RFI Attachment 1 FEMA BRIC DTA New Acquisition Program DRAFT SOO.pdf

May 2023 Page 1 of 14

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA)

[EXCERPT]

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE (SOO) FOR:

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, Non-financial Direct Technical Assistance

Glen Seipp, Contracting Officer

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS)

Statement of Objectives for BRIC DTA

Table of Contents

1. Purpose

2. Background

3. Scope

4. Performance Objectives

Task 1: Contract Administration

Task 2: Strategic Coordination

Task 3: Branding, Marketing, and Strategic Communication

Task 4: Research and Analytical Support

Task 5: Partnership Development

Task 6: Capability and Capacity Building

Task 7: Community Outreach

Task 8: Project Support

Task 9: Grants Application and Management Support

5. Deliverables and Delivery Schedule

6. Government-Furnished Equipment and Information

7. Period of Performance

8. Place of Performance

Statement of Objectives (SOO) for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Non-financial Direct Technical Assistance

1. Purpose The purpose of this effort is to obtain contractor support services to enable the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program to enhance the foundation of its Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) initiative and to deliver non-financial direct technical assistance to communities and tribal nations.

2. Background Millions of people living across the United States, its territories and in Tribal Nations are affected by natural disasters each year. Underserved and disadvantaged communities are often disproportionately impacted by such disasters and typically have lower capacity to ‘build back better’ or otherwise increase their resiliency to future risks.

As the frequency and intensity of natural hazard events increases with climate change, the imperative to reduce risk and strengthen resiliency has greatly increased, a fact that is especially true for those communities and tribal nations who are most likely to lack resources to withstand future shocks.

In recognition of these and other challenging dynamics facing the nation, the White House has issued numerous calls to action1 for federal agencies to address the existential threats associated with a changing climate and the government’s responsibility to channel resources to address the specific resiliency needs of underserved communities and tribal nations. In response, in 2020, FEMA stood up the BRIC grant program – a program in the White House’s Justice40 Initiative to advance environmental justice starting in 2021 – to support tribal nations, territories, states and communities as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, thereby reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. Through Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, which authorizes the BRIC program, FEMA has broad and express authority to provide financial assistance. Section 203 also authorizes FEMA to provide non-financial technical assistance as part of the BRIC program. The creation of the BRIC DTA initiative in 2020 represents an enormous opportunity for FEMA to address historical and ongoing inequities head-on by delivering its support directly to where it is most needed.

BRIC DTA aims to meet communities and tribal nations wherever they are on their journey to accelerate their own climate resilience efforts. Through a hands-on approach, BRIC DTA works in partnership with communities and tribal

1 Among the calls to action: Executive Order (EO) 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, including tribal nation governments. Through this Executive Order, President Biden launched Justice40, a government-wide initiative with a goal of delivering at least 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities; and Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01753/advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government nations to develop capacity for implementing holistic, equitable climate adaptation solutions that advance local objectives and close capability gaps to build the Nation’s resilience—from the ground up.

BRIC DTA services can include broad planning and capacity-building support, community engagement and communications, partnership building, as well as hands-on non-financial technical assistance in mitigation alternatives development, project design (including engineering and cost estimation), financing strategies, grant writing and grant management.

Every tribal nation or community may define resilience differently to meet their specific context and needs.

Communities and tribal nations are most familiar with their own resilience efforts, challenges, values, and priorities.

However, many may lack the capacity to close long-standing capability gaps (e.g., identifying adaptation solutions through community-driven plans or funding strategies to implement those actions). For that reason, BRIC DTA is designed to be flexible and, by partnering BRIC DTA Facilitators with communities and tribal nations to work collaboratively, BRIC DTA can deliver the kind of tailored support needed to achieve resilience to natural hazards and climate change.

