As of July 2, I still cannot find any additional information about the National Disaster Resilience Competition.

But I did see this item of interest on the HUD website: HUD RELEASES PROGRESS REPORT ON SANDY REBUILDING STRATEGY; Report Tracks Progress On Recommendations of Sandy Task Force

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Sandy Program Management Office (PMO) today issued its first report tracking progress on the Sandy Rebuilding Strategy. The report is now available online.

From an article in today’s Wall St. Journal:
Many Displaced by Superstorm Sandy Still Wait for Housing Help:
Rules, Including Some Tracing to Fraud Seen After Katrina, Slow Delivery of Billions in Federal Aid

From the site NJ.com: See: 10 indicators of Hurricane Sandy recovery. The lead in to the list of 10 follows:

Nineteen months after Sandy, how far along are New Jersey and its residents in getting back on their feet? It’s clear that substantial progress has been made from the days when boardwalks were heaps of rubble and piles of sand and debris lined the streets.

But how much work remains to be done, and what challenges lie ahead? Here’s a sampling of 10 indicators providing snapshots of where the recovery stands at this point.

I just posted an article about what the new mayor of NYC has in mind to expedite the recovery from H. Sandy. It notes that the mayor  was assuming not only the federal dollars pledged to date but was planning to request another $1B to accomplish the expeditious actions he outlined.

Today in the Wall St. Journal, an article suggested that not only will the states of NY and NJ not get more money, they will not get the full amount allocated to date.  I invite corrections if I am wrong. See: More Than $1 Billion in Superstorm Sandy Aid Could Leave Region; New York, New Jersey Lawmakers Call for Disaster Relief to Remain in Area. Here are some excerpts:

More Than $1 Billion in Superstorm Sandy Aid Could Leave Region New York, New Jersey Lawmakers Call for Disaster Relief to Remain in Area By Laura Kusisto and Josh Dawsey Wall Street Journal April 20, 2014

Federal officials are considering spending more than $1 billion of the remaining $3.6 billion of rebuilding aid on disasters other than superstorm Sandy, money that New York and New Jersey are banking on to finish repairs to thousands of homes and complete major infrastructure projects.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is in charge of distributing the aid, believes that spreading the funds around to disasters other than Sandy is required by federal law, according to people familiar with the matter. New York officials dispute that interpretation.

Note that HUD is responsible for managing the Community Development Block Grant funds, which make up the lion’s share of the recovery money from H. Sandy.

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Thanks to Tom Antush for pointing out this article and link.

There is no shortage of people/organizations to blame for the slow and costly process of recovery in NJ and NY. Regarding NJ, recently Governor Christie blamed FEMA. Today, Senator Menendez blames the state government in Trenton. See: Sen. Menendez Blames Trenton for Slow Hurricane Sandy Recovery. Also, under consideration is a proposed Bill of Rights for recovery coming from a State Senator and aimed at the head of the Dept. of Community Affairs in NJ. Here are some excerpts from the news article:

US senators from New Jersey and New York today questioned the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development about the slow pace of recovery from Hurricane Sandy.

At a hearing held by a subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee in Washington, DC, HUD secretary Shaun Donovan (below) insisted his agency has changed current rules to speed things up.

This pace of spending is 48 percent faster than after Hurricane Katrina,” Donovan told senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), “and more than 2½ times faster than after Hurricane Ike.”

Menendez was complimentary of HUD’s role but suggested there has been a lot of bureaucratic footdragging at the state level.

“I thought it was a good idea to give states the flexibility and discretion that seemed reasonable, assuming we would all rise to the occasion,” he said, “and now, frankly, I question the wisdom of that assumption.”

No state officials accepted an invitation to testify but, during the hearing, the Christie administration announced plans to streamline release of funds to distressed homeowners still waiting for help.

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NOTE: I highlighted in red some interesting facts that I have not seen before.  I hope this is a positive indicator of improved federal capabilities and performance during recovery.

Here are three recent articles about how slowly the recovery is proceeding in NYC.  And of course NJ is having its own set of problems rebuilding.  Here are two takes on the NYC situation:

(1) City is slacking on Hurricane Sandy aid for homeowners: report

Of the 19,920 people who applied for the Build It Back program, none have seen construction work start and only 110 had signed a deal on aid as of last month, according to data analyzed by the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding.

(2) Build It Back Has ‘to Do Better’ at Releasing Sandy Funds, Mayor Says

And here is an account of the problems in NJ:

Gov. Christie Blames Slow Sandy Recovery on Federal Governmentg

Here are three new perspectives on the H. Sandy recovery process. The first is from a blog called Politics of the Environment; Discussing Environmental Public Policy and the article is Your Tax Dollars At Work or Not. I believe the author was a member of the H. Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. Here is an excerpt:

I would like to be be discussing the progressive and forward thinking approach to rebuilding that New Jersey has taken in the aftermath of Sandy. But I can’t. I would like to describe the intelligent and measured plan to spend the billions of dollars in federal Sandy aid that has poured into the state. But I can’t. I would like to list the dozens of coordinated programs designed to re-shape the future of New Jersey as a place where vulnerability to future storms and the effects of climate change on a coastal state are being adequately addressed. But I can’t. I would like to say that in response to Sandy’s destruction New Jersey is fundamentally re-assessing how and where we occupy vulnerable areas of the coast. But I can’t. What I can say is that something has gone wrong, very wrong, with the state’s handling of Sandy recovery.

The second is a cool, neutral review of the process from the Congressional Research Service. See Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Strategy; In Brief. One of the key points made in this report is the need to determine if the recovery task force mechanism is necessary and successful.

The third, available from NJ.com on Feb. 20th, is titled Sandy Aid Went to Projects  Far from the Storm.