Public safety grants news from FEMA
| On April 4, FEMA announced that it is ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC). These actions ensure that grant funding aligns with the President’s Executive Orders and Secretary Noem’s direction. As the program is concluding, the Fiscal Year 2024 BRIC funding opportunity is cancelled, no applications submitted will be reviewed and no funds will be awarded. In addition, for all BRIC applications from Fiscal Years 2020-2023, if grant funds have not been distributed to states, tribes, territories and local communities, funds will be returned either to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury. The program resulted in a lack of concrete results and a majority of funding being awarded to only a few states. FEMA is working to develop a new approach to mitigation that is more responsive to state and local requirements, achieves clear mitigation goals, and results in more-timely obligation of funding. Outstanding BRIC Projects and Next Steps FEMA will be reaching out and coordinating with recipients on projects. The agency’s website will be updated with a full list of projects selected for funding over the last four years. The status will show what is fully obligated, partially obligated and cancelled. Recipients will be able to complete fully obligated projects that have started construction and will be able to expend all associated funds. FEMA will also obligate management costs associated with partially or fully obligated projects. Fully obligated projects that have not started construction will not be approved and will end. For phased projects, FEMA Regions will work closely with applicants on already obligated projects to determine the best path forward for those projects. This may include ending the project after the completion of Phase 1 or at another appropriate stopping point. FEMA will not be extending project deadlines without the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the FEMA Administrator’s approval. Management costs will only continue for partially or fully obligated projects. Unobligated Funds For previous funding cycles, FEMA will cancel all of the BRIC projects selected but not obligated across fiscal years 2020-2023. As of April 18, FEMA estimates approximately $4 billion will remain in the Disaster Relief Fund to assist with disaster response and recovery for communities and survivors. In addition, approximately $649 million of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will be returned to the U.S. Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the next fiscal year. The 2021 IIJA law made $1 billion available for BRIC over five years, $133 million to date has been provided for about 450 applications. Contact InformationSubapplicants should contact their state, Tribe or territory (applicant level) Hazard Mitigation Office. You can also reach out to your local FEMA Regional Office if you have any questions. |