Financial Operations Emergency Relief Procedure iHUB-F-Financial Management-Financial Ops – Program Accounting – Financial Operations Emergency Relief Procedure Presentation July 2013

WHY? An important part of the process that gets overlooked is the financial end. Without proper records of the work completed, FHWA will NOT reimburse expenses for Emergency or Permanent work. The complication is that for a normal MnDOT project CO technical support takes care of the paperwork. For ER they may not.

EMERGENCY RELIEF COSTING FHWA will cover expenses of repairing serious damage to Federal-aid highways resulting from natural disasters or catastrophic failures. Temporary operations including emergency repairs and protective measures undertaken during, or immediately following, the occurrence of a disaster are eligible for reimbursement. These operations resulting from a natural disaster or catastrophic failure are for the following purposes: – To reduce the extent of damage – To protect remaining facilities – To restore essential travel The distance between damage sites should be no greater than 1/2 mile. If it is greater than 1/2 mile, a new project needs to be assigned.

Project Numbers—State Aid Project numbers will be assigned in the district by DSAE or Assistant. Number will be based on the normal State Aid numbering system. Will need one number for emergency work and one for permanent work. Locals need to work within their accounting and costing systems to keep track of expenses for each damaged site.

State Aid Payroll, & Equipment, Materials etc. Keep track on a per site basis however works for the particular agency. Records need to be understandable to others.

DDIR timing Programmatic agreement states that DDIRs will be submitted within 12 weeks of emergency repairs. Emergency repairs must be completed within 180 days of event. DDIRs must be approved, environmental review completed and authorization approved before permanent repairs can be commenced.

Authorization Authorization is federal permission to begin expending funds. Emergency and concurrent permanent repairs the normal rules are excepted and repair can be done prior to authorization. Permanent repairs MUST BE AUTHORIZED prior to work being advertised for bid.

PPMS Internal MnDOT project management system. ALL EMERGENCY AND PERMANENT repair sp numbers MUST BE in PPMS for the project to be authorized. This must be done in the District and funding information provided to OCPPM.

Final Inspection Report For Emergency Repairs final inspection report can be completed at the same time as DDIR. Must be completed within 12 weeks of the Emergency Repair. Inspection Report at: accounting/index.html For Permanent Repairs final inspection report must be completed with the final construction documents.

State Aid Fund Transfer Process for Emergency Projects Finance receives federally authorized project documents for both MnDOT and State Aid. Finance makes payment based on final invoices submitted for each location. MnDOT receives reimbursement from FHWA. Finance closes federal project.

Final Process(Federal Aid Finance) Receive partial/final invoice from State Aid Finance or final contract documents from District. Receive backup documents from State Aid Project Development Engineer (file) and District. Review invoices/final contract and backup documentation. Prepare and submit final to FHWA. Close Project.

FHWA ER Funds Projects must be authorized by September 30 two years after the date of the event. – IE: Event is June 20, 2013 – Authorization before September 30, 2015

State Aid Disaster Fund Process is outlined in the rules. Separate and distinct from ER process.

Emergency Bonds Process and rules depend on what is put into statute if any special legislation is passed for an event.

Our Goal is: Quick efficient reimbursement of emergency expenses. Old process poorly defined. We feel that paperwork efficiencies and the programmatic agreement move us in a better direction. The core team has agreed there may be revisions after the first disaster but….

Questions?