how to manage disaster relief grants

Grant Management Basics: How to Do Progress Reports for Grants

4 June 2020 by Christina Moore

Grant Progress Reports

Cut your progress reporting time by 20 minutes per grant by answering three questions on a web form. We’ll take a look at the grant progress reports in Tempest-GEMS. With FEMA and other federal granting agencies, applicants are encouraged to provide progress reports each quarter.

We are coaching you on grant management best practices using grant management software. If you appreciate this presentation, please share it.

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Progress Reports

Progress reports occur as a part of the dynamic between the grant execution team, also called the sub-recipient, and the state’s grant administration team. The questions that the grant managers, or applicants answer come from the state. Here at Storm Petrel, we modify this process to meet the state’s needs. Quarterly, the applicants are asked to identify if the scope is sufficient, funding is sufficient, and if there is progress on the mission.

The state reviews and summarizes for the federal granting agency.

Creating Progress Reports

The progress reporting process is specific to a grant. Open the grant menu on the left to find progress – it has a bar-chart for an icon. Click the green button to add a progress report. Answer the questions from the state then hit submit.

The questions normally focus on your activities and needs. It is an early warning or early detection system. A key risk with larger disaster grants is abandonment. Success is accomplished with regular steady work. The quarterly progress reports reinforce this message.

Reviewing of Progress Reports by States

With each cycle of progress reports, the state reviews the effort with workflows and reports in Tempest-GEMS. The action taken by the state is for them to decide. Maybe the reports get sent to FEMA, maybe just summarized.

Communication is Key

Progress reports keep communication going between the state and the applicant. The effort reminds people to review grants, reimbursement status, data entry activities, and others factors, then document the situation.

We are providing you a Power Tools card on Progress Reports. We strive to reinforce successful grant management practices.

Power Tools Cards on Progress Reports

FEMA Grant Accounting Basics: How To Make Big Purchases With Grant Funds

26 May 2020 by Christina Moore

Big Purchases With Grant Funds

Avoid the number one failure that causes the DHS OIG to recommend grant clawback, and keep your hard-won grant funds working in your community. In our FEMA Quest game and in our game cards, we call this the Land of Eleven. The reason is that there are eleven essential steps which will generate at least eleven documents. Get eleven documents, and you’re likely following grant management best practices. In this episode, we learn how to make big purchases with grant funds.

We are providing grant management best practices so that you and your team will learn how to manage FEMA grant accounting basics. If you appreciate this presentation, please share it.

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Large Purchases Defined

What is a large purchase? A large purchase is defined in procurement policy, or it should be. If you have a policy, you should define this threshold. If not, you fall on your state’s policy and their threshold. If they don’t have one, then you use the federal policy.

The federal policy uses the Simplified Acquisition threshold which is normally $250,000. Some funny things happened to it during the spring of 2020.

I looked up Arizona’s policy. Their policy stated that in the event of federal funding their policy guidelines revert to the federal. If you live in Arizona, your threshold is that Simplified Acquisition threshold above.

I looked up Virginia’s policy. They did offer a definition basically $100,000 (§ 2.2-4304. Methods of procurement G.1.)

That’s a lot of words and gibberish.

The Eleven Steps of Grant Management

Let’s make a short cut. When in doubt, use a competitive procurement process. It takes eleven steps, cost a few dollars. With COVID-19 emergency, there is printed guidance from FEMA about single-sourcing. That guidance precisely follows the law and matches 2-CFR-200. It seems tempting to sole-source – but please don’t. It will come around and sting years down the road. The warning is that FEMA and the OIG have a short memory. After a few lovelies abused this process, there will be scrutiny on all of us! Single source seems attractive, people will have failures and rejection because some costs are not reasonable. Oops.

In this episode, I am going to go through the eleven steps as they relate to the policy. Then I’ll show you how to set that up in Tempest-GEMS and how using grant management software, provide guidance, and scoring.

You’ll do best thinking of this as a game. Earn points here to protect yourself from bad stuff. And that is good.

Competitive Procurement “Hints and Hacks”

On the FEMA Quest Competitive Procurement “Hints and Hacks” card, you’ll see the eleven steps needed for this effort. When making big purchases with grant funds, you’ll want to follow this list.

