Engineer HUB: Texas Firm Helps Communities Mitigate Risk Through Grant Programs
Managing community infrastructure safeguards resources and provides focus for every civil engineer, HUB, Texas city and county. Infrastructure management is becoming more complicated and requires an increasing number of resources, including Texas-certified Historically Underutilized Businesses, or HUBs.
There are many government-funded projects to aid communities and HUB engineering firms with infrastructure projects. OEI has the knowledge, experience, and a history of positive relationships with governmental regulatory agencies to help your community navigate the complicated processes to access programs that help protect and improve infrastructure.
OEI Engineer: HUB, Texas SDVOSB
As a certified service-disabled veteran operated small business (SDVOSB), OEI also qualifies as an engineer HUB. Texas HUB certification recognizes OEI as a historically underutilized business, which increases our ability to develop competitive advantages in the engineering and architecture industry. These opportunities have contributed to our experience with designing, maintaining, and rehabilitating community infrastructure and mitigating potential risks to residents.
What is BRIC?
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) is a FEMA grant opportunity focused on hazard mitigation projects historically undertaken by HUBs like OEI.
The BRIC website states, “Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) will support states, local communities, tribes, and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. The BRIC program guiding principles are supporting communities through capability- and capacity-building; encouraging and enabling innovation; promoting partnerships; enabling large projects; maintaining flexibility; and providing consistency.”
Even though the submission for 2022 applications has passed, it’s not too soon to evaluate if your community meets grant criteria and begin collecting information for next year.
Are There Other Grant Opportunities?
In addition to the BRIC program, the Texas Division of Emergency Management has several hazard-mitigation grants that commonly fund HUB-led projects. A few of these grants are still in the application process. One program focuses on recovery from the 2021 February winter storm. These programs help communities recover from disasters and establish infrastructure to prevent damage from future disasters.
OEI Is Here to Help
The grant application process can be very complicated. OEI is knowledgeable about many programs that help communities provide protection and improvement to their infrastructure systems. As a Texas HUB and SDVOSB, we have extensive experience working with organizations such as FEMA and USACE on resource management projects and reviews.
Our expert team is ready to guide you through the grant proposal process and will help create innovative and efficient implementation plans. Contact us today to learn more about the government partnerships available to increase the viability of your community’s infrastructure.