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Every dollar of disaster recovery funding starts as a number someone put on a damaged asset. This section follows that number from your pre-disaster asset records, through FEMA’s damage assessments and project formulation, to the funding route that pays for it: today’s Public Assistance, block grants, parametric insurance or the proposed RAPID model.
The quality of step 6 depends on steps 1 and 2. A formula, an estimate or an adjuster can only fund what your records can prove existed and what it costs to restore.
The same asset data serves three audiences: your insurer (statement of values), FEMA (pre-disaster condition, replacement cost and insurance requirements) and any formula or parametric trigger (exposure). Building it once, in one registry, avoids three different numbers for the same building.
An engineering-grade, insurance-linked inventory of every public facility: identity, construction, elevations, condition, values and policy links.
How the schedule of values your insurer holds should match the registry and the replacement costs FEMA will see.
Using published cost data the way FEMA reviewers do: square-foot and assembly models, location factors, escalation and documentation.
Value each facility by building system to measure basis risk and build defensible estimates, with an interactive basis risk tester.
Open the model →Obtain-and-maintain, duplication of benefits and flood reductions under FP 206-086-1, with a requirement calculator.
Open the guide →Risk pools, layered towers, blanket vs. scheduled limits, flood sublimits and wind deductibles for public entities.
Open the guide →Damage gets counted three times, for three purposes: once to decide whether there will be a declaration, once to list every damaged site, and once to turn each site into a funded project. Records that agree across all three are the strongest protection against later reductions.
The joint federal, state and local assessment that supports a governor’s request for a major disaster declaration.
Listing every damaged site in FEMA’s Grants Portal within the deadline, and grouping sites into projects.
Site inspections, damage descriptions and dimensions, scope of work and cost: how a damaged site becomes a project.
FEMA’s process for disasters declared on or after September 1, 2026, where applicants build the estimates FEMA validates.
Open the guide →Scope of work, project thresholds, expedited funding and cost estimates, with sizing calculators.
Open the guide →Acceptable cost sources, unit cost components and the reasonableness test FEMA applies to applicant estimates.
Open the reference →The routes differ mainly in who sets the amount and what it is based on: documented cost, an estimate, a formula or an insurance trigger. The further a route moves from documented cost, the more your own asset data decides whether the money is enough.
| Route | Status | Amount based on | Who carries the cost risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Public Assistance | Current law | Eligible documented or estimated cost, reconciled at closeout for large projects | Mostly FEMA, within eligibility rules |
| Applicant-Managed PA | Current (declared on or after Sept. 1, 2026) | Applicant-built estimates that FEMA validates | Shared; depends on estimate quality |
| Section 428 fixed-cost projects | Current law | A fixed estimate agreed before work | Applicant carries overruns, keeps underruns for eligible uses |
| H.R. 4669 upfront grants (Section 409) | Proposed bill | Applicant-led expedited cost estimates, paid up front | Shifts toward the applicant once the estimate is set |
| H.R. 4669 small-disaster block grant | Proposed bill | A lump sum at a share of the estimated federal cost, instead of PA | State and local governments |
| RAPID | Recommendation | A parametric formula paid to the state within 30 days | State and local governments (basis risk) |
| Parametric insurance | Available now | A trigger in a policy you buy | You, for any gap between payout and loss |
The Review Council’s proposed replacement for Public Assistance: how the formula would work, who would administer it, and the concerns raised by states, utilities and local governments, with a local share simulator.
Open the guide →How Section 428 fixed-cost funding works, what H.R. 4669’s upfront and block grants and RAPID borrow from it, NYC and Puerto Rico lessons, and a fixed-amount stress test.
Open the guide →How parametric policies pay, flexible uses like the FEMA cost share, basis risk and budgeting for near-miss triggers.
Open the guide →The closest current model to estimate-based funding: fixed offers, use of excess funds and closeout.
Open the reference →GovStar’s earlier overview of the FEMA Act of 2025. To be refreshed with this section.
Open →GovStar’s earlier summary of the May 7, 2026 final report. To be refreshed with this section.
Open →Check each statement that is true for your organization today. The check scores the three stages and points you to the pages that close the gaps. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
GovStar is independent and not affiliated with FEMA. This section explains current rules and proposed reforms in plain language; it is not legal advice. Reform status checked November 2026.
