PWS Appendix D - SOP.doc

Attachment D to RFP

APPENDIX D

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (SOP)

Processing, Distribution and Disposal of Donated and Federally-Purchased Goods Controlled by FEMA

PURPOSE:

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) sets forth procedures to process, distribute and dispose of donated goods and federally-purchased goods (both defined below) controlled by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in coordination with State and non-profit organizations. These procedures are to ensure that goods will be made available, as appropriate, to States and eligible non-profit organizations to meet the needs of disaster victims before such items are disposed of.

SCOPE:

This SOP is applicable to and intended for all FEMA personnel who are involved in processing, distributing, and disposing of donated goods and federally-purchased goods after a declared major disaster, emergency or other FEMA-supported events.

AUTHORITY:

1. Sections 309, 403 and 701 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5152, 5170b and 5201 respectively.

2. 41 CFR Part 102-37 - Federal Management Regulations: Donations of Surplus Personal property.

BACKGROUND:

Under the National Response Framework, State, tribal, and local governments have primary responsibility to develop and implement plans to manage unaffiliated volunteer services and donated goods. FEMA coordinates with State, local and tribal government, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and the private sector to facilitate an inclusive multi-agency, community-wide, coordinated response and recovery effort to address unmet needs of individuals and families.

FEMA supports State Donations Management planning and plans by:

· Offering pre-disaster training to the State Donations Coordinator and the State’s Donations Coordination Team

· Providing a web-based tool to track offers of donations

· Working through Donations Specialists and ESF-7 in a Joint Field Office (JFO) to help secure a State Multi-agency Donations Warehouse during a disaster

· Supporting a State with technical assistance through the services of FEMA Donations Specialists

· Encouraging an affected State to request additional support from FEMA-trained State Donations Coordinators through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)

· Providing communications support, such as coordination of a national hotline and/or call center.

Under the authorities of the Stafford Act, FEMA may purchase goods in order to support States in meeting the needs of those affected by disasters. In these instances, FEMA purchases, processes, distributes, and disposes of such goods in accordance with the Stafford Act and the Federal Management Regulations (FMR).

PROCESSING PROCEDURES:

A. Donated Goods: Any reference to the terms “donation” or “donated goods” in this SOP refers solely to goods located at FEMA facilities (not at a State or voluntary agency warehouse) that are intended for use in the response or recovery phases of a declared major disaster or emergency.

1. FEMA will not normally take custody of donated goods. Rather, when contacted by any person or entity willing to donate goods for the benefit of disaster victims, FEMA will immediately refer the person or entity to the State and a web-based donations management system that FEMA has made available to the States.

2. In the unusual circumstances that FEMA does take custody of any donated goods at a disaster site, the donated items will be segregated from federal government-purchased items immediately upon identification as donated items.

3. To prevent co-mingling of donations with federally-purchased goods:

a. Site Receiving Officers will account for and keep donated goods stored and inventoried separately from government-purchased goods at disaster sites.

b. Site Receiving Officers must contact the FEMA Donations Management Unit at the JFO, the Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) or Headquarters (HQ) with the location, description of items, and quantity of any donations.

3. FEMA’s policy is to support non-profit organizations that provide services to disaster victims; therefore FEMA will direct offers of donations to these non-profit relief organizations, in coordination with the State and its Donations Management Plan. FEMA will discourage donations conditioned upon use for specific disasters. However, if FEMA accepts donations designated for a specific disaster, the Site Receiving Officer must notate such information on an inventory list.

B. Federally-Purchased Goods: These are goods purchased by FEMA intended for use in the response or recovery phase of a major declared disaster or emergency (does not include contractor purchases which are separately governed by the original contract):

1. These items are received by FEMA Logistics and Accountable Property officers and the receipt is documented in FEMA’s formal property accounting system.

2. When items are needed for issue to disaster victims, they will be expensed in FEMA financial records and formal accountability will be dropped.

3. Federally-purchased goods will be stored in official government facilities such as Distribution Centers.

DISTRIBUTION PROCEDURES

A. Donated Goods

1. Donated items processed by FEMA under Section VI(A) will not be co-mingled with federally-purchased goods and will be available to be distributed through state agencies or private non-profits for relief and assistance under the Stafford Act to disaster victims during the response or recovery phases of a disaster.

