The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is comprised of 186 parishes that sustained widespread and catastrophic damage due to Hurricane Sandy. The Diocese engaged The Sulzer Group to lead them through all aspects of its disaster recovery efforts, including processing its Requests for Public Assistance, developing its public assistance claim, grant administration and closeout. Since being engaged, The Sulzer Group has identified all damaged sites and performed detailed damage assessments of all facilities within the Diocese. Our firm started representing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (RCDOB) in March 2013, more than four months after Hurricane Sandy. Over the first six months, our team visited 108 of the 186 parishes, with campuses that house more than 1500 buildings. Our team, along with FEMA and New York State (NYS), performed detailed damage assessments of all damaged buildings to develop the necessary Damage Descriptions and Dimensions (DDD) and corresponding Scopes of Work (SOW) to repair or replace those facilities. With those DDDs and SOW’s, our team utilized the FEMA approved Cost Estimating Format (CEF) to develop Public Assistance (PA) grant funding over $40 million.

Our damage assessments also allowed us to prioritize the timely repair or replacement of RCDOB facilities. We employed a strategy to group buildings into three separate categories:

1. Buildings that were significantly damaged and not suitable for re-entry.
2. Buildings that were damaged but additional Emergency Protective Measures could be performed to permit continued use.
3. Buildings that had minor damage and could be repaired immediately and put back into use.

Our team managed the RCDOB’s existing contractors to immediately repair the buildings in Category 3. Then, we implemented a strategy to pre-position architectural/engineering firms and general contractors who would be eligible to bid on future projects in Categories 1 & 2 using the FEMA PA grants. This process was reviewed and accepted by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS/ OIG), which is the organization responsible for auditing FEMA and the grants awarded to eligible applicants. We performed the solicitation, advertisement and evaluation of the firms only once and awarded contracts based upon a criterion of qualifications. Then we invited these vendors to submit proposals/bids for each project once funding was in place. We’ve successfully implemented this process for other Catholic Dioceses we represent to increase efficiency, streamline procurement and save time during the recovery process. The Damage assessments we performed and the resulting DDDs, SOWs, and CEFs became the basis for PA grant and the individual Project Worksheet (PW) written by FEMA. During the process of formulating these PWs, a reconciliation of insurance proceeds was performed by our team. Although the RCDOB received in excess of $18 million of insurance, our firm was able to negotiate an apportionment with FEMA that resulted in only $7 million of that insurance being applied to the PA grant.

While diligently working with FEMA and NYS to continue to develop the PWs, the RCDOB was selected for an “early detection audit” by the OIG. Our firm sat side by side with the auditors for over 12 months to provide all documentation, answer all questions and fulfill all request. The OIG’s initial findings recommended a reduction in funding to the RCDOB of $2 million. However, our audit response justified all but $10 thousand of the costs being questioned by the OIG.

The Sulzer Group has also represented the RCDOB developing its projects under the Alternate Procedures Pilot Program, referred to as Section 428 Projects. Through the damage assessment process, we were able to identify facilities that were funded for repair/replacement and assist the RCDOB with how these facilities were to be used in the future. Some of these facilities were scheduled for demolition, some were to be repurposed, and others were scheduled for full replacement. This analysis enables the RCDOB to select which of these facilities would be selected as 428 projects, which provides for greater flexibility in utilizing the FEMA grants. The RCDOB currently has five projects in the 428 program.

We have been with the Diocese of Brooklyn through every step of the public assistance program. We have performed all grants management functions to obtain the funding, ensure that those funds have been properly spent, documented and accounted for, and defended it under audit. We have also performed all project management functions to manage all procurement, design, and construction. Our firm’s ability to provide all these services makes it uniquely qualified to manage your disaster recovery employing the same strategies.