Result of Declared Incident

Appeal Brief

Summary Paragraph

From October 9 through 23, 2018, Hurricane Michael impacted the State of Georgia. The City of Albany (Applicant) requested Public Assistance (PA) to repair and/or replace traffic signs and signals. FEMA prepared Grants Manager Project 82699/Project Worksheet 590 to document the Applicant's requested force account labor (FAL), materials, and contract costs. FEMA issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking documentation to support claimed damages. In response, the Applicant submitted maintenance, costs, work, location, contract, FAL and materials documents, and photographs. However, FEMA was unable to validate all of the Applicant's claimed damages. FEMA issued a Determination Memorandum finding the Applicant did not provide documentation supporting $784,553.54 but approving $174,258.81. The Applicant submitted a first appeal, requesting $540,059.56, providing additional documentation and photographs. FEMA issued a second RFI, seeking clarification of the first appeal and documentation. The Applicant provided clarification and additional documentation. The FEMA Region 4 Regional Administrator denied the appeal, finding that the claimed damage was not the result of the declared incident because documentation did not establish the predisaster condition. The Applicant submitted a second appeal on June 15, 2023, requesting $540,059.56 and providing a revised spreadsheet clarifying location details. On August 9, 2023, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (Recipient) transmitted the second appeal with a letter of support.

Authorities

• Stafford Act, § 406(a)(1)(A). 
• 44 C.F.R. § 206.223(a)(1). 
• 2 C.F.R. § 403(g).
• PAPPG, at 19, 21-22, 133, 134-135.

Headnotes

• FEMA provides PA funding to eligible applicants for work required as a direct result of the declared incident. It is the applicant’s responsibility to substantiate its claim as eligible.
  • The Applicant provided documentation, including photographs, invoices, and spreadsheets demonstrating that $242,693.47 of the requested additional work was required as a result of the declared incident.
• Costs must be directly tied to the performance of eligible work. 
  • The Applicant did not demonstrate that all of its claimed traffic sign and signal repair/replacement contract costs and material costs were tied to eligible work.

Conclusion

The Applicant provided documentation demonstrating that $242,693.47 of the work at issue was required as a result of the declared incident. Accordingly, the appeal is partially granted in the amount of $242,693.47.

Appeal Letter

Appeal Analysis

Background

From October 9 through 23, 2018, Hurricane Michael impacted the State of Georgia.^[1] The City of Albany (Applicant) requested Public Assistance (PA) to repair and/or replace traffic signs, traffic signals, and associated components of both, in addition to materials (e.g., safety vests, sign hardware, electrical equipment, etc.). FEMA prepared Grants Manager Project 82699/Project Worksheet 590 to document the Applicant’s claimed damages. FEMA sought further information, including damage locations and dimensions. The Applicant submitted additional documentation, including cost, work and location summaries, photographs, and contract documentation. On August 3, 2021, FEMA issued a Determination Memorandum, partially granting the requested costs. FEMA approved $174,258.81 based upon work the Applicant had associated with specific locations that allowed FEMA to validate disaster-related damages, in addition to invoices, photographs, and spreadsheets that demonstrated the eligibility of the approved costs. FEMA denied $784,553.54, however, for work it was unable to validate because the Applicant did not provide adequate documentation supporting eligibility, such as damage and locations details.  

First Appeal 

On October 1, 2021, the Applicant submitted a first appeal, requesting $540,059.56.[2] The Applicant requested $263,982.56 for repair/replacement of traffic signs and associated components, $241,975.00 for traffic signal repair/replacement including associated components, and $34,102.00 for materials. The Applicant provided additional documentation including traffic sign and signal damage photographs, damage description and location spreadsheets, and invoices. The Applicant also provided an August 1, 2019 email from a contractor, identifying 16 traffic signal locations the Applicant asserted were associated with its $241,975.00 claim. The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (Recipient) transmitted the Applicant’s first appeal on October 27, 2021, with a letter recommending approval. On April 28, 2022, FEMA issued a Request for Information, seeking documentation to substantiate that the requested work was required as a result of the declared disaster. The Applicant responded on June 27, 2022, providing additional documentation including spreadsheets showing contract costs/invoice references and traffic sign work, damage descriptions, and locations. 

On April 17, 2023, the FEMA Region 4 Regional Administrator denied the appeal, stating FEMA was unable to substantiate that the claimed damages at issue occurred as a direct result of the declared incident. FEMA found that the Applicant’s list of repair/replacement items and damage photographs did not include information connecting the work to specific damaged traffic signs, signals, or materials. 

