as planned. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004 are excellent examples of this fact. 5

8 The success of the recovery, financially and otherwise, hinges upon planning for a disaster. The planning function encompasses practical actions necessary to respond quickly and efficiently to any kind of disaster. In planning for a disaster, the department must consider the following: 1. Disaster related activities must be accounted for separately from normal activities. 2. Emergency activities (police, fire, medical, disaster operations center, evacuation) are not site specific and should be considered to be a separate project by the specific department involved (i.e., Police, Fire, Stormwater, Water Resources). 3. The cost accounting system must be designed to capture the following information: Labor hours worked, both regular time and overtime, on disaster related activities, their pay rate, description of the work done and the work location. Equipment hours, costs and location where equipment is used. Material from inventory, cost for material and location where material is used. Engineering and other technical consultants services under contracts and cost. The above information is essential to document the City s loss, especially for Category B Emergency Protective Measures. *Remember* we all have responsibilities in recovering from the disaster. Included in this responsibility is taking those actions to ensure the City receives the full financial assistance to which the City is entitled. Section I.E FEMA: Documentation for Damages Because the department has firsthand knowledge of what needs to be done, the next step that the department should do after documenting their loss is to prepare a description of the work to be done and a cost estimate based on past experience and current local prices. Audit Services will determine whether the project is a large or small project based on the department s best estimates of cost to do the work. For large projects, the department should provide Audit Services with a listing of their potential projects with the name, location, a brief description of each damaged facility, work completed to date, as well as any special considerations that the department is aware of. Included with this will be supporting backup information. Examples of supporting backup information are photos, site maps, sketches, calculations, measures, hazard mitigation proposals, and for large buildings/projects, a set of plans. Audit Services will prepare a Project Worksheet and complete a Special Considerations Questions Form for each project. The Project Worksheet supplies FEMA with the information necessary to approve the scope of work and itemized cost estimate prior to funding. The approved Project Worksheet will then be the basis for funding under the Public Assistance Program. The Project Description area of the Project Worksheet, will describe the facility, location, its predisaster function, any special considerations, including but not limited to compliance with environmental protection and historic preservation legislation, and the disaster-related damages. From this information the scope of work is developed describing in detail the work necessary to return the facility to it pre-disaster condition. 6

9 The Cost Estimate section of the Project Worksheet will estimate the cost of repair for the damages described. If the work has already been completed at the time of project formulation, actual cost will be used. The exact location of the damaged facility must also be included on the Project Worksheet. This information should be specific enough to enable field personnel to easily locate the facility if a site visit is necessary and if possible include GPS coordinates. The following are examples of possible description for different types of facilities: Building Provide street address of the facility (i.e., 175 Fifth Street North)\ Street, Road or Bridge Name the intersecting street boundaries (i.e., Fourth Street North between Central Avenue and Third Avenue North) Parks Provide other information that documents the exact location of the facility (i.e., Williams Park, Campbell Park) Water or Sewer Lines Identify the closest street along with the proximity of the line to that location (i.e., Sewer th Street North, on west side of street at alley) All structure and facility damage has to be documented with numerous pictures, preferably in digital format such as JPEG. All digital pictures should be labeled to identify, at a minimum, the physical location (address and/or intersection cross streets), GPS Location (if available), date taken, building name (if applicable) and any other relative descriptive information. Our experience from Hurricane Frances and Jeanne indicated that FEMA relies on photographs as part of their project formulation. The damage must be described in terms of facility, features, or items requiring repair. Below are examples of incomplete and complete damage descriptions: Example 1 Example 2 Incomplete: Municipal Marina office sustained water damage. Complete: Floodwater inundated Municipal Marina office to a depth of four feet, damaging drywall, carpeting and office equipment in 4 offices and reception area. Incomplete: Floodwater caused damage to the parking lot. Complete: Floodwater undermined the northwest corner of the parking lot. The parking lot has a total capacity of 100 vehicles. This caused the asphalt surface and gravel sub-base to settle over a 1,000 square foot area, affecting 15 parking spaces, resulting in broken asphalt and compromised sub-base requiring complete replacement. In the description of damages, the description should include dimensions and quantities in order that proper estimates of material quantities and costs can be developed. Below are examples of incomplete and complete damage descriptions: Example 3 Incomplete: High winds and hail destroyed a wooden storage shed. Complete: High winds and hail destroyed a 20-foot length by 20-foot width by 14-foot height wooden storage shed. 7

