11/1112018 RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McElhinny RE: West Virginia flood relief Media Query Powell, William Fri 10/26/2018 3:30 PM To:Brad McEIhinny Stoneking, Daniel CczMelancon, David Lipscomb, Lora Lawrence.C.Messina@wv.gov Good afternoon Brad; Thank you again please see below. When did the mandatory manual reimbursement begin? Is it related to the 2016 ?ooding in West Virginia? Or does it pre?date that? Manual reimbursement for West Virginia began in 2015, following identi?cation of issues with sub recipient monitoring for federal grants. West Virginia was put on mandatory reimbursement on January 12, 2016. Is there of?cial documentation that you could direct me toward? As the official letter was sent to West Virginia, I am connecting you here with WV DHSEM Public Information Of?cer Lora Lipscomb and WV Dept. of Military Affairs and Public Safety Communications Lead Larry Messina to assist you. In order to remove the manual reimbursement enforcement action, must: 0 Submit a ?nancial monitoring plan and monitoring schedule for review. The schedule should include recipient name, grants to be reviewed, type of monitoring activity, and the month of the planned monitoring activity. 0 We will select a random sample of sub-recipients from the ?nancial monitoring plan and provide that list to WV From that list of sub-recipients, WV will be responsible for providing the following items: - The request to the sub?recipient initiating the monitoring activity 0 Final report to the sub-recipient after the monitoring activity is complete - Corrective action or follow-up communication (if applicable) Once these items are provided and determined adequate, we will validate implementation of monitoring program at the next scheduled site visit to WV. Only when FEMA is con?dent that the sub-recipient ?nancial monitoring program is fully implemented by WV an there are no new ?ndings for WV regarding sub-recipient monitoring, will we release manual reimbursement on all open FEMA awards administered by the Region. In March of 2016, WV submitted plans for sub-recipient monitoring. FEMA outlined additional questions and concerns in a letter dated April of 2016. The documents provided a start but FEMA asked WV to review and incorporate the cements contained in our letter and work closely with us in order to meet the criteria outlined, not only to meet the requirements to be released for manual reimbursement, but more importantly, to successfully monitor its sub-recipients according to Federal Grant Regulations. . . 116 11I11I2018 RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McElhinny FEMA Region staff met with on a technical assistance visit in November of 2016. In December of 2016, WV submitted revised plans (Grant monitoring guidance and Grant monitoring work plan) based on discussions during that visit. In addition to this submission, WV submitted a monitoring schedule for recipients of Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) sub?recipients. FEMA was still awaiting submission of a schedule that incorporated all open grant awards. On April 21, 2017 we received the latest revision of the ?nancial monitoring schedule for sub-recipients. This latest version of the monitoring schedule was reviewed and discussed during our site visit the week of May 8? 2017. Through those discussions, it was determined that while the schedule was not developed based on a risk assessment, WV is intentionally focusing on sub-recipients of Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG) since this was a pilot year for the program and EMPG awards are seen as the best award to train new staff on monitoring protocols and best practices. With that information, we approved the monitoring schedule and asked WV to please provide a copy of the FY2018 monitoring schedule, developed based on a risk assessment, no later than January 31, 2018. In October of 2017, WV submitted the latest revision of the ?nancial monitoring schedule for sub-recipients. After a few requests for additional information, we found that the FY18 Financial Monitoring Plan and WV Grant Monitoring Risk Assessment Policy and Procedure to be acceptable. We then selected the following sub-recipients to review: WV Division of Highways (PA) (site visit scheduled May 2018) Logan (site Visit scheduled July 2018) Logan (PA) (site visit scheduled July 2018) Raleigh (site visit scheduled for September 2018) State of WV School Building Authority (site visit scheduled September 2018) Please provide the following items from the monitoring activities for the above listed sub-recipients: 1. The request to the sub-recipient initiating the monitoring activity (received, reviewed and accepted) 2. Final Report to the sub?recipient after the monitoring activity is complete 3. Corrective Action or Follow-up communication (if applicable) This remains an open issue until all sub?recipient monitoring products are submitted to us as directed in the letter, no later than October 31, 2018. How common is this situation? I'd like to give it context. Manual reimbursement is based on the 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 200, as well as described in the Of?ce of Management and Budget (OMB) super circular. Speci?cally, manual reimbursement is described in 2 CFR 200.338 Remedies for noncompliance: ?If a non-Federal entity fails to comply with Federal statutes, regulations or the terms and conditions of a Federal award, the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity may impose additional conditions, as described in ?200.207 Specific conditions. If the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity determines that noncompliance cannot be remedied by imposing additional conditions, the Federal awarding agency or pass- through entity may take one or more of the following actions, as appropriate in the circumstances: Temporarily withhold cash payments pending correction of the de?ciency by the non-Federal entity or more severe enforcement action by the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity. Disallow (that is, deny both use of funds and any applicable matching credit for) all or part of the cost of the activity or action not in compliance. Wholly or partly suspend or terminate the Federal award. Initiate suspension or debarment proceedings as authorized under 2 CFR part 180 and Federal awarding agency regulations (or in the case of a pass-through entity, recommend such a proceeding be deOC1 . . 