Request for Federal Assistance
for Disaster Recovery

Build Back Better
Puerto Rico
November 2017

Ricardo Rosselló
Governor of Puerto Rico

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November 13, 2017
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
The President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I thank you again for your leadership and action on the emergency supplemental
package that you signed into law on October 26th, 2017. That package
represented a critical first step by your Administration and Congress to address
the most immediate emergency needs in Puerto Rico. As you are aware, much
more remains to be done in order to stabilize Puerto Rico and set the island on a
path to full recovery and reconstruction.
The scale and scope of the catastrophe in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria knows no historic precedent. The island-wide devastation
presents an extraordinary challenge to the American citizens of Puerto Rico, our
local government and to the Federal government. A challenge that I am certain we
can overcome together, as the United States is the undeniable world leader in
disaster response and the resolve of the people of Puerto Rico is strong.
As you know, the devastation in Puerto Rico has strained resources beyond
FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) and associated programs. To support the
resiliency and mitigation efforts necessary for the reconstruction phase of Puerto
Rico, we are calling upon your administration to request an emergency
supplemental appropriation bill that addresses our unique unmet needs with
strength and expediency.
Specifically, the people of Puerto Rico respectfully request that Congress provide
$30 billion within the FEMA DRF to recover critical infrastructure; $46 billion to
restore housing and economic viability through the Community Development
Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program; and $17.9 billion in other
Federal grant programs for long term recovery with the intent to reconstruct a
stronger, more resilient Puerto Rico.

 In addition, based on the per capita financial impacts of our recovery efforts
across the island, consistent with the historical precedents of Hurricanes Andrew
and Katrina, Puerto Rico requests Congressional authorization of 100% funding
for Stafford Act Programs. With the required use of the Section 428 of the
Stafford Act for Permanent Work under FEMA, the overall Public Assistance
funding will be capped to the mutually agreed upon estimates. Furthermore,
additional funding will be needed through the Community Disaster Loan Program
(CDL) to overcome the liquidity needs of the Government of Puerto Rico and our
local municipalities. Data on the amounts needed from this funding source will
be provided to your Administration and to Congress as soon as it becomes
available.
This is a transformative moment in the history of Puerto Rico. We recognize that
your leadership, along with that of leaders from both parties, will be essential to
our recovery, and the future economic and fiscal health of the island. To that end,
we are committed to fully engaging leaders from the private sector and NonGovernmental Organizations in the design and implementation of this rebuilding
program. We will Build Back Better, not just in terms of the physical and economic
reconstruction of the island, but through a true public-private partnership with a
process that is open, transparent and accountable to our community, to the
Federal government and the American people, who are showing such tremendous
and heartfelt support for our efforts.
With sustained federal assistance and your leadership and support, I am
confident that in time the people of Puerto Rico will recover and grow stronger
than ever.
Sincerely,
R i c a r d o Ro s s e l l ó
Governor of Puer to Rico

