Fiscal Year 2022 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Congressional Community Projects

Available Funding

Cost Share

Eligibility

Requirements

Deadlines

Project List

More Resources

On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, authorizing funding for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant program. 

Communities with projects identified for funding must submit an application for their grants in accordance with the Fiscal Year 2022 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Congressional Community Projects funding opportunities published on Grants.gov.

View the FY22 "Congressionally Directed Spending" Fact Sheet

For Fiscal Year 2022, the total amount of funds that are being made available to 68 congressionally directed projects is $153,922,408.

A non-federal cost share is required for all subapplications funded through the Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant program. The non-federal cost share may consist of cash, donated or third-party in-kind services, materials, or any combination thereof. The cost share information is as follows:

• Generally, the cost share is 75% federal and 25% non-federal cost share.
• Small, impoverished communities are eligible for up to 90% federal cost share and 10% non-federal cost share for their mitigation planning and project subapplications in accordance with the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
• Small impoverished communities are defined as having 3,000 or fewer individuals identified by the applicant that is economically disadvantaged, with residents having an average per capita annual income not exceeding 80% of the national per capita income.

Only states, territories, or federally recognized tribal governments with identified by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act and enumerated in the accompanying Joint Explanatory Statement for Division F are identified in this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) and are eligible to apply.

Each state, territory or federally recognized tribal nation with a project identified in the Pre-Disaster Mitigation funding opportunity shall designate one agency to serve as the applicant for funding. Each applicant’s designated agency may submit only one Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant application to FEMA.

Local governments, including cities, townships, counties, special district governments, and tribal governments (including federally recognized tribes who choose to apply as subapplicants) that are identified in the funding opportunity are considered subapplicants and must submit subapplications to their state or territory applicant agency. Any tribal government identified in the NOFO that chooses to apply as a subapplicant must submit its application through the appropriate state applicant agency. For more information, contact the appropriate State Hazard Mitigation Officer.

Management costs are eligible for Pre-Disaster Mitigation funding in accordance with the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance. A maximum of up to 10% of FY 2022 Pre-Disaster Mitigation funds awarded may be retained by the recipient and any funds retained are to be used solely for management and administration purposes associated with the award. Subrecipients may also use up to 5% of the FY 2022 Pre-Disaster Mitigation funds awarded to them by the recipient to be used solely for management and administration purposes associated with the award.

When applying for Hazard Mitigation Assistance funding, all programmatic requirements must be met. FEMA has listed several requirements below as a quick reference, but it is encouraged to refer to the funding opportunity for a full list of all requirements.

All applicants and subapplicants must have a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan by the application deadline and at the time of the obligation of funds, unless the subapplicant is applying for a planning subgrant.

The mitigation projects submitted with the application must be consistent with the goals and objectives identified in the existing FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan. Interested applicants and subapplicants should contact their State Hazard Mitigation Officer for guidance if they do not have a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan.

FEMA may grant an exception to the local hazard mitigation plan requirement in extraordinary circumstances, when adequate justification is provided. If this exception is granted, a local hazard mitigation plan must be approved by FEMA within 12 months of the award of the project subgrant to that community.

Cost Effectiveness

All applicants and subapplicants applying for mitigation projects must demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of the mitigation project through a Benefit-Cost Analysis or other documentation. The Benefit-Cost Analysis is the method of estimating the future benefits of a project compared to its cost. FEMA has created a Benefit-Cost Analysis Toolkit that must be used to determine project cost-effectiveness. Please use the Benefit-Cost Analysis Toolkit found on the FEMA website.

Technical Feasibility and Effectiveness Requirements

Mitigation projects must be both feasible and effective at mitigating the risks of the hazard(s) for which the project was designed. A project’s feasibility is demonstrated through conformance with accepted engineering practices, established codes, standards, modeling techniques, or best practices. Effective mitigation measures must provide a long-term or permanent solution to a risk from a natural hazard.

Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation Requirement

All mitigation projects must comply with all applicable Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related Department of Homeland Security and FEMA instructions and directives. FEMA encourages the use of other supporting guidance that can be used to ensure all environmental requirements, including the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Job Aids.

To apply for funding made available to these congressional community projects through the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program, applicants must adhere to the following application submission and funding deadlines:

Eligible applicants must apply for funding using the Mitigation eGrants system on the FEMA Grants Portal: https://portal.fema.gov.

Applicants experiencing technical problems outside of their control must notify FEMA prior to the application deadline and within 48 hours after the applicant becomes aware of the issue.

The application review process begins following the application submission deadline. FEMA will review subapplications submitted by each applicant to ensure all eligibility requirements have been met and there is compliance with the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance.

Period of Performance (POP):

• Start Date: Will vary by award; all awards must be made by Sept. 30, 2022. While all funds must be obligated before Sept.30, 2022, they will not be disbursed until all the Hazard Mitigation Assistance program requirements have been met, such as compliance with the Environmental and Historic Preservation requirements.
• End Date: 36 months from the start date of the receipt’s federal award

In addition to the funding opportunity published on Grants.gov, FEMA encourages the following additional resources be used for assistance in applying for funding:

• Notice of Funding Opportunity FY22 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Congressional Community Projects Webinar
• Pre-Disaster Mitigation webpage
• Hazard Mitigation Assistance Guidance
• Hazard Mitigation Assistance Job Aids

• HMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Office Hours
• Environmental and Historic Preservation (EHP) Review: Office Hours

If you require further assistance after navigating the resources above, please contact FEMA by email at FEMA-Ask-PDM@fema.dhs.gov.