State of Mississippi

MEMA has relied on EMGrantsPro since Hurricane Katrina for both Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation. The sites, MississippiPA.org and MitigationMS.org, track all Federal projects and manage a robust payment process that integrates with Mississippi's State financial system for rapid reimbursement. This integration ensures extreme accuracy and the fasted time to payment since Mississippi's Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) is sent the payment data behind-the-scenes the day the MEMA staff approves of the disbursement. There is also a synchronization process from a DFA report to then flag the payment as successfully paid (with voucher/warrant information) which populates in reports throughout the system.

In March of 2009, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that gives Mississippi "high marks in tracking and administering nearly $3 billion received through FEMA's Public Assistance recovery program after Hurricane Katrina." The report mentions MississippiPA.org and calls Mississippi's program "an example of model strategies that other state, federal and local officials should consider in case of future disasters." MEMA's director, Mike Womack, was quoted saying, "Our state was able to take this extremely complicated Public Assistance program and make it more accessible, efficient and easier to use for both applicants and officials overseeing the projects." For the complete news release coming from Governor Haley Barbour's office, please click here.

Mississippi was the first State to use EMGrantsPro for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and their level of buy-in produced great results. Subgrantees almost exclusively submit project pre-applications and applications online through MitigationMS.org, leaving the State with few data entry hassles, especially given the lengthy size of some application forms. FEMA also took note of how easy it was for the State to review projects online, and has fully committed to using the system for reviews. They have specific workflow steps in the process and can either approve, deny, or return to the State for more information at the click of a button. This level of collaboration means the Subgrantee, State, and FEMA are always on the same page and reports are always accurate in real-time.

In addition to managing disaster grants, MEMA relies on 3 customized support services tools at my.msema.org that were created by MB3. The first is time record management, which allows all MEMA employees to submit timesheets and allocate their time. Travel vouchers allow for submission of requests to travel followed by reporting of expenses for past trips, all with a flexible approval process. Finally, purchase requisitions may be submitted by employees and routed for approval. For all of these three areas, MEMA has mandated the use of my.msema.org to ensure all employees submit through the system so everything is in one place.