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Flood Emergency Response Grants Program


Administrating Agency: Resources Agency
Bond: Proposition 1E
Department Name: Department of Water Resources
Bond Statute: 5096.821
Implementing Statute:

  • Front-end
  • In-Progress
  • Follow-up

Department of Water Resources (DWR) is the lead State agency for flood emergency response which includes flood fight assistance in California. While the California Emergency Services Act reaffirms the authority of the California Emergency Management Agency to “coordinate and supervise State action, upon a declaration of a State emergency,” California Water Code Section 128(a) describes DWR’s separate, permissive authority:

“The California Emergency Services Act, specifically Government Code Section 8607, provides DWR broad authority to fully participate in all aspects of emergency response within the Standardized Emergency Management System structure. In addition, Proposition 1E section 5096.821 provides for the use of bond funds for this program”.

The Flood Operations Center (FOC) serves as DWR’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and is responsible for all state flood emergency operations. 

The Hydrology and Flood Operations Office (HAFOO), within DWR, has developed a series of purposed grant projects under the Flood Emergency Response Grant Program. The first is a $5 million project for emergency communications equipment to improve emergency response preparedness in the Delta. The Flood Operations Branch administers the $5 million grant and requires that applicants be public agencies that have primary responsibility for flood emergency response within the legal Delta.  This grant project, with the objective to improve emergency communication in the critical five-county Delta region, supports one of the recommendations of the “Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Multi-Hazard Coordination Task Force.”

 

Other grant projects currently being developed under this program include a Delta Emergency Response Grant, a Forecast-Coordinated Operations Grant and a Statewide Emergency Response Grant.

 

Implementation Plan

DWR has prepared an Implementation Plan and Five Year Strategic Funding Plan for implementation of the Flood Emergency Response Program which includes the Flood Emergency Response Grants Program. Projects were selected based on the needs identified in the Implementation Plan.

 

These project work plans are being developed and include the scopes of work, budgets, and schedules for completion. The project work plans outline “Performance Measures” and define specific deliverables as well as objectives for each project.

 

Objectives

Some important objectives for the Flood Emergency Response Grants Program include:

 

·         Protecting lives, property, and infrastructure critical to the public and to the State’s economy:

·         Protecting water quality and restoration of the water supply for California water users and water export operations:

·         Minimizing the implementation impact of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery measures on environmental resources; and

·         Integrating DWR flood emergency response with the local agencies’ emergency operation plans.

 

Outreach

The Flood Emergency Response Grants projects will be implemented in collaboration with staff from the following agencies:

·         DWR program managers;

·         CalEMA representatives;

·         County Emergency Response representatives;

·         U.S. Army Corps of Engineers;

·         Local Maintaining Agency representatives; and

·         Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA

Once a grant project is executed and awarded, the grantees are eligible for reimbursement from DWR for approved project work. The amount of reimbursement will be subject to what has been outlined as items and tasks in the grant project agreement.

 

Grant project outcomes will be measured by progress reports, recordkeeping requirements, and post-implementation reports as specified in each grant project contract.

 

DWR’s Project Manager will oversee progress and ensure compliance with terms as outlined in the grant project contract with the grantee, funding recipient shall be responsible for work and for persons or entities engaged in work, including, but not limited to, subcontractors, suppliers, and providers of services.

 

The financial status (expenditures and commitments) will be tracked at the project/grant level in DWR’s financial system, called SAP. DWR will utilize “funded program numbers” and structured “internal order cost objects” to track detailed information down to the individual projects or grants. The use of these elements within SAP will enable DWR to also track any multiple funding associated with a single project or grant. However, expenditures of funds not controlled by DWR will be tracked by the managing agency.

 

Grant project updates will be submitted for inclusion with the quarterly reports that DWR submits on the California Natural Resources Agency’s website on bond expenditures and any changes in scope, cost, or schedule will be reflected for projects funded by Proposition 1E and Proposition 84.

 

Periodic updates will be made to the public BondAccountability.com website to ensure the program 3-part accountability write-ups and project information is current.  These updates will be made no less than semi-annually and will be submitted to the Department of Finance and posted on their public website.

During project implementation, regular meetings will be conducted with all agencies involved to ensure the grant projects move forward according to their established scope of work, schedule, budget, and processes that have been established in the contract. The goal will be to make sure the final project deliverables are consistent with deliverables defined in the scope of work.

 

The Project Manager will review progress reports describing what work has been completed by the contractor and review the invoices submitted for payment. The Project Manager will, then, compare the deliverables stated in the contract to ensure the grant project has achieved all intended outcomes and deliverables, before approving the final payment to the contractor.

 

 

Following completion of the grant project the Project Manger will oversee a close-out audit which includes:  a grant project completion report that documents the grant project deliverables, final expenditures, and how the grant project implementation met the grant project objectives and performance measures. The content of all deliverables will be checked against the description of deliverables listed in the contract, before final payment is approved.

 

Audit procedures are identified in Section 8 of the grant guidelines and Exhibit C of the Grant Agreement.  These sections require all grantee records and documents relevant to the grant to be available for audit by the Department or the State while the project is active and for three years following final payment of grant funds. 



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