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FEMA Should Disallow $82.4 Million of Improper Contracting Costs Awarded to Holy Cross School, New Orleans, Louisiana

Executive Summary

Holy Cross received an $89 million FEMA grant award for 2005 Hurricane Katrina damages to its campus in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. By 2011, the school had completed work on 12 of its 16 projects. However, at the time of our audit, Louisiana had not submitted a final claim for the 12 projects and FEMA had closed only 1 large project. Holy Cross did not follow Federal procurement standards in awarding 21 contracts totaling $82.4 million. As a result, FEMA has no assurance that costs were reasonable. This is especially true for projects that FEMA funds at 100 percent of the costs. Further, the lack of open and free competition increased the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse and decreased opportunities for small businesses, minority-owned firms, and women’s business enterprises to compete for federally funded work. For the most part, we do not question costs that Holy Cross incurred to reopen school in January 2006, or to operate temporary facilities in the Ninth Ward. However, in 2007, Holy Cross decided to relocate from the Ninth Ward to the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. Holy Cross set up a temporary campus in Gentilly in 2007 and began work on permanent facilities there in 2008. By 2007, exigent circumstances no longer existed, so Holy Cross should have procured competitive bids according to Federal regulations for the work in Gentilly.

Report Number
OIG-15-65-D
Issue Date
Document File
DHS Agency
Oversight Area
Fiscal Year
2015