Second Appeal

The Applicant submitted a second appeal on June 15, 2023, reiterating its request for $540,059.56. The Applicant referenced previously provided information and also provided a revised spreadsheet clarifying location details. On August 9, 2023, the Recipient transmitted the second appeal with a letter of support.

Discussion

FEMA provides PA funding to eligible applicants for the repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of facilities damaged or destroyed by disasters.[3] To be eligible for PA, an item of work must be required as a result of the declared incident, and the applicant must demonstrate that the damage was directly caused by the incident.[4] Costs must be directly tied to the performance of eligible work, adequately documented, and necessary and reasonable to accomplish the work properly and efficiently.^[5] To determine eligibility of damage claimed, FEMA may request a variety of documentation including photographs, detailed descriptions, drawings, sketches, and plans of disaster-related damage.^[6] It is the applicant’s responsibility to substantiate its claim as eligible.[7] If an applicant does not provide sufficient documentation to support its claim as eligible, FEMA cannot provide PA funding for the work.^[8]

Traffic Signs

Here, the Applicant claims that the disaster damaged the structural integrity of signposts, sign alignments, and street sign brackets, as well as High-Intensity Prismatic (HIP) signs. In support of its appeal, the Applicant provides documentation, including: (1) spreadsheets listing out the damage locations via GPS coordinates and including work details (i.e., labor, component type, dimensions etc.) by location; and (2) post-disaster photographs that correspond to each location referenced in the spreadsheet. However, the spreadsheets do not include location details (e.g., street address and/or GPS coordinates) for all the claimed signage damage. Furthermore, the Applicant’s total claimed signage contract labor costs are not supported by the quantity of sign/signpost installation/reinstallation units shown in spreadsheets.[9] The Applicant asserts that the signage photographs show bent/twisted signposts and bent or missing signs that support its claimed sign damages. Importantly, while some of the signage photographs show damage, i.e., leaning signposts, misaligned signs, and/or missing signs, not all the photographs show this type of damage or allow FEMA to verify all the claimed damages at all locations. The damage details, descriptions, and photographs provided, and associated with identified locations, allow FEMA to validate the related signpost damages as well as missing/misaligned signs due to damaged brackets. In these cases, the photographs show leaning signposts and/or damaged sign brackets with missing/misaligned signs. However, the Applicant did not demonstrate that the disaster damaged the signs described as HIP, as the photographs corresponding to HIP signs do not show any apparent damage. Therefore, only the signage contract labor costs for sign/signpost installation/reinstallation tied to validated sign and/or signpost damage are eligible. Consequently, the requested lump sum mobilization, insurance, and bonding costs are only partially eligible, in proportion to the eligible signage work.[10] Based on the above, the Applicant has demonstrated $108,855.69 of the claimed $263,982.56 for signage work is the result of the declared incident and eligible for PA. 

Traffic Signals

The Applicant contends that the post-disaster photographs, invoices, and spreadsheets demonstrate traffic signal damage associated with 16 intersections. Here, the traffic signal photographs show missing/damaged signal backplates, cables, and signal heads. In addition, explanations in a spreadsheet confirm the damaged signal components for each claimed location. The combination of photographs and explanatory documentation demonstrate disaster-caused damages at the 16 locations claimed. However, the associated invoices provided on appeal include costs for traffic signal repairs not identified by the Applicant in this appeal as being disaster-damaged.[11] Conversely, some of the Applicant’s claimed disaster-damaged signals are not shown on the invoices.[12] Therefore, FEMA is only able to validate traffic signal damage and costs associated with nine of the claimed signal locations.[13] Accordingly, FEMA finds $126,921.45 of the Applicant’s requested $241,975.00 for traffic signal work eligible. 

Materials

The Applicant provided an invoice and narrative description in support of its requested traffic signal supply and equipment materials at issue. The narrative description included eight traffic signal locations (street names) and costs for each type of component, i.e., cabinet assemblers and conflict monitors. However, only one of the eight traffic signals is among those for which the Applicant provided sufficient documentation to demonstrate eligibility. Specifically, the Temple Inc. invoice narrative description indicates that one cabinet assembler and one conflict monitor were associated with traffic signal repair work at Dawson and Pointe North, one of the traffic signal locations FEMA was able to validate on second appeal.[14] However, the Applicant did not show that the components related to the other seven traffic signal locations were associated with eligible work.[15] The Applicant has therefore demonstrated that it incurred $6,916.33 in material costs for eligible work, but has not demonstrated the remaining costs associated with materials is eligible. 

Conclusion

The Applicant provided documentation demonstrating that $242,693.47 of the work at issue was required as a result of the declared incident. Accordingly, the appeal is partially granted in the amount of $242,693.47.