Create a written rationale for the procurement method. Could be a memo, an email, or a motion at a meeting. State you are using a competitive process because it is a large purchase.
Create a bid packet with clear and complete instructions. For construction, this is a lot of work. For other goods and services, it can be simpler. Reference common phrases and definitions.
Issue invitations to bid. Grab a copy or screen shot of that effort in PDF.
Invite disadvantaged business entities or what ever they are called in your state. Typically you can email a state agency to send this out for you. Grab a copy of the email in PDF.
Advertise publicly. Grab a copy or screen shot in PDF.
Capture the proof of payment for an ad. If no paid ad, state that. In PDF, of course.
Hold a public meeting to open the bids. Take minutes. Make a PDF of the minutes and the attendance roster.
Validate the winning bid is not debarred in sam.gov. Keep the PDF.
Do a bid tabulation or scoring sheet. Keep them all, make PDFs.
Write a letter of intent to the winner. And yes, keep the PDF copy of that.
Write a contract that includes all of the provisions you find in your grant (Clean Water Act, Davis-Bacon, etc).

That’s eleven. The Land of Eleven!

The Contract Tool

In Tempest-GEMS, we’ll use the contract tool to help us. Let’s assume you’ve set up the vendor. That was covered in the small purchase episode. That’s an easy step. You’ll find vendors on the menu below the name of your Applicant. The icon is a map pin.

The Grants Menu

With a Vendor defined, go to the Grants menu, then the Contracts menu as shown in the illustration. You’ll add a contract (green-buttons add). Select your vendor, then pick your contract type. This will be sealed bid. Give it a name and save it. You can do all sorts of data entry, or skip it. The system can track amounts, dates, and such. Up to you.

The Contract Scorecard

Here is the contract scorecard. Each of the eleven steps are detailed. We have the reference to the law, 2-CFR-200. The eyeball icon shows you the exact text and can even take you to the government’s website for more details.

Each document you upload, you get a point. Eleven steps, eleven documents.

Uploading Documents

How do you upload the documents? Well there is a documents option in the contract menu. You upload one document at a time to Tempest-GEMS. Tag it with the document type. That’s what gets you the point.

Rinse, wash, repeat. By that I mean: upload, tag it, and do it again. Probably about eleven times.

Now when you do your expense data entry, you can link that cost to a specific contract. There is a cool report in Tempest-GEMS to show your contract expenses. And Tempest-GEMS show you summaries and such provide guidance.

FEMA grant accounting requires this granularity. It will keep your process moving. It is how to manage disaster relief grants.

Sealed-Bid Closeout

The sealed-bid or competitive process is the most-favored procurement process when managing FEMA assistance grants. There are eleven steps and Tempest-GEMS provides you both the guidance and tools to help you keep score.

These eleven steps ensure a successful close out, an optimized reimbursement, and prevents issues with financial clawbacks!

Please share this material with colleagues. Post about us and our efforts on your favorite social media platform. And don’t forget to grab the Large Purchase Guide to help you get started with FEMA Quest.

Large Purchase Guide

FEMA Grant Accounting Basics: Small Purchases with Grant Funds

21 May 2020 by Christina Moore

Small Purchases with Grant Funds

The small purchases are often the ones that can skew the budget if unchecked. Maximize your reimbursements and make sure everything you’ve spent is covered by following these three simple steps – and by three steps, I think I mean four. Join us as we examine how to make small purchases with grant funds. In our FEMA Quest game, this corresponds to the Lil Money Loop.

Standards for Small Purchases

What is a small purchase? A small purchase involves procurement for a product or service that fits between micro and large. Not so helpful was that. Sorry. Let’s start over. You either have or don’t have a procurement policy. The United States Federal Government provides a definition of small. It falls below the Simplified Acquisition threshold and above $3,000 (micro). Under normal circumstances that value is $250,000.

I looked up Arizona’s policy and I did not see a policy definition there for small. I am not an expert and only been a tourist in that great state. Their policy stated that in the event of federal funding their policy guidelines revert to the federal.

I went and looked up Virginia’s policy. They did offer a definition, it’s basically $100,000. Clearly, if you are in Virginia read their policy. I am using this as an example. I see exceptions to this policy in the black-and-white on the left screen. The policy is § 2.2-4303. Methods of procurement G.1.

