Statement of John R. D’Araujo Before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery U.S. Senate Washington, DC April 24, 2007 Good morning, Chairwoman Landrieu, Senator Stevens, and members of the Committee. It is an honor to appear before this Committee to discuss my role as the Primary Selecting Official for the Alternative Housing Pilot Program. From July 2006, until January 2007, I was the Director of the Recovery Division within the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Additionally, from July 2002 to March 2003, I served as the Assistant Director of what was then known as the Readiness, Response and Recovery Directorate within FEMA. I coordinated the federal and national response for all-hazard disasters, directing the activities of more than 22 federal agencies under the Federal Response Plan I recently retired from FEMA and am testifying today as a private citizen. During my time with FEMA, I had the privilege to serve as the Primary Selecting Official for the Alternative Housing Pilot Program, authorized by Congress in the 2006 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act. Though I served as the Primary Selecting Official, it is important to note that I was not responsible for the decisions creating the program. As a result, I would defer any questions on that issue to my colleagues from FEMA. As the Primary Selecting Official, my role in the process was to take the results and recommendations from the Evaluation Panel and make the final decision about the award of funding under this competitive grant. I was not involved in any way in their deliberations or scoring of the projects, though I did receive periodic updates as to their progress, but not the substance of their deliberations. To the best of my ability, I carried out my responsibility in accordance with established grant-making procedures. In accordance with established competitive grant procedures, as the Primary Selecting Official, I considered the ranking, comments and recommendations from the independent reviewers, as well as my own thoughts on the projects, before deciding which applications to approve and their order of approval. I made my selection based on the projects deemed most meritorious. Also, in accordance with established competitive grant procedures, as the Primary Selecting Official, I put in writing my reasons for each deviation from the ranking determined by the National Evaluation Panel, as well as my reasons for disapproval of a recommendation. My disapproval of projects was based on their ranking, and thus required no written explanation. In early December, 2006, Gil Jamieson, Deputy Director for Gulf Coast Recovery sent me a memorandum that summarized the comments of the National Evaluation Panel for each project and presented the overall ranking of each project. Three funding options were outlined in this memorandum. 1. Fully fund eligible projects in the order that they were ranked by the independent evaluation panel until all money was expended; 2. Provide a minimal amount of funding to all eligible projects, dividing the funds between as many as 10 projects; or, 3. Provide significant funding to the top project from each eligible state, and then use the remainder of the funding to fund projects based on their relative rankings. Under a funding scheme that stuck to traditional competitive grant processes and fully-funded projects based solely on their ranking, the second highest-ranked project would have consumed the entire amount of funding. However, because I considered it important that there be a diversity of competitive projects funded, I selected and recommended partial (85%) funding for the top project from each competitive state. With the remainder of funding, the 2nd project (ranked 2 overall) was funded at 66% of its request. By funding the top project from each state, FEMA is able to test emergency, interim, and permanent housing solutions. Based on my selection, projects selected for possible funding under AHPP were announced on December 22, 2006. State Project Requested Funds Partial Funding Recommended Award Ranking by National Evaluation Panel Mississippi Green Mobile $6,930,450 85% $5,890,882 1 Mississippi Park Model and Mississippi Cottage $400,000,000 69% $275,427,730 2 Louisiana Cypress Cottage Partners $87,696,906 85% $74,542,370 3 Texas Heston Group $19,378,500 85% $16,471,725 4 Alabama City of Bayou La Batre $18,432,1100 85% $15,667,293 6 Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. I would be pleased to answer any questions you have regarding my role as the Primary Selecting Official for FEMA’s Alternative Housing Pilot Program. John R. (Jack) D'Araujo, Jr. served as Director of the Recovery Division of the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from July 2006 – January 2007. He recently retired from FEMA. D'Araujo has been a consultant for several contractors working for the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense. Mr. D'Araujo has an extensive background in leadership and management, both in his prior experience with FEMA and as Director of the Army National Guard. From July 2002 to March 2003, he served as Assistant Director of FEMA's Readiness, Response and Recovery Directorate. He coordinated the federal and national response for all-hazard disasters, directing the activities of more than 22 federal agencies under the Federal Response Plan. He also assessed operational readiness for disaster response prior to and during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. He was responsible for oversight of multi- billion-dollar Individual and Public Assistance programs and the Disaster Relief Fund, and reviewed policy, procedures and personnel aspects of FEMA disaster response capabilities. Mr. D'Araujo retired from the Army as a Major General. He spent 32 years in the Army National Guard, culminating his career there as Director. Mr. D'Araujo holds a Bachelor of Science (concentration in Political Science), from the State University of New York, and he attended the Army War College, Army Command and General Staff College. Photo of John R. D'Araujo, Jr.