Puerto Rico Housing Dept. signs $13M disaster recovery contract with consulting firm IFC
The Puerto Rico Housing Department recently awarded global consulting and digital services provider ICF a $13 million contract amendment to expand the implementation of the agency’s Single Family Rehabilitation, Reconstruction & Relocation Program (R3).
The contract for this work currently runs through summer 2022, ICF confirmed.
R3 is a Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance program that supports the repair or reconstruction of single-family homes damaged by hurricanes Irma and María.
ICF, one of the largest program managers of Puerto Rico’s housing recovery efforts, will continue to administer all stages of R3 program implementation, from application through closeout, it confirmed.
“Our priority is getting the people of Puerto Rico back into safe, resilient homes,” said Andrew H. LaVanway, ICF senior vice president and disaster management lead.
“This award represents the opportunity to help more people across a larger portion of the island as the Housing Department drives toward completing 3,000 home constructions this year,” he said.
This contract comes three months after the Puerto Rico Public Private Partnership Authority awarded ICF a $46 million contract to provide services to support long-term disaster recovery from Hurricanes Irma and María and hazard mitigation efforts to protect against future disasters, as News is my Business reported.
ICF states it has managed recoveries “for the largest and most complex natural disasters in US history,” although it does not mention which ones they were.
“In partnership with local experts and partners, the company has implemented mitigation and recovery efforts for over 100 US state and local entities, following more than 50 different disaster declarations, funded by multiple federal sources,” it said as part of the announcement.
“The company supports communities across the disaster management lifecycle and is an industry leader in end-to-end mitigation services — from assessment to public engagement and planning through implementation,” it added.
ICF said it has been on the ground since 2018 working with federal and local officials to manage two separate, independent recovery projects: one with Puerto Rico’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resilience (COR3) and one with the Housing Department.
“To date, we have hired hundreds of local residents to support our recovery programs and create a more resilient community. In fact, [more than] 90% of our staff is made up of Puerto Ricans, many of whom survived Hurricanes María and Irma,” IFC stated.
