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Audits, Inspections, and Evaluations

Report Number Title Issue Date Fiscal Year
OIG-14-24-D The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (State), a FEMA grantee, awarded the Town $2,003,218 for costs resulting from storms, flooding, debris flows, and mudslides from December 17,2005, through January 3, 2006.1 The award provided 75 percent FEMA funding for six large projects and three small projects? At the time of our audit, the Town had completed work and had submitted a final claim for all projects.

>The Town of San Anselmo, California, Generally Followed Regulations for Spending FEMA Public Assistance Funds 		2014
DS-13-02 Subsequently, FEMA approved project worksheet versions 1 to 4 and increased funding to $830,672 based on actual costs and insurance adjustments. However, during project closeout, the Town submitted to FEMA a cost claim of $1,599,777, or $769,105 more than what FEMA approved. FEMA reviewed the Town’s submission and determined that the additional charges were associated with project improvements that substantially changed the approved SOW and classified it as an improved project—and capped project funding at $830,672. The Town has requested reimbursement for project-related costs totaling $1,599,777, and appealed FEMA’s funding determination.

>The Town of San Anselmo, California, Did Not Properly Account for and Expend FEMA's Public Assistance Grant Funds 		2013
OIG-13-16 The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the State distributed and spent State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative grant funds (1) effectively and efficiently and (2) in compliance with applicable Federal laws and regulations. We also addressed the extent to which grant funds enhanced the State’s ability to prevent, prepare for, protect against, and respond to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other manmade disasters. The State was awarded $35,209,566 in Homeland Security Grant Program funds from fiscal years 2008 to 2010. This included $33,851,300 in State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative grants that were subawarded to a total of one grantee and 48 subgrantees. Among the State’s subgrantees are cities, towns, and State agencies.

>The State of Rhode Island's Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Securty Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2008 Through 2010 		2013
OIG-10-20 The State of West Virginia's Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2005 through 2007 2010
OIG-12-27  

>The State of Washington’s Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 		2012
OIG-08-98 The State of Washington’s Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006 2008
OIG-19-64 In two of the four areas – training and collaboration – Washington’s Emergency Management Division (EMD) and FEMA complied with applicable policies, procedures, and regulations.  In the third functional area – project execution, monitoring and oversight – we did not identify any significant deficiencies.  We found, however, EMD lacked position-specific guidance for all personnel with programmatic responsibilities.  In the last functional area – project and grant closeout – neither EMD nor its subrecipients submitted timely project closeout requests.  In addition, FEMA did not enforce compliance with its own guidance for processing closeouts.  We recommended FEMA ensure EMD complies with its State Administrative Plan by issuing and regularly updating desk manuals.  In addition, we recommended FEMA coordinate with EMD to initiate closeout on behalf of subrecipients for all open, large projects whose period of performance end dates exceed the 90-day regulatory requirement, and submit closeout requests to FEMA for projects exceeding the 180-day requirement.  We made five recommendations to strengthen EMD’s internal controls to improve its oversight of FEMA’s Public Assistance grant program.  FEMA concurred with all five of our recommendations.

>The State of Washington's Oversight of FEMA's Public Assistance Grant Program for Fiscal Years 2015-2017 Was Generally Effective 		2019
OIG-12-124  

>The State of Utah’s Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2008 Through 2010 		2012
OIG-08-83 The State of Utah’s Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded during Fiscal Years 2004-2006 2008
OIG-11-44  

>The State of Texas' Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants 		2011
OIG-11-29  

>The State of Tennessee's Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008 		2011
OIG-10-29 The State of South Carolina's Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2005 through 2007 2010
OIG-12-11 The State of Oklahoma’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008 2012
OIG-12-17 The State of Ohio’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-08-28 The State of Ohio's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 through 2004 2008
OIG-15-03-D The County received over $24 million in Public Assistance awards for three federally declared flooding events. Our objective was to determine whether the County accounted for and expended FEMA grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The County has procedures in place to account for disaster-related costs on a project-by-project basis. The County however, has completed very little of the work FEMA approved for the three federally declared disasters. At the time of our field work, the County did not have sufficient records available for us to determine whether the County is fully capable of managing the three Federal grants.