2. If donated goods are delivered to a FEMA field site and are not under the control of the State, they will be inventoried by Site Receiving Officers and then the Donations Unit at the JFO, RRCC or HQ will help move these donations to private non-profit organizations, State Distribution Center or the State Multi-agency Donations Warehouse if established.

3. FEMA officials in the JFO are responsible for notifying the following individuals to determine whether a need exists for the donated goods for the benefit of disaster victims:

a. The FCO or his/her designee for the specific disaster will coordinate with the State Coordinating Officer (SCO) and the FEMA Donations Specialist.

b. A FEMA Donations Specialist will contact the State Donations Coordinator.

c. The FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaison (VAL) Group Supervisor will contact the State Voluntary Agency Liaison (State VAL) and VOAD Coordinator, if both are established.

d. The FEMA Donations Management Unit at HQ will use the web-based donations management network to make the goods available for relief and assistance under the Stafford Act for distribution through the national non-profits (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (National VOAD) members) to a broad range of disaster victims (using the steps 1), 2) and 3) below) before FEMA disposes of the goods in accordance with the Federal Management Regulations.

1) FEMA HQ Donations Coordinators will enter the available donated resources on the national portal of the web-based donations management network.

2) FEMA HQ Donations Coordinators, in coordination with National VOAD leadership, will allocate the resources to all National VOAD members (see www.nvoad.org)

3) FEMA HQ Donations Coordinators will document all notifications with the organization name and date and time of notification.

4. FEMA officials will document all notifications to the above individuals, including the names and titles of persons notified, dates and times of notification, and will send this information to the FEMA HQ Donations Unit. The documentation will be kept by the FEMA HQ Donations Unit and remain part of the permanent record maintained for the disaster.

5. Once FEMA notifies the State officials and National VOAD of the availability of the donated goods, State officials and National VOAD members will have 10 calendar days in which to make a request for the donated goods.

6. Once FEMA notifies the State officials and National VOAD members, the JFO will allow 30 calendar days to close out field operations for the coordination and distribution of requested goods. The FCO for the specific disaster will determine any exceptions or extensions to this timeline.

7. Timing under (5) and (6) runs concurrently and will begin once notification occurs.

8. FEMA Donations Specialists will coordinate the movement of these items for distribution to non-profit organizations to provide relief and assistance under the Stafford Act.

B. Federally-Purchased Goods

1. When the FCO determines there is no longer a need for federally- purchased goods to support disaster operations for a specific disaster, the Logistics Management Directorate will determine the disposition of the remaining goods.

2. In order to assist the FCO in determining when there is no longer a need for purchased goods to support disaster operations for a specific disaster, FEMA officials in the JFO (as identified below), will be responsible for contacting the following individuals regarding the availability of purchased goods for distribution to disaster victims:

a. The FCO or his/her designee for the specific disaster will coordinate with the State Coordinating Officer (SCO) and the FEMA Donations Specialist.

b. A FEMA Donations Specialist will contact the State Donations Coordinator.

c. The FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaison (VAL) Group Supervisor will contact the State Voluntary Agency Liaison (State VAL) or VOAD Coordinator.

d. The FEMA HQ Donations Coordinator will contact certain National VOAD members, which are those National VOAD members currently supporting efforts for the specific disaster to make the goods available for relief and assistance for existing and current disaster victims under Section 309 of the Stafford Act.

3. FEMA officials will document all notifications to the above individuals, including the names and titles of persons notified and dates and times of notification.

4. Once FEMA notifies the State officials, local non-profits and certain National VOAD members of the availability of the purchased goods, the notified organizations will have 10 calendar days in which to make a request for the purchased goods.

5. After FEMA notifies the State officials, local non-profits and certain National VOAD members, the JFO will allow 30 calendar days to close out field operations for the coordination and transfer of requested goods. The FCO for the specific disaster will coordinate with the Logistics Management Directorate to approve any exceptions or extensions to this timeline.

6. Timing under (4) and (5) runs concurrently and begins once notification occurs.

7. If federally-purchased goods still remain in inventory once this process is completed and the Logistics Management Directorate determines that there is no need for purchased goods to support disaster operations, FEMA will dispose of the goods in accordance with the Federal Management Regulations.

