Alabama's Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2010 Through 2012

After the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reduced the amount ofawards in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, Alabama decided that funding statewide initiatives to assist all local jurisdictions was more beneficial than allocating smaller amounts to individual jurisdictions. The Alabama Department of Homeland Security’s investment in statewide projects may have been more beneficial and a good use of limited grant funds. Alabama, however, did not obtain the required consent of local units of government before funding the statewide initiatives. It also did not have a current state homeland security strategy and a method to measure preparedness, nor did it always follow an established internal control to approve expenditures. In most cases, subgrantees complied with procurement requirements, but they did not always comply with inventory and property record requirements.