My little town has a threshold at $10,000.

The standard guidance for “small” purchases is that you documented that you have done some shopping. You found three or four or more competitive prices, you’ve then gotten three email quotes, looked up on-line, that sort of thing. You need to confirm that your price is reasonable.

Almost all of us know the basics of shopping and price comparisons. The difference with small purchases with grant funds is the documentation.

First, write a little memorandum for record or email to your boss, or pass a motion that states your purchase is small because it is below this threshold and above that one.

Second, do your price comparison and shopping. But add the steps of printing the prices you see to a PDF document – or better yet, print that paper, sign it and date it. You don’t have to pick the cheapest. Identify the precise product or service you need. You can’t run tissue paper through your printer. You may need good quality archival acid-free paper. Price compare that. Gather your competitive research, print it to a PDF and save it.

Third, run the name of the vendor through sam.gov. Print that to PDF; that page proving that the vendor is not debarred by the federal government. If your state has such a tool, use that as well.

Four, issue the purchase order, or execute the purchase as you normally would. This time, scan the purchase order, the invoice, and delivery receipt to a PDF. And get a copy of the cancelled check, ACH payment, or credit card statement that proves it was paid.

Managing Disaster Relief Grants

FEMA grant accounting basics – we want to get reimbursed for that purchase. Together, we are studying how to manage disaster relief grants. If you don’t have Tempest-GEMS, you’ll need a manual method for tracking these expenses. In Tempest-GEMS, it is easy. Let’s recap. You have the following documents scanned and ready to go: justification for purchase method, price comparison, debar check, and invoice with proof-of-payment.

Creating a New Vendor

First, we’ll create a new vendor. There is a map-pin icon on the blue menu to the left, near your applicant’s name. Open vendor. You really don’t need training on the how, but I do want to touch on some important items! In tempest-GEMS, green buttons add. We’ll add a vendor called Acme Insurance.

Please note that we ask you, as a reminder, to do a debar check. And if so, when. These questions are to help you. FEMA does not provide a lower threshold on debarment checks. Just the hint. FEMA says do it. So why not. Takes a second.

Adding the Debarment Check

Now upload the debarment check with the Vendor. Done once, saved. Good for you!

Data Entry & Supporting Documentation

Second step, because we are using grant management software, we do the data entry. This is just like popular accounting systems. Vendor, invoice number, description, date and that sort of thing. But because Tempest-GEMS is not an accounting system, you’ll need to tell it (and your state and FEMA) that the invoice is paid. Only paid invoices are eligible for reimbursement. Mark it as paid, provide the paid date, the check number, EFT/ACH number, what ever that is.

Third step, you upload the supporting documentation. You can upload one or any many as you want. You’ll want to upload the invoice and proof-of-payment at a minimum. The bonus points go for the competitive research you did. And the super bonus point for that silly memo stating why this is a small purchase.

You tick those boxes, do accurate data entry and upload those documents and you are golden.

Closing Warnings

When you make small purchases with grant funds, you can circle around and around on the Lil Money Loop making small purchases and reporting them. There are a couple of closing warnings.

Warning number one, the prevailing rule for FEMA assistance is always: necessary and reasonable. Keep that in mind.

Warning number two, the federal government and most states frown on using the small purchase process if your annual aggregate expense with that vendor or product exceeds the threshold. That sounds like you dodged some rules. Just be aware.

And on a happy note, a lot of popular on-line vendors for office supplies have pre-competed government pricing. If use those vendors, you just simplified things a lot. No debar check. No competitive steps.

Simplified Procurement Process

FEMA assistance comes with strings… Small purchases fall below the competitive procurement threshold. The simplified procurement process suggests you note why you are using a small purchase process – a test to see if you know the threshold and rules. Second, a bit of price shopping that you keep as PDFs. Third, do a debar check at sam.gov. Execute your purchase, then put all of that data and documents in Tempest-GEMS readying you for your next reimbursement, moving you closer to close out!

Please share this material with colleagues. Post about us and our efforts on your favorite social media platform. And don’t forget to grab the Small Purchase Hints and Hacks Guide to help you get started with FEMA Quest.

