Deloitte has entered an alliance with tech firm Ava Labs in order to support a new disaster recovery platform that leverages the Avalanche blockchain to “help state and local governments easily demonstrate their eligibility for federal emergency funding.”
As mentioned in the announcement:
“Developed with the input and insight of first responders, public works departments, finance authorities and grant-making agencies, the new Close As You Go (CAYG) platform helps state and local government officials simplify and streamline disaster reimbursement applications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”
Whenever disaster strikes a community, state and local officials need to act quickly and deliberately in order to respond, explained Alex Haseley, Principal, Deloitte & Touche LLP and Deloitte’s government and public services crisis management portfolio leader.
Haseley added that their Close As You Go platform may serve a key role in assisting these leaders with being prepared to aggregate and validate the documentation “necessary to demonstrate eligibility for funding and reduce the risk of adverse audit findings down the road.”
Using the Avalanche blockchain, CAYG’s Cloud-powered platform offers state and local officials with “a decentralized, transparent and cost-efficient system that empowers both grantmakers and funding recipients while minimizing fraud, waste, and abuse.” the announcement noted.
The secure environment offered via Avalanche’s blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) quickly “gathers, processes and authenticates required documentation, ultimately improving the accuracy of federal disaster claims.” Avalanche is also “an eco-friendly platform, which aligns with Deloitte’s commitment to green technology,” the update noted.
John Wu, President of Ava Labs, stated:
“Close As You Go features a user-friendly interface backed by the cutting edge of blockchains, helping state and local governments focus on their recovery, rather than extensive claims processes. We’re proud to work closely with Deloitte to offer this new, secure and beneficial technology for communities across the country.”
Key CAYG capabilities include:
- Streamlining recovery efforts by organizing the documentation needed to demonstrate eligibility for reimbursement in near real-time.
- Simplifying document retention by securely storing and linking related documents and eligibility actions via blockchain technology.
- Reducing administrative costs by indexing compliance with federal, state and local guidelines to each reimbursement request using customized workflows.
- Mitigating risk by establishing a secure, accessible repository for records.
Building resiliency by documenting compliance with federal procurement standards.
As noted in a release, Deloitte offers audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s businesses, including around 90% of the Fortune 500 and over 7,000 private firms.
As covered, Avalanche is among the fastest smart contract platforms in the blockchain or DLT sector, “as measured by time-to-finality, and has the most validators securing its activity of any proof-of-stake protocol.”
Avalanche claims it is “blazingly fast, low cost, and green.” Any smart contract-enabled application can “outperform its competition by deploying on Avalanche,” the development team claims.