2l6 1111112018 RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McElhinny initiated by a Federal awarding agency). Withholdfurrher Federal awards for the project or program. Take other remedies that may be legally available. 2 CFR 200, and the OMB documents, apply to all federal grants and requirements after December 2015; grants from before are covered under 44 CFR Section 13.43 vol 0-tit1e44-voll ?sec 1 3 -43 FEMA cannot speak to the application across other grant programs and federal agencies, but this is the ?rst instance Region has put a grant recipient on manual reimbursement. Thank you. -Will From: Brad McEIhinny Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 2:36 PM To: Powell, William Stoneking, Daniel Cc: Melancon, David Subject: Re: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Hello and thank you. Would you entertain some followup questions? When did the mandatory manual reimbursement begin? Is it related to the 2016 ?ooding in West Virginia? Or does it pre-date that? Is there of?cial documentation that you could direct me toward? How common is this situation? I'd like to give it context. Thank you, Brad From: Powell, William Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 2:25 PM To: Brad McElhinny; Stoneking, Daniel Cc: Melancon, David Subject: RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Good afternoon Brad; Thank you again for reaching out and for your patience. You may attribute the below to a FEMA spokesperson. West Virginia is currently on mandatory manual reimbursement for all grant programs administered by FEMA Region This was an enforcement action from a corrective action plan resulting from the lack of sub-recipient monitoring. West Virginia is aware of the deliverables necessary to have the manual reimbursement action . RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McElhinny removed. There have been discrepancies that have been found related to payments to subrecipients, however, FEMA continues to engage with the State and provide technical assistance to help mitigate that risk. Thank you. -Will From: Brad McElhinny Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 3:22 PM To: Powell, William Stoneking, Daniel Cc: Melancon, David Subject: Re: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Thank you! Brad From: Powell, William Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 3:16 PM To: Stoneking, Daniel; Brad McElhinny Cc: Melancon, David Subject: RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Hi Brad; Thank you for your patience we are still con?rming details but I will get back to you tomorrow morning with information on the below. Best, Will Powell From: Stoneking, Daniel Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 10:35 AM To: Brad McElhinny Cc: Powell, William Melancon, David Subject: Re: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Hi Brad, Will or I will respond as soon as possible. Dan Dan Stoneking Director, External Affairs FEMA Region deOC1 . .. 4/6 1111112018 RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McElhinny From: Brad McElhinny Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 10:30:03 AM To: Stoneking, Daniel Subject: Re: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Hello Daniel, Brad McElhinny with West Virginia MetroNews, just following up. Do you have any knowledge about whether West Virginia is subject to a full corrective action plan and/or mandatory manual reimbursements? Has FEMA had any concerns about discrepancies of what should be reimbursable out of West Virginia's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management? From: Stoneking, Daniel Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2018 7:40 AM To: Brad McElhinny Subject: RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query Brad, Sorry for the delay. I just wanted to touch base with our leadership on the ground before I responded. We have a consistent and healthy communication relationship with the State of West Virginia. In fact, we have partnered with them previously and, in fact, we have a Recovery Of?ce in Charleston, WV, where we continue to collaborate on the recovery from the ?ooding in June, 2016. So, our coordination is more seasoned than just the ?ooding that has ?ared up this year. FEMA leadership has met with both state and federal of?cials on a number of occasions concerning the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, only as it relates to our Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and the ability to use CDBG-DR funding, under Global Match, to meet some of the non-federal matching funds under the HMGP. mission, role and authority do not extend to how the State administers other federal grant programs, except to maximize the State?s ability to leverage federal dollars to the best meet the needs of survivors and communities within the State. I am con?dent that the WV Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management would be happy to discuss not only the pace of administering funds, but some of the necessary processes and safeguards as well. Dan Dan Stoneking Director, External Affairs FEMA Region (215) 931-5614 Media Desk: (215) 931-5597 Media Desk Email: femar3newsdesk@fema.dhs.g? Congressional Inquiry Email: From: Brad McElhinny Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2018 7:21 PM 5/6 11I1112018 RE: West Virginia ?ood relief Media Query - Brad McEIhinny To: Tierney, MaryAnn Subject: West Virginia ?ood relief Hello. I am Brad McElhinny, a reporter with West Virginia MetroNews. Some issues with ?ood relief in West Virginia have ?ared up the past couple of weeks, and I'm trying to get my bearings. I am interested in whether FEMA believes West Virginia is administering funds at an acceptable pace. It seems HUD has had some concerns. I'm particularly wondering if your of?ce had communication to the Governor's Of?ce in January over FEMA concerns about the state's spending, its management of funds and case management systems for distributing aid. I hope you can let me know. My number at work is 304?342?8131 ext. 664. Here are a gupl_e of Mg; I've written recently. Thank you, Brad deOC1 .. . 6/6