Small Purchase Hints and Hacks Guide

FEMA Grant Accounting Basics: Labor Cost Reporting

19 May 2020 by Christina Moore

Grant Labor Cost Reporting

Halve the time it takes to enter and calculate labor, equipment and materials costs, while omitting errors using one simple tool. We all want FEMA assistance, but some of the FEMA grant accounting basics take some training and getting used to. Join us while we learn how to manage disaster relief grants and report labor costs.

We are providing grant management best practices so that you and your team will learn how to manage FEMA grants. If you appreciate this presentation, please share it.

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Labor, Equipment, & Materials Costs

Reporting the true costs of using your labor force for executing a FEMA-funded grant requires some extra steps. You’d think a payroll report is enough. While detailed payroll records are required, it’s the starting point. Your payroll data shows all hours worked, using the payrates for employees. Whereas FEMA wants you to report only the hours worked performing eligible tasks – tasks described within the grant’s scope of work. And the rate FEMA reimburses you includes benefits, taxes, and related costs. FEMA calls this the Fringe Rate – I often think of it as the “FEMA billing rate”.

Prior to calculating and reporting labor and equipment costs, you’ll have setup your staff and equipment in Tempest-GEMS. We cover this in: “Setting Up for Labor, Equipment & Material Cost Reporting”.

From this starting point, we’ll examine how to enter and calculate labor, equipment and materials costs, while omitting errors using Tempest-GEMS. We will then look at the reporting process. If you are an applicant using Tempest-GEMS and your state is also on the system, you use the Request feature. If you are an applicant using Tempest-GEMS and your state is not on the system, then you create FEMA reports as a means of asking for reimbursement.

Force Labor, Equipment, & Materials

To start, we click on the grants menu then the transactions. We can add (green buttons add) or edit an existing labor, equipment, and material record now – which is also called “force account”. Every transaction inside of Tempest-GEMS is given a unique number. I have heard people reference these numbers in conversations and emails because they are precise and unique. A force account entry is work done by your people, or your equipment, on a given day that satisfies some element of the scope of work.

Make sure that the date falls within the performance date of your grant. All FEMA assistance grants have a start performance date and an end performance date. Your work date must be between start and end. If it is not, it is not eligible.

The activity description field should be used to provide a description of the work that is clearly scope-eligible. If the scope says pick up yellow dots, then the work description should kinda be similar to that. Then we inform Tempest-GEMS how many hours we worked.

Knowing grant management best practices and understanding the challenges others have had with the FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program provides you the foundation for knowing what to emphasize. Each element, each data entry point, will either enhance and improve your ability to recover money from FEMA – or it will create problems.

Some of these little fields link raw data to your mission. Of course, you must type a work description that is backed by physical evidence such as timesheets or worklogs. Can’t lie. So use the truth to enhance your posture!

Tempest-GEMS links a work entry to a piece of equipment. This is important during weather-based disasters – Billy Bob driving a big yellow truck with 4 culverts. It maybe less important during the COVID-19 emergency work. People are not removing debris from roads or fixing damage. Your reporting for COVID-19 will likely have employees! So yes on that.

Employees

When would you not have an employee with one of these records? The most common answer is a generator. Other answers can include large light sets, or stand-alone equipment. For the COVID-19 disaster, I’m going to emphasize labor costs.

Automatically Calculates Labor Value

So, yes in our example there is an employee. We’ll pick one from our list. The system will offer us the rates that we previously put in. Click, click, pick a rate and it has calculated the labor value for us.

How fast is this? I type in (or select) the date. Type a description (maybe I keep one in my copy buffer because I’m efficient). Type the hours and hit tab. Tab, tab to get the employee. I type the first letters of the last name, and hit tab, type the “O” for over time, hit tab, select my rate. Done. A touch typist is done in seconds. With a mouse it is a little slower because a hand shifts between the mouse and keyboard.

Is this faster than Excel? Not only yes, but unlike Excel Tempest-GEMS pulls from data that is already set up.

Given speed and efficiency is our goal, we provide power-up tools for moving along. Copy Entry takes this data and make a copy. Change the date, copy again. You’re flying through a week!

