USACE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are working to fulfill the requirements of Title IX, entitled the National Levee Safety Program, of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, as amended and codified in 33 U.S.C. Chapter 46. Title IX provides authorities for various activities in support of establishing a National Levee Safety Program (NLSP) to be led by USACE in cooperation with FEMA. One of the main activities associated with the development of the NLSP is the establishment of National Levee Safety Guidelines.

National Levee Safety Guidelines will serve as a national resource of comprehensive best practices providing fundamental levee information including basic concepts and terminology to consistent approaches for levee-related activities throughout the life of a levee. The guidelines are intended for a broad audience with the goal of achieving nationwide consistency in pursuit of improving the reliability of levees and resiliency of communities behind levees in the U.S.

The requested services to be accomplished include the following:

a. Conduct a comprehensive review of the National Levee Safety Guidelines first edition.

b. Read the complementary document describing the approach taken for the creation of the National Levee Safety Guidelines. This document includes the following:

1. authorizing language through the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2007, as amended and codified in 33 USC Chapter 46.


2. description of related components under the National Levee Safety Program


3. activities leading to the development of the publication


4. detailed record of the development steps


5. analysis of industry-wide sources leveraged by the team


6. documentation of decisions made during interim stages of development


7. organizational structure and an explanation of the methodology used for team selection


8. established protocol for interim reviews


9. strategy for updating the guidelines


10. timeline of activities