Cameron Parish Hurricane Recovery Program – Cameron Parish, LA

Royal is leading the Program Management Team (PMT) for the Cameron Parish Disaster Recovery Program (“Program”).  On April 23, 2008, The PMT was authorized to begin work on the Program which has been underway since shortly after Hurricane Rita devastated the Parish, in September 2005.  The PMT is building on the progress the Parish has made by implementing Program procedures to coordinate federal reimbursement with FEMA and GOHSEP and advance construction of individual projects.    During the  first stages  of the  Program,  the  PMT conducted kickoff meetings with Parish staff and Architectural/Engineering consultants,   mobilized key Program staff, established a program office, and began reviews of individual projects to align them with the latest engineering and construction standards in order to streamline reimbursement.

To jump start the program, 60 high priority projects were identified and prioritized. Once the initial push of high priority PWs became manageable the PMT grouped PWs to form cohesive projects allowing comprehensive management of the total project. With this process the PMT established criteria such as feasibility of implementation; project size, category, cost, and duration; eligibility for hazard mitigation; likelihood of environmental impacts versus permitting exemptions; historical significance; and importance to restoring parish operations, livelihoods of parish residents, and public safety.  There were several challenges in managing this Program and the PMT optimized management   techniques   to   eliminate   any   redundancies   by implementing   Program   procedures   in   order   to   maximize federal funding and advance construction of individual projects.

Project implementation includes coordinating with engineers, surveyors, architects, service providers, and contractors; surveying and data collection; design engineering and review; environmental permitting; project construction and field inspections; administration of funds; submission of FEMA progress reports; and project closeouts. A key effort was the management of 10 major construction projects operating concurrently. Daily field reports with complete photo documentation and weekly progress reports are submitted to the Parish Administrator.