Choosing Equipment

What happens if you do have an operator and equipment together like Billy Bob on his big yellow truck? Well, we go onto the next section and pick the equipment. Done. It knows the hours. And Billy Bob and his truck are entered in one effort.

Materials

And if Billy Bob put culvert or gravel in his truck from your yard or inventory? Make that selection and move on.

Summary

Here’s your summary. We’ve built a single record describing work. Billy Bob, or Brad, as my examples show, worked 2 hours of Overtimes on the 30^th of August and he was driving Truck number 5. The total value of this entry is: $141.44.

Don’t Take Shortcuts

Data entry of labor is an on-going task. I am going to make a pitch for doing it in the most detailed fashion possible. Shortcuts often backfire, more often backfire. If you have a time-keeping system that can accurately show the eligible work, the employee, date and work description that also uses the fringe rate, then you are way ahead of most. Some systems and some Wizards can make this happen. It has to follow the same rules and be 100% accurate. If done well, you can do data entry into Tempest-GEMS in batches. Just click “Add Expense” and select your expense type as “Force Account”.

90% of the people I have seen use this trick end up with rejected entries. In April 2020, the OIG published negative findings from Puerto Rico about the water and sewer agency. They took shortcuts that resulted in massive losses.

Let’s move forward. We need to report labor costs. FEMA has standard reports for this process. I’ll list them and show a picture of Tempest-GEMS reports. This is under the grants reports menu. FEMA Force Account Labor Record, FEMA Force Account Equipment Record, FEMA Force Account Material Record, and the Force Account Consolidated Record. The first three are bog-standard FEMA reports – been around for decades.

Our favorite and recommend report is the Force Account Consolidated Record. This report clearly shows that the labor, equipment, and material are linked. The reviewers and auditors have an easy time seeing that Billy Bob is on his big yellow truck. Or Brad is working 2 hours on Green River Rd in Truck 5 which has FEMA cost code of 8720 and he had no materials in his truck.

If you do not have to report operator and equipment, as is likely with the COVID-19 disaster, the FEMA Force Account Labor record is more concise.

For reporting labor costs, you will need detailed labor records – as shown and generated from Tempest-GEMS – or another tool.

And you will need the detailed payroll records. You’ll need the worklogs that demonstrate the work fit within the scope of the grant. You’ll need the payroll reports and information showing the full costs of the payroll. And you’ll need some sort of proof of payment. FEMA varies on this a bit. Best to have it. Some banks or payroll companies provide ACH summaries. Get these scanned and uploaded to Tempest-GEMS. You can upload as “grant documents” – label it well so the reviewers know this pile is for the pay period X to Y. Or you can upload the entire thing on the first data entry point for the pay period. I tend to use the grant document process. It’s easier to see.

Request for Reimbursement

If you are an applicant in a state where Tempest-GEMS is the official system, then you’re in luck. You’ll make your request for reimbursement within the system. It is called a Request. We’ll cover this in another episode.

For others, your Request for Reimbursement process will be dictated by your state. Typically, it involves a cover letter on letter head. The letter states: “We’d like some money please and we’ve got these documents to support our claim.”

Then you bundle up your documents.

A little warning: FEMA does not accept thumb-drive or USB memory sticks. Many states do not either. Most email systems will prevent emailing attachments with more than 25mb. So in this world people still burn CDs with data, and hopefully your state has this problem solved for you.

Force Account Reimbursement

Reporting labor, equipment, and material costs involves several components. First, the work you report must fall within the performance dates for your grant. Second, the work described must match the grant-funded mission. Tempest-GEMS helps with these tasks.

Then you need to report the eligible hours and calculate labor costs using your fringe rates for the staff – a number that is higher than your payrates.

If you have equipment, then you normally have to show that it also has an operator with the exception of generators, pumps, and light-sets. If it has a seat, windshield, or a handle, FEMA will most likely expect to see an operator.

Force account reimbursement can also reimburse you for materials used from your inventory. Tempest-GEMS links these three together in reports designed by FEMA.

Please share this material with colleagues. Post about us and our efforts on your favorite social media platform. And don’t forget to grab the Labor Reporting Guide to help you get started with FEMA Quest.