BRIC DTA is currently delivering DTA to 28 communities and tribal nations. As FEMA strengthens its capacity to deliver on goals of the BRIC program through its DTA initiative, it has begun to scale and expects to provide support to up to an additional 100 communities and tribal nations in each future year. FEMA provides BRIC non-financial direct technical assistance to each community and tribal nation over an average of a three-year period; therefore, an average of 300 communities and tribal nations (200 existing communities plus 100 new communities) are expected to receive assistance in any given year in the future. In conjunction with this scaled delivery, BRIC DTA will support the implementation of non-financial direct technical assistance under the Community Disaster Resilience Zone Act of 2022, prioritizing assistance in support of resilience or mitigation activities within, or that primarily benefit, a FEMA-designated Community Disaster Resilience Zone. As it scales, FEMA has a responsibility to apply the best science, highest quality research, technical expertise, strategies, and tools to build out its own capabilities to deliver the highest quality technical assistance possible to mitigate against future disasters, prevent suffering, and empower communities and tribal nations to take charge of their own resiliency.

3. Scope The Scope of this effort includes the following service areas: contract administration; strategic coordination;

branding, marketing, and strategic communication; research and analytical support; partnership development;

capability and capacity building; community outreach; project support; and grants application and management support. Services are needed to support FEMA Headquarters, FEMA Regional Offices, and communities and tribal nations selected to receive BRIC non-financial Direct Technical Assistance.

4. Performance Objectives The Contractor shall communicate, collaborate, and coordinate with FEMA and the communities and tribal nations selected to receive direct technical assistance to achieve the objectives described below.

Not all the work listed below will be necessary at all locations, nor will the tasks always follow a predetermined order or schedule. The Contractor must maintain a flexible posture to ensure that the Contractor’s support is calibrated to meet the specific needs of the diverse communities and tribal nations with which the Contractor will be working.

Tasking to achieve service delivery objectives must be coordinated with FEMA Region staff including designated FEMA Region BRIC DTA point of contact and, when working with tribal nations, the FEMA Region Tribal Liaison or Specialist, as appropriate.

The Contractor will provide described services for an estimated 300 communities during each year of the contract, of which approximately 200 will be existing DTA Communities and Tribal Nations and approximately 100 will be new DTA Communities and Tribal Nations during any given year.

Tasks/objectives shall include:

Task 1: Contract Administration The Contractor shall provide project administration services to support and manage the activities associated with all the elements of the Statement of Objectives. These services and support include but are not limited to:

1. Within five business days of the Notice to Proceed, coordinate with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) to schedule a preliminary kickoff meeting during which the initial work plan shall be discussed.

2. Provide kickoff meeting minutes within two business days of the meeting.

3. Within 10 days of the kickoff meeting, provide to the COR an updated work plan that reflects discussions and direction provided during and immediately following the kickoff meeting. The baseline work plan must include information on the process the contractor shall utilize for Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) on this project.

4. Within 30 days of the kickoff meeting, submit a Quality Control Plan to the COR. The QCP may be submitted as a separate document or an attachment to the workplan.

5. Coordinate with FEMA Headquarters and Regional staff, other contractors and with DTA partners, as appropriate, to ensure coordinated DTA service delivery across the United States, its territories, and within Tribal Nations.

6. Facilitate and compile written meeting minutes reflecting coordination and direct technical assistance meetings, held in person, via conference call or webinar, on at least a monthly basis for the duration of the task order.

7. Provide status of tasks when determined necessary by the program office, which may be as frequent as weekly. Status must include hours and costs incurred by the prime contractor as well as any subcontractor, partner, or associate for each community or tribal nation served.

8. Provide monthly progress reports. The reports shall be prepared and submitted to the COR.

9. All task deliverables and status/progress reports, as well as invoicing must be itemized by task and name of community or tribal nation that received the non-financial direct technical assistance. The only exceptions are BRIC DTA initiative-wide or nation-wide deliverables which must be itemized as such.

