Summary Paragraph As a result of Hurricane Jeanne (DR-1561) in September 2004 and Hurricane Wilma (DR-1609) in October 2005, the Public Health Trust (Applicant) incurred increased force account labor costs tied to emergency medical care and sheltering within Miami-Dade County. FEMA determined that the claim was largely ineligible for PA funding because it included regular time labor and increased operating expenses related to normal patient care. FEMA prepared Project Worksheet (PW) 2177 (DR-1561) and PWs 1480, 1483, and 4456 (DR-1609) to document the Applicant’s claim. In its first appeals, the Applicant disputed FEMA’s denials of $6,353,899.58 in funding. The Applicant argued that the labor costs represented only overtime labor expenses of staff who performed emergency work outside of their normally scheduled work hours. Additionally, with regard to PWs 1480 and 1483, the Applicant challenged FEMA’s denial of the medical care costs. The Applicant argued that emergency medical care is a critical service. The FEMA Region IV Regional Administrator (RA) denied the appeals. In his analyses of PWs 2177, 1480, and 1483 the RA concluded that the Applicant incurred additional administrative and operational costs generated as a result of an increased patient load, and that such costs were ineligible for PA reimbursement. In addition, he explained that FEMA had denied PW 4456 upon determining that the claimed costs correlated to ineligible regular time labor which the Applicant paid as overtime. In actions separate from the appeal process, FEMA provisionally obligated some of the labor costs denied on first appeal. The PWs contained language stating that FEMA could not determine eligibility without further information and deferred further consideration until closeout. On second appeal, the Applicant disputes FEMA’s denial of $3,341,851.52 contending that FEMA determined these costs eligible during the closeout process. In addition, the Grantee argues that Stafford Act § 705(c) precludes FEMA from denying funding for PWs 1480, 1483, and 4456. Authorities and Second Appeals Stafford Act §§ 423(a) and 705(c). 44 C.F.R. § 206.206. FEMA Recovery Policy FP 205-081-2, Stafford Act Section 705, Disaster Grant Closeout Procedures, at 2. Headnotes 44 C.F.R. § 206.206(b) establishes two levels of appeal and specifically endows the RA with the sole authority to consider first appeals, and the Assistant Administrator for the Disaster Assistance Directorate with the sole authority to consider second appeals. FEMA denied the disputed costs in the original PWs and the RA upheld the denials on first appeal. Subsequent obligation and deobligation actions did not and could not vacate or overturn the RA’s first appeal decisions. Only the Assistant Administrator has the authority to overturn first appeal determinations. Stafford Act § 423(a) and 44 C.F.R. § 206.206(c)(1) provides an applicant with 60 days to submit an appeal. The Applicant submitted its second appeals 5 years after the RA denied the first appeals. 44 C.F.R. § 206.206(c)(2) provides the grantee with 60 days to forward an applicant’s appeal together with its written recommendation. The Grantee forwarded the Applicant’s second appeals 2 years and 7 months after the Applicant submitted its second appeal letters. Stafford Act § 705(c) holds that a State or local government shall not be liable for reimbursement or any other penalty if (1) the payment was authorized by an approved agreement specifying the costs; (2) the costs were reasonable; and (3) the purpose of the grant was accomplished. In 2016, FEMA promulgated FP 205-081-1, to explain how FEMA implements § 705. With respect to the application of § 705(c) the policy does not apply to matters for which appeal rights are exhausted and FEMA has taken final administrative action.