On Jan. 30, President Obama released new Executive Order 13690, “The Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS),” as directed by the President’s Climate Action Plan. Notably, the order expands the definition of “floodplain” (higher flood elevation and expanded flood hazard areas) by creating a new national minimum standard that all federal agencies must use – and builders must follow – for all federally-approved or funded projects. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is soliciting public input on newly released “guidelines” that will instruct federal agencies on how to implement the new standard.
At the president’s request, FEMA has published for public comment draft instructions on how federal agencies should go about implementing the new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard. Click here to directly access and review the draft guidelines.
Of great importance to federal contractors, the new standard requires federal agencies to update their flood-risk reduction strategies and expand the flood elevation and hazard areas they use when deciding where and how new development, redevelopment, and construction occurs. In their planning of federally-funded buildings, roads and other infrastructure projects, federal agencies must use one of three approaches to account for the impact of possible flooding from rising sea levels or more extreme precipitation (see below for more details). In turn, federal builders will need to meet the selected requirements during construction.
The guidelines, once final, will direct federal agencies in implementing the new Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, which they will do through agency-specific policies, guidelines and procedures.
For more information, please contact Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org or Scott Berry at berrys@agc.org.