Appeals

Dear Kevin Guthrie and Mark Martinet:

This is in response to a letter from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (Recipient) office dated May 21, 2024, which transmitted the referenced second appeal on behalf of Hillsborough County (Applicant). The Applicant is appealing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) denial of $286,532.07 in costs pertaining to the purchase of equipment, materials, and services in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Section 423(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act provides that any decision regarding eligibility for assistance may be appealed within 60 days after the date on which the applicant is notified of the award or denial of assistance. Implementing this provision, Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations (44 C.F.R.), sections 206.206(a) and (c) (2019), require that an applicant make the appeal in writing, through the recipient, within 60 days after receipt of a notice of the action that is being appealed. The appeal must contain documented justification supporting the applicant’s position, specify the amount in dispute, and specify the provisions in Federal law, regulation, or policy with which the applicant believes the FEMA determination was inconsistent. Recipients must then review and forward the appeal, with a written recommendation, to FEMA within 60 days after receipt of the appeal from the applicant. 

According to the Administrative Record, the Applicant received notice of FEMA’s denial by way of a Determination Memorandum on April 18, 2023, and filed its first appeal on June 16, 2023. However, the Recipient did not transmit the first appeal with its written recommendation until August 23, 2023. This was after the 60 calendar-day timeframe required by FEMA’s regulations, making the first appeal untimely. 

The Applicant received notice of FEMA’s denial of the first appeal by way of a first appeal response on February 6, 2024. The Applicant submitted a letter to the Recipient on March 23, 2024, providing notice that it did not wish to pursue a dispute of FEMA’s adverse determination.[1] The Recipient transmitted its written recommendation to FEMA on May 21, 2024, acknowledging that the Applicant was not pursuing a second appeal, conceding the Recipient’s first appeal transmission may have been untimely, but nonetheless recommending that FEMA reconsider the Recipient’s untimely first appeal submittal and make a determination on the merits. On May 22, 2024, the Recipient transmitted a letter from the Applicant, dated the same date, which the applicant stated was its second appeal. 

Here, the Applicant’s March 23, 2024, letter did not meet the form and content requirements of 44 C.F.R. section 206.206(a) and its May 22, 2024, second appeal, which met the form and content requirements, was submitted after the 60-day timeframe required by FEMA regulations, making the second appeal untimely. Therefore, the appeal is denied.

This determination is the final decision on this matter pursuant to 44 C.F.R. § 206.206, Appeals.

                                                                                      Sincerely,

                                                                                           /S/

                                                                                      Robert Pesapane

                                                                                      Director

                                                                                      Public Assistance Division

cc: Robert D. Samaan

Regional Administrator

      FEMA Region 4