How Tribal Mitigation and Recovery Work Gets Paid For

The most common reason a nation delays a mitigation plan or a recovery engagement is budget. In most cases the budget is not tribal general funds. The same federal programs that require the work also fund it. Here is how that works, in plain terms, with the limits stated honestly.

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

Questions tribal finance and program staff ask

Funding: frequently asked questions

Q01

Can a tribe pay for mitigation planning with grant funds?

In most cases yes. Mitigation planning is an eligible activity under FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance. Planning subapplications under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and under Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities are how many nations fund plan development and five year updates. Under 44 CFR 206.434, up to seven percent of a state or tribal HMGP allocation may be used for planning. Eligibility, cost share, and available funding are determined by FEMA and by the applicable notice of funding opportunity, not by this firm.

Q02

Can a tribe pay for recovery consulting out of the disaster grant?

FEMA Public Assistance provides management cost funding to recipients and subrecipients, which may reimburse the administrative and technical work of managing the grant, including professional support. The percentage and the eligible activities are set by the Stafford Act and by FEMA policy for the declaration in question. That is what makes qualified recovery support largely self funding for many nations. Whether a specific cost is eligible is determined by FEMA.

Q03

What is a zero cost standby agreement?

An agreement competed and awarded before a disaster, under the nation's own procurement law, that carries no cost unless and until an event occurs and the nation activates it. It solves the problem of trying to procure recovery support in the first chaotic week after a declaration, and it lets the procurement be run properly rather than under emergency conditions.

Q04

Does the firm guarantee funding?

No. No consultant can. FEMA and the applicable program office decide eligibility, obligation, and payment. What the firm controls is the quality of the plan, the documentation, and the record supporting each request, which is what those decisions actually turn on.

Q05

Can a prime contractor fund this scope instead?

Yes. The firm subcontracts to primes holding Public Assistance technical assistance, planning, and recovery contracts. In that arrangement the nation is served through the prime's award and the firm is paid by the prime.

Want to know what your nation could fund?

Send the nation's name and where you are in the cycle. You will get a straight answer on which programs apply and what the realistic timeline looks like.

Ask the firm Mitigation planning