CDC Grant: HURRICANE SUPPLEMENTAL Technical Assistance for Public Health Crises Response

Association of State & Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO);
Council of State & Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE);
National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO);
Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL);
National Environmental Health Association (NEHA);
National Foundation Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Inc. (CDCF)

Background:
The 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season devastated the Caribbean and the southeast of the United States. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria released trillions of gallons of water and winds up to 140 mph on the United States and their territories. On August 30, 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially activated its Emergency Operations Center to address the public health impact of Hurricane Harvey and then expanded the activation to include the subsequent Hurricanes, Irma and Maria, as they approached the states and territories.
CDC’s Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (CSTLTS) Partner Crisis Cooperative Agreement (Co-Ag) was activated to aid with the response, recovery, preparation, mitigation, and other expenses related directly to the consequences of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. On September 1, 2018, approximately $50.7 million was awarded to nine uniquely qualified national partners to assist jurisdictions with hurricane relief activities. The most critical support provided to jurisdictions has been the expedited acquisition of personnel and equipment. CDC categorical programs have funded crisis partners that will fulfill critical needs that states cannot fulfill with local expertise or complete quickly enough to be effective through their own hiring and procurement processes. It is crucial that the crisis partners are able to procure goods and services without delays caused by the competitive bid process.
Award recipients will function as a rapid provider of information and/or resources, as well as a coordinator of the project management components involved. As a result, the award recipeients must demonstrate experience providing administration, oversight, and coordination for CDC-funded projects. Additionally, award recipients will be expected to work closely with state and territorial jurisdictions and other stakeholders working to recover after the impact of the 2017 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
Program Supplement Activities:
The goal of this supplemental award is to provide additional funding to support ongoing activities associated with the response and recovery efforts of the 2017 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Such activities include staffing, procurement, and direct technical assistance supported by CDC to address two key strategies related to strengthening the U.S. public health system’s response to public health or healthcare crises:
STRATEGY 1: Ensure Effective Process Implementation
Process is a critical success factor in response efforts, where lives may depend on the speed of a transaction, placement of personnel, or delivery of equipment. Awardees must have strength in and be able to effectively perform the activities associated with each of the following process areas:

Expedited Procurement (ability to supersede normal acquisition procedures to accelerate delivery);
Agile Administration & Operations (ability to react to requests, develop plans, deploy resources, and perform administrative actions quickly and with highly-coordinated communication); and
Strategic Partnering (access to and the ability to rapidly engage multi-sector partners to amplify, augment or otherwise improve response efforts).

STRATEGY 2: Provide Critical Content Expertise
The awardee’s strength in process implementation (addressed by Strategy 1) serves as the foundation for delivering critical content expertise. Applicants must have demonstrated strength in and be able to provide support in one or more of the following content areas:

Administrative Logistics (travel, transportation, shipping, printing, transcription, convenings and event planning, small purchases, etc.);
Communications (situational awareness, risk communications, media support, project monitoring and reporting, cultural and lingual translation, graphics, writing/editing, training development and delivery, etc.)
Human Resources & Specialized Expertise (recruiting, hiring, general staff augmentation, payroll, onboarding, orientation, and acquisition of specialized expertise, including but not limited to epidemiology, entomology, infectious disease, environmental health, emergency response, etc.)
Direct Services (“Direct Services” here does not mean the provision of care; rather, it refers to an awardee performing specific emergency response activities on behalf of a third party, because of a gap in that third party’s capabilities, and because CDC has determined that this gap threatens the effectiveness of the response as a whole)

Proposed activities must be within the scope of CDC-RFA-OT18-1804. Additional information will be provided in the published announcement, to follow shortly.