FEMA’s Use of Risk-based Monitoring for Grantee Oversight

This review focused on FEMA preparedness grants awarded directly to local fire stations, port facilities, and transit systems, called Assistance toFirefighters rants and TransportationInfrastructure Security Branch grants, that totaled $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2011. This report conveys concerns we identified during our limited review for FEMA to consider prior to implementing its revised monitoring plans. We may revisit FEMA’s monitoring of grantees using a risk-based approach once implementation is complete. In fiscal year 2012, FEMA inconsistently applied risk indicators to determine the level of financial and programmatic monitoring a grantee received. Additionally, in selecting grantees to monitor, FEMA did not assign risk indicators to all grantees. As a result, during fiscal year 2012, FEMA could not ensure that it monitored all grantees with increased risk. For fiscal year 2013, FEMA combined programmatic and financial monitoring into an integrated plan and revised its risk indicators to better reflect grantees’ inherent risk.