Breakdown of H.R. 133 COVID-19 Relief Provisions
Published: January 06, 2021
Federal Market AnalysisBudgetCoronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
Emergency coronavirus relief provided in the latest federal spending package provides an additional $184B to federal agencies with contractor addressability potential.
Key Takeaways:
- The recent COVID-19 stimulus provides additional funding to a number of federal agencies, largely targeting state and local assistance programs, transportation aid and education grants.
- Contractors must remain ready to provide additional support associated with the supplemental funding, with consideration for response efforts at both federal and SLED levels.
In addition to funding the federal government in FY 2021, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133) provides emergency coronavirus relief to federal departments, businesses and individuals.
Most noteworthy to contractors in the latest stimulus bill is the extension of Section 3610 from September 30, 2020 to March 31, 2021. Section 3610 provides reimbursement of employee paid leave costs incurred by contractors during the pandemic.
Divisions M and N represent the coronavirus response and relief portion of H.R. 133. While Division M provides the breakdown of supplemental appropriations to federal departments, Division N describes additional relief for individuals and businesses, and extensions and amendments to previous COVID-19 legislation. For our purposes here, we will focus on the breakdown of funding within Division M, which contains the highest potential for additional contractor support.
Division M contains over $184B in supplemental funding for federal departments, with many of those funds positioned for state and local disbursement:
|
Funding ($M) |
Federal Department |
Funding Description |
Contractor Addressable |
|
300 |
Commerce |
Fisheries Disaster Assistance Fund |
Funding distribution assistance to states and tribes |
|
82,039 |
Education |
Education Stabilization Fund to aid all U.S. schools from Elementary to higher education |
Funding distribution assistance to state, local and tribal education departments |
|
10,250 |
HHS/ACF |
Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head Start Program |
Funding distribution assistance to states and localities; operational support |
|
100 |
HHS/ACL |
Aging and Disability Services Programs |
Administrative/operational support |
|
8,540 |
HHS/CDC |
Vaccine coverage, specifically $4.5B for states, localities, territories and tribes and $300M for high-risk and underserved |
Funding distribution assistance; administrative/operational support |
|
55 |
HHS/FDA |
Public health research and response; medical countermeasures and vaccines; advanced manufacturing and oversight for medical products |
Medical services; medical supplies/equipment; personal protection equipment; research and development; operational support; pharmaceuticals |
|
1,000 |
HHS/IHS |
Testing, tracing, surveillance, containment and mitigation |
Medical services; medical supplies/equipment; personal protection equipment; operational support |
|
1,250 |
HHS/NIH |
Rapid acceleration of diagnostics; research and clinical trials for long-term COVID studies |
Medical services; medical supplies/equipment; research and development |
|
47,557 |
HHS/Sec. |
Strategic National Stockpile; BARDA manufacturing; testing, contact tracing, surveillance; testing capability improvements; oversight |
Medical services, medical supplies/equipment, personal protection equipment, operational support |
|
4,250 |
HHS/SAMHSA |
Supports various SAMHSA grant and prevention programs |
Funding distribution assistance to states and localities |
|
2,000 |
DHS |
FEMA disaster relief fund to assist with COVID funeral expenses |
Funding distribution assistance to states and localities |
|
27,000 |
Transportation |
$2B to FAA for airport assistance; $1B to support Amtrak operations; $14B for Transit Emergency Relief fund; $10B to support preventive maintenance, operations and personnel at FHWA |
Funding distribution assistance; personal protection equipment; administrative/operational support |
The recent federal stimulus bill continues some of the same provisions provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and even amends certain CARES Act provisions with inadvertent negative impacts. Nonetheless, the CARES Act provided supplemental funding to a larger number of departments to help mitigate pandemic impacts, including PPE equipment and cleaning services. The recent legislation, however, largely targets key state and local assistance programs, the transportation industry, education grants, and continues pandemic response efforts at HHS.