Three funding paths
Before an event: Hazard Mitigation Assistance planning funds. Mitigation planning is an
eligible activity under FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance. A planning subapplication under the Hazard
Mitigation Grant Program or Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities can fund a new Tribal
Mitigation Plan or a five year update. Under 44 CFR 206.434, up to seven percent of an HMGP allocation may go
to planning.
After an event: Public Assistance management costs. Public Assistance provides management
cost funding to recipients and subrecipients for the administrative and technical work of managing the grant.
For many nations this is what makes professional recovery support largely self funding rather than a draw on
general funds.
Through a prime contractor. Where a prime holds the Public Assistance technical assistance
or planning award, the nation is served under that award and the firm is paid by the prime. Nothing comes out
of the tribal budget at all.
What this firm does not do
It does not decide eligibility, and it does not promise funding. FEMA and the applicable program office
decide what is eligible, what gets obligated, and what gets paid. Any consultant who tells a tribal council
otherwise is selling something. What a consultant actually controls is the quality of the plan, the
documentation, and the record behind each request, which is what those decisions turn on.
The practical sequence
Most nations we work with follow the same order. Confirm the current mitigation plan status. If the plan is
expired or absent, identify the open planning funding cycle and scope a subapplication. Compete a zero cost
standby agreement for recovery support so the nation is not procuring in the first week after the next event.
Then, when an event is declared, activate, and manage the recovery and the insurance reconciliation together
so nothing is lost at the seam between them.
Funding at a glance
Mitigation planHMA planning subapplication
Plan updateHMA planning subapplication
HMGP planning shareUp to 7 percent
Recovery managementPA management costs
Standby agreementZero cost until activated
Prime subcontractPaid by the prime
Determined byFEMA, not the firm
Free plan status check
Send the nation's name and we will check the FEMA approval and expiration dates against public records,
then tell you whether you need a new plan, an update, or nothing at all. No cost and no obligation.
chrischambers@oklariskadvisors.com