Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program FY 2016 Subapplication Status

This page provides the status of the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) planning and project subapplications that were submitted to FEMA for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 application cycle.

FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs provide funding to protect life and property from future natural disasters. The PDM grant program is designed to implement a sustained pre-disaster natural hazard mitigation program to reduce overall risk to the population and structures from future hazard events, while also reducing reliance on Federal funding in future disasters.

For FY 2016, $100 million was appropriated for PDM. FEMA made available $90 million for grants.  In February 2016, FEMA announced the application period from March 15-June 15, 2016 in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) posted on www.grants.gov.

The agency’s priorities for the FY 2016 PDM program are:

1. The statutory set aside for states, territories and the District of Columbia up to $575,000;
2. Tribal set aside up to $575,000 per tribe for a total of $10 million;
3. Mitigation planning from applicants without Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) planning funds available;
4. Projects from applicants without HMGP regular project funds available in the following order:
   1. Climate Resilient Mitigation Activities (CRMA) including Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR), Floodplain and Stream Restoration (FSR), and Flood Diversion and Storage (FDS); and pre- or post-wildfire mitigation activities or any mitigation action that utilizes green infrastructure approaches

   2. Non-flood hazard mitigation projects (e.g., seismic, wildfire, landslide and wind) and non-acquisition/elevation/mitigation reconstruction flood mitigation activities (e.g., stormwater management and flood control measures)

   3. Acquisition, elevation and mitigation reconstruction projects

   4. Generators for critical facilities
5. Planning from applicants with HMGP planning funds available
6. Projects from applicants with HMGP regular project funds available in the following order:
   1. CRMA and pre- or post-wildfire mitigation activities or any mitigation action that utilizes green infrastructure approaches

   2. Non-flood hazard mitigation projects and non-acquisition/elevation/mitigation reconstruction flood mitigation activities

   3. Acquisition, elevation and mitigation reconstruction projects

   4. Generators for critical facilities

For the competitive subapplications in priority categories 3 through 6 above, FEMA further prioritized subapplications as follows:

1. Small, impoverished community status;
2. FEMA-validated residential or commercial Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) rating, as appropriate to the activity type, from a grade of 1 to 10; and
3. FEMA-validated Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) for projects.

Applicants were limited to a maximum of 19 subapplications, including no more than eight for mitigation projects and one for management costs up to 10% of the total of their subapplications.  Applicants were required to rank their subapplicants in priority order with the highest ranked subapplication not to exceed $575,000 federal share in order to be eligible for the state and tribal set asides (priorities 1 and 2).

FEMA received 486 subapplications from 79 applicants (25 of which were federally-recognized Indian Tribal Governments) totaling $240 million: 219 planning, 216 projects, and 51 applicant management costs.  FEMA has completed its eligibility review to ensure compliance with HMA Guidance and has made selections based on the agency’s priorities and available funding.  FEMA has identified for further review 291 PDM subapplications from 72 applicants (22 of which are Indian Tribal Governments): 209 planning, 82 projects and associated applicant management costs totaling $90 million.

FEMA selected (identified for further review) all eligible subapplications in priorities 1 through 5.  Eligible subapplications in priority 6 were ranked in order by project type; small, impoverished community status; BCEGS rating; and BCR for selection.  FEMA is unable to fund (not selected) the remaining eligible subapplications in priority 6.

The table below lists the submitted planning and project subapplications and the status of each aphabetically by applicant. Further explanation of the status is provided below the table.

Identified for Further Review:

An application which is listed as “identified for further review” is not a notification of award. This means that a subapplication has met the requirements specified in the NOFO and the HMA Unified Guidance.  At this time, the applicants are required to work with a FEMA Regional Office to complete the pre-award activities for subapplications. Regional Offices will also complete the Environmental and Historic Preservation (EHP) compliance review for projects prior to award.  Applicant management costs will be awarded based on the planning and project subapplications that are “identified for further review” and will not be awarded in excess of 10 percent of the total grant award.  Additionally, awards will be subject to the availability of funds. FEMA may, at its discretion, request additional information or documentation regarding administrative or procedural requirements and conduct additional programmatic reviews before making a final decision. 

Not Selected

Each year, the number of applicants for grant funding exceeds what is available.  FEMA offers two recommendations for subapplications that met the program requirements but are not selected due to limited program funding. One recommendation is that the applicant may re-submit the subapplication during the open period of the FY 2017 PDM or Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program. Or, if funding is available, an application can be submitted to the HMGP.

Did Not Meet Hazard Mitigation Assistance Requirements

For applications submitted that are identified as “Did not meet HMA requirements”, the FEMA Regional Office will provide further information to applicants on why subapplications did not meet these requirements.

Request for Reconsideration

FEMA will reconsider its determination of a subapplication only when there is an indication of a substantive technical or procedural error by FEMA.  Only information provided in the submitted subapplication is considered supporting documentation for the request for reconsideration.  The amount of funding available for applicant management costs will not be reconsidered. 

Applicants must send requests for reconsideration based upon technical or procedural error to their FEMA Regional Office within 60 days of the posting of subapplication status.  The Regional Office will review the information received from an applicant and submit the regional recommendation to FEMA’s Headquarters.  FEMA Headquarters will make a final determination to overturn or uphold the original decision and send the response to the applicant.  A FEMA decision to uphold or overturn a decision regarding a subapplication is final.