10. In conjunction with the program office, the contractor must use appropriate internet-accessible means to manage and monitor the performance and progress of tasks. Tools may include items capable of web-accessible document sharing, illustration, and tracking of project schedules. These tools are to be independent of and not directly integrated with any FEMA information system.

Task 2: Strategic Coordination The Contractor shall provide strategic coordination support to FEMA at the HQ and Regional levels to enable FEMA to carry out its responsibilities under the BRIC DTA initiative in an efficient and effective manner.

1. At the National and Regional level, design and implement community engagement strategies, products, tools, and templates for communities and tribal nations for entire DTA lifecycle. The purpose is to create efficiencies for FEMA in implementing the initiative and for the DTA communities and tribal nations to be able to use these products in the future.

2. Provide mission support (e.g., meeting preparation, status reports) to each Region, ensuring consistent and comprehensive planning, coordination, and management of communication and outreach tools for BRIC

DTA.

3. Develop communication products to share DTA community’s and tribal nation’s progress and identify, capture, and adapt good and promising practices and lessons learned from other DTA projects to find efficiencies and build upon existing work. Ensure there is no duplication of work and that opportunities to identify and create templates or standard processes are executed to provide standardized materials and approaches across programs and geographies.

4. Support BRIC DTA to effectively leverage existing resources within FEMA Resilience programs, including the branches within the Mitigation Divisions at the Regions, and other federal agencies such as risk analyses, risk management, risk communication tools and engagement strategies, and response and recovery information.

5. Develop, disseminate, and deliver job aids, fact sheets, webinars, listening sessions, trainings, and similar, in support of DTA initiative.

6. Develop, populate, and maintain SharePoint sites in support of DTA initiative. This effort will involve gathering and uploading to SharePoint sites (or otherwise making available for FEMA’s use) a variety of data, information, and reports necessary to enable FEMA to effectively monitor and report on progress against BRIC DTA goals and objectives.

Task 3: Branding, Marketing, and Strategic Communication The Contractor shall provide branding, marketing, and communications support to FEMA at the HQ and regional levels to enable FEMA to carry out its responsibilities efficiently and effectively under the BRIC program and BRIC’s DTA initiative. In carrying out work under this task, the Contractor must coordinate with FEMA external affairs, BRIC Communications team, and other relevant FEMA offices and staff.

1. Support FEMA HQ to develop the BRIC and BRIC DTA brands and associated style guide(s) in alignment with FEMA’s Brand.

2. Support BRIC and BRIC DTA teams to create a long-term communications strategy and consistent messaging about the BRIC program and BRIC DTA initiative and the communities and tribal nations it is designed to serve.

3. Working in conjunction with BRIC Communications staff, support FEMA HQ and Regions to effectively tell stories about the BRIC program and BRIC DTA initiative, including successes, challenges, and innovations.

4. Support FEMA HQ and Regions to develop a BRIC program social media presence, and strategies, implementation plans, and tools to create an engaging social media presence for the BRIC program and the BRIC DTA initiative and, in particular, to showcase community’s and tribal’s nation stories, including success stories, innovative partnerships. and lessons learned.

5. Provide media outreach and pitch support including during program events and campaigns.

Educate stakeholders on hazard and risk information on FEMA’s behalf and at FEMA’s direction.

Task 4: Research and Analytical Support The Contractor shall provide research and analytical support to enable FEMA to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the BRIC DTA initiative, on the one hand; and, on the other hand, to enable the assigned community or tribal nation to benefit from research to inform its decisions related to resilience to natural hazards and climate change.

Subtask 4a: Research and Analytical Support – Services for FEMA

1. At a FEMA Region’s request, produce a package of background material on a DTA community or tribal nation, including but not limited to community insights, partnership map (key product of the partnership landscape analysis), and existing plans.

2. Gather equity data and conduct equity analysis.

3. Provide research results from minority-serving institutions and tribal colleges that conduct research of relevance to the BRIC DTA initiative, with focus on nationally or regionally specific questions, cross-cutting themes (e.g., nature-based solutions, climate justice), or similar.

