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Coronavirus Pandemic Response: FEMA Releases New Policy for Declarations

Release Date:
Septembre 1, 2020

WASHINGTON -- Today, FEMA released an interim policy to clarify eligible work under the Public Assistance program as part of the response to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The interim policy “COVID-19 Pandemic: Work Eligible for Public Assistance” is applicable to eligible applicants only and is exclusive to emergency and major disaster declarations for the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy applies to work performed on or after September 15, 2020.

FEMA releases this interim policy as part of the President’s March 13 nationwide emergency declaration and subsequent major disaster declarations for COVID-19. Because of these declarations, state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government entities and certain private non-profit (PNP) organizations are eligible to apply for assistance under the FEMA Public Assistance program. 

The interim policy defines the framework, details and requirements for eligibility of work and costs under the Public Assistance Program to ensure consistent and appropriate implementation across all COVID-19 emergency and major disaster declarations.  Only work associated with the performance of emergency protective measures specifically listed in this policy is eligible for Public Assistance in COVID-19-declared events.

Under the new policy, FEMA provides assistance for emergency protective measures in response to COVID-19 declared events, to include the following:

FEMA may provide Public Assistance funding to applicants for eligible work under the COVID-19 declarations that may also be eligible for funding under another federal agency’s authorities.  Potential Public Assistance applicants may have the flexibility to determine which source of funding to use for their costs, subject to the purpose and eligibility requirements of each of the federal programs and funding sources. 

The “COVID-19 Resource Summary Report” is a list of resources provided by the federal government since the start of the response to COVID and is designed to assist with recovery efforts. Partners should directly consult each agency’s program information to verify the applicability of a resource.

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