Labor Reporting Guide

FEMA Grant Accounting Basics: Setting Up for Labor, Equipment & Material Cost Reporting

14 May 2020 by Christina Moore

Setting Up for Cost Reporting

Do this task once and access the data hundreds to thousands of times, depending upon your grant. It’s a huge timesaver AND maximizes your reimbursement. We’ll take a closer look at Tempest-GEMS and the features you’ll use during the early phases of the FEMA public assistance grant program lifecycle. We aim to show grant management best practices using grant management software.

The FEMA Grants Portal

Today on the 19^th of April 2020, Patriot’s Day in Boston where I was born, I think of what it takes to pull together to overcome adversity. In the recent weeks, we see evidence of conflict and confusion – even within this ensconced process of the FEMA public assistance grant program. We’ll take a look at this together. I observed my own attitudes flipping between the anxiety and worry of No-Timer and the longer view taking by the Old Warrior. Back in the Olden Days, FEMA managed public assistance with electronic spreadsheets. It is not a good solution, but it worked. Spreadsheets destroy collaboration. Millions of problems with version control. There are typos and math problems.

A few years ago, FEMA developed the Grants Portal as a tool to help applicants complete their grants application. This also aids FEMA in reducing their labor costs. FEMA can pool staff to an office to write the scope and step through the approval processes. It’s hugely expensive for FEMA to put human being into communities devastated by disasters. And it increases risks too.

The Grants Portal is not a grant management system designed for the State or applicants. It is a means to complete a grant application in the wake of (or in the middle of) a disaster.

Working Together

Tempest-GEMS is a grants management software that is used by states and by applicants. We built this tool to serve long-term goals such as reimbursement of funds; guidelines on procurement execution; score cards on documentation status. We aim to prevent you from having unsupported costs and give you tools to identify potential duplicate costs. The target for grant management is a successful closeout and recovery of all possible money within the framework of the law and grant rules.

Tempest-GEMS, while it can be bought and provided by a federal agency, is normally provided by a state or territory, or bought by an applicant.

Software serves the needs of the owner. It is not an us or them, “tastes great / less filling” argument. The two systems are not competing. They do different jobs differently.

But in the early days, it can feel like that there are two systems needing data. FEMA Grants Portal works with you to get a completed application and a grant awarded with funds obligated. No grant, no money.

Tempest-GEMS take the long view on close out and reimbursements with guidance on policies.

Two players on the same team.

Assessing the Early Steps

Tempest-GEMS’ strengths:

One: Our software excels at calculating force account labor, equipment, and material costs. Nothing beats us on this process. We generate PDF forms designed by FEMA.

Two: Our software excels at guiding you through the contracting process and helping you identify steps and documents for each.

You have a decision to make. You decide when to start using Tempest-GEMS. Immediately or later. We’ll come back to that in a bit.

To help you assess these early steps, we are going to examine the first steps you’ll take in Tempest-GEMS such as: the employee roster with fringe rates; equipment lists; material lists.

If it were me… I’d use each tool to their strength. I’d capture data in Tempest-GEMS early. I’d need it there for my close out. Tempest-GEMS generates the forms and data needed for the portal. I’ll pull reports from Tempest-GEMS to upload to the portal. And keep working in Tempest-GEMS. Eventually, when the grant is awarded, I’ll make sure that my draft and the final get merged. Then I’ll keep moving!

Force Account Reporting

Cat B grants that fund emergency protective measures tend to involve significant force account labor. The Grants Portal, and the state’s reimbursement process requires accurate and detailed force account labor, equipment, and material reporting.

Labor costs are based on fringe rates as the “FEMA billing rate” and the hours dedicated to completing tasks within the scope of the grant. Sometimes these hours are limited to just overtime. So the hours are a subset of all hours worked. And the billing rate is not the payrate. This means you can’t just hand FEMA your payroll records. You must take additional steps to calculate your labor costs.

Equipment costs must correspond to FEMA equipment schedule authorized for the disaster – typically a year or two prior. They adjust the rates based on fuel costs and inflation. Equipment has a 4 digit code and a pre-determined billing rate.

Databases do this sort of work better than spreadsheets. Why? Databases excel as data integrity with lookups, supporting simultaneous users collaborating. Spreadsheets are a distant second place. PDF forms should not even be in play!