4. Lead or contribute, as directed by FEMA, to assessments and evaluations to inform continuous improvements in DTA service delivery. Such assessments and evaluations may involve relatively small-scale, discrete tasks or relatively larger, more open-ended research. For example, BRIC DTA may require assistance assessing or evaluating the utility or effectiveness of key components of the DTA processes, inputs, and outputs such as needs assessments, DTA action plans, and resulting grant applications to inform KPIs and Performance Metrics. BRIC DTA may require assistance evaluating resilience projects through a systems perspective, including strength of cross-sector interdependencies (e.g., hazards risks, economy, health, and social issues), ancillary benefits (i.e., positive externalities), and potential/actual unintended consequences (i.e., positive or negative externalities).

5. Assist FEMA in the general pursuit of innovation in carrying out the goals of BRIC DTA, including exploring new ways of doing outreach, supporting communities and tribal nations to develop investment plans and obtain funding for prioritized needs, and designing and constructing resilience projects.

Subtask 4b: Research and Analytical Support – Non-financial Direct Technical Assistance Delivery

1. Provide research and analytical support to meet community and tribal nation’s needs which may include but is not limited to research and analysis to inform community needs assessments, conceptualization of potential projects, DTA Action Plans, and grant applications. Whenever possible, gather and use existing data, adapted to meet the needs of communities and tribal nations if needed, rather than collecting primary data. Such analyses may include but are not limited to climate analytics, loss avoided studies, cost-effectiveness analysis, and fiscal impact analysis.

2. Gather and make easily available to communities and tribal nations technical data and information which are relevant to enhancing resilience to natural hazards and climate change.

3. Research success stories, case studies, or specific examples of how other communities dealing with similar challenges have executed similar actions or projects.

4. Provide research results from minority-serving institutions and tribal colleges that conduct research of relevance to selected BRIC DTA communities and tribal nations with focus on research requested by or relevant to local community or tribal nation.

Task 5: Partnership Development The Contractor shall support FEMA and community and tribal nations to develop and strengthen partnerships to identify potential co-funding/co-sponsorship opportunities to address community or tribal nation’s prioritized needs.

Subtask 5a: Partnership Development – Services for FEMA

1. Support the development of partnership strategy guidance and training that can be used as a template for community engagement strategies, activities, and planning.

2. Assist FEMA with leveraging and coordinating the integration of other federal agencies’ capabilities to provide place-based technical assistance and aid in developing and implementing comprehensive, multi-objective resilience plans, strategies, and solutions to address integrated community resilience needs.

3. Support BRIC DTA staff in identifying the need for potential partners at the public, private, and philanthropic levels, and selecting those best placed to address FEMA’s needs. An initial task may involve preparation of a partnership landscape analysis to meet FEMA’s needs.

4. Assist BRIC DTA to develop, maintain and strengthen beneficial partnerships with a wide range of entities including other FEMA components; federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies; other Contractors;

non-governmental organizations, private sector organizations, and other stakeholders.

5. Assist BRIC DTA to effectively leverage resources across US federal agencies to support capacity-constrained communities and tribal nations by developing, strengthening, and helping to coordinate concerted efforts among agencies to simplify, sequence, and package technical, financial, and capacity-building assistance.

Part of this effort will involve assisting FEMA to maximizing other federal agencies’ non-federal partnerships to avoid duplication and extend reach of assistance

6. Assist FEMA in integrating local communities’ and tribal nations’ interests, values, and knowledge with the technical knowledge of national experts to advance community- and tribal nation-driven resilience building actions.

7. Support BRIC DTA in identifying other successful partnership models around the topics of creative finance partnership models, successful federal and non-federal partnership Memoranda of Understanding (or similar), and successful headquarters-regions partnership models.

