The onboarding period for carriers in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Tender of Service Program (STOS) opens most years in early February. Requirements in some ways resemble the Pentagon's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's contracting rules, requiring registration in various systems.
While FEMA disaster work is somewhat common for owner-operators and small fleets in Overdrive's audience, most will contract for such work through a broker or leased to a carrier that's part of FEMA's STOS. Yet it's at least possible for owners with authority to contract directly with the agency.
Owners who've completed the process in the past report a mixed bag of success contracting directly.
Among those who've completed the process in recent years, one owner noted FEMA's rates haven't been great for standard-issue relief van and flatbed freight with increased competition and agency cost concerns, yet the need is clearly great with disaster prevalence all around the nation.Getty
Most often, a FEMA load reaches an independent's trailer through a broker, or companies like Crowley, the 3PL that holds the Defense Freight Transportation Services freight-outsourcing contract with the Pentagon, detailed in the prior part of the Independence and Growth section of Partners in Business.
[Related: Hurricane Helene: Where are all the FEMA load postings?]
The registration process for contracting directly with the agency something of a "pain in the [you-know-what]," in the words of one owner who's completed it more than once, yet it gets simpler with time and experience repeating the process annually (required of all transport providers).
For FEMA STOS, details on how to get newly set up in FEMA's system as a transport provider are laid out in detail via this link, and for carriers new to the process it starts with establishing a SAM.gov account, where rules note you'll be required to provide quite a lot of information about the business (a registration checklist is available for download here). Getting set up in SAM.gov can itself take 15 days or longer, so keep that in mind heading into February of any given year.
While the onboarding process for carriers is open typically through much of March of any given year, new contracting carriers are allowed only about half of that time to finish the application.
As with the Pentagon's process through SDDC, you'll need a Standard Carrier Alpha Code from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association. You will need both U.S. DOT and MC numbers, a valid credit card and an email address for filing online. Fee: $90.
You'll also ultimately need to be set up with an account for electronic payments with U.S. Bank Freight Payment, powered by Syncada. U.S. Bank takes a small percentage of every transaction, and a nominal setup fee is levied. Follow this link or contact custom support direct at [email protected], 800-417-1844.
Carriers apply to be a part of the STOS directly with FEMA, completing a variety of forms available for perusal via this link. To be an approved service provider in FEMA's system, carriers must meet other conditions, including having the appropriate operating authority to do the work sought and:
- Maintaining a minimum of $300K worth in cargo insurance.
- Maintaining liability insurance as required by federal, state, and local regulatory agencies.
- Likewise, specific liability insurance for transporting hazardous cargo, if you're moving such material.
- Maintaining a physical office and an authorized representative within the United States or its territories.
FEMA emphasizes, as suggested above, that carriers must contract during the open onboarding period every program year (which officially starts in July), FEMA notes, and the 2026 deadline for filing all appropriate documentation was March 27.
[Related: On a Hurricane Harvey relief mission with owner-operator Bill Ater]
Keep tuned in the early part of the year to FEMA's STOS website for informational sessions like the virtual "STOS Industry Day" informational events it's hosted in the past for questions and answers abuot the process.
Owner-operators note 2018 as something of an inflection for agency priorities placed on low cost carriers, particularly for basic items like bottled water, ice, cots, tarps, MREs and generators. Costs associated with disaster response to hurricanes ballooned that year, after Florence's disastrous flooding in the Carolinas and Michael in the Gulf (and the prior year Hurricane Harvey, which brought unprecedented flooding to the Texas Gulf Coast).
This chart, from a 2022 Congressional Budget Office analysis of disaster relief spending, shows annual spending in the billions of dollars up through year 2021. "Excluding pandemic-related spending," CBO wrote, "annual spending over the 2005-2021 period was $12.5 billion, on average," yet 2018 far exceeded that level.