>The State of North Dakota Needs to Assist Ramsey County in Completing $24 Million of FEMA Public Assistance Projects for Three Federally Declared Disasters that Occurred in 2009–2011 		2015
OIG-07-02 The State of North Carolina's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 and 2003, 2007
OIG-11-30  

>The State of New York's Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008 		2011
OIG-13-85 Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Atlantic City, New Jersey. The storm was the second largest Atlantic hurricane on record, with a diameter of tropical storm force winds spanning more than 900 miles, and it affected one of the most densely populated areas in the northeastern United States. The storm affected coastal and inland communities resulting in loss of life, major flooding, structural damage, and power loss to more than 8.5 million homes and businesses, directly affecting more than 17 million individuals. The President declared a disaster for New Jersey and for New York on October 30, 2012. Because of the devastation caused by the storm and the impacted population, the President provided direction that all Federal agencies were to lean forward and “cut through” bureaucracy and red tape in efforts to expedite response aid to survivors.

>The State of New York Needs to Sign Mission Assignments More Quickly 		2013
OIG-12-102  

>The State of New Mexico’s Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 		2012
OIG-11-112  

>The State of New Jersey’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 		2011
OIG-07-58 The State of New Jersey's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 through 2004 2007
OIG-11-83  

>The State of Nevada’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008 		2011
OIG-12-16 The State of Montana’s Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-10-33  

>The State of Missouri's Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2005 through 2007 		2010
OIG-12-14 The State of Minnesota’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-12-114  

>The State of Michigan’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 Through 2009) 		2012
OIG-08-26 The State of Michigan's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 through 2004 2008
OIG-10-116  

>The State of Maryland's Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2005 through 2007 		2010
OIG-12-03 The State of Louisiana’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-13-08 Regis & Associates, PC performed an audit of the State of Illinois’ management of the Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Areas Security Initiative grants for Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008. The audit was performed in accordance with Contract Number TPD-FIGBPA-07014; Task Order 0001, dated September 29, 2009. This report presents the results of the audit, and includes recommendations to help improve the State of Illinois’ management of the audited Urban Areas Security Initiative grants.

>The State of Illinois’ Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2008 		2013
OIG-09-06 The State of Illinois' Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006 2009
OIG-12-110  

>The State of Georgia’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2008 Through 2010 		2012
OIG-08-22 The State of Georgia's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 through 2004 2008
OIG-12-13 The State of Florida’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-08-20 The State of Florida's Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2002 through 2004 2008
OIG-12-04 The State of Colorado’s Management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 2012
OIG-11-46  

>The State of California's Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008 		2011
OIG-09-33  

>The State of California's Management of State Homeland Security Program Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2004 thorugh 2006 ( 		2009
OIG-08-99 The State of Arizona’s Management of State Homeland Security Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006 2008
OIG-12-61  

>The State of Arizona's Management of Urban Areas Security Initiative Grants Awarded During Fiscal Years 2007 through 2009 		2012
OIG-16-43-D The Authority received an $8.04 million Public Assistance grant award from the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency (Puerto Rico), a FEMA grantee, for damages resulting from Hurricane Irene in August 2011. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority accounted for and expended FEMA funds according to Federal requirements. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Puerto Rico, (Authority) generally accounted for and expended Public Assistance grant funds according to Federal regulations and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines. However, the Authority did not comply with the Single Audit Act, which requires non-Federal entities that expend $500,000 or more in a year in Federal awards to obtain a single or program-specific audit for that year. Although the Authority did not take steps to ensure that it met the Single Audit Act requirements, Puerto Rico, as grantee, is responsible for ensuring that its subgrantee (the Authority) is aware of and complies with grant requirements. As a result of this deficiency, FEMA and Puerto Rico did not have an opportunity to review the Single Audit report that would have made them aware of any potential issues with the Authority’s administration of the FEMA grant.

>The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Effectively Managed FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded for Hurricane Irene in August 2011 		2016
OIG-14-121-D We audited Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds awarded to the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (FIPS Code 000-92151) following Hurricane Georges in September 1998. We conducted the audit at the request of FEMA Region II to facilitate FEMA's closeout of the grant. The Puerto Rico Department of Housing (Department) received a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program award of $165.3 million from the Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget (Puerto Rico), a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grantee, to implement the New Secure Housing Program. The award provided 75 percent FEMA funding under the New Secure ousing Program and 100 percent under the Emergency Home Repairs Program.