8. Assist BRIC DTA to assess and evaluate partnerships, including activities undertaken during and results achieved from the partnership.

9. Continue efforts to establish and develop the national university network framework for providing DTA to communities and tribal nations.

Subtask 5b: Partnership Development - Non-financial Direct Technical Assistance Delivery

1. Apply DTA partnership guidance to community engagement strategies, activities, and planning to support and empower communities and tribal nations to collaborate with current and potential future partners to leverage the largest pool of resources possible, including technical assistance available through other federal agencies and private non-profit organizations, among other entities.

2. Using the results of the partnership landscape analysis, assist community or tribal nation to build strategy to prioritize most promising partnerships with highest value add. This objective will involve but not be limited to development of a stakeholder engagement plan.

3. Coordinate with FEMA Regions, other federal agencies, and other contractors to identify partners, stakeholders, resources, and needs.

4. Support DTA communities and partners to share information on FEMA assistance, integration opportunities, funding opportunities, and specific integrations with programs within FEMA and other federal agencies.

5. Assist communities and tribal nations with the development of US government interagency support plans.

6. Research Community Engagement Strategies and Plans (CESPs) to align to Regional and National Outreach and Partnership Strategies.

7. Connect BRIC DTA communities with technical assistance from local colleges and research universities, non-profit organizations, minority-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and community-based organizations.

Task 6: Capability and Capacity Building The Contractor shall provide capability and capacity building support directly to communities and tribal nations selected to receive non-financial direct technical assistance, so they are equipped and empowered to design their own solutions to meet current and future prioritized needs.

1. Assist assigned community or tribal nation to close capability gaps identified during the community needs assessment by developing Capability and Capacity Building (C&CB) strategies to close such gap(s) and implementation plans linked to each community or tribal nation’s needs assessment and DTA Action Plan. In contrast to one-off trainings and discrete services, C&CB strategies and implementation plans are critical to the promotion of strategic and holistic interventions that have the greatest potential to truly equip and empower communities and tribal nations to gain the organizational capacity to compete for federal and other financial assistance and deliver quality infrastructure projects. Potential capability gaps may include but not be limited to capabilities to independently manage grants, develop, or update mitigation plans, develop communications materials and engagement strategies, assess revised needs following major changes in the natural hazard risk profile of the community due to, for example, a hazard event or climate change.

2. Monitor progress against C&CB implementation plan and document lessons learned for the benefit of the community or tribal nation. If a community or tribal nation desires, facilitate one or more lessons learned workshops during which stakeholders can collectively reflect on successes, challenges, and potential areas for improvement in future collective action. Over time, the compilation of lessons learned in individual communities and tribal nations will also benefit FEMA by informing DTA Initiative continuous improvement efforts.

3. Build capabilities and capacities of the assigned communities that require local subject matter expertise, localized technical assistance, specialized community resilience or hazard mitigation assistance.

4. The Contractor will make easily accessible information about the natural hazards and risk of relevance to assigned communities and tribal nations, thereby reducing barriers to understanding and obstacles to effective communication. The dual purpose is to empower communities and tribal nations to effectively tell their stories, on the one hand, and to reduce their risk in a manner that aligns with their self-identified and prioritized needs, on the other.

5. Develop tools and templates to support the design/implementation of community engagement strategies. If and where possible, use or adapt existing tools and templates. Illustrative examples are design charrettes and FEMA BRIC DTA presentations or booths at community events.

6. Support communities with communications and engagement by developing and disseminating materials including but not limited to webinars, community education, feature stories, fact sheets, infographics, graphic and video production, toolkits, bulletins, and digital platform content that share community-informed messaging. including through presentations, reports, ArcGIS Story Maps, and similar. The Contractor must prepare all materials to be 508-compliant and in a format that is ready for upload onto www.fema.gov without further alteration.

7. Provide the results of research around how federal programs fund personnel in underserved and disadvantaged communities and tribal nations to build capacity to implement complex resilience projects.