DISPOSAL PROCESS – FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS

Excess Goods: GSA defines excess goods as “Personal property is excess when it is no longer needed by the activities within your agency to carry out the functions of official programs, as determined by the agency head or designee.” From FEMA’s perspective that means any good, donated or purchased, that is within the control of FEMA and is deemed no longer needed to support response and recovery disaster operations.

Once the FCO determines donated goods or federally-purchased goods are no longer needed to support disaster operations and the State, local non-profits, and certain National VOAD members have had an opportunity to accept the goods, the following disposal process applies:

A. Donated Goods

1. Any items offered through the web-based donations network which remain unclaimed and are not retrieved 30 calendar days after notification will be reported to the Logistics Site Accountable Property Officers. This reporting will be performed on Standard Form 120 and will be forwarded to the FEMA Property Management division for screening.

2. The Property Management Division, Inventory Management Branch, will screen these goods against the needs of other FEMA regions.

3. If the Property Management Division determines that there is no further need for items under the Stafford Act, they will be reported as excess and screened within the disaster-affected State in accordance with the disposal process of the FMR.

B. Federally-Purchased Goods

1. The Site Logistics Officer will review all items located at active disaster sites that have become excess to local needs and will contact other disaster operations within the same FEMA region to determine if there are current identified needs and whether the available goods can fulfill those needs.

2. If goods still remain unclaimed, the Site Logistics Officer will submit an e-Tasker to the FEMA Logistics Management Center to determine if the remaining goods will be stored at FEMA Distribution Centers to support future disaster operations.

3. If the goods are not needed to support future disaster operations, Logistics Distribution Management will notify the Logistics Property Management Division.

4. The Logistics Property Management Division will notify the Logistics Officers in the Regional Offices of the availability of the remaining goods. The Regional Offices may identify needs of open disaster operations and request the goods to support those needs.

C. Final Processing of Unclaimed Donations and Federally-Purchased Goods

1. Items that are not claimed, under Section VII.A. by FEMA Regional Offices or the national non-profit organizations or under Section VII.B. by the FEMA Regional Offices, the local non-profit organizations and certain national non-profit organizations, will be reported as excess by the Property Management Division to the FEMA National Utilization Officer (NUO) in the Office of Management.

2. The NUO will report the items to the Department of Homeland Security for seven days of screening. If items are not claimed by DHS, the items are reported to the GSA for 21 additional days for screening by Federal Agencies.

3. At the end of the 28 day screening period by GSA, the items not claimed may be offered for distribution to eligible recipients in accordance with the FMR. The eligibility of an organization to receive property is governed by the FMR 41 Part 102-37, and the process is administered and monitored by the GSA Personal Property Division.

4. Unclaimed items will be reported as excess and screened within the disaster-affected State in accordance with the FMR.

5. Completion of the disposal process for all inventoried goods will include coordination with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer for proper financial statement presentation.

D. Consumable Goods with An Expiration Date

1. When the shelf-life of consumable goods in FEMA’s possession reach 90 calendar days before expiration, FEMA Logistics will notify the FEMA HQ Donations Unit of the description, quantity, and location of consumable goods.

2. The FEMA HQ Donations Unit will make the availability of the goods known to the National VOAD members by posting on the national portal of the web-based donations management network.

3. If any National VOAD member is interested in obtaining the goods from FEMA to use only for disaster relief and assistance for current disasters and emergencies, they will contact the FEMA HQ Donations Unit within 10 calendar days of the posting. The FEMA HQ Donations Unit will provide the National VOAD members the FEMA Distribution Center point of contact information to contact and coordinate arrangements for transportation. This process should be completed and the private non-profit organization should be in possession of the goods within 30 calendar days of their expiration date.

4. If FEMA’s HQ Donations Unit receives no inquiries after the end of 10 calendar days of the posting, the HQ Donations Unit will expeditiously notify Logistics Property Management Division for appropriate disposition through the FMR.

RESPONSIBLE OFFICE(S):

· Disaster Assistance Directorate (Individual Assistance Division)

· Logistics Management Directorate (Property Management Division)

· Office of Management Support Services and Facilities Management Division, Personal Property

· Office of the Chief Financial Officer