Contingency Planning

New Task Orders Being Awarded on Second Year of Contracts for Mobile Home and Travel Trailer Maintenance and Deactivation

June 6, 2007

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that progress in the Gulf Coast region's recovery has reduced the need for ongoing maintenance and support of temporary housing and, as a result, the agency is streamlining its contract support for the mission. A reduction in task orders for maintenance and deactivation of temporary housing will both save money and provide for continued support commensurate to the needs of the Gulf Coast states.

"FEMA is committed to the recovery of the Gulf Coast region and, at the same time, remains a good steward of taxpayer dollars," says FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison. "By reducing the number of task orders, FEMA is greatly reducing the administrative burden on both the federal government and the individual contractors."

The decrease in the number of travel trailers and mobile homes deactivated over the past year is allowing the number of new task orders on contracts awarded in Alabama to be reduced from six to four. In Mississippi, 10 task orders have been reduced to five, and Texas numbers have been reduced from five to four. Determinations for Louisiana are still under evaluation, and the current contractors will continue to perform their assigned requirements until the new task orders are awarded.

In March of last year, with a preference given to local businesses working in the Gulf Coast region, FEMA awarded 36 five-year contracts to small and small disadvantaged businesses. Mission support task orders originally placed on the contracts expire on May 31, 2007. Along with the evolving mission needs, and with an eye toward receiving the best value for the American taxpayer, FEMA is reducing the number of task orders for the upcoming year of the contracts.

Although all of the five-year contracts continue to be in place and may receive future tasking, FEMA implemented a task order proposal process that ensured fair opportunity was given for each contractor to be considered for this latest round of follow-on task orders. Each contractor was evaluated on technical, management and past performance merits and price, which is consistent with FEMA’s commitment to ensuring a good stewardship of public funds.

? FEMA