Orange County Disaster Recovery Grants Program Management

Orange County, Texas was deluged by over 60 inches of rain in a four-day period as a result of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. This coastal county that borders Louisiana of over 80,000 people lost over 25,000 homes and many businesses were affected. Trigon was a major subcontractor supporting this program to perform activities associated with the application and management of all federal and state recovery grant programs. This included but was not limited to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey (FEMA #D-4332), HUD/CDBG-DR, FEMA, and all future emergencies declared as disasters, and other disaster recovery grant programs as needed by Orange County Texas. Services provided include all application efforts, grant administration, grant management, and project management activities associated with the awarded grants. Projects included Housing Elevation and Buyout Programs, Street and Drainage Infrastructure Projects and repairing damaged County and Drainage District Facilities to include Improved Relocation of several critical facilities and utilizing the FEMA 428 program to repair/improved County Parks.

Specifically, services included the following:

Grant Management:
• Compliant administration of all aspects of federal and state disaster and mitigation grants per the rules, regulations, and contractual agreements of the County, State, and federal agencies.
• Assist the County in preparing applications for various State and federal funding sources
• Prepare requests for reimbursement from the County to the State
• Prepare all required reports to the State
• Assist the County in maintaining grant files and assist in any conducted audits
• Prepare reconciliation reports with State on grant funds
• Prepare all reports and forms required for grant closeouts
• Regularly meet, communicate with and report to local officials
• Attend any required meetings to support the grants as requested by the County, to include the County, the public, the State, USACE, funding agencies and private sourced funders, permitting authorities, contractors and subcontractors

Program Delivery:
• Assist the County in identifying, prioritizing, and developing projects that are eligible for funding
• Provide project plans and timelines for implementation of awarded projects
• Assist the County in scope development for project delivery
• Assist the County with oversight and monitoring progress of the contracted design engineers, contractors, and environmental service providers
• Assist the County in developing public messaging and conducting public meetings
• Assist the County in developing corrective action plans for service providers (engineers, contractors, or environmental providers) to address deficiencies
• Assist the County in identifying and minimizing risks with projects
• Assist the County with the procurement of other services related to the grant(s) in accordance to State of Texas procurement standards, including engineers, contractors, administrative support, and environmental services
• Review and recommend action on all proposals, invoices, and other financial impact items
• Consultation related to contracts and interlocal agreements
• Assist the County in developing, evaluating, and recommending selection of engineers, contractors, and environmental providers
• Assist the County in “audit proofing” from program inception to completion
• Support the County in all interactions with funding agencies and sources