Emergency Management Contingency Consulting Services Oral - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Emergency Management Contingency Consulting Services Oral Presentation

Broward County, Florida

March 13, 2018

General Overview of the Firm/Team

About Witt O’Brien’s

3

Who We Are

Since 2001, Witt O’Brien’s has been the industry leader in providing disaster management and recovery services; Founded by former FEMA Director James Lee Witt; In 2013 merged with O’Brien’s Response Management to form Witt O’Brien’s. Has participated in nearly every major disaster to strike the U.S. and its territories in the last 17 years.

‘01

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Where We Are Located

Witt O’Brien’s Headquarters ‐‐‐ Located in the heart

• f Washington, DC.

Witt O’Brien’s Corporate Offices ‐‐‐ Located in Houston,

• TX. This office

employees 55 full‐ time staff members. Witt O’Brien’s Local Office ‐‐‐ Response to the County’s recovery needs located inside Port Everglades in

• Ft. Lauderdale. This
• ffice employees

100+ full‐time staff members (Seacor & Witt O’Brien’s) that contribute to the local economy.

5

What We Have Accomplished during our Tenure

$25B in Public Assistance Funding More than 80,000 Project Worksheets $3.5B in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Funding

$25B 80K $3.5B

6

Overall Experience and Qualifications

▸ Disaster Preparedness – 2001 to Present

• Planning, training, and exercise
• Procurement Assistance

▸ Disaster Response – 1984 to Present

• Started in the oil spill response business
• Transition to natural disasters in 2009

▸ Disaster Recovery – 2001 to Present

• From Preliminary Damage Assessment through disaster closure and all stages in between
• Documentation, documentation, documentation

▸ Disaster Debris Monitoring – 2004 to Present

• 12 States, 20+ declared disasters, 33+ Million Cubic Yards

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Overall Experience and Qualifications

▸ The vision to imagine what is truly possible

• We understand the full spectrum of recovery programs and have the vision to

imagine what is truly possible.

• UTMB Central Services Core ‐ project using 404 and 406 funding $250 million in mitigation
• City of Galveston 59th Street Pump Station – combination of $9 million 404, 406 and $15

million CDBG‐R

• Cathedral High School – turned $14 million combined insurance & FEMA estimate into $38

million FEMA funding and $62 million insurance settlement

• Demonstrate that Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission facilities damages exceeded

FEMA’s damage assessments by more than $60 million. Developed $252 million mitigation plan to protect the facilities.

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Overall Experience and Qualifications

▸ The vision to imagine what is truly possible

• We were at the forefront of assisting Congressional committees on the

development of the Public Assistance Pilot Program ‐ Section 428 ‐ Stafford Act;

• Not only did our staff lead the way in the development of Section 428:
• We were the first to develop, submit, and implement projects utilizing this pilot program;
• We developed and implemented the largest Section 428 PA grant for a single facility in

FEMA history;

• And, we developed Section 428 projects for damaged facilities in Louisiana,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, and New York.

• We have the best insight and perspective of the “new rules of the game”.

Key Strengths of the Firm/Team

Capabilities in Various Technical Areas

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Capabilities

Preparedness Services

• Produce 7,000

response plans a year

• Conduct 125

exercise annually

• Conduct 115

Trainings annually

Response Services

• 24/7

Operations Center located in Houston, TX

• Trained watch
• ffers onsite to

immediately respond to events.

• We have

activated more than 500 people simultaneously to support clients during a response.

Debris Management

• Successfully

provided FEMA‐ compliant monitoring for the removal of more than 33 million cubic yards of debris around the country.

• Prepared and

revised disaster debris management plans

Public Assistance

• Managed and

implemented more than $25 billion in Public Assistance

• Developed more

than 80,000 project worksheets

• Secured over

$12 Billion in disaster supplemental funding.

Hazard Mitigation

• Managed and

implemented more than $3.1 billion in Hazard Mitigation Assistance funds for more than a thousand mitigation projects.

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Quality Assurance

▸ Witt O’Brien’s strives to provide quality in our staffing and in the level of the technical and professional services we provide. ▸ Witt O’Brien’s

• Carefully screens its staff and partners,
• Requires high levels of training and experience,
• Performs background checks and drug screening, and
• Requires ongoing education and training.

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Experience Working in FEMA Region IV

In Region IV, working side‐by‐side with FEMA staff and technical experts, Witt O’Brien’s has responded to multiple disaster recovery efforts since 2004 including but not limited to:

DR‐3288 DR‐1609 DR‐1602 DR‐1561 DR‐1545 DR‐4283

Hurricane Irma

DR‐4337

Hurricane Matthew Tropical Storm Fay Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Jeanne Hurricane Frances

Witt O’Brien’s

Key Staff and Proposed Roles

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Bill Riley, Project Principal

▸ 40+ years of experience in emergency management and related fields. ▸ Responsible for oversight and management of disaster field operations, client contract, and relationship management ▸ Managed Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut ▸ Served as the Project Manager for the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Hurricane Ike recovery for the cities of Houston and Galveston. ▸ Served as the Project Manager for the Vermont State Hospital’s recovery after Tropical Storm Irene, and managed projects in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Rhode Island, and Virginia

15

Valarie Philipp, Project Manager

▸ 20+ years of experience in emergency management and related fields. ▸ Project Manager for many large clients including City of Savannah, City

• f Baltimore, City of Miami, Miami‐Dade County, City of Orlando,

Broward School Board, Florida Department of Transportation. ▸ Training presenter throughout the State of Florida on topics including FEMA Public Assistance, FHWA Emergency Relief, Federal Procurement (2CFR), Debris Operations. ▸ Served as a FEMA Public Assistance Coordinator, State level representative, and Subrecipient consultant. ▸ Master of Engineering, Structures; Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering, Registered Professional Engineer.

Challenges and Solutions

Working with FEMA and the State through the Public Assistance Process

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FEMA’s New Public Assistance Delivery Model

Challenge: ▸ FEMA is rolling out its new Public Assistance (PA) Delivery Model, including Irma in Florida ▸ Many FEMA and State personnel not familiar with the model ▸ The New Delivery Model is:

• Very different than that implemented in past disasters in Florida
• Requires the Applicants to devote a large amount of time upfront to:
• Learn the process
• Navigate the Grants Portal online
• Address the requirements of the new method

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FEMA’s New Public Assistance Delivery Model

Solution: ▸ Witt O’Brien’s has Experience with the new PA Delivery Model

• Hurricane Matthew – Savannah, Georgia
• Hurricane Irma – Current clients in Florida and Georgia

▸ Witt O’Brien’s can navigate the steps including:

• Damage Inventory
• Essential Elements of Information (EEI) questions
• Documents to meet the requirements

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Direct Administrative Costs

Challenge: ▸ FEMA requires extensive detail for labor that is to be funded as Direct Administrative Costs (DAC), or costs to navigate the FEMA process. ▸ Costs must be tracked per FEMA Project Worksheet that will be prepared. ▸ Costs must be documented based on eligible DAC tasks via daily activity logs.

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Direct Administrative Costs

Solution: ▸ Witt O’Brien’s captures time in our Time Keeper System which can:

• Track time to the 15 minute increments
• Detail the DAC eligible task performed with high lever and expanded detail
• Note what Preliminary PW number or actual FEMA PW number the time is

allocated to specifically ▸ Witt O’Brien’s has tools to help the City track any time it may expend on the FEMA Public Assistance process in order to claim the time and expense.

Questions??

www.wittobriens.com