U.S. Department of Homeland Security
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20472      

W-10061
May 19, 2010

      
MEMORANDUM FOR:	Write Your Own (WYO) Principal Coordinators and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Servicing Agent

FROM: Jhun de la Cruz Branch Chief, Underwriting Risk Insurance Division

SUBJECT: Elevation Certificate Datum Conversion Guidance

The NFIP Elevation Certificate (EC) contains the instruction that certified building elevation information must use the same elevation datum that was used to determine the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). FEMA has observed that the surveyor-provided information in item C2 does not always clearly indicate whether the datum conversion has been performed.

Unless the surveyor’s comments specifically state that the conversion was not performed, WYO Companies and the NFIP Servicing Agent should assume that line items C2a-h have already been converted to the same elevation datum as the BFE reported in box B9. Following this guidance will ensure consistent application at the policy processing level.

If you have any questions on this matter, please contact David Zaika of my staff at (202) 212-2068.

cc:  Vendors, IBHS, FIPNC, Government Technical Representative

Required Routing: Underwriting



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