Task 7: Community Outreach For the benefit of both FEMA and the communities and tribal nations selected to receive non-financial direct technical assistance, the Contractor shall provide Subject Matter Experts (SME) in behavioral sciences, data sciences, outreach, strategic planning, mitigation planning, and pre- and post-engagement coalition building to support community or tribal nation to strengthen its resilience to natural hazards and climate change. The Contractor will apply subject matter expertise during all stages of material development and engagement.

Subtask 7a: Community Outreach –Services for FEMA

1. Design/implement BRIC DTA-specific community engagement strategies, tools, templates that are appropriate to underserved and disadvantaged communities and tribal nations.

2. Provide coordinated communications and engagement support for DTA communities and tribal nations.

3. Assist FEMA HQ in developing and executing a national outreach strategy to promote BRIC DTA.

4. Assist all FEMA regions in developing strategies for executing stakeholder and partnership engagement.

5. Research and document successful and promising approaches to community and tribal nation engagement that demonstrate success in driving community-led action, especially in the areas of mitigation, climate adaptation, and equitable resilience outcomes. Demonstrate to FEMA staff how to apply or adapt those promising approaches when engaging with DTA communities and tribal nations.

Subtask 7b: Community Outreach - Non-financial Direct Technical Assistance Delivery

1. Conduct background research on assigned DTA communities and tribal nations prior to conducting listening sessions with newly selected and established DTA communities and tribal nations to understand their needs, knowledge base around natural hazard risks, and current and desired mitigation plans/projects, including climate and future conditions adaptation.

2. Assist DTA communities and tribal nations with programmatic and organizational outreach activities designed to enhance community engagement and coalition building, including but not limited to identifying partners that are already working with/have the trust and confidence of the community and tribal nation.

3. Assist communities in forming project steering committees with project leads, community officials, convening partners, communications/engagement partners, technical/ecological partners.

4. Research successful and promising approaches to community and tribal nation engagement that demonstrate success in driving or promise to drive community-led action, especially in the areas of mitigation, climate adaptation, and equitable resilience outcomes.

5. Assist community or tribal nation with how to develop and communicate the results of the community needs assessment and action plan. Propose outreach techniques for the community or tribal nation to garner support for resilience projects through the use of arts and experiential learning.

Task 8: Project Support The Contractor shall provide customized non-financial direct technical assistance to assigned communities and tribal nations in support of project scoping, project design, and – in the case of BRIC-funded projects – project implementation.

1. Collect technical data/resources and conduct analysis to inform conceptualization of potential projects, including but not limited to assisting with preparation of a landscape analysis of relevant historical and existing projects, facilitating reviews of previous and existing efforts related to inform the community’s or tribal nation’s potential project(s). Ensure projects are designed for the future and planning for a combination of changes in climate, economic conditions, demographic trends, and community development.

2. Assist with the prioritization and conceptualization of potential projects which may involve feasibility exploration and identification of preliminary technical requirements. This technical expertise may be required in areas such as but not limited to:

a. Assessments (e.g., community needs assessment, natural hazard and climate risk and vulnerability assessments, environmental assessments, biological assessments)

b. Environmental impact statements (e.g., assessments of potential impact on wildlife and endangered species, water quality, or wetlands delineation))

c. Non-architecture and engineering post-event assessments to identify mitigation opportunities, college event data, and assess non-engineered structures

d. Technical reviews (e.g., historical preservation reviews, assessments of historical structures, review environmental and historic preservation compliance, BCA reviews)

e. Review of plans (e.g., comprehensive/master or general, capital improvement, future land use, economic development, hazard mitigation plan)

f. Mitigation alternatives development

g. Loss avoidance studies

h. Analysis (e.g., fiscal impact analysis, resilience business cases, cost-effectiveness analysis)

i. Community development analysis (e.g., land use analysis, build out analysis, building code assessment, zoning and ordinance review and assessment, economic development assessment)

j. Scenario planning and modeling

3. Assist communities in breaking down large-scale infrastructure projects into distinct phases to be completed over many years, and to leverage different sources and combinations of federal, state, tribal, local and/or non-federal funding along the way to implement specific project phases.