10 Example 4 Incomplete: Floodwaters washed away a 20-foot section of earthen road embankment. Complete: Floodwaters washed away a 20-foot length by 5-foot width by 10-foot height section of earthen road embankment along a secondary two-lane asphalt paved road, resulting in travel being restricted to one lane. The scope of work should not be described only as restored to pre-disaster condition. See the following example: Example 5 Incomplete: 100 foot length by 75 foot width of gym floor sustained water damage when facility was inundated with 2 feet of floodwater. Restore to pre-disaster condition. Complete: 100 foot length by 75 foot width of gym floor at the Northwest Recreation Center sustained water damage when the facility was inundated with 2 feet of floodwater. Sand and refinish 100 foot length by 75 foot width by.25 inch depth damaged area; repaint lines for basketball court (100 square feet of surface area). The department must be very careful in how they describe the work. For example, widespread alligator cracking is not normally eligible for repair because it generally indicates a lack of maintenance. However, cracking in specific areas due to settlement from soils saturated by flood wares is eligible for repair. Each department is required to provide Audit Services with the following information: Detailed explanation of the damages and what work was done or needs to be done. Photographs of the site before work started, work underway, and work completed. List of damaged and destroyed equipment. Signed timesheets and signed KRONOS reports. Summaries of purchase orders, invoices, invoice register and payments. Explanation of how the contract was procured and what procurement method was used. If price was not competitively determined; explain why not. Authorizations to perform the work either by department head or mayor. Explanation of any change orders, how it relates to eligible scope of work and how the cost was determined. Correspondence received from DEM and FEMA. Audit Services will submit worksheets and documentation to FEMA on the City s behalf. With the department providing this information, Audit Services will be able to maintain a complete and accurate set of records for each project. For multiple declared disasters, the cost for each disaster must be segregated and accounted for separately. 8

11 Section I.F FEMA: Force Account Force Account is a term used to indentify labor provided by the City s employees, as well as the use of the City s equipment and materials. The elements which comprise force account costs typically include: Regular and overtime salaries and wages (recorded in KRONOS with PATEO information). Fringe benefits. Equipment and materials (equipment recorded in the Oracle Grants Accounting module and materials in Oracle Payables). Labor hours are accounted for by the provided timesheet and KRONOS reports. On every timesheet, for each individual day, identify what the individual was doing, where and when. The FEMA timesheet has been modified to allow multiple days to be recorded rather than one timesheet per day. Completed and signed timesheets along with the supporting signed KRONOS Punch Detail History (attach the KRONOS history to each timesheet) are to be submitted to Audit Services. The timesheet is to be signed by the employee and supervisor while the KRONOS history should be signed by a Director or Manger. Audit Services will provide the timesheets in Excel format. The timesheets can be printed and completed manually. (In the event the City s or a department s computers are not working or available subsequent to a disaster and at the direction of Audit Services, the FEMA forms included in this manual can be photocopied for distribution and use.) Forms are also available on the City Intranet. FEMA requires this level of detail in order to write or substantiate cost charged to the project. Accordingly, this level of detail will be above what is normally required by the City. REGULAR TIME AND OVERTIME LABOR COST MUST BE SEGREGATED. 9

12 EXAMPLE OF CATEGORY B PROTECTIVE EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE MEASURES NAME DATE HOURS DESCRIPTION OF WORK 09/30/ HOURS Inspection of road work between Beach Drive and First Street North and First Avenue and Fifth Avenue North 6 HOURS OVERTIME Disaster occurred at the end of shift. Ordered by supervisor to inspect structures on Pinellas Point Drive from Fourth Street South to Tampa bay for Structural Safety, tagged buildings as appropriate. SIGNATURE SUPERVISOR APPROVAL IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES ON THE TIME RECORD: 1. Shows both regular and overtime hours worked. 2. Remember; regular time for regular, full time employees is not typically eligible under Category B but the equipment they use during their regular time is eligible if the equipment is exclusively used for disaster related work. 3. Work description shows work performed. Damage assessment is NOT eligible for FEMA funding. If the Inspector is actually conducting structural safety inspections DO NOT put damage assessment. 4. Work description shows locations. If a numbering system or work order system is used to identify work done, make sure there are numbers for disaster related work. Do not use the department s routine work description. 10

