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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 117 / Tuesday, June 22, 2021 / Notices determined the elevation to be cost reasonable relative to other alternatives or strategies, such as the demolition of substantially damaged structures with reconstruction of an elevated structure on the same site or infrastructure improvements to reduce the risk of loss of life and property.
7 Operation and Maintenance Plans.
Each grantee must describe its plan for ensuring the long-term operation and maintenance O&M of the electrical power system improvements funded with CDBGDR funds. The grantee shall specify the non-CDBG sources of funding to be used for the O&M of the electrical power system improvements, and the grantees plan and plans of its intended subrecipients to contribute to the proposed electrical power system improvements with non-CDBG sources of funding. The grantee shall describe how it will use reserve funds, borrowing authority or retargeting of existing financial resources to support the O&M
plan, and how it plans to ensure that public utility resources and other source of funding, as applicable, are committed to the O&M of improvements assisted with CDBGDR funds, over the useful life of the improvements. The grantee must also describe in its action plan how it plans to ensure and monitor funding of long-term O&M for CDBG
DR electrical power system improvements. Funding options might include grantee funds, local and public utility resources, borrowing authority, or retargeting of other existing financial resources.
Grantees must describe any proposed changes to existing taxation policies or collection practices, or changes to public utility revenue billing and collection and other financing policies that are to be used to support the O&M
plan. If operations and maintenance plans are reliant on any proposed changes to existing taxation policies, tax collection practices, or changes to public utility revenue billing and collection, those changes and relevant milestones should be expressly included in the action plan.
Additionally, the grantee must describe any State, local, or other resources e.g., public utility financing that have been identified for the operation and maintenance costs of electrical power system improvements assisted with CDBGDR funds.
With respect to this element of the action plan, HUD advises grantee and subrecipients that HUD may impose a grant condition based on risk that requires the grantee to establish or adopt standards for O&M of the functional components of the electrical power
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system, including recognized standards for vegetation management.
8 Cost Verification. Each grantee must describe its controls for assuring that electrical power system improvement costs, including acquisition and construction costs, are reasonable and consistent with market costs at the time and place of the acquisition or construction.
Grantees are encouraged to consider the use of an independent, qualified third-party engineer, construction manager, or other professional e.g., a cost estimator to verify the planned project specifications and costs and any significant changes to the specifications or costs of the contract e.g., change orders during implementation are reasonable. The method and degree of analysis may vary dependent upon the circumstances surrounding a particular project e.g., project type, risk, costs, but the description, at a minimum, must address controls for CDBGDR electrical power system improvements above a certain total project cost threshold identified by the grantees cost verification requirements.
9 Intergovernmental Coordination.
Grantees must describe how it will coordinate with other relevant governmental agencies of Puerto Rico or the USVI, as applicable, units of local government, public utilities and rural electrical cooperatives, and other entities, to assure the consistency of all CDBGDR funded electrical power system improvements with other disaster recovery and mitigation planning and development activities.
10 Integration with Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Funds.
Grantees must describe how they will integrate the electrical power system improvements into on-going and planned rebuilding, recovery, and mitigation activities, and the extent to which the proposed electrical power system improvement activities are consistent with the objectives outlined in other CDBGDR or CDBGMIT action plans, and in regionally or locally established plans and policies that are designed to reduce future risks to the jurisdiction.
11 Vulnerable Populations, Underserved Communities, and Lowand Moderate-Income Persons. The grantee must assess how the use of the CDBGDR funds and its planning decisions will impact vulnerable populations, protected classes under fair housing and civil rights laws, and underserved communities that were economically distressed prior to the disaster. Based on this assessment, grantees must describe in the action plan whether their programs and
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projects will provide electrical power system improvements to communities with concentrations of vulnerable populations, including low-income rural areas, racially and ethnically concentrated areas as well as concentrated areas of poverty, and specify the activities that the grantees plans to undertake to assist in providing lower electricity rates or increasing reliability, quality, and durability of electrical infrastructure for these populations or areas.
HUD generally defines vulnerable populations as a group or community whose circumstances present barriers to obtaining or understanding information or accessing resources, and grantees must identify those populations in the action plan through their assessment.
The term underserved communities refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life.
The grantee shall also describe how the planned electrical power system improvements will meet the overall benefit requirement for lowand moderate-income benefit as provided in section V.A.8.c. of this notice.
12 Climate Considerations. Grantees must describe how the electrical power system improvements will be designed and implemented to address the impacts of climate change, including any naturebased solutions and other improvements that will enhance the ability of the grantee to implement renewable and clean energy sources and strategies, and align with long-term goals for decarbonizing the electricity sector.
Nature-based solutions and improvements shall mean natural processes or systems, or engineered systems that mimic natural systems and processes, that are integrated into investments in electrical power system improvements to enhance the resilience of the electrical power system to future disasters.
V.A.2.b. Review and Approval of Action Plan. The action plan including SF424 and certifications must be submitted to HUD for review and approval. Grantees must submit an action plan within 120 days of the applicability date of this notice, unless the grantee has requested, and HUD has approved an extension of the submission deadline. HUD will review each action plan within 60 days from the date of receipt. The Secretary may disapprove an action plan as substantially incomplete if it is determined that the action plan does not meet the requirements of this notice.

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