The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that federal emergency aid has been made available for the Commonwealth of Virginia to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the agency announced on Thursday.

“This disaster declaration will trigger important federal resources to help communities recover from COVID-19,” said Virginia Senator and three-time Wash100 Award winner, Mark Warner. “Virginia will now be able to utilize a wide range of federal assistance programs to assist those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including crisis counseling, disaster unemployment, supplemental nutrition assistance, and more.”

Public Assistance federal funding is available to the commonwealth, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance under Public Assistance, for all areas in the Commonwealth of Virginia affected by the pandemic.

“I’m grateful that Governor Northam’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration was approved to help Virginia combat the coronavirus. Last month, I wrote to the Trump Administration urging swift approval of these requests to help ensure Virginia and other states can get the support they need to respond to this pandemic. I’m committed to doing everything I can to push for additional federal resources for the Commonwealth,” said Virginia Senator, Tim Kaine.

About FEMA

For 38 years, FEMA’s mission remains: to lead America to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disasters with a vision of “A Nation Prepared.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. Its mission is to help people before, during and after disasters.

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Defense improve its data collection procedures on contract awards for utility services supporting installations that the department has been privatizing since 1988.

GAO said in a report released Thursday that it evaluated 21 utility services contracts from fiscal years 2016 through 2018 and found that the DoD must provide complete data on “time to award” procedures.

The department must also create a repository of “lessons learned” in utility service awards management to help inform future programs and speed up the contracting process, the watchdog noted. According to the report, it took an average of four years for DoD to award all of the 21 utility support contracts during the FY16 to 18 period.

The DoD has since reported that it updated guidances, handbooks and templates in efforts to implement lessons learned from managing such contracts.

Without this repository, the department is “missing opportunities to collect and share lessons learned” to help public and private sector stakeholders in managing the remaining 580 utility systems slated for privatization, GAO said.

AECOM has released an update on the COVID-19 response throughout the global coronavirus pandemic to safeguard its employees and operations while continuing to deliver services and solutions to help clients and communities along the path to recovery, the company announced on Friday.

The company will safeguard its employees and operations by following the guidelines from government agencies and leading health organizations. AECOM has implemented comprehensive enterprise resilience plans to include the restriction of all non-essential business travel, enhancement of virtual consultation tools and the expansion of office and project site safety procedures.

AECOM has mitigated actions with the coronavirus outbreak in Asia and enacted its business resilience and continuity expertise. The company’s global teams will utilize technology to collaborate, sustain client delivery and share industry-leading disaster response and recovery credentials with public-sector and private clients.

AECOM will also transition its global workforce to remote working where appropriate, bolstered by key investments in information technology to enable robust remote work environments; nearly 90 percent of the firm’s design team in the Americas is working remotely.

In addition, the company will continue to work with its federal, state and local clients, as well as engage with government officials, to support immediate and long-term demands created by the coronavirus crisis and as funding from economic stimulus programs begins to enter the market.

About AECOM

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) is the world’s premier infrastructure firm, delivering professional services across the project lifecycle – from planning, design and engineering to consulting and construction management. We partner with our clients in the public and private sectors to solve their most complex challenges and build legacies for generations to come.

On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, governments, energy and the environment, our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm with revenue of approximately $20.2 billion during fiscal year 2019.