High-performance infrastructure can not only mitigate the severity and cost of damages incurred from natural disasters, but it also attracts more diverse funding sources such as green bonds, catastrophe bonds, resilience bonds, and social impact bonds. This HUD fact sheet provides governments of all levels with a basic overview of innovative financing mechanisms available to… Read more
A group of 10 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and IBTS volunteers conducted service and governance assessments of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities after Hurricane Maria. The assessment results were performed as part of the Puerto Rico Municipal Assessment Project and were published in RAND Corporation’s report, “Transformation and Innovation in the Wake of Devastation: An Economic and… Read more
IBTS Economic Development and Disaster Recovery (EDDR) subject matter experts provided a webinar on innovative procurement options as part of the Florida Housing Coalition’s July 2018 Hurricane Member Update webinar. The IBTS portion of the webinar focused on using bid books in procurement, a practice frequently used by IBTS when administering CDBG-DR programs. Bid books… Read more
policies and procedures are critical to program success but can be challenging to develop, especially for smaller communities who might be working with these types of federal policy requirements for the first time. Although they can be daunting, they should be viewed not just as another program requirement, but as a tool for helping your… Read more
FEMA’s independent study training courses offerings are one of the most important disaster preparation educational tools for government officials, staff, and other professionals engaged in FEMA efforts during disasters. Below, IBTS provides links to FEMA’s course offerings, organized by disaster phase. Click on the disaster phase to see the listing of course options specific to… Read more
FEMA currently offers four online independent study courses focused on FEMA mapping and geospatial capabilities related to disaster management. IS-60.b — The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) for Planners and Decision Makers IS-61.b — The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) In Depth IS-62.b — The Homeland Security Geospatial Concept-of-Operations (GeoCONOPS) In Use IS-63.b — Geospatial Information Infrastructure (GII) IS-103 — Geospatial Information Systems… Read more
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development () requires outreach to citizens, applicants, local leaders, and other stakeholders as part of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery () program. However, this outreach is also critical in educating the community on the program, keeping them up-to-date and demonstrating the tangible progress of the program. Typically, the CDBG-DR… Read more
Procurement of materials and services often presents challenges for grantees, who tend to be unfamiliar with the federal procurement policies they must follow to meet ‘s compliance standards. Grantees cannot simply begin purchasing materials and services using their existing procurement policies, but must update them to be compliant with federal regulations as outlined in 2 CFR Part… Read more
Contractors, as well as recipients of federal financial assistance, are required to register in the System for Award Management (SAM). This applies to the program, which requires that grantees, subrecipients, subgrantees, contractors and units of local governments register in SAM. CDBG-DR grantees or subgrantees who aren’t registered in SAM, or who procure contractors not registered… Read more
Although many grantees are familiar with regular CDBG programs, CDBG disaster recovery programs have important differences that require adjustments to existing CDBG policies, and sometimes even the development of new policies. “You can’t treat your CDBG-DR program like a regular CDBG program,” says IBTS Economic Development and Disaster Recovery Program Director Mike Spletto. “Disaster recovery… Read more
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