13 EXAMPLE OF CATEGORY A WORK AND PERMANET WORK NAME DATE HOURS DESCRIPTION OF WORK 10/10/ HOURS Inspected construction work on hurricane damage to City Hall and City Hall Annex. 2 HOURS Inspected repairs to residences at 1611, 1818, 2025, and 2345 Fifth Street South. 2 HOURS Inspected hurricane debris clearance from the corner of 10 th Avenue north and 12 th Street to the corner of 10 th Avenue North and 16 th Street North. SIGNATURE SUPERVISOR APPROVAL IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES ON THE TIME RECORD: 1. Shows the regular hours worked. 2. Shows the overtime hours worked. 3. Work description shows work performed. Notice the locations of the work are on the time record. The first 4 hours are at a specific site, City Hall. The next 2 hours are for private residences and would not be eligible. The last 2 hours are for Category A debris clearance. *Remember* be specific as to work done and the location (site) of the work. 11

14 Fringe Benefit Rates Audit Services will determine the fringe benefit rate for each department. In determining the fringe benefit rate for regular time, Audit Services will take into consideration the following: 1. Paid Holidays 2. Vacation 3. Sick Leave 4. Administrative Leave (jury duty, military training, family illness, bereavement leave, etc.) And the City s Contributions for: 5. Retirement 6. Health Benefits 7. Workers Compensation 8. Life Insurance Benefits 9. FICA 10. Medicare As for overtime, Audit Services will only take into consideration FICA, Medicare, and Workers Compensation to determine the fringe benefit rate. These are the only items that are eligible. Other Considerations Emergency Protective Measures (Category B) generally consist of police, fire, medical, emergency operations command center activities and other immediate emergency responses. For example, police are dispatched entity wide for crowd control, traffic control, rescue and evacuation. Although each office normally has an assigned beat, the hurricane requires officers to be in areas and doing activities not normally done. Accordingly, it is not practical to have the officers document each site visited and activities accomplished. The same may be said for fire and medical response. However, if fire or police personnel are assigned to a specific evacuation shelter, this should be noted on their timesheets. It is important to accumulate the hours that the police, fire, and medical personnel worked for both regular and overtime, even though only overtime for regular employees is normally eligible for Category B work. This is important because FEMA may allow regular time to be an eligible cost. It is also important to have the dispatch logs (or whatever written documents used) to document that police, fire and medical personnel were dispatched for emergency response activities. 12

15 THE MAIN PROBLEM AUDITORS/FEMA HAD WITH FORCE ACCOUNT LABOR INCLUDE: 1. Failure to describe adequately the actual work performed. The time records must clearly state what work was performed. 2. Failure to distinguish between disaster related work and normal/routine work. This is especially true for management and clerical employees. 3. Failure to provide a clear audit trail from the cost summaries to the supporting time records. 4. Failure to cross reference on the time records and equipment which employee was assigned to what equipment and when the equipment was used. 5. Remember that some sites may not be eligible for State and/or Federal funding. Failure to segregate ineligible site work may result in otherwise eligible cost being disallowed. Equipment Use If the City uses its own equipment, the following criteria should be noted: 1. The City will use FEMA equipment rates that are included as part of the Grants Accounting module. 2. FEMA rates may be used. 3. If a particular piece of equipment does not appear in the FEMA rate schedule, Audit Services will request a rate from FEMA and DEM. 4. Assure the equipment usage can be reconciled to the timesheets for the individual assigned to the equipment (idle time is not allowable). 5. Standby time is generally unallowable. 6. Mobilization and demobilization cost should be considered. 7. Equipment usage is to be documented using the Oracle Grants Accounting module. Throughout the year, departments should advise the Budget Department of newly acquired or disposed equipment. The Budget Department is responsible for maintaining a current list of all relevant City equipment in Oracle. 13

