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104 APPENDIX C Case Study Interview Guide CASE STUDY INTERVIEW GUIDE Interview Contact Name, Title, Address, Phone, Email Reimbursement Manager/Coordinator Name, Title Number of Employees Number of District Offices Event/Storm Name Presiden ally declared disaster? Governor declared disaster? Occurrence date Total reimbursement request to FEMA: $________ Total reimbursement received from FEMA: $________ Date of receipt: ______________ Of which emergency repair was $______ Date of receipt: ______________ Of which permanent repair was $______ Date of receipt: ______________ Source of matching funds: Total number of emergency projects submitted to FEMA: ________ Number of emergency projects approved by FEMA: _______ Total number of permanent repair projects submiÂed to FEMA: ________ Number of permanent repair projects approved by FEMA: _______ Total reimbursement request to FHWA: $________ Total reimbursement received from FHWA: $________ Of which emergency repair was $______ Date of receipt: ______________ Of which permanent repair was $______ Date of receipt: ______________ Source of matching funds:
105 Total number of emergency projects submitted to FHWA: ________ Number of emergency projects approved by FHWA: _______ Total number of permanent repair projects submied to FHWA: ________ Number of permanent repair projects approved by FHWA: _______ Supplemental informaon on impact (deaths, injuries, property damage) Emergency work âin how many days of the disaster occurrence was emergency work completed? ____days Permanent work â did any permanent work take place during emergency work? If yes, please describe. How long did permanent work take? ____ DAMAGE ASSESSMENT/DOCUMENTATION Preliminary Damage Assessment or PDA Performed on: -How was it performed? How long did it take? Was the assessment for both FEMA and FHWA conducted at the same me in the same manner? Please describe any difficules in accomplishing the PDA: Detailed Site Inspecons Performed on: -How was it performed? How long did it take? Were site inspecons for both FEMA and FHWA conducted at the same me in the same manner? Please describe any difficules: -Do you perform site inspecons using any other method? If yes, please describe and the amount of me it typically takes: Was there a need for immediate needs or quick release funding? If yes, was it provided? If not provided, why not? Was there a need for expedited payments? If yes, was it provided? If not provided, why not? APPLICATION DETAILS (FEMA) Date when Applicantâs Briefing was held: Request for Public Assistance was submied by your agency on: Kickoff Meeng with FEMA Public Assistance Coordinator: Number of large projects: Number of small projects: Small project validation process: Large project cost esmates: how is cost esmaon performed? Are costs usually within acceptable %
106 What acons helped expedite the process? Were projects grouped together into one package and submied together? When was it submied? Were amendments required? If yes, please describe any addional informaon required for the amendments and how long each amendment took. Were any projects denied? If yes, what were the reasons? Were they appealed? If so, please describe the outcome and the appeals process. How long did the appeals process take? Was an audit performed? If yes, please describe the process. Application details (FHWA) State Request to ER was sent on_______ FHWA Division Administrator finding received on______ Can you describe any projects that had a change in funcon/character? Were they eligible for reimbursement? If not, how were they funded? Can you describe any projects that involved a replacement or beerment? Were they eligible for reimbursement? If not, how were they funded? What acons helped expedite the applicaon process? What was the federal share of the permanent work? What is your experience with traditional vs. quick release method? What acons helped expedite the process? Are there any other steps you took during other disasters that were helpful for reimbursement purposes? Were projects grouped together into one package and submied together? When was it submied? Were any projects denied? If yes, what were the reasons? Were they appealed? If so, please describe the outcome and the appeals process. How long did the appeals process take? Did you take any steps to facilitate the payment process? Was an audit performed? If yes, please describe the process. BOTH PROGRAMS Were there any post MAP-21 Presidenally-declared or Governor-only disasters? If so please describe the reimbursement process in detail. Do you have a regional coordinator who performs an inial review for applicaons submied by the district office?
107 Confusion w/documentaon of damages, documentaon of expenditures, document collecon, document retention, document retrieval, invoicing? Could you describe the areas of confusion in more detail? Do you have a project coding policy? Could you share your reimbursement manual with us? LPAs â what type of assistance with the reimbursement process do you provide to LPAs? Any form of training? Can you share any training materials with us? Can you share your insights into the applicaon processing mes, required staff resources, and factors influencing them? Eligibility issues What specific eligibility issues had to be addressed? What terminology or definions were confusing, and why? Documentation retention/retrieval How do you store documentaon and for how long? Have you had any problems or issues in documentaon retenon and retrieval? If yes, please describe. Cost estimation Please describe your project cost esmaon process for these projects. Were they within about 10% of actual costs? If not, what areas were over or under esmated? Matching funds What are your sources of matching funds? Have you used any in-kind contribuons from third parties or the private sector? Have you used the tapering payment opon (federal funds are received first and matching funds are provided towards the end of the project)? Compliance with federal, state, local requirements What requirements are especially me-consuming? Which ones cause confusion, and why? If your agency has special emergency work procedures, were they used?
108 ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS ⢠Please describe any effective technologies and systems used for documentation purposes: please describe the specific technology or system used for documentaon, and what factors led to the use of the technology or system. ⢠What is the unit cost of the technology/system? Are there any O&M costs associated with the system? ⢠What training (if any) is required? What is the length of the training? ⢠Are there any issues related to the technology/system? ⢠Effecve cost esmaon methods and systems ⢠What types of methods or systems is your Agency using or planning to use? ⢠What issues have you had with them, and how were they resolved? ⢠Do you use an inventory or asset management system? If so, please describe how it is used for emergency resource tracking purposes. ⢠What was the initial cost of the system? Are there any O&M costs associated with the system? ⢠Do you use other resource tracking systems (e.g., GPS, fleet management)? If so, please describe the system(s). ⢠What was the initial cost of the system? Are there any O&M costs associated with the system? ⢠Is the reimbursement process ever outsourced? If so, in what cases is it outsourced and why? ⢠Please describe how your agency manages relaonships with FEMA, FHWA, and the State for the purposes of the reimbursement programs ⢠Has your agency implemented specific practices helpful during audits and validaons? If so, please describe them. Follow-up quesons also included quesons in the following categories: the Declaraon Process, Disaster Assessment Process, Composion of Teams, DDIRs, SRIA, ER and PA Cost Shares, Role of the State EMA and FEMA, FHWA Stewardship Agreement, Cost Tracking, FMIS, Electronic Signatures, Civil Air Patrol, Roles and Responsibilies of ER and PA program coordinators, Disaster Organizaon, and Indirect Costs.
