Partial Repair and Essential Power for Sheltering (PREPS) | Texas General Land Office
As a result of Hurricane Harvey, the State of Texas experienced significant widespread in major developed areas of the state. Due to a shortage of temporary housing in the greater Houston and southeast Texas areas, the FEMA STEP program was activated to support the displaced population across the 42 county geography. The STEP program was designed to provide temporary repairs to homes, so homeowners could shelter in place while permanent repairs were ongoing. H2Bravo was contracted as the prime contractor to develop and implement the $230M PREPS Program. The project team mobilized over 250 people in 7 days, opening a call center, taking applications, scheduling appointments, and training and deploying damage assessors training contractors, and initiated work for the program. H2Bravo developed a program policy manual and coordinated directly with the GLO to resolve issues to keep the program moving forward. Damage assessors conducted joint site visits with the contractors to determine the scope of work and work orders were issued daily. The team organized, trained, and deployed over 200 damage assessors and 15 general construction contractors to conduct construction operations, ramping up to over 250 project completions per day, with over 2,500 total construction workers in the field. The program reduced the need for FEMA temporary housing and provided the minimum decent, safe, and sanitary living environment. In total, over 28,000 applications were received, over 18,500 damage assessments conducted, and 16,000 houses completed within the 8-month program performance period.
PROGRAM COST
• $230M
COMPLETION DATE
• September 2018