16 Section I.G FEMA: Procurement The State and Federal programs allow the procurement of materials and services using established procurement procedures if they meet or exceed federal procurement standards. This means, while it is acceptable for the City to use its own system, the procurement system must be within program requirements. Procurement Standards Federal procurement standards are covered in the revised OMB Circular A-102 and 44 CFR Part 13 (Emergency Management and Assistance). Florida Statutes, Chapter 252 also cover procurement. Types of Procurement Small Purchases Competitive Sealed Bids Price Negotiation Price Negotiation Noncompetitive Negotiation Small purchase procurement generally requires seeking the best price by calling a number of vendors. Competitive sealed bids for contracts exceeding $50,000 require formal advertising in recognized trade journals and/or newspapers, a specific time for opening bids, and the award of the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. If the purchase exceeds $100,000, City Council approval is required. Price negotiation is the request for proposal process (RFP); thereby selecting the services of the best qualified individual or firm to perform specific services or provides specific products. Cost is generally the second objective in the process. The primary concern is the qualifications of the contractor. Noncompetitive negotiation is basically Sole Source procurement. The circumstances acceptable for sole source may be: 1. The item is available from only one source. 2. Public emergency and urgency will not permit a delay incidental to competitive bidding. 3. The federal or state funding agency authorizes it. 4. Competition is inadequate even though work was competitively bid. The biggest procurement problem encountered is usually with sole source procurement even though the immediate disaster response may have forced the use of sole source procurement. Documentation should show why this method was used and how the price was negotiated. 14

17 Contracts To avoid major problems when awarding contracts for disaster related work: 1. Do not award one contract covering several projects, or 2. Require the contractor to segregate costs on the invoices by project for work performed. The results may be the contractor s costs to each project will need to be prorated. This can be arbitrary and could cost funds if there are allocations to ineligible projects. It is relatively easy to include in the contract, under the section instructing the contractor as to how and when to invoice its services, the requirement to cost out the services by project. Time and Materials Contracts Time and Materials contracts should be avoided. They are sometimes used immediately after the disaster incident has occurred when a clear scope of work cannot be developed, i.e. work done to prevent additional damage or deterioration. The Time and Materials contract is acceptable if City personnel carefully monitor and document that the contractor expended the time and materials on eligible work and a cost ceiling or not to exceed provision is put in the contract to prevent the contractor from running up costs. An example would be emergency street clearance. Prohibited Contracts Cost plus a percentage of cost contracts and contingency contracts are specifically prohibited by FEMA. Contract Price Negotiation It is imperative that documentation show how the contract price was achieved. This will be easy if the RFP or competitive bid process was used. This is not easy if emergency contract services are procured without formal bidding. Debarred Contractors Contracting with debarred contractors is prohibited. A list of federal debarred contractors may be obtained from DEM or FEMA. 15

18 Pre-disaster Planning for Contract Services Consider the following for incorporation into emergency procurement procedures: 1. What kinds of work will need immediate contract services? Examples: Debris clearance Repair of utilities Shoring and bracing of damaged structures Repairs to doors, windows, interior areas Pumping of flooded structures 2. Which contractors in the area have the abilities and equipment to perform the work? This could come from a pre-qualified list of contractors who can perform various tasks effectively and efficiently. 3. Which contractors are willing to respond in an emergency? Determine which contractor can respond to immediate needs. 4. In the event of a widespread disaster, there will be competition between various local governments and citizens for services. 5. A Hold Harmless statement is required by FEMA and should be obtained from all landowners where storm debris and mulch are deposited. Environmental permits are also required for all sites where debris is staged and/or processed. Soil and composition samples should also be obtained from all debris processing sites. It is imperative to restore essential services immediately. It is also necessary to understand that once the insurance adjusters have finished assessing the damages to private properties, the owners will greatly accelerate their repairing and rebuilding of their structures. This may pose problems to the overall recovery plans as demand surpasses capacity to rebuild in a timely manner. Area wide planning for recovery is very important to minimize conflicts between the needs of government and the public. 16

