Federal Emergency Management Agency
Agencies responding to disasters under appropriate authority may be able to recover some costs and expenses associated with their mobilized resources and response. Justification and documentation is required for agencies submitting claims and/or seeking reimbursement or emergency funds from a governing body or the emergency fund governed by the legislature.
To standardize the required documentation, the use of FEMA forms is recommended.
To expedite reimbursement payment processes, procurement professionals should be aware of information concerning eligible costs and reimbursement processes requiring documentation and justification as it relates to the acquisition of goods and services. It is important to understand a cost to be “reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost.” (OMB Circular A-87)
Services, equipment and supplies that are purchased specifically in order to perform the mission must be governed by formally adopted procurement rules, regulations and code.
In general, those items of equipment and supplies that cost under $5,000 are eligible to be claimed upon accurate documentation. Items of equipment worth more than $5,000 and residual unused supplies in excess of $5,000 after the disaster work is completed will require adjustment of the eligible acquisition cost.
Contracted services that are necessary to perform emergency work may be eligible upon appropriate justification and documentation.
Mission-Related Costs Must Be:
- Actual costs
- Compliant with federal, state, and local procurement requirements
- Calculated using current unit cost structures or other commonly accepted methods, such as:
a. Historic documentation for similar work
b. Average costs for similar work in the area
c. Published unit costs from national cost estimating databases
d. FEMA cost codes
e. FEMA equipment rates
Ineligible Costs:
- Administrative costs associated with pre-deployment and post-deployment functions.
- Replacement costs of items replaced prior to deployment
- Costs for alcohol, tobacco, toiletries, etc.
- Costs incurred by an entity that self-deployed without an approved mission.
Documentation Requirements:
- Itemized invoices and/or receipts for all items including, but not limited to, clear descriptions of items purchased (e.g., serial numbers, or other identifying information), costs, dates, vendors, and invoice/receipt numbers.
- Documentation indicating that either state or federal procurement regulations, whichever are applicable, were followed or a legally acceptable explanation as to why applicable state or federal procurement regulations were not followed, including, but not limited to, copies of request for proposals (RFPs), summaries or responses to RFPs, price quotes and bid tabulations, and copies of government credit card statements, and completed purchase orders.
- Accurately completed rental equipment summary records.
- Copies of all agreements or contracts.
- Clear descriptions of work performed and dates of work performed for contracted work.