rivera: post-katrina, we had that problem, and as gerilee explained, they have that way were they step in, but there is a focus on the government contract offices and a way to communicate with the organization that has the commission assignment on how to get the work. so this exists pre-katrina, but that is something we have developed for all disasters since then. sen. vitter: ok. let me just also make the comment where there has been a trend for federal government agencies to deal more and more with mega contracts or bundling contracts that, by their size, have to go to mega entities. i think it is mostly because it is easier on the bureaucrats, right? you have won a contract, one mega contractor you are dealing with versus 100, and it is a lot easier within the government bureaucracy. i think that is a very worrisome trend. it is completely cutting out small businesses. small businesses either can't participate or if they do, like i say, they are layers down, in terms of subcontracting and getting pennies on the dollar. i certainly think that a lot of post-disaster contracts and work

rivera: post-katrina, we had that problem, and as gerilee explained, they have that way were they step in, but there is a focus on the government contract offices and a way to communicate with the organization that has the commission assignment on how to get the work. so this exists pre-katrina, but that is something we have developed for all disasters since then. sen. vitter: ok. let me just also make the comment where there has been a trend for federal government moreies to deal more and with mega contracts or bundling contracts that, by their size, have to go to mega entities. because itis mostly is easier on the bureaucrats, right? you have won a contract, one mega contractor you are dealing with versus 100, and it is a lot easier within the government bureaucracy. i think that is a very worrisome trend. it is completely cutting out small businesses. small businesses either can't participate or if they do, like i say, they are layers down, in terms of subcontracting and getting pennies on the dollar. ofertainly think that a lot post-disaster contracts and work is a particularly wor

when gerilee and i first met we were discussing the difference between response and recovery. we figured that out now. ten years later, we're mature organization when it comes to these are the roles and responsibilities of the responders and the recovery players. now we have disaster preparedness 3r5igsprepared ness operation teams so we can continue asut of the disaster the longer term effect from that perspective. >> okay. fema? gerilee, you want to take a stab? >> yes. thank you, mr. chairman. i would say we don't have a different playbook for a catastrophic disaster because it's really important we have the basic plans and systems and teams in place for all disasters in that they practice on the smaller disasters and it exercises what they would do if there were a catastrophic disaster. if we designed things that we would do things much differently in a catastrophic disaster, we wouldn't be as ready because we haven't practiced it that way. we have some plans for very specific high-risk scenarios that we work together clab collaboratively with our partners, so we do do tha

and how we can approve going forward. thank you. >> great. thanks very much, mr. rivera. gerilee bennett. >> thank you very much for the invitation to be here today. as mr. rivera said, fema is please to be able to participate in this roundtable with our partners, the sba, and the red cross, who we've been working very closely with since katrina and throughout the years in support of many disasters such as hurricane sandy, hurricane isaac in louisiana, hit before that and somewhat got overshadowed, but we had already implemented a lot of changes even by then. i want to focus today on some of the improvements that we have done in partnership with the interagency members of the national disaster recovery framework. the framework was developed really in response to hurricane katrina, the post-katrina reform act called for a national disaster recovery strategy. some of the key elements of the framework are that it promotes partnership, planning for disaster recovery in advance, and the development and establishment of an organizational structure and leadership in advance that focuses