Application Procedures

Appeal Brief Appeal Letter Appeal Analysis

Appeal Brief

Disaster	4473
Applicant	ICAR Diocesis de Ponce
Appeal Type	Second
PA ID#	113-U6S2D-00
PW ID#	DI # 407778
Date Signed	2022-11-10T17:00:00

Summary Paragraph

During the incident period December 28, 2019, to July 3, 2020, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico experienced a rolling series of earthquakes.  On April 23, 2020, the Iglesia Catolica Apostolica Romana Diocesis de Ponce (Applicant) claimed damage to the Capilla San Juan Bosco, a chapel with an attached shed (collectively “Chapel”).  The Applicant and FEMA had its first substantive meeting, the Recovery Scoping Meeting, on April 29, 2020.  FEMA advised the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resiliency (Recipient) that all deadlines were extended through October 31, 2020.  In a letter dated June 9, 2021, the Applicant identified and reported damage to a new building identified as Building #2 (a second building at the same location as the Chapel), citing COVID-19 and earthquakes as reasons for the delay.  FEMA denied the Applicant’s request stating that the deadline was already extended to October 31, 2020, to account for the COVID-19 pandemic and earthquakes in Puerto Rico.  The request was made over seven months after the deadline and did not substantiate extenuating circumstances justifying the late submission.  The Applicant filed a first appeal stating that while the request was beyond the regulatory deadline, FEMA’s complex project formulation, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic were extenuating circumstances beyond its control.  FEMA denied the request for a time extension to add damage for Building #2 as the Applicant did not identify and report them to FEMA before the deadline and did not demonstrate that there were extenuating circumstances beyond its or the Recipient’s control to justify the late submission.  The Applicant filed a second appeal reiterating first appeal arguments.

Authorities and Second Appeals

• 44 C.F.R. §§ 206.202(d)(ii), 206.202(f)(2).
• PAPPG at 134.

Headnotes

• Applicants have 60 days from the date of the first substantive meeting with FEMA to identify and report all damage and submit all costs for disaster-related funding.  FEMA may extend the deadline if the recipient submits a request in writing with justification based on extenuating circumstances beyond the recipient’s or applicant’s control.
  • FEMA held the Recovery Scoping Meeting, on April 29, 2020 but later extended all deadlines for reporting damage to October 31, 2020.  The Applicant states that it could not identify damages until after August 2020, due to COVID-19 complications, but that would have still left two months to identify and report damage to Building #2 before the extended deadline expired.  Here, the Applicant did not identify any damage until (at the earliest) the May 5, 2021 site inspection, and not in writing to FEMA until its June 9, 2021 request.   

Conclusion

Neither the Applicant nor the Recipient have demonstrated extenuating circumstances beyond either’s control to justify the untimely identification and reporting of damage to Building #2.  Therefore, this appeal is denied.

Appeal Letter

Appeal Analysis

Background

During the incident period December 28, 2019, to July 3, 2020, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico), suffered a rolling series of earthquakes, which caused extensive damage to the southwest region of the island.[1]  The Iglesia Catolica Apostolica Romana Diocesis de Ponce (Applicant), a Private Nonprofit organization, claimed that its Capilla San Juan Bosco, a chapel with an attached shed (collectively “Chapel”), suffered damage from the event.[2]

On April 23, 2020, the Applicant identified and reported damage to the Chapel.  The Applicant had its first substantive meeting with FEMA, the Recovery Scoping Meeting, on April 29, 2020.  In a letter dated June 26, 2020, FEMA extended all deadlines for reporting damage through October 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

FEMA inspected the Chapel on May 5, 2021.  In a letter dated June 9, 2021, the Applicant identified and reported damage to a second building at the same location as the Chapel, identified as Building #2 and asked to include it in the damage inventory.  The Applicant stated that it already identified the damage to Building #2 in the May 5, 2021 site inspection, but FEMA had not included it in the inventory of damages.  The Applicant acknowledged that the deadline to identify and report damages had expired on October 31, 2020, however it explained that extenuating circumstances, namely the earthquakes and COVID-19 pandemic, led to the delay.

FEMA denied the Applicant’s request to include damages from Building #2 in the damage inventory in a letter dated September 10, 2021, stating that it had already provided a time extension to identify and report damage until October 31, 2020, to account for both the COVID-19 pandemic and the earthquakes in Puerto Rico.  FEMA stated the Applicant’s reasoning for the delay in identifying and reporting damage did not constitute extenuating circumstances that would have justified the late submission.

First Appeal

The Applicant appealed FEMA’s determination in a letter dated October 21, 2021.  The Applicant stated that, while the request to add Building #2 to the inventory of damages was made beyond the regulatory deadline, FEMA’s complex project formulation, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic were extenuating circumstances beyond the Applicant’s control.  Additionally, the Applicant stated that church personnel could not access the Chapel due to COVID-19 and noted that Building #2 was located at the same premises.  The Puerto Rico Central Office of Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resiliency (Recipient) forwarded the appeal in a letter dated December 20, 2021.

The Regional Administrator for FEMA Region II in a letter dated April 20, 2022, found that Applicant had not identified and reported damage to Building #2 to FEMA before the expiration of the extended October 31, 2020 deadline.  FEMA determined that neither the Applicant nor the Recipient demonstrated that there were extenuating circumstances beyond its or the Recipient’s control to justify the late submission and consequently, denied the request to add Building #2 to the Applicant’s claimed damages.

Second Appeal

The Applicant filed an appeal in a letter dated June 13, 2022, reiterating its prior arguments regarding COVID-19.  Specifically, the Applicant argued that the pandemic made it infeasible to identify the additional damages until August 2020, which left only two months to capture the damage.  Additionally, the Applicant stated that at the May 5, 2021 site inspection, FEMA indicated that Building #2 would be included in the site inspection report.  The Recipient forwarded the Applicant’s appeal in a letter dated August 12, 2022. 

 

Discussion

Applicants have 60 days from the date of their first substantive meeting with FEMA to identify and report all damage and submit all costs for disaster-related funding.[3]  FEMA may extend the deadline for identifying and reporting damage if the recipient submits a request, in writing, with justification based on extenuating circumstances beyond the recipient’s or applicant’s control.[4] 

The Applicant’s original deadline to identify and report damages was June 28, 2020 (60 days after the first substantive meeting).  FEMA extended the deadline to report damages for this disaster to October 31, 2020, to account for the earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Applicant states that it could not identify damages until after August 2020, due to COVID-19 limitations.  However, the Applicant did not identify and report the damage at Building #2 until, as it reports, nine months later during the May 5, 2021 site inspection, and not in writing to FEMA until its June 9, 2021 request.  Neither the Applicant nor the Recipient has provided a justification based on extenuating circumstances beyond either’s control for the delay in identifying and reporting damage.  Consequently, the Applicant’s request to include claimed damages of Building #2 is denied.

 

Conclusion

Neither the Applicant nor the Recipient have demonstrated extenuating circumstances beyond either’s control to justify the untimely identification and reporting of damage to Building #2.  Therefore, this appeal is denied.

 

 

[1] The President declared the event a federal disaster, FEMA-4473-DR-PR, on January 16, 2020. 

[2] Capilla is the Spanish word for chapel.  Because of limitations in the Grants Manager system, Spanish-language diacritical marks have been omitted.

[3] Title 44 Code of Federal Regulations (44 C.F.R.) § 206.202(d)(ii) (2019); Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide, FP 104-009-2, at 134 (Apr. 2018) [hereinafter PAPPG].

[4] 44 C.F.R. § 206.202(f)(2); PAPPG, at 134.