Yes, You Have a Role in Disaster and Emergency Response!

By Tom Johnson, publisher, Set-Aside Alert

      It doesn’t matter whether you move dirt or provide computers and communication services, whether you bottle water or remediate hazardous materials, or whether you create web-based applications or sell electrical generators, there’s likely a role for you in this year’s series of catastrophes.

      And it doesn’t matter where in the country you are located, as we’ve seen the West Coast, the mountains, the southern and eastern shores, the Midwest, and the Eastern seaboard suffer through fires, drought, storm surges, tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding and everything else.

      Rest assured, there is a role for your company and probably some government contracts to evaluate in the aftermath of natural disasters. But like most government contracts, it’s necessary to register in the right places, monitor future opportunities, get ahead of the game with MATOCs (Multiple-Award Task Order Contract) and understand how federal moneys get passed down through states for disbursement.

      The Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are the lead agencies that go in to disaster areas on a quick-reaction basis. They set up shelters and temporary housing, provide disaster loans to small businesses, bring in food and water and process paperwork under tenuous conditions. And these may represent opportunities for your company to:

1. most importantly, to help alleviate loss, damage, suffering and despair; and
2. provide enhancements to your company reputation, satisfaction to your team, engagement with new partners and recognition in the small business community.

      Government agencies put together response teams and the necessary equipment and supplies for disaster rescue and recovery. Long-range planning and advance training are essential. To enable this rapid response, agencies have IDIQ term contracts in place for on-call assistance. Where can you find opportunities to participate? FEMA

      The Homeland Security Dept.’s FEMA Industry Liaison Program is responsible for maintaining a repository of information about companies willing and able to mount quick responses.

      Other opportunities cover assistance in transporting, installing, maintaining and decommissioning manufactured housing units. FEMA maintains an inventory, ready for use. However, they need to be moved to the location of need, and prior to their arrival, site work and other preparations are needed to make them habitable.

      It’s easy to fill out and submit the FEMA program’s 1-page Vendor Profile (https://bit.ly/3BPU0A7). FEMA does this in response to the Stafford Act requirement to create a “registry of disaster response contractors.”

      Filling out the Vendor Profile is very straightforward. There is no need to hire a consultant or third party to handle this task. You should already be registered in SAM (www.sam.gov) and you should enter the comparable data into the Vendor Profile form.

     The registry is used to pinpoint your primary and alternate points of contact for emergency work and to document your past experience with FEMA. It is also used to publicize industry days, set up vendor meetings, and determine if you have an existing GSA schedule contract or other contract for rapid ordering. You should submit the form and request a meeting with an Industry Liaison Program representative. A wide variety of products and services will be needed so you are asked to enter up to five NAICS codes identifying your business.

      Once your Vendor Profile is completed and submitted, look in the Opportunities section of SAM.gov for current and past solicitations from FEMA for emergency response requirements. If you are unable to cover all the requirements, check to see if there is an Interested Vendor List to see who might be bidding, and also list your company there. Reach out for teaming and subcontracting contacts that can help you get a place on the winning team. SBA

      The SBA has teams in its disaster assistance and loans operations, which are dispatched to incident locations as needed. SBA sets up Disaster Loan Outreach offices locally, either in local government facilities or temporary quarters. Assigned personnel often require housing, food services, electricity, computer equipment, furniture and related supplies and services to enable them to do their work. Army Corps of Engineers

      The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for managing clean-up, environmental remediation, and temporary and permanent construction efforts (http://goo.gl/1Wp6Gp) whenever natural disasters occur near shorelines and waterways. After Hurricane Sandy, for instance, the Corps in conjunction with the US Coast Guard put out major contracts for rubble removal, shoring up of seawalls and beaches, repair of government facilities and other response requirements. Note especially with the Corps that rapid-response MATOCs are developed in advance of events in areas prone to regular disasters. Other Agencies

      Numerous other federal agencies must be prepared and ready to respond to catastrophes:

• The Labor Dept. provides information on unemployment benefits and assistance with retraining in impacted communities. --The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID is the nation’s logistical support center for wildfire response;
• EPA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the FBI and Coast Guard are set up to respond within two hours of being notified of an incident. Training, planning, preparation, and prepositioning are done in advance.

      Finally, all agencies have continuity-of-operations plans and procedures for their own offices, and many of these have been developed by small businesses under set-aside contracts.

Tom Johnson is the publisher of Set-Aside Alert. He can be reached at tjohnson@setasidealert.com.

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