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Needless to say, these numbers do not capture the depth and breadth of the Puerto
Ricans’ suffering. Power outages and the decimation of cell tower capability prevent
regular communication or access to wireless internet services. Damage to roads and
bridges and blockages caused by debris continue to render the hardest-hit areas of the
island virtually inaccessible. Hospitals operate at a reduced capacity at a time when
health services are most needed. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are
displaced and most children have not yet returned to school. All levels of government,
as well as the police and fire departments, are hampered by the destruction of their
buildings and infrastructure. The hurricanes also robbed thousands of Puerto Ricans of
their livelihoods. Manufacturing, agriculture and tourism, pillars of the Puerto Rican
economy, will be devastated for years. And the fabric of Puerto Rico’s communities has
been torn, as tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans left the island to escape their posthurricane hardships.
The task ahead is as daunting as it is urgent, and recovery cannot be accomplished
unless Puerto Rico receives substantial federal assistance. In this Request for
Supplemental Appropriations, Puerto Rico is requesting a total of $94.4 billion, targeted
in the areas where assistance is most needed.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico, bringing sustained winds well in
excess of 150 miles per hour, heavy rains, and catastrophic flooding the likes of which
the island had never seen before. The storms caused nearly complete devastation,
including the catastrophic failure of the Island’s power grid, water and wastewater
infrastructure, and communications networks. The economy of the island ground to a
halt in the face of physical damages, loss of supporting infrastructure, and the absence
of power and water. Roads and bridges failed or were blocked by debris across the
island, leaving communities stranded and unable to obtain life-saving aid, food, water
and medicine for a period of weeks. More than 472,000 housing units were destroyed or
experienced major damages, forcing hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans to seek
refuge in shelters and the homes of family and friends. The agricultural sector was
devastated, with near total destruction of the sector’s infrastructure and loss of almost
80% of planted crops. Even today, approximately 60% of the island is still without power,
and until recently 70% of the potable water is either unavailable or has yet to be
certified as safe to drink, hundreds of schools have yet to reopen, and thousands of
businesses are closed or have limited operations including the pharma manufacturing
industry, which may cause serious shortages of drugs supplies in the US inasmuch as
pharmaceutical products made in Puerto Rico account for nearly 10 percent of all drugs
consumed by Americans.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

Requested Amount by Category

Housing 531.068.532.671
Power Grid and Resiliency 517.789.375.000
Health and Healthcare 514.946.507.962
Agriculture 52.076.500.000
Social Services $288,262,193
Economic Development 53.194.677.600
Communications Infrastructure 51.500.000.000
Roads 8: Bridges 54.497.725.000
Ports and Airports 51.345.700.000
Public Building Revitalization $153,100,000
Water and Water Control Facilities 51.280.822.003
Sanitary Sewer and Storm Drainage 51.409.716.413
Education and Schools 58.413.208.822
Environment and Natural Resources 51.581.050.000
Public Safety First Response Coordination $486,990,571
Long-Term Recovery Management and Coordination 59,000,000
Cost Share 54.358.445.905

Grand Total: 594.399.614.140

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Requested Amount by Funding Source
CDBG‐DR

$46,052,313,558

DOL

$55,000,000

DOT

$1,696,925,000

EDA

$228,750,000

EPA

$300,000

FAA

$540,000,000

HHS

$11,364,232,225

HM

$2,150,000,000

HSGP

$4,866,000

PA

$28,237,727,357
$126,000,000

USACE

$1,830,000,000

USDA

$2,080,500,000

USFWS
.

$33,000,000
Grand Total

$94,399,614,140

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SSBG

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 ENSURING TRANSPARENCY AND STRONG FINANCIAL
CONTROLS

An extraordinary demonstration of this commitment is found in the recent creation of the Central
Recovery and Reconstruction Office of Puerto Rico. The need to coordinate across the traditional
agencies of government and the commitment to strengthen financial controls and the oversight of
the recovery process led the Governor to issue an Executive Order establishing the Office that has
been established with all necessary authority, powers and capability to: (a) identify, procure and
administer all state, federal and/or private resources for recovery; (b) direct and coordinate
efforts and activities of the Government of Puerto Rico related to the recovery; (c) fund and
execute recovery and related infrastructure projects; and (d) advise the Governor and provide
technical assistance to other entities across the Government related to recovery efforts, as
required. This new office will provide the centralized oversight and financial controls that the
Government of Puerto Rico and the U.S. taxpayer expect for the recovery effort. It will also ensure
the Government can implement reconstruction efforts with efficiency and transparency, and
capitalize on opportunities to build back in a manner that makes Puerto Rico better, smarter,
stronger, and more resilient.
The operation of this Office will also centralize the recovery procurement activities of the
Government so that additional controls can be implemented to ensure those actions will be in full
compliance with Federal and state requirements, approached with consistency, occur under the
watchful eye of procurement experts, and are consistent with purchasing process best practices.
It will ensure that all procurements are performed in a manner that achieve full and open
competition and will make public information about procurement decisions available to the public.
Puerto Rico is committed to implementing specialized tools, expanding the use of expert
consultants and accounting support, utilizing proven grants management systems to support the
program and financial management funding requirements that provide accountability to the
island’s recovery investment. A program that provides technical assistance to state agencies,
municipalities, and other recipients of recovery funds is being implemented to increase
awareness of financial and programmatic requirements and to assist with documentation
management. Puerto Rico has engaged and is leveraging best practices from states such as
Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Florida from past disasters. The Government will continue
engaging with FEMA and other federal agencies, including with their respective Offices of
Inspectors General, as it designs and implements programs and spends resources. Puerto Rico
will also be developing and implementing processes, procedures, and protocols designed to
manage the significant funding that is expected to be made available in the aftermath of the
hurricanes to permit the Government to monitor those implementation efforts, ensure legal,
regulatory, and policy compliance and ensure the appropriate use of funds.
Finally, Puerto Rico is planning to create a Recovery Transparency Portal that will track the status
of recovery and provide information to the public about how and where funds are being used.
This will provide transparency related to the recovery effort, and will support a regimen and
culture of accountability.

