scope:

PURPOSE AND APPLICABILITY

Statute

This guidance implements Section 1202 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, Public Law 109-163, as amended by Section 1205 of the NDAA for FY 2008, Public Law 110-181, and Section 1214 of the Duncan Hunter NDAA for FY 2009, Public Law 110-417, by assigning responsibilities for administering the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP); defining the purposes for which U.S. appropriations or other funds provided for the CERP may be expended; and specifying the procedures for executing, managing, recording and reporting such expenditures.

Humanitarian Relief/Reconstruction

The CERP is designed to enable local commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan to respond to urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction requirements within their areas of responsibility by carrying out programs that will immediately assist the indigenous population. As used here, reconstruction does not limit efforts to restore previous conditions/structures in Afghanistan. Also, as used here, urgent is defined as any chronic or acute inadequacy of an essential good or service that, in the judgment of a local commander, calls for immediate action. In addition, the CERP is intended to be used for small-scale projects that, optimally, can be sustained by the local population or government. Small-scale would generally be considered less than $500,000 per project. Projects of $500,000 or more are expected to be relatively few in number and require approval (to a maximum of $1 million) by the commander of the CERP Program Manager in theater (Commander, Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I), or (to a maximum of $2 million) Commander, Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Afghanistan).

Approval Authority

A. In Afghanistan, projects using more than $2 million of appropriated CERP funds must be approved by the Commander of USCENTCOM. Commander, USCENTCOM may delegate this approval authority to the Deputy Commander, USCENTCOM or the Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A), provided the Commander, USFOR-A is not also serving as the CJTF Commander, who already has responsibility to approve projects up to $2 million.

B. In Iraq, projects using appropriated CERP funds are capped at $2 million. The Secretary of Defense may waive this funding limit if he (a) determines that the project is required to meet urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction requirements and that it will immediately assist the Iraqi people, and (b) submits a notification of his waiver in writing to the defense committees within 15 days of his waiver. The waiver is required to discuss the unmet and urgent needs addressed by the project and any arrangements between the U.S. Government (USG) and the Government of Iraq (GoI) regarding the provision of Iraq funds to carry out and sustain the project.

C. For Iraq, the Secretary of Defense or Deputy Secretary of Defense (if authority is delegated) must certify that any project, funded with appropriated CERP funds over $1 million addresses urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction requirements that will immediately assist the Iraqi people.

D. For Iraq, projects costing more than $750,000 are expected to be funded on a cost-share basis with the GoI. All projects over $750,000 require either an explanation of the cost-share arrangement with the GoI or a justification that the project directly benefits U.S. security objectives in Iraq and should be pursued even in the absence of cost-sharing.

E. For Iraq, commanders will continue to identify and pursue opportunities to transition responsibility for larger economic revitalization efforts to the Government of Iraq and will include a description of these efforts in the Commander's Narrative section of the quarterly report.

Representative Areas

The CERP may be used to assist the Iraqi and Afghan people in the following representative areas:

A. Water and sanitation.

B. Food production and distribution.

C. Agriculture/Irrigation (including canal clean-up).

D. Electricity.

E. Healthcare.

F. Education.

G. Telecommunications.

H. Economic, financial, and management improvements.

I. Transportation.

J. Rule of law and governance.

K. Civic cleanup activities.

L. Civic support vehicles.

M. Repair of civic and cultural facilities.

N. Battle Damage/Repair.

O. Condolence payments.

P. Hero Payments.

Q. Former Detainee Payments.

R. Protective measures.

S. Other urgent humanitarian or reconstruction projects.

T. Temporary contract guards for critical infrastructure.

Contract Requirement

This guidance applies to all U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) organizations and activities. A requirement to comply with this guidance shall be incorporated into contracts, as appropriate to cover the execution, management, recording and reporting of expenditures of U.S. appropriations and other funds made available for the CERP. Guidance concerning CERP reporting categories for potential projects is contained in Annex A.