Atkins and URS joint venture to provide temporary housing in New York

NEW YORK — The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a task order to Atkins under a preexisting contract in support of FEMA’s efforts to clean up and rebuild the Northeastern United States in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. As part of FEMA’s efforts to support the mobilization of state and federal resources, the agency contracted with Disaster Solutions Alliance (DSA), LLC — a joint venture between Atkins and URS Corporation that was formed in 2006 — to help provide temporary housing for U.S. residents affected by the storm.

Under the new FEMA task order, DSA’s services include designing and constructing sites for temporary housing units, as well as transporting and installing housing units in the New York counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Orange — which encompasses about one-fourth of New York City. The task order calls for DSA to locate commercial sites that can serve as locations for up to 200 temporary mobile housing units.

Steve Glenn, Atkins’ director of emergency management, said, “Our hearts go out to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. With our extensive experience supporting FEMA following other natural disasters, I’m confident that our qualified team can help bring back some normalcy to the people and businesses of New York.”

Thousands of New York City residents whose homes were devastated by Hurricane Sandy are now applying to FEMA for assistance, and the Agency’s mobile units can provide housing for several months. The units are configured for families, and offer two or three beds as well as disability access.

According to Glenn, DSA has been tasked with locating potential mobile housing sites and assessing the availability to those sites for services such as power, water, and sewer. If sufficient existing sites can’t be located, the DSA team will look for new sites and will transform them to accommodate an appropriate number of housing units. DSA will execute the design and project management functions that are necessary to transform the sites, working with pre-selected subcontractors to supply construction manpower and the actual housing units.

All services will be performed under the joint venture’s existing FEMA Individual Assistance — Technical Assistance Contract (IA-TAC). The mission of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Division (IAD) is to ensure that individuals and families who have been impacted by disasters have timely access to the full range of FEMA programs and receive the best possible level of service. The IA-TAC Management Branch within IAD is FEMA’s Program Management Office that oversees contractor support of the IAD mission.

Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada during late October 2012, was the largest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, with a peak wind field of 1,000 miles in diameter. Sandy left behind a death toll of approximately 200 and caused an estimated $53 billion in damage, which puts the storm in second place behind 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.