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Audits, Inspections, and Evaluations

Report Number Title Issue Date Fiscal Year
DS-08-11 State of California's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Pine Fire 2008
DS-08-10 State of New Mexico's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Atrisco Fire 2008
DS-08-09 State of Washington's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Middle Fork Fire 2008
DS-08-08 State of California's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Canyon Fire 2008
DS-08-07 State of Montana's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Hobble Fire 2008
DS-08-06 State of Arizona's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Aspen Fire 2008
DS-08-05 State of Oregon's Administration of the Fire Management Assistance Grant Program for the Bland Mountain #2 Fire 2008
DS-08-04 San Bernardino County, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 071-99071-00, FEMA Disaster No. 1498-DR-CA 2008
DS-08-03 FEMA's Management of the Public Assistance Program for Two California Disaster 2008
DS-08-02 Management Advisory Report, City of Malibu, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 037-45246-00, FEMA Disaster No. 1577-DR-CA 2008
DS-08-01 Interim Audit of San Diego County, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 073-99073-00, FEMA Disaster No. 1498-DR-CA 2008
DS-07-01 Audit of Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance Grant Funding Awarded to the State of Washington's Department of General Administration After the Nisqually Earthquake, Audit 2007
DS-05-06 Audit of Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, Alhambra, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 037-91012, FEMA Disaster No. 1008-DR-CA, Audit 2005
DS-04-06 Audit of the State of Washington's Department of Corrections, Olympia, WA, Public Assistance ID No. 000-UTLYX-00, FEMA Disaster No. 1361-DR-WA, Audit. 2004
DS-03-06 Audit of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 097-00000, FEMA Disaster No. 1203-DR-CA, Audit 2003
DS-03-04 County of San Mateo, California, Public Assistance ID No. 081-00000, FEMA Disaster No. 1203-DR-CA 2004
DS-02-06 Audit of San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, CA, Public Assistance ID No. 075-91003, FEMA Disaster No. 0845-DR-CA, Audit 2002
DS-02-04 City of Palo Alto, California, Public Assistance ID No. 085-55282, FEMA Disaster No. 1203-DR-CA 2004
DS-01-06 Audit of Yakima County, Yakima, WA, Public Assistance ID No. 077-00000, FEMA Disaster No. 1100-DR-WA, Audit Report No. 2001
DS-01-04 City of San Leandro, California, Public Assistance ID No. 001-68084, FEMA Disaster No. 1203-DR-CA 2004
DD_07-04 City of Houston, Houston, Texas, FEMA Disaster No. 1379-DR-TX, Public Assistance ID No. 201-35000-00, Audit 2007
DD-13-15 On August 29, 2005, the President declared Hurricane Katrina a major disaster for the State of Louisiana. At the time, Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Hurricane Katrina’s high winds, flooding, and massive storm surge breached the New Orleans levee system leaving 80 percent of the city flooded. Three weeks later, Hurricane Rita, a major hurricane in its own right, struck southwestern Louisiana heightening the recovery challenges that disaster survivors, GOHSEP, and FEMA faced.

>State of Louisiana Needs a Strategy To Manage Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Public Assistance Grants More Effectively 		2013
DD-13-14 The Cooperative, a non-profit rural electric cooperative, began operations in 1937 with 75 miles of power lines. It currently has three offices, serves eight counties in northeast Arkansas, maintains more than 4,700 miles of power lines, and provides electricity to more than 27,000 customers. The 2009 winter storm coated power lines and trees with ice. The added weight of the ice on power lines and trees damaged or destroyed roughly 8,000 utility poles throughout the Cooperative’s service area (see figure 1). These damaged or destroyed utility poles caused power outages to approximately 25,000 of the Cooperative’s customers.

>FEMA Should Recover $7.5 Million of the $43.2 Million Public Assistance Grant Awarded to Craighead Electric Cooperative Corporation, Arkansas 		2013
DD-13-13 The objective of this report is to disclose additional information related to the data that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relied on in its February 2008 decision to approve Comal County's (County) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) application. This report supplements our audit report, FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Funds Awarded to Comal County, Texas, DD-12-13, dated June 21, 2012, and provides additional information demonstrating that FEMA based its approval of the County's HMGP pplication on incomplete information. The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), a FEMA grantee, submitted the County's HMGP application to FEMA for funding following Hurricane Rita. In February 2008, FEMA approved the County's $7 million ($5,250,000 Federal share) initial HMGP request to construct a drainage improvement structure to mitigate future flood losses. In December 2010, FEMA approved an additional $9,302,516 for the project because of a design flaw in the County's original engineering plan, bringing the total award for his project to $16,302,516 ($12,226,887 Federal share).

>Comal County Understated Project Cost in Its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Project Application 		2013
DD-13-12 The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), a FEMA grantee, awarded the Commission $12.3 million for damages esulting from Hurricane Katrina that occurred on August 29, 2005. The award provided 100 percent funding for 37 large and 44 small projects.1 The audit covered the period August 29, 2005, through May 1, 2012, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a review of 241arge and 18 small projects totaling $10.3 million, or 83.7 percent of the total award, and a limited review of labor cost claims for three additional projects (see Exhibit, Schedule of Projects Audited and Questioned Costs).2 As of our cutoff date, the Commission had claimed $2.2 million, but had not completed all projects.

>FEMA Should Recover $1.7 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Audubon Commission, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2013
DD-13-11 Our audit objective was to determine whether Tulane accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), FEMA grantee, awarded Tulane the gross amount of $291.9 million for damages resulting lrom Hurricane Katrina, which occurred on August 29, 2005. As shown in table 1, Tulane's insurance proceeds as of June 2011 and a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan reduced the gross amount to a net aWird of $ 153.1 million.