4. Identify stakeholders that are critical to the success of the potential project, and applicable state and local laws.

5. Provide architecture and engineering technical expertise to support project scoping, project design and project implementation. Where alternatives exist, encourage green infrastructure over grey infrastructure.

This technical expertise may be required in areas such as but not limited to:

a. Feasibility exploration and identification of preliminary technical requirements, including engineering design.

b. Impact assessments across all hazards.

c. Hydrologic and Hydraulic modeling.

d. Climate risk modeling/analytics.

e. Future flood risk/probabilistic modeling.

f. Disaster-resistant building methods.

g. Green building methods.

h. Urban design methods.

i. Climate-resilient infrastructure design engineering: adaptive design and risk management for traditional engineering sectors: site/civil; water and stormwater management; transportation.

j. Ecosystem restoration.

k. Nature-based solutions.

l. Biophilic design services.

m. Low-carbon and net-zero energy projects.

n. Greenhouse gas emission reductions baseline modeling and future design.

o. Renewable energy.

6. Assist community or tribal nation to develop a BRIC DTA Action Plan describing the technical assistance activities agreed upon by the community or tribal nation representatives and FEMA to address the needs identified in the community needs assessment.

a. The DTA Action Plan must: 1) include, at a minimum, the description of the agreed-upon non-financial technical assistance activities, a schedule, and key deliverables; and 2) describe how the technical assistance will result in mitigation alternatives that will increase resilience of the tribal nation or community to natural hazards and anticipated impacts from climate change.

b. BRIC DTA Facilitators will support the development of the BRIC DTA Action Plan, schedules, and resource plans through a process that builds local capacity and capabilities to advance resilience initiatives. Depending on Region capacity to implement the DTA initiative, DTA Coordinators and Facilitators may direct the Contractor to fulfill facilitation functions.

c. The DTA Action Plans will be monitored by the Contractor through check-ins with the community or tribe, FEMA Region, State Hazard Mitigation Officer (as applicable), and FEMA DTA

Headquarters staff. This monitoring will be continuous throughout the contract to track community goals related to BRIC’s DTA. Estimated every two weeks for the first three months and monthly after that but will vary by community.

Task 9: Grants Application and Management Support The Contractor shall assist communities and tribal nations to develop and submit grant applications and effectively manage grants.

1. Help communities to identify possible investment plans and financing strategies which may include but not be limited to relevant grant opportunities, including BRIC grants, other FEMA grants, and non-FEMA grants.

This effort should also capture other non-financial technical assistance available through, for example, other federal agencies since such assistance has potential to add value to community or tribal nation’s planned project(s).

2. Assist with preparation of any required analysis, plans and other documentation necessary or useful for grant applications, including but not limited to environmental and historic preservation review, benefit cost analysis, and hazard mitigation plans.

3. Gather information, standards, plans, and other resources to aid in the development of applications.

Information may include publicly available technical data, such as ground elevation information; property appraisal and land records; flood insurance studies; and hazard data. It may also include coordination with the program office to access protected data maintained by FEMA or another Federal Agency, such as disaster registration data. Standards may include identifying local or State adopted building codes relevant to the proposed mitigation measure. Plans can include identifying minimum design criteria and national consensus standards for the construction and/or performance of structures and facilities.

4. Assist communities with grants administration (e.g., understanding FEMA Go, monitoring, reporting, closeout). The nature of such assistance should be informed by the community needs assessment and C&CB strategy and implementation plan. In cases where the C&CB strategy and implementation plan support it, the Contractor will build the capability and capacity of one or more resident grants managers in assigned community or tribal nation.