19 Section I.H FEMA: City Facilities For each of its facilities, the department needs to make a determination as to whether or not the facility will be replaced should the facility be seriously damaged or destroyed. The repair cost does not include the cost of any triggered or mandatory upgrading of the facility, site work, or applicable costs (even though those costs may be eligible for FEMA funding). If the facility is not defined as repairable, restoration work may include replacing the facility; only the cost for the less expensive option would be eligible. The department must also take into consideration mitigation in developing their plan. Mitigation is the process involving attempts to eliminate or reduce the impact of future disasters. The federal government provides matching mitigation funds for reconstruction of building and utility systems to withstand future disasters. As part of mitigation efforts, the department may want to relocate the facility to a new location. A facility may be relocated when the facility will be subject to repeated damages; approval is not barred by other provisions of 44 CFR; and the move is cost-effective. Eligible work involved in relocation may include land acquisition and ancillary facilities such as roads and utilities and demolition and removal of the old facility. To save time and money, it will be prudent for the department to locate all As-built drawings of their facilities. As-built Drawings will be used by an engineer and contractor to make numerous decisions with respect to locations of below ground obstructions, utilities, and structures, and above ground structural, utilities, and façade details. Without As-built Drawings, detailed to show upgrades on structures, exploration cost will be charged to determine what is there. In addition, it may be prudent for the department to update the documentation to include what exists currently. It is much easier to make these decisions before a disaster happens and have these plans ready to go should a disaster occur. Section I.I FEMA: Pre-Disaster Condition of Facility Once a facility has been damaged or destroyed by a major disaster, there is no way to document the condition of the facility except by photographs or videotapes. As improvements/repairs are made to these facilities, new photographs or videotapes must be taken. Risk Management currently has contracted with an outside vendor for appraisal services. As part of their appraisal services, this vendor may already have photographed some of your facilities and its content. The department should contract Risk Management to see which, if any, of their facilities this vendor has already provided Risk Management with photographs. Each department has a number of options available to them to record the pre-disaster condition of their facilities. Some of the options available are: 1. The department has their own equipment (digital camera, for example) and could photograph or videotape their facilities without any cost to them except for the price of film or tape. 2. The department may borrow a camera or video recorder from another city department. 3. The department could have Channel 35 videotape the facilities for them. The cost would depend upon the amount of time it takes. 17

20 4. The department could contract with the same vendor Risk Management uses to come out and photograph their facilities. If enough departments show interest and the cost is reasonable, the City may elect to have this work done on a regular basis. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS OR VIDEOTAPES MUST BE STORED IN A SECURE LOCATION. Section I.J FEMA: KRONOS Payroll Codes The Finance Department has set up payroll code 007 for regular time and 111 for overtime to help the department keep track of employees working on disaster related work. REMEMBER- CODE 007 AND 111 SHOULD BE USED ONLY WHEN AN EMPLOYEE IS ASSIGNED TO WORK ON DISASTER RELATED WORK AND NOT WHEN HE IS DOING HIS NORMALLY ASSIGNED WORK. There are also payroll codes for adjusting disaster regular time and overtime. Code 807 is used to adjust disaster regular time and code 811 is used to adjust the overtime. Administrative Policy # allows exempt employees to receive payment on an hour-forhour basis for overtime worked during emergency conditions when authorized by an Executive Order by the Mayor. For this reason, all hours over 40 in the course of a week worked by exempt personnel during an emergency should be tracked. Section I.K FEMA: Donated Services Services furnished to the City by professional and technical personnel, consultants and other skilled and unskilled labor without cost is considered to be donated services. The value of these services is not reimbursable either as a direct or indirect cost. However, the value of donated services may be used to meet the City s cost share. In order to qualify, donated service must be documented in the same manner as force account labor. As part of the support documentation, the department should include, if possible, the social security number of the person donating their services. Donated services will be valued at rates consistent with those ordinarily paid for similar work in the City s organization. If the City does not have employees performing similar work, the rates will be consistent with those ordinarily paid by other employers for similar work in the same labor market. 18

