“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
-Benjamin Franklin
This statement sounds so dire, but there is much truth in it when it comes to emergency preparedness and disaster recovery. How many times have we seen the news coverage of a disaster, and the person standing in the rubble is saying, “I never thought anything like this would ever happen here. We were scared for our lives and don’t know how we are ever going to rebuild.”
I have yet to see the news coverage with someone stating, “We had a plan. We had exercised it, and knew exactly what to do. We are devastated, but we have everything we need to rebuild and recover even stronger than we were before.”
I want YOU to be that person, and I have the tools to help make it happen.
Let’s start with a few questions:
Do you know how your organization plans to recover in the event of a disaster? All kinds of disasters?
Have you reviewed your role or the role of your department?
How are your expenses tracked and documented?
Are these expenses FEMA reimbursable?
Do you know what documentation needs to be maintained? For how long?
If you were granted mitigation funds today, how would you spend them?
Do you have mitigation projects identified?
These are all great questions, and most people do not have the answers. But some of these questions can be answered by having contracts in place to address any eventuality.
Consider the following:
CDR Maguire was recently recommended for award of a three-year, full-service emergency management contract with the Houston-Galveston Area Council cooperative purchasing program (HGACBuy). The HGACBuy is a cooperative purchasing program that pre-approves contractors to provide services so the procurement process can be expedited when services are required. This contract qualifies CDR Maguire to respond to requests for mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery services in the H-GAC’s service region. This is called a pre-positioned contract.
Having pre-positioned contracts in place will give you peace of mind in the event of a disaster. You will know your contractors and what skills and services they can bring to the table, as well as how quickly they will arrive to augment your staff where needed and assist your community’s recovery. Use of advance contracting prior to a disaster ensures that sufficient time is available for proper procurement requirements to be met. This is especially important since procurement is one of the top Office of Inspector General (OIG) justifications for de-obligation at audit and/or disaster closeout. Proper procurement can literally save you millions.
We enjoy spending time with you and your staff during “blue skies” when there is not a disaster imminent. This gives us the opportunity to establish relationships with your staff, because god knows, the person you meet in the midst of a disaster is quite a bit different than the person you meet on a normal Tuesday afternoon.
When we have a pre-disaster contract in place, we review your current disaster response and recovery plans; offer damage assessment training; evaluate your current mitigation plan; delve into your procurement, ensuring it is up to date with FEMA’s latest codes and standards; help you establish cost recovery tracking procedures, and develop an economic recovery plan. These “blue skies” reviews and plans will give us opportunities to make suggestions to strengthen your plans, and that will make a huge difference in your community’s ability to recover more quickly and even stronger than you were pre-disaster.
Consider getting a pre-disaster contract in place. They are contracts that you pay for when/if you need them (and don’t if you don’t need them). It is worth it for the peace of mind.
If you would like more information or have questions about pre-positioned contracts please feel free to contact me at Tracy.Doyle@CDRMaguire.com. I also invite you to download our “Key to Recovery” for valuable tools and tips, both for pre and post disaster and follow me on twitter @TracyatMaguire.
Stay tuned for my next blog, “The Dangers of Awarding Multiple Pre-Positioned Contracts.”
…OR SEE HOW YOU CAN MINIMIZE IMPACT AND MAXIMIZE RECOVERY. DOWNLOAD OUR FREE KEY TO RECOVERY, AND GAIN ACCESS TO A FULL RANGE OF RESOURCES THAT WILL HELP YOU MAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS TO BENEFIT YOUR COMMUNITY.
