FEMA Public Assistance and Disaster Recovery Trainer

About Fedsprout

Fedsprout helps organizations secure, manage, and comply with government funding requirements. We support clients across federal and state grant programs, including utilities, electric cooperatives, public power entities, startups, and other organizations managing complex infrastructure, resilience, and innovation projects. Our work includes grant strategy, proposal support, post-award grant management, financial compliance, reporting, audit readiness, training, and technical assistance.

Fedsprout delivers grant compliance and disaster recovery training to electric cooperatives, statewide cooperative associations, and public power organizations nationally.

Position Summary

Fedsprout seeks a senior instructor to develop and deliver FEMA Public Assistance and disaster recovery training for electric cooperatives, public power entities, and statewide cooperative associations.

This is a senior delivery role. Training audiences consist of cooperative leadership, including general managers and chief executives, chief financial officers and controllers, operations managers, line superintendents, and the accounting and procurement personnel responsible for assembling reimbursement documentation. The instructor must establish credibility across that full range within a single session and must be able to address executive-level questions on program exposure and audit risk alongside operational questions on field documentation practices.

The successful candidate will bring substantial practical experience administering FEMA Public Assistance grants through multiple declared disasters, spanning both emergency work and permanent work categories. Category F utilities work is central to this role, and candidates should also be conversant with Categories A and B for response operations and Category E where cooperative facilities are involved. Candidates whose experience is limited to classroom instruction, without direct disaster administration history, will not be considered.

Engagement Type and Schedule

This is a contract role. Current utilization is limited and engagement-driven, consisting of individual training deliveries scheduled in advance rather than a fixed weekly commitment. Fedsprout's training practice is expanding across statewide cooperative associations, and we anticipate that hours may increase over time. We are interested in candidates seeking a sustained professional relationship rather than a single assignment, and we are open to discussing an expanded scope of work as demand develops.

Engagements typically require curriculum preparation in advance of delivery, travel to the client location, and one to two days on site. Travel is scheduled well ahead and is periodic rather than continuous.

Key Responsibilities - Training Delivery

• Deliver multi-module in-person training programs for cooperative management teams, typically one to two days in duration, for groups of up to 65 participants.
• Deliver remote and hybrid instruction via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and comparable platforms.
• Co-instruct with a second Fedsprout instructor, sharing delivery across modules.
• Facilitate structured working sessions in which participating cooperatives develop readiness action lists, documentation checklists, and internal process improvements.
• Calibrate delivery to audience experience level, which ranges from cooperatives with no prior Public Assistance history to those administering multiple concurrent disasters.
• Address unanticipated technical questions with sound judgment, including appropriate qualification where outcomes depend on the declaration, the state administering agency, or the specific fact pattern.
• Represent Fedsprout at statewide association meetings, industry conferences, and cooperative member events in a speaking or panel capacity.

Curriculum Development

• Develop and maintain training modules addressing the FEMA Public Assistance program, disaster readiness, documentation practices, procurement under emergency and exigent circumstances, force account labor and equipment, insurance and duplication of benefits, project formulation and obligation, closeout, and audit readiness.
• Produce participant-facing materials including slide decks, workbooks, checklists, reference guides, sample documentation packages, and case study material drawn from actual cooperative recoveries.
• Adapt curriculum to individual states and regions, including the role of the state emergency management agency, state disaster funds, and applicable state and county relationships.
• Review and update content in advance of each delivery to reflect current federal and state guidance, including revisions to the Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide.
• Develop role-differentiated content appropriate to finance, operations, procurement, and executive audiences.

Technical Subject Matter Expertise

• Serve as a subject matter authority on the FEMA Public Assistance program as applied to electric cooperatives, including private nonprofit applicant eligibility, emergency and permanent work categories, utility infrastructure restoration, and mitigation opportunities under Section 406.
• Advise on documentation practices sufficient to withstand monitoring reviews, Single Audits, and grantor closeout requests.
• Interpret program guidance, award conditions, federal cost principles, and procurement standards under 2 CFR Part 200 in terms applicable to utility operations.
• Maintain currency on program policy developments, state administrative practice, and emerging issues affecting cooperative applicants.
• Support Fedsprout consulting engagements as a technical resource where appropriate, including readiness assessments and audit-readiness reviews.

Cooperative Sector Knowledge

• Apply working knowledge of cooperative structure and governance, including board oversight, member accountability, work plans, and mutual aid arrangements.
• Apply operational understanding of restoration activity, including crew deployment, contractor and mutual aid crews, equipment utilization, and materials issued from inventory, together with the documentation requirements each generates during an active event.
• Translate federal requirements into procedures that cooperatives with limited administrative staffing can implement and sustain.
• Establish credibility with operations personnel, including line superintendents and crew leadership, whose participation is essential to effective field documentation.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 20 years of professional experience in emergency management, disaster recovery, FEMA Public Assistance administration, or federal grant administration.
• Direct administration experience across multiple declared disasters and multiple incident types, with involvement extending from response documentation through project formulation, reimbursement, and closeout.
• Demonstrated experience with Category F utilities work, together with working knowledge of Categories A and B emergency work and Category E where applicable.
• Direct experience with electric cooperatives, public power entities, municipal utilities, generation and transmission cooperatives, or comparable infrastructure organizations, whether as an employee, consultant, or state or federal counterpart.
• Substantial instructional experience with adult professional audiences, including multi-hour or multi-day in-person delivery.
• Demonstrated experience presenting to senior executives and governing boards, with the ability to maintain credibility concurrently with financial and operational personnel.
• Comprehensive working knowledge of the FEMA Public Assistance program, including eligibility determination, cost documentation, procurement requirements, appeals, and closeout.
• Strong presentation, facilitation, and plain-language instruction skills.
• Strong technical writing skills for curriculum and participant-facing materials.
• Availability to travel periodically for in-person delivery.
• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior employment with an electric cooperative, statewide cooperative association, public power organization, state emergency management agency, or FEMA.
• Experience supporting cooperative applicants specifically, as distinguished from municipal or county applicants.
• Experience with force account labor and equipment documentation, FEMA equipment rates, mutual aid cost recovery, and insurance and duplication of benefits analysis.
• Experience with Section 406 hazard mitigation, Section 324 management costs, first and second appeals, or arbitration.
• Experience preparing applicants for Single Audits, state grant audits, or FEMA monitoring and closeout review.
• Experience with USDA RUS programs, Department of Energy programs, state energy office programs, or state disaster funds administered alongside FEMA assistance.
• Established relationships within the cooperative network, including NRECA, statewide associations, or generation and transmission cooperatives.
• Formal instructional design or adult learning credentials, or FEMA and Emergency Management Institute instructor qualifications.
• Professional certification such as CEM, CFM, CPA, CGFM, CGMS, or PMP.

Compensation and Terms

Compensation is engagement-based and commensurate with experience. Travel is reimbursed separately or incorporated into the engagement fee by arrangement. Terms will be documented in a written independent contractor agreement.