New Funding Opportunity

2020 BRIC Notice of Interest (NOI)

FEMA has announced the opening of its new mitigation grant program called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC). It has replaced FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program.

Important Dates:

• NOI Submission Deadline: September 30, 2020
• Application Period opens: September 30, 2020
• Application Submission to State Deadline: December 1, 2020
• State Submission Deadline to FEMA: January 29, 2021

Notice of Interest Form

Please click on the following link to fill out your entities intent to apply for BRIC funding:

NOI Link - https://forms.gle/Dq4b9tgFSySuQBfM8

Available Funding

$500 Million Total: 

• State Allocation: $33.6 million (up to $600,000 per Applicant) 
• Tribal Set-Aside: $20 million

There is a  $50 million funding cap per sub-application.

Cost Share

A cost-share is required for all sub-applications funded under this program. The non-federal cost-share may consist of cash, donated or third-party in-kind services, materials, or any combination thereof.

• 75% federal / 25% non-federal
• 90% federal / 10% non-federal (only for small, impoverished communities)

Eligible Subapplicants

• Local governments/communities
• Special districts and quasi-government entities (e.g water districts, schools)
• Indian Tribal governments

Individuals and businesses are NOT eligible to apply.

Mitigation Plan

To be eligible for BRIC funding, FEMA will require applicants and sub-applicants to have a current FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan at time of application and award.

Eligible Mitigation Activities

• Project - activities that mitigate against a natural hazard
• Plan - developing/updating a Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Project Scoping - formerly called Advanced Assistance and includes such things as engineering studies, H&H studies, evaluations, etc. to help one in advance of choosing or developing a mitigation project

Benefit-Cost Analysis

Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) is a method that determines the future risk reduction benefits of a hazard mitigation project and compares those benefits to its costs. The result is a Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR). A project is considered cost-effective when the BCR is 1.0 or greater. Applicants and sub-applicants must use FEMA-approved methodologies and tools—such as the BCA Toolkit—to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of their projects. This is required for all mitigation projects (not plans or project scoping).

Please go here to download the latest FEMA BCA software - https://www.fema.gov/grants/guidance-tools/benefit-cost-analysis

Applications - FEMA GO

All BRIC applications need to be submitted through FEMA’s new mitigation website called FEMA GO. This has replaced FEMA’s old eGrants website. Applications are very similar to past applications in eGrants. FEMA GO is linked to the federal government’s www.sam.gov website. Most entities that deal with the federal government are already registered in www.sam.gov. Follow these steps to get registered in FEMA GO:

• Create an account at FEMA GO website
• Enter your DUNS number
• It should then list the two people who are linked to your registration atsam.gov who you need to contact to give you access in FEMA GO. They need to give you access to the mitigation programs (including BRIC) in FEMA GO and assign you the appropriate user roles.
• If you are assigned to be an organization authorized representative you will be able to submit the application to the State in FEMA GO and manage other members of your organization. 
• FEMA has not opened up the ability to fill out or start the application yet, but has indicated that they will do so sometime in September. We will notify any entity that has submitted an NOI to us when the application is available to start working on online. 

BRIC Webinars

• 5-part series on BRIC NOFO. Please register here
• BRIC summer webinars — download the slides or watch the presentations here

For questions please contact: 

• Eric Martineau - emartineau@utah.gov- 801-946-4022
• Janna Wilkinson - jwilkinson@utah.gov- 385-214-5857
• Ember Herrick - esherrick@utah.gov- 385-630-8246

Further Resources

• Notice of Funding Opportunity Fact Sheet
• Notice of Funding Opportunity
• BRIC FEMA webpage
• FEMA GO website

_{The above information was provided by the Utah Division of Emergency Management}