BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The company chosen to manage Louisiana's $1.3 billion flood aid program for homeowners is the same firm that was earlier selected for the work and then saw its contract scrapped and the bid process redone.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Thursday that IEM was selected to oversee the program.

The governor says reopening the bid process resulted in lower contract costs — though Edwards' office didn't immediately say what the contract's estimated price tag will be.

Money for the homeowner program comes from $1.6 billion in block grant aid allocated by Congress to help Louisiana recover from the March and August 2016 floods.

More than 11,000 people have filled out a survey that is the first step to applying for homeowner aid. Dollars are expected to start flowing next month.

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