In “How to Prepare to Receive Emergency Funds”, we discussed calculating the Fringe Rate. If you missed that, please go take a look. Also the FEMA PAPPG (“public assistance program policy guide”) provides minimal help but it is defined there.

Employee Rosters

Tempest-GEMS needs your employee roster. Best if this is exported directly from your payroll systems. DO NOT provide social security numbers – or any portion thereof. Do not provide dates of birth. Do not provide home address. Just first name, last names, employee ID number, and the various rates. Storm Petrel provides an upload template in Excel format. Export from your payroll system as a CSV, make the adjustments for rates and format it to match our template. We’ll provide that template in the links, on our website and in our knowledge base.

Your data must be presented to us in our format or we’ll kick it back. We provide the upload service for free. We’re not going to shift your columns around. If you get the columns lined up we can upload hundreds of staff members quickly.

Employee Profile

Let’s take a look at the Employee profile in Tempest-GEMS. Very basic stuff: first name, last names, ID, title, department, exempt/non-exempt, and an unlimited number of rates. No protected confidential information please!

Employee Data Entry Page

We’ll click in and look at the data entry page. Same information, just in a neat web-form. Tab between the fields, or click with your mouse. Blue buttons save and move you through. Red buttons delete. Green buttons add, and grey buttons are benign actions like cancel or back.

Employee Rates

The important bit here are the rates. Tempest-GEMS can accommodate an unlimited number of employee rates. We suggest tagging them with the year to help track raises and such. And yes, if you look at that, the OT and Regular rates look close together. This is because the regular rate is loaded up with fringe costs such as holidays, and benefits. The OT rate has fewer burdens on it, so they come close together.

Applicant Documents

In addition to the Employee Roster, you’ll want to upload key documents such as the fringe rate calculations, personnel policies, overtime policies, and union contracts. These are “Applicant Document” – which means it gets shared with all grants.

Before jumping to the next topic, we’ll take a look at the FEMA Employee Payroll Data report. You’ll find this under grants then grant reports on the menu to the left in the blue. You hit generate, boom, you’re done. Ready to upload to the Grants Portal, or ready to submit as part of your reimbursement packet.

Equipment

We’ll look at equipment now. Traditionally, the FEMA equipment schedule emphasizes stuff needed during weather-based disasters. We’ll see what guidance they have for COVID-19 and the medical equipment. Local government is using equipment during this disaster: police, fire, EMS, digging equipment, refrigerated trucks, and modalities as needed for testing sites, clinics, popup hospitals, and morgue services.

Equipment setup is under the Applicant Menu. The result of your work will link your equipment to the correct FEMA Equipment Rate schedule, tag it with the FEMA Cost Code. And you’ll be ready to print the perfect FEMA Equipment Inventory report for your upload.

FEMA Equipment Schedule & Inventory

The first step is the selection the FEMA Equipment Schedule designated for your disaster. Second, you’ll use our software to find the right item. Type in an Army-style or Government-style – kinda backwards such as Truck, dump. Or just search “dump”. You’ll need to select the line that best matches your equipment. If it isn’t precise, select the smaller one. OIG will ding you for picking the larger one. They did that for Puerto Rico Sewers (PRASA).

This data entry is fast and efficient. It is best that your team does it. Selecting the match is a business decision you make.

FEMA Equipment Inventory Report

When done, you’ll print the FEMA Equipment Inventory which is shown. This is found under the Grants – Grant Reports menu. Make the PDF and upload to the Grants Portal. Another step towards your grant award and a step towards close out!

Tempest-GEMS Guideposts

Part of Tempest-GEMS job is to provide you with guideposts. We want you to expertly know how to manage disaster relief grants. We’ve spent a few minutes discussing the setting up your environment to work along side of the FEMA Grants Portal. Tempest-GEMS is fast and accurate at doing labor and equipment costs. If you do that data entry here, you can export the FEMA reports and do summary data entry in the FEMA Grants Portal.

Let’s take a look at a guidepost. This one informs you about the status of your Applicant data. Here we can see that this Applicant is missing the FIPS code. Oh, and there’s no contact people. Without contact people for the Applicant, the email notification process won’t work.

