FEMA has announced an alternative cost-effectiveness methodology for two annual grant programs that increases program accessibility to ensure hazard mitigation funding reaches more communities. These changes are intended to help communities take more advantage of assistance available through the Flood Mitigation Assistance and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programs.

For the fiscal year 2022 Flood Mitigation Assistance and BRIC application cycle, the agency is introducing an alternative cost-effectiveness method that will modify the threshold for mitigation projects to be considered cost-effective under limited conditions. If the BCA generated at a 7 percent discount rate is less than a Benefit-Cost Ratio of 1.0, FEMA will consider the project cost effective if:

• The BCA generated at the 7% discount rate is equal to or greater than a BCR of 0.75;
• The BCA generated at the 3% discount rate must be equal to or greater than a BCR of 1.0; and
• The mitigation activity benefits disadvantaged communities, addresses climate change impacts, has hard to quantify benefits, and/or is subject to higher costs due to the use of low carbon building materials or compliance with the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.

By modifying the threshold for Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) calculations, FEMA expects more projects will benefit disadvantaged communities to develop projects that address climate change effects and help the agency achieve equitable outcomes and align to its “people first” approach as identified in its 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan.

FEMA is helping highly disadvantaged communities and federally recognized tribal nations during the pre-award process, with projects that meet all the other programmatic requirements, with completing a BCA. Those who qualify for this assistance will be notified during the selection process. FEMA also helps communities with technical assistance on the BCA to all communities to support demonstrating cost-effectiveness of mitigation projects. Assistance can be requested through the BCA helpline by emailing [email protected] or calling 855-540-6744.

Using money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FEMA is increasing the federal cost share for the Flood Mitigation Assistance program from 75% to 90% for projects located in socially vulnerable communities to lower the financial burden on certain resilience activities. This is important because many disadvantaged communities lack the financial resources to match federal grants and miss opportunities to utilize grant dollars to invest in their resilience.

Interested applicants and subapplicants should contact their Hazard Mitigation Officer for more information. For more information visit FEMA.gov.