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Heartland team helps federal recovery from Midwest floods

By Alison Kohler

Following heavy precipitation over frozen soils, which resulted in rapid snow melt with historic river flooding across several Midwestern states in March causing widespread damage, a handful of Heartland Region GSA employees were partially activated to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency and partners with response and recovery.

After being declared a major disaster, Nebraska was authorized federal funds for recovery.

Acquiring facility space
By March 29, GSA had executed a lease agreement in Lincoln, Nebraska, for 80,000 rentable square feet to house a FEMA joint field office to manage Disaster 4420.

A panoramic view of the space GSA's Heartland Region leased on behalf of FEMA for a joint field office in Lincoln, Nebraska.
A panoramic view of the space GSA's Heartland Region leased on behalf of FEMA for a joint field office in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a rare occurrence to find available, affordable, good quality space according to the lease contracting officer and emergency management coordinator. Photograph by Zane Steves

“FEMA personnel remarked that the space I leased was one of the two best spaces they had ever seen in their entire career,” said GSA Lease Contracting Officer S. Dennis Clemons.

Clemons also reported negotiating the price down considerably to bring it within FEMA’s budget.

“Finding space that was affordable and in great shape is rare,” said GSA Deputy Regional Emergency Coordinator Zane Steves.  “Getting this space was a great way to provide support to the state and FEMA.”

Other ESF-7 support
Steves’ responsibilities under Emergency Support Function #7 [PDF] of the National Response Framework began even before the storm system hit. He gathered situational awareness information from local, state, federal and private entities to help GSA prepare for impacts to its facilities.

As part of his ESF-7 responsibilities, Steves used GSA resources to provide FEMA with leased space, Fleet support, and market research to identify scheduled vendors available to help the state expedite its recovery process.

GSA is providing ongoing ESF-7 support to lease space for other needs in Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri.

Steves said every activation is different and provides learning opportunities for future situations.

“This time, I think I was able to beta test a new expense-and-time tracking system,” Steves said. “It allowed me to identify a few gaps to make the program better. I am working on coordinating with our OMA ESF-7 Working Group to include it into the national process for ESF-7 activations.”
 

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Last updated: Dec 13, 2022
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