Borcherding, John D.Menches, Cindy L.2010-11-022010-11-022017-05-112010-11-022010-11-022017-05-112010-05May 2010http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-05-1360textIn the summer of 2008, two hurricanes made landfall along the Texas coast causing billions of dollars in damage. Texas received presidential disaster declarations, which resulted in the state receiving over $350 million in hazard mitigation funds. Over 500 requests for mitigation projects were submitted to the government from communities impacted. Not all requested projects could be funded. As a result, those communities that submitted requests for well-defined mitigation projects were the primary beneficiaries of the federal mitigation funds. To better understand the factors that characterize a “welldefined” mitigation project, this study developed an index to rate the completeness and quality of mitigation project definitions. The study incorporated concepts from research on quality community planning and from project definition rating methods. The rating tool consists of detailed descriptions of the project scope elements along with a scoring method for the completeness and quality of the project’s definition. The rating tool and the detailed descriptions help to develop a “well-defined” mitigation project definition as well as to evaluate it.application/pdfengProject definitionRatingIndexScoreMitigationthesis2010-11-02