21 Section II FHWA: FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION ER PROGRAM The Emergency Relief (ER) Program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Under a Federally declared disaster the Florida Department of Transportation becomes the grantee and the City becomes the sub grantee. ER was authorized by Congress in Title 23, United States Code, Section 125 as a special program under the Highway Trust Fund. The ER Program provides funds for disaster related repair or reconstruction of Federal-aid highways and roads within the City. Approximately 16% of the City s roads are Federal-aid roads. Unlike FEMA, FHWA reimburses 100% of regular and overtime as well as 100% of equipment and materials for debris removal and repair of Federal-aid roads. FEMA normally will not reimburse for debris removal (first push and pass, also known as cut and toss) or repair on Federal-aid roads. We recently learned that FHWA will not provide reimbursement for the first push and pass if an inordinate amount of time has transpired. FHWA expects that eligible debris removal be completed within the first few days subsequent to a storm. This is to avoid paying reimbursement for clearing private property debris which accumulates on roads over a period of time after a storm. For Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, FHWA allowed the City to claim 16% of its total debris removal costs. In the future, however, we will have to specifically document all of our debris removal and repair activities on Federal-aid roads. For this purpose, we have developed an FHWA log (FHWA-D-1-Appendix) that documents the date, employee, equipment, hours and specific Federal-aid road location that must be prepared by departments involved in debris removal and repair on Federal-aid roads. All other FEMA forms (materials, rented equipment, contracts, etc.) can be used to document FHWA work. In order to receive reimbursement, FHWA requires that we complete a Detailed Damage Inspection Report (DDIR, Form FHWA-1547). This form (Appendix FHWA-C-1) summarizes equipment, labor and material for emergency repair and permanent restoration on Federal-aid roads. FEMA equipment, labor and materials forms and FEMA equipment rates can be used to document activities that are summarized on the DDIR; however, a detailed log must be maintained documenting emergency and repair activities on Federal-aid roads. Also included is a list of Federal-aid roads (Appendix FHWA-A-1) and a map of these roads (Appendix FHWA-B-1). Similar to FEMA, FHWA usages are to be entered into the Oracle Grants Accounting module. This data will be used by Audit Services to prepare the DDIR. Subsequent to the 2004 hurricane season the City submitted for reimbursement of over $200,000 under the ER program. This illustrates that FHWA will be a significant source of funding for any future disasters. 19

22 Section III STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT Annex S of the City s Disaster Operations Plan (DOP) explains in more detail the City s involvement and obligations under the Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement. The City of St. Petersburg is a signatory to the State of Florida Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement. In the event of a disaster within the state, the City of St. Petersburg may be requested to provide mutual aid to the affected jurisdiction(s). Statewide mutual aid typically consists of law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, public works and building inspection personnel and equipment. Individual specialty and technically skilled personnel may also be requested. Mutual Aid Agreement (SMAA), requests for assistance should be through the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) by mission assignment (i.e. SEOC Mission Number/Task Number). Requests from the State should be through channels to the Pinellas County Emergency Management Office (Pinellas County EOC, if activated) then to the City Emergency Management Office. The City Emergency Management Office has been identified by the State and the County as the SMAA Authorized Representative for mutual aid assistance to be provided by the City. City departments or agencies which receive requests to provide mutual aid must notify the City Emergency Management Office, Fire Administration and Audit Services (for tracking purposes) of the request. Commitment of mutual aid resources will typically be for seven (7) day increments for each deployed element and subject to 24-hour per day operational schedules. Deployed personnel must be prepared to be self-sufficient for seven (7) days. Attachment 1 to Annex S provides a mutual aid pre-deployment checklist of essential elements of information that should be obtained prior to deployment to the impact area. Pay particular attention to the State Mission #. Any deployment of mutual aid assets without having first obtained the State Mission # will jeopardize cost reimbursement for assistance rendered to the requesting jurisdiction(s). For all City departments, staff agencies and offices that provide mutual aid assistance, the City is eligible for financial reimbursement from the requesting jurisdiction(s) to which mutual aid was provided. The Fire Department and the Police Department are the responsible agents to file all claims for reimbursement from the requesting jurisdiction(s) for Fire, EMS and Police mutual aide respectively. All other departments are responsible to file all claims for reimbursement for their respective departments. (The Audit Services Department will be responsible for providing employee fringe benefit rate calculations, which will be included in claims for reimbursement. Audit Services will also perform a review of each reimbursement claim package prior to submittal by the departments and provide appropriate feedback to the submitting departments). It is incumbent upon departments, staff agencies, and offices to produce complete and accurate documentation for all costs and expenses incurred to provide the requested mutual aid. Similar to FEMA and FHWA, SMAA expenditures are to be entered into the Oracle Grants Accounting module. As a mutual aid provider, regular and overtime hours are eligible for reimbursement. Employee s fringe benefits are also eligible; i.e. FICA, Medicare, retirement contributions, workers compensations, insurance cost, etc. Receipts for reimbursable out-of-pocket expenses are required to substantiate claims. Questions concerning the financial reimbursement process and documentation requirements should be referred to the Audit Services Department. 20