Annual ODR Report Charts Territory’s Disaster Recovery Progress

The V.I. Disaster Recovery Office touted the obligation of $18.1 billion toward the territory’s recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria in its 2024 annual report, released last week. By the end of the year, the territory had expended more than $3.6 billion and completed more than a thousand projects.

The report highlighted major milestones in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ seven-year recovery effort reached last year, including the completion of the Walter I. M. Hodge Pavilion on St. Croix, the launch of Rebuild USVI and the adjustment to the territory’s federal cost-share requirement in February 2024. That adjustment upped the federal contribution from 90 to 95 percent for many disaster recovery projects and 98 percent for 241 infrastructure projects.

“The 10 percent cost share for FEMA disaster recovery grants could have cost the territory close to $2 billion, based on current projections of a $20 billion recovery,” according to the report. “The long-awaited adjustment will put approximately $1.1 billion back into the hands of the territory.”

Under the Rebuild USVI initiative, which Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. formally announced during his 2024 State of the Territory Address, the territory established a “Super Project Management Office” to issue billion-dollar procurement bundles.

“The feedback gained from Tier One contractors was that the way business is done had to change,” according to the report. “The territory would need to develop projects totaling $1 billion or more, streamline processes, clear lines for decision-making, timely payments, and shared risk procurement.”

The Rebuild USVI team awarded a $137 million construction and project management services contract in August, though the runner-up later sued the Virgin Islands government in September, alleging conflicts of interest and a violation of federal procurement procedures. A federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of the claims last month.