ENSURING TRANSPARENCY AND STRONG FINANCIAL CONTROL

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico recognizes that the commitment of
funding from Congress necessitates an equal commitment from Puerto Rico to manage those
funds with great efficiency, transparency, and accountability. The Governor and his entire
Administration are dedicated to delivering on this promise, and the appropriate organizational
structures, controls and processes are being put in place to protect the federal investment in the
recovery.

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 DISASTER SUMMARY
Hurricanes Irma and Maria dealt a devastating blow to Puerto Rico, resulting in the largest and
most complex disaster response and recovery effort in U.S. history. Hurricane Irma skirted the
northern coast of the Island from September 6-7, 2017 as a Category 5 storm, causing significant
flooding, regional power and water outages, and other significant impacts. Before response
operations had even concluded however, an even more devastating Hurricane Maria slammed into
Puerto Rico on September 20, making a direct strike as a strong Category 4 storm and causing
widespread devastation and destruction the likes of which the island has never seen.
Maria represented a “worst case scenario” for Puerto Rico, tracking east-to-west across the island
and leaving no one and no thing untouched. Within a matter of hours, 100% of Puerto Rico’s
population, economy, critical infrastructure, social service network, healthcare system, and even
the government became casualties of the storm. All power was lost across the Island as a direct
result of the catastrophic failure of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA’s)
transmission and distribution infrastructure to the point that experts estimate it could take as long
as a year to bring even temporary power back to all Island households and businesses. This
produced a cascading effect that impacted critical infrastructure and services that relied on power
to operate (such as airports, seaports, hospitals, water systems, communications networks, hotels,
traffic and street lights, etc.), plunged homes and businesses across the Island into darkness, and
caused a devastating blow to Puerto Rico’s fragile economy – an impact that continues to be felt
throughout the island even today and that is expected to last for many years.

In addition, both storms also created a severe threat to public health and safety – a condition that
continues to this day. Hurricane Maria produced more than 6.2 million cubic yards of both
vegetative and construction and demolition debris across Puerto Rico, impacting transportation,
restricting access to hard-hit areas, and creating an environment that is ideal for rodent infestation
and the spread of disease. Nearly all of the water and wastewater treatment plants in Puerto Rico
were rendered inoperable, resulting in the release of millions of gallons of untreated waste into the
environment. Furthermore, many hospitals and primary care facilities were forced to close, nursing
homes were left without power or resources, the social service “safety net” fell apart, and basic
resources such as clean and potable water, food and medicine became scarce and turned the
emergency on the island into a humanitarian crisis.

DISASTER SUMMARY

The powerful winds, storm surge and localized flooding from Hurricane Maria caused significant
damage or even complete destruction of over 472,000 housing units across Puerto Rico. This has
forced hundreds of thousands of island residents to seek shelter in hotels, with friends and family
or in congregate shelters. The magnitude of housing losses produced a housing emergency
throughout the island due to the insufficient remaining housing stock to shelter all of those who
have lost or have been forced out of their homes. This reality, added to the power and water
outages, forced tens of thousands of Puerto Rico residents to flee to the continental United States,
further impacting the island’s ability to recovery and rebuild its communities and economy.

