Item 18 - Resolution, Agreement, and Appropriation Adjustment Accepting the FY 2024 Emergency Management Performance Grant

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Preparedness Grants Manual 6.6.Procurement Integrity Through audits conducted by the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and FEMA grant monitoring, findings have shown that some FEMA recipients have not fully adhered to the proper procurement requirements when spending grant funds. Anything less than full compliance with federal procurement requirements jeopardizes the integrity of the grant, as well as the grant program. To assist with determining whether an action is a procurement or instead a subaward, please consult 2 C.F.R § 200.331. For detailed guidance on the federal procurement standards, recipients and subrecipients should refer to various materials issued by FEMA’s Procurement Disaster Assistance Team (PDAT), such as the PDAT Field Manual and Contract Provisions Guide. Additional resources, including an upcoming trainings schedule, can be found on the PDAT’s Contracting with Federal Funds for Goods and Services Before, During and After Disasters page on FEMA.gov. The subsections below highlight the federal procurement requirements for FEMA recipients when procuring goods and services with federal grant funds. FEMA will include a review of recipients’ procurement practices as part of the normal monitoring activities. All procurement activity must be conducted in accordance with federal procurement standards at 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.317–200.327. Select requirements under these standards are listed below. The recipient and any of its subrecipients must comply with all requirements, even if they are not listed below. Under 2 C.F.R. § 200.317, when procuring property and services under a federal award, states (including territories) must follow the same policies and procedures they use for procurements from their non-federal funds; additionally, states must follow 2 C.F.R. § 200.321 regarding socioeconomic steps, § 200.322 regarding domestic preferences for procurements, § 200.323 regarding procurement of recovered materials, and § 200.327 regarding required contract provisions. All other non-federal entities, such as tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations, must have and use their own documented procurement procedures that reflect applicable SLTT laws and regulations, provided that the procurements conform to applicable federal law and the standards identified in 2 C.F.R. Part 200. These standards include, but are not limited to, providing for full and open competition consistent with the standards of 2 C.F.R. § 200.319 and § 200.320. 6.6.1. IMPORTANT CHANGES TO PROCUREMENT STANDARDS IN 2 C.F.R. PART 200 OMB recently updated various parts of Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, among them, the procurement standards. States are now required to follow the socioeconomic steps in soliciting small and minority businesses, women’s business enterprises, and labor surplus area firms per 2 C.F.R. § 200.321. All non-federal entities should also, to the greatest extent practicable under a federal award, provide a preference for the purchase, acquisition, or use of goods, products, or materials produced in the United States per 2 C.F.R. § 200.322. More information on OMB’s revisions to the federal procurement standards can be found in the Purchasing Under a FEMA Award: OMB Revisions Fact Sheet. The recognized procurement methods in 2 C.F.R. § 200.320 have been reorganized into informal procurement methods, which include micro-purchases and small purchases; formal procurement methods, which include sealed bidding and competitive proposals; and noncompetitive procurements. The federal micro-purchase threshold is currently $10,000, and non-state entities may use a lower threshold when using micro-purchase procedures under a FEMA award. If a non- state entity wants to use a micro-purchase threshold higher than the federal threshold, it must follow the requirements of 2 C.F.R. § 200.320(a)(1)(iii)-(v). For small purchase procedures (2 C.F.R. § 200.320(a)(2)) under a FEMA award, the federal Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) is currently 42