Below this is a summary of the Applicant’s data; number of employees and equipment. That sort of thing.

Printing FEMA Reports

We’re not engaged in a binary argument with FEMA systems. We work along side,e ach system to their own strength. Our Tempest-GEMS is amazing at close out, compliance, document tracking and financial tracking. We are fast and accurate for calculating labor costs.

Additionally, our data prints on FEMA reports. This make it fast and easy to upload to the FEMA grants portal.

Please share this material with colleagues. Post about us and our efforts on your favorite social media platform. And don’t forget to grab the Hints and Hacks to help you along your FEMA Quest.

FEMA Quest Hints & Hacks

FEMA Small Grants: Are They For You?

12 May 2020 by Christina Moore

FEMA Small Grants

Find out why you really don’t love small grants, but think you do, and avoid the pitfalls. FEMA small grants fall within a special set of rules. It permits a simplified effort with grant management best practices. A FEMA public assistance small grant seems very attractive but may cause problems long term. You decide as we examine the topic in detail. Walking Small trail on the FEMA Quest map is easier than the rough terrain, hazards, and effort of Large grants.

We are providing these materials to you hoping that you can help your community, your organization survive this disaster and wisely execute the mission before you. If you appreciate this presentation, please share it.

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Public Assistance Small Grants Defined

FEMA Public Assistance Small Grants are defined within the Stafford Act and are intended to be a simple, easy way through the process. In 2020, they are capped at $130,000. The number varies. In 2011, the value was about $65,000. Writing a grant costs FEMA money. A few years ago, FEMA estimated the easiest grant to write cost a minimum of $5,000. The Small Grant starts and finishes with the grant application in the FEMA Grants Portal. You supply everything that is needed. You land at $130,000 or less. Your state sends you a check. You are told to keep your documentation available for a while. You’re done. The grant close out process and grant application process were combined to a single effort by FEMA.

But! But, you can’t go back. A Large Grant, those over the threshold allow for the grant size and grant scope to have flexibility. You may request changes. It is intended to cover the costs of your project or mission – y’know within the normal rules for reimbursement.

Drawbacks to Small Projects

The application process for a small grant and large grant are the same. FEMA has been combining projects recently – that’s them doing their thing. FEMA will take your information from one or more applications and generate one or more grants.

Sometimes, FEMA combines several grant applications or projects into one large grant with a series of “site sheets” or sub-projects. This is clever. Separate projects and separate scopes and separate budgets, but within the confines of a Large Project. Hey, if something is off, go make an adjustment. Make a Request of the state to change the dates, add or subtract dollars, modify the scope.

Here’s why I don’t like small projects. You’re done. You got a grant for $100,000 for your activities. Then two months later, you see that you missed the fire department payroll and the police department payroll. And the electronic signs and the 500 cones you bought.

Those are all your costs now. You missed them.

Benfits of Small Grants

The benefits of the small grant. So, what if you miss a dollar here or there? You’re done. Tracking these expenses and uploading documents costs money and time. While FEMA does provide funding for grant management, the trade-off may benefit you. Miss a dollar, gain hours. Yay for you.

It is like a Sunday stroll down Small Trail on the FEMA Quest Map. It’s practically paved!

Small Projects & Tempest-GEMS

So what about Tempest-GEMS and small grants? Me, I’d skip them. But I have entered a few times. Sometimes by entering them in addition to the large projects, I see the whole picture better. It is personal preference. Yes, the law says that you must keep the documents for years. And Tempest-GEMS can do that reliably.

FEMA Public Assistance Small projects fall below a threshold which is $130,000 in April 2020. You do your close out when you do the application in the Grants Portal or with your paper submission.

If you missed money you don’t get to go back to the window and ask for more.

If the money you got is a few dollars more than the actual costs. You keep that.

And you don’t have to spend hours per week keeping up with the long-term grant management effort. That’s a win.

You weight the pluses and minuses. If your aggregated costs are about $100,000 you may not have much of a choice. If your costs are creeping up and past that point, know your options.

Please share this material with colleagues. Post about us and our efforts on your favorite social media platform. And don’t forget to grab the Guide to small projects to help you on your FEMA Quest.

Guide to Small Projects