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 DISASTER SUMMARY
More than six weeks after Hurricane Maria struck the island, both Puerto Rico and its federal
counterparts remain heavily focused on response activities to protect public health and safety and
meet basic needs. In fact, the Irma and Maria disasters represent the longest period of joint
federal and state life saving and sustaining response operations to a natural disaster in U.S.
history. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Emergency assistance is having an impact, and
the provision of generators and temporary work is beginning to stabilize conditions on the island.

DISASTER SUMMARY

As the focus turns from response to recovery, the scale of the devastation also provides Puerto Rico
and the United States Government with an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild portions of the
island’s infrastructure, housing, and economy in a way that makes Puerto Rico stronger, smarter,
safer, better, and more resilient than before. Due to the unparalleled and widespread devastation,
the disaster recovery period in Puerto Rico represents a chance to “begin again” and rethink the
design of major components of the Island’s critical infrastructure, invest in the quality and
survivability of its housing stock and public buildings, and restructure, modernize and reform how it
delivers basic services to its residents. Puerto Rico can also improve its resiliency and
sustainability to protect the federal and state investment in the recovery and produce benefits for
the island’s residents for generations to come. To achieve these goals, however, the people of
Puerto Rico will need assistance above and beyond that available from FEMA. This is the basis for
this Request for Supplemental Appropriations.

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 OVERVIEW OF PUERTO RICO
AND RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH
Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States located in the Caribbean approximately 1,030
miles southeast of Miami, FL. Puerto Rico has an area of approximately 3,500 square miles and
a population estimated at 3.41 million by the United States Census Bureau as of July 1, 2016.
Puerto Rico, one of the largest economies in the Caribbean, offers a stable legal and regulatory
framework where major U.S. and foreign multi-national corporations have historically operated,
benefiting from its favorable investment environment. The economy includes a sophisticated
financial system, has a high concentration of pharmaceutical and life sciences manufacturing,
biotechnology, medical devices, agriculture, rum, aerospace, and electronics and contains
strong consumer, retail and service sectors.

Population
Land Area
Currency
Language
GDP Per Capita (USD, Current terms)

3.41 million
8,959 sq. km
US Dollar (USD)
Spanish, English
$30,516

However, the Government of Puerto Rico, its agencies, public corporations and instrumentalities
(the “Government”) are currently facing the unprecedented devastation caused by Hurricanes
Irma and Maria. In addition, the Government had embarked on profound fiscal adjustments that
limits the amount of reconstruction funds from its own government sources.

OVERVIEW OF PUERTO RICO AND RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH

KEY PUERTO RICO FACTS 2016

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 The Government of Puerto Rico has a strong foundation to effectively receive and deploy
infrastructure funds and capital. The devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria places the
highest level of urgency on the need to effectively fund and invest in critical infrastructure. For
this, the Government’s aligned policies to encourage infrastructure investment together with
coordinated Federal efforts conform a solid foundation for infrastructure reconstruction. Puerto
Rico’s strong Private Public Partnership (“P3”) framework, one of the most comprehensive in the
U.S., together with close inter-agency coordination, and effective and transparent funds
monitoring promises to be a powerful combination to accelerate and deliver transformative
reconstruction in Puerto Rico’s infrastructure. In fact, no other state has offered innovative
infrastructure delivery tools such as P3s to be part of the entire ‘tool box’ to fund, invest, deliver
and monitor infrastructure reconstruction like Puerto Rico is proposing.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria represented a devastating blow to Puerto Rico. However, the
Government is committed to maximize funding opportunities and have a comprehensive
foundation which will effectively and efficiently deploy, fund, invest in, and execute much needed
infrastructure projects.

OVERVIEW OF PUERTO RICO AND RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH

OVERVIEW OF PUERTO RICO AND RECONSTRUCTION
APPROACH

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