5. Deliverables and Delivery Schedule DELIVERABLE Base

Year Each

Option Year

DUE DATE

Kickoff meeting Once Once

Attend a kickoff meeting hosted by the Government. The purpose of the meeting is to ensure a common understanding of program priorities, milestones, deliverables, and requirements. The kickoff meeting shall be coordinated by the COR. Within seven (7) calendar days from contract award date.

Kick-Off Meeting Minutes Once Once A written report of the kickoff meeting minutes. Within two (2) business days from Kickoff Meeting.

Initial Workplan Once Once Submitted for COR review and approval within 10 calendar days of Kickoff meeting.

Quality Control Plan Once Once

Submitted within 10 calendar days of the kickoff meeting. The QCP will be reviewed and approved by the COR to ensure quality responses and minimize the number of responses requiring follow-ups to correct incomplete, erroneous, or otherwise insufficient information. The QCP may be submitted as a separate document or an attachment to the initial workplan.

Revised Workplan Once Once Submitted for COR review and approval within 10 calendar days of receiving list of assigned communities and tribal nations.

Program Management Plan with an integrated Master Schedule (IMS) and Annual Budget Plan

Once Once No later than 15 Days from Kickoff meeting.

Recurring meetings with COR and Program Office

Recurring Recurring Weekly or biweekly meetings to discuss contract business, emerging issues, status updates.

Monthly Progress Report Monthly Monthly Monthly – due by the 30th of the following month.

Community Needs Assessment

Once Once One per community or tribal nation, due within 5 days of completion.

Community Engagement Strategies and Plans

Once Once One per community engagement – due within 30 days of identification by the appropriate region.

Capability and Capacity Strategy and

Implementation Plan

Once, and as needed following any major revision

Once, and as needed following any major revision

One per community or tribal nation, due within 10 days of completion.

DTA Action Plan

Once, and as needed following any major revision

Once, and as needed following any major revision

One per community or tribal nation, due within 10 days of completion.

Summary of assistance delivered to each assigned community or tribal nation

Once Once

Must include information such as parties contacted, data obtained, standards and plans obtained, and assistance provided, due within 10 days of completion of routine engagement with each assigned community or tribal nation.

Report of Assessment, Evaluation, Lessons

Learned Exercise Once Once

One per community or tribal nation, due within 10 days of completion of each assessment, evaluation, or lessons learned exercise.

6. Government-Furnished Equipment and Information The Government anticipates providing the following Government Furnished Equipment (GFE):

Contractor personnel shall be provided with FEMA-issued laptops for official government business use only. Network access and internet connectivity shall be provided to the Contractor. The Government may provide hardware and/or software during the period of performance to the Contractor to complete assigned tasks.

The Contractor shall maintain a detailed inventory accounting system for Government Furnished Equipment/Material or Contractor-Acquired-Government Owned Property (CAP). The inventory accounting system must specify, as a minimum: product description (make, model), Government tag number, date of receipt, name of recipient, location of receipt, current location, purchase cost (if CAP), and contract/order number under which the equipment is being used.

The Contractor shall either: a) attach an updated inventory report to each Monthly Progress Report, or b) certify that the inventory has been updated and is available for Government review. In either case, the Contractor’s inventory listing must be available for Government review within one (1) business day of COR request.

The Government does not anticipate providing any Government Furnished Information (GFI).

7. Period of Performance The period of performance for this contract will consist of a one-year Base Period and four one-year Option Periods anticipated to start in FY 2025. The period of performance will commence upon award of this contract.

8. Place of Performance The primary place of performance will be at the contractor’s facility and, as conditions allow and in alignment with Office of Personnel Management policy and any supplemental agency guidance, at FEMA Headquarters and Regional Offices. The Contractor shall travel to locations within the United States, its territories, and within tribal nations to provide services to communities and tribal nations. Meetings may be conducted, and non-financial direct technical assistance provided, in a virtual environment should conditions warrant.