Okaloosa County BOCC — June 2, 2015 — FEMAValidation — reading text

Federal Emergency Management Agency To report suspected fraud, waste, or abuse, please call FEMA's hotline at 1-800-323-8603. Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, or economic status. Anyone who believes he/she has been discriminated against should contact the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-525-0321.  Small Project Validation Chapter 5 Small Project Validation What is Small Project Validation? A distinctive aspect of small project approval is the verification of the accuracy of your claims by FEMA and/or State officials through a process called validation. This process assures FEMA that you understand the documentation and eligibility provisions of the Public Assistance Program and that you are capturing all eligible costs. Your records are the basis for validation, which will be limited to the minimum amount of review needed to ensure statutory and regulatory compliance. • This will normally be 20%, barring significant discrepancies, of all your small projects, for projects submitted within the first 30 days after the Kickoff Meeting. Normally, projects submitted after 30 days will be subject to 100% validation. • Your PAC will schedule validation at a time convenient for you, and you will be notified in advance which projects have been selected. This will allow you to have the appropriate records ready for review. • Validation can normally be completed within 15 days of submission of all Project Worksheets to the PAC. How does it work? The validation process begins when your Project Worksheets are submitted to the PAC. The PAC will review each worksheet to ensure the scope of work is complete and that all Special Considerations have been identified. Once you have determined that all small projects have been submitted, or a large batch of projects has been submitted, you should notify the PAC to proceed with validation. The PAC will request a Specialist from the FEMA I State resource pool to conduct the validation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency 41 Applicant Handbook Small Project Validation PAC, with input from the State, will select two samples from all the small projects you have submitted. Each sample is made up of 20% of the total small projects. If the first sample does not pass validation, the Specialist will conduct a second validation using the remaining sample. If an applicant has 4 or fewer Project Worksheets, a minimum of 1 Project Worksheet will always be validated. What will the Specialist be looking for? A Specialist will be assigned to conduct the validation and will perform the following tasks: • Visit the sites to confirm all aspects of the project description are accurate, complete and that all Special Considerations have been identified. • Confirm the damage description is complete, accurate and eligible. • Confirm the scope of work is complete, accurate and eligible. • Review all actual cost records to ensure completeness, accuracy and eligibility. • Review your cost estimate to ensure it is complete, accurate, reasonable and eligible. These tasks will require the Specialist to review the project file including all cost records, computations, measurements, notes, pictures, blueprints, plans, environmental conditions, Special Considerations, and any other documentation related to the project. You are responsible for documenting all claimed costs. This is a critical responsibility since undocumented costs could be considered a variance and potentially put you over the 20% allowable variance. When this happens, the second 20% sample must be validated. 42 Federal Emergency Management Agency Applicant Handbook  Small Project Validation What happens during validation? The Specialist will use a Validation Worksheet (FEMA Form 90- 118) and a Project Validation Form (FEMA Form 90-119) to record variances on eligibility and costs estimates. A variance is the difference between the information the applicant has included in the project and the information that the Specialist determines to be eligible and reasonable. • Eligibility differences will occur when the applicant includes ineligible work in the scope of work or ineligible items in the components of a project • Cost estimate variances will occur when the applicant has made an error in estimating a project cost. • Variances are recorded as the difference in dollar cost assigned to the item in question by the applicant and the dollar cost determined by the Specialist. The Specialist will note and correct all eligibility and cost variances, and these changes will be made on the Project Worksheets. If the total variances on the first sample projects do not exceed 20% of the cost of the sample projects, the results of validation are satisfactory. If the results are satisfactory but minor error patterns are seen the applicant will be encouraged to review all other projects for similar problems. After you have made any of these corrections, all small projects Federal Emergency Management Agency 43 Applicant Handbook Small Project Validation without Special Considerations will be approved and funded by the PAC. If the results of validation are unsatisfactory, the Specialist will validate the second sample using the same process. If the total eligibility and cost variance on all projects does not exceed 20% of the total cost for all projects in both samples the validation results are satisfactory. If however, the second sample results are also unsatisfactory, the PAC will assign a Specialist to assist you in reformulating and resubmitting all projects. Projects being reformulated will be obligated as each Project Worksheet is completed and reviewed by the PAC. Those small projects with Special Considerations will be individually funded as the Special Considerations issues are resolved. All small projects submitted after 30 days from the Kickoff Meeting may be validated on an individual basis and will be obligated as each validation is completed. Will more than the two samples ever be validated? Yes. All Project Worksheets submitted later than 30 days from the Kickoff Meeting may be validated and all variances corrected. Your PAC can answer any specific questions you may have concerning validation. WHAT DO 1 NEED TO KNOW???????? ./ If expedited funding is requested, emergency work Project Worksheets can be processed by the PAC and handled separately for the purposes of validation . ./ If, during the first 30 days, you submit all small projects at one time, they will be validated as a group; if you submit small projects at more than one time, each group may be validated individually. The choice is yours, based on your funding or other needs. 44 Federal Emergency Management Agency Applicant Handbook  Small Project Validation ,/ You are responsible for maintaining all documentation needed to support the project listed on the Project Worksheet. ../ Normally, you are not required to submit supporting documentation to FEMA, but you should retain it for three (3) years from the date the State closes your grant. ,/ Validation of your small projects will be scheduled so you will know in advance when and which projects will be validated. This will give you the opportunity to have all pertinent records ready for review and expedite the validation process . ../ Review the following Validation Worksheet to become familiar with what the Specialist will be looking for during the validation process. Federal Emergency Management Agency 45 Applicant Handbook Small Project Validation Validation Worksheet 1_,. 0 Revlewprojectl 0 Vialtalt:a 0 stat.,.,-d:ofWOik 0 Acc:ur.te 0 Complete 0 EHglble 0 Pk:turea D Sk8td\WdiTNings 0 ForcedAccountl.abor 0 EHg~ employee 0"""" 0 Regular 0 Overtime 0 Fringe benefttl 0 Regular 0 C>lwtime 0 caiculalions 0 l.llbor houts eccMda or match Equipment hours 0 FEMAratauMd 0 PAC appt'CIWd r11te1 uucl 0 Mtletge UMd for 1utot'nobUel, busMI, plckupt, and ambulance~ 0 Calculatlona 0 Invoice OPri<Orooaonablo 0 OperaUonllabor cost 0 Gaaolin.lollnubrk:antt 0 Ellglble-- 0 Calculations 0 Purchase order$/lnvolces 0 Inventory rec:ordslatock tickets 0 Colculotlon> RMA Fonntl-1'11. NOV M 46 Federal Emergency Management Agency Applicant Handbook  Small Project Validation Cost estimating mathOd approved by PAC 0 CI!CUiations D lnwrance 0 Mitigation 0 Environment.! 0 Hi<tork: Federal Emergency Management Agency 47 Applicant Handbook