>The Puerto Rico Department of Housing Generally Complied with FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Eligibility Requirements for Participants of the New Secure Housing Program – Hurricane Georges 		2014
OIG-15-142-D The Puerto Rico Department of Housing received two Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant awards totaling $186.13 million to implement the New Secure Housing Program following Hurricane Georges in September 1998. In August 2012, the Puerto Rico Department of Housing submitted final expenditure claims totaling $184.34 million. FEMA requested that we audit these claims to facilitate closeout of the grants. The Puerto Rico Department of Housing did not always account for and expend FEMA grant funds awarded for the New Secure Housing Program according to Federal requirements. Of the $179.98 million of construction costs the Puerto Rico Department of Housing claimed, we found that $90.79 million was ineligible. The majority of these findings occurred because the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency, as the grantee, should have done a better job of managing the grants.

>The Puerto Rico Department of Housing Did Not Properly Administer $90.79 Million of FEMA Grant Funds Awarded for the New Secure Housing Program 		2015
OIG-15-67-D As of February 2014, the Port Authority requested an estimated $213 million in Public Assistance funding for 2012 Hurricane Sandy damages. We conducted this audit early in the Public Assistance process to identify areas where the Port Authority may need additional technical assistance or monitoring to ensure compliance with Federal grant requirements. At the time of the grant award, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) did not have adequate accounting and procurement policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant requirements. However, in late 2013, the Port Authority made changes to its accounting and procurement policies and procedures for FEMA-funded work. These changes should provide FEMA reasonable assurance that the Port Authority has the capability to account for and expend FEMA grant funds according to Federal requirements.

>The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Recently Updated Policies, Procedures, and Business Practices Should Be Adequate to Effectively Manage FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds 		2015
OIG-18-25 The Omaha Tribe’s serious financial management weaknesses combined with inadequate and missing documentation resulted in unreliable financial records. As a result, we have little confidence that the transactions recorded in the accounting system actually occurred or that the tribe completed its FEMA-authorized projects. Therefore, we question $13.9 million as unsupported. Due to the unreliable financial information, we calculated the amount unsupported as the entire $16.9 million FEMA provided for both grants, less $2.8 million in unused Federal funding that FEMA should put to better use; $165,000 in unclaimed insurance coverage; and approximately $74,749 that we were able to verify as supported and eligible.

>The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa Mismanaged $14 Million in FEMA Disaster Grants 		2018
DS-16-04 The Office of Inspector General (OIG) Audited Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to King County, Seattle, Washington (County), July 27, 2004 2004
OIG-16-104-D The Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) received $702.9 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds for hazard mitigation grant program (HMGP) work on 9,588 properties under Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We received allegations that the timeliness of OCD payments was placing financial hardship on program contractors. Therefore, our objective was to determine whether OCD processed payments to contractors in a timely manner and according to Federal regulations, FEMA guidelines, and State laws. We did not verify the validity of costs claimed or completion of work.

>The Office of Community Development Paid Most Contractors in a Timely Manner for Hazard Mitigation Work on Louisiana Homes 		2016
OIG-15-133-D The Knoxville Utilities Board received a Public Assistance award of $5.2 million from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, a FEMA grantee, for damages resulting from severe storms and tornadoes in June 2011. We audited projects totaling $4.3 million. For the projects we reviewed, the Utility properly accounting for and expended FEMA funds according to Federal requirements.

>The Knoxville Utilities Board Effectively Managed FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded for Damages from Tornadoes and Severe Storms in June 2011 		2015
OIG-15-134-D The Knoxville Utilities Board received a Public Assistance award of $2.7 million from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, a FEMA grantee, for damages resulting from severe storms and tornadoes in April 2011. We audited projects totaling $2.5 million. For the projects we reviewed, the Utility properly accounting for and expended FEMA funds according to Federal requirements.

>The Knoxville Utilities Board Effectively Managed FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded for Damages from Tornadoes and Severe Storms in April 2011 		2015

*NDAA, Pub. L. 117-263, section 5274 Response Received. View responses

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