>FEMA Should Recover $46.2 Million of Improper Contracting Costs from Federal Funds Awarded to the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2013
DD-13-10 As a result, of three major disasters the President declared between June 2001 and January 2006 in the State of Texas, the four subgrantees listed in table 1 applied for and received HMGP grant awards from TDEM, a FEMA grantee, between January 2003 and March 2008. These grant awards were for mitigation projects that FEMA approved to (1) relocate and replace critical electrical and mechanical systems above flood elevations and protect basements with perimeter flood protection, (2) acquire and remove residential properties to mitigate future losses, (3) build residential safe rooms, and (4) construct a drainage improvement structure to mitigate future flooding losses.

>FEMA Region VI Should Ensure the Cost Effectiveness of Texas Hazard Mitigation Grant Projects 		2013
DD-13-09 The facility is a three-turbine hydroelectric generating plant that began operation in 1986. It produced a small amount of the City’s total commercial and residential electrical needs. From 1997 through early 2007, the City hired North American Hydro to operate and maintain the facility. The facility has been inactive since January 2007, when frazil river ice damaged the trash racks and straightening vanes of two of the three turbine generators.1 In June 2008, 17 months following the ice damage, a federally declared flooding disaster caused severe damage to the facility. Before the January 2007 ice damage, the 21-year-old facility needed significant capital expenditures to continue operating efficiently over the long term. Also, according to the City’s hydroelectric consultants, the facility generally produced about 20 percent less electricity than expected because its design allows it to capture available water flow only about 35 percent of the time.

>FEMA Should Recover $13.8 Million in FEMA Public Assistance Funds Awarded to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for Ineligible Hydroelectric Plant 		2013
DD-13-08 We audited Public Assistance grant funds awarded to ARK Valley Electric Cooperative(Cooperative) in Kansas (Public Assistance Identification Number OOO-UEBOK-OO). Our audit objective was to determine whether the Cooperative accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM). a FEMA grantee, awarded the Cooperative $48.5 million for damages resulting from severe winter storms that occurred December 6 through 19, 1007. The award provided 75 percent funding for permanent work (Category F) and emergency protective measures (Category B) for eight projects (one sma11 and seven large). Of the seven large projects, three were improved projects. The audit covered the period December 6, 2007, to September 16, 2011, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a detailed review of projects totaling $48.5 million, or 100 percent of the total award.

>FEMA Should Disallow $4.1 Million of the $48.5 Million Public Assistance Grant Awarded to ARK Valley Electric Cooperative, Kansas 		2013
DD-13-07 The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), a FEMA grantee, awarded the School Board $6,58 million for damages resulting from three federally declared disasters: • Hurricane Katrina (1603-DR-LA). which occurred August 29, 2005 • Hurricane Gustav (1786-DR-LA), which occurred September 2, 2008 • Hurricane Ike (1792-DR-LA), which occurred September 13, 2008. The audit covered the period August 29, 2005, through November 3, 2011, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a review of 16 large and 10 small projects totaling $6.16 million, or 94 percent of the total awards.

>FEMA Should Recover $881,956 of Ineligible Funds and $862,983 of Unused Funds Awarded to St. Charles Parish School Board, Luling, Louisiana 		2013
DD-13-06 The louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), a FEMA grantee, awarded the Parish $63.2 million for damages resulting from Hurricane Rita, which occurred on September 24, 200S The award provided 100 percent FEMA funding for 126 large projects and 213 small projects. The audit covered the period September 24, 2005, through November 28, 2012, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a detailed review of 52 projects totaling $45.6 million, or 72 percent of the total award, and a limited review of insurance issues and costs related to one architectural and engineering firm.

>FEMA Should Recover $6.7 Million of Ineligible or Unused Funds Awarded to Cameron Parish, Louisiana, for Hurricane Rita 		2013
DD-13-05 We are currently auditing $12.3 million of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA grant funds) awarded to the Audubon Commission (Commission) in New Orleans, louisiana (Public Assistance Identification Number 071-U76DM-OOJ. The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), a FEMA grantee, awarded these funds to the Commission for disaster recovery work resulting from Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in August 2005.

>FEMA Should Disallow $7.6 Million in Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the Audubon Commission, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2013
DD-13-04 The Illinois Emergency Management Agency (lEMA), a FEMA grantee, awarded Martinsville $13.5 million for damages caused by severe storms and flooding that occurred June 1 to July 22, 2008. The award provided 75 percent FEMA funding for four large projects. The audit covered the period June 1, 2008, through May 4, 2012, the cutoff date of our audit, and induded a review of 100 percent of the total award (see exhibit A, Schedule of Projects Audited). As of the cutoff date of our audit, all projects remained open.

>FEMA Improperly Applied the 50 Percent Rule in Its Decision To Pay for the Replacement of the Martinsville High School, Martinsville, Illinois 		2013
DD-13-03 The Illinois Emergency Management Agency {lEMA), a FEMA grantee, awarded Ottawa $16.3 million for damages resulting from severe storms and flooding that occurred September 13 through October 5, 2008. The award provided 75 percent funding for four large and four small projects.The audit covered the period September 13, 2008, through May 16, 2012, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a review of three large projects and one small project totaling $16.2 million, or 99 percent of the total award. As of our cutoff date, none of the Iarge projects were closed.

>Ottawa Illinois Elementary School District Should Obtain Required Flood Insurance or FEMA Should Disallow $14 Million in Public Assistance Grant Funds 		2013
DD-13-02 The Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEPj, a FEMA grantee, awarded the Parish $5.9 million for damages resulting from Hurricane Ike, declared on September 13, 2008. The award provided 100 percent FEMA funding for four large projects and six small projects. The audit covered the period September 11, 2008, through May 3, 2012, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a detailed review of all ten projects (see exhibit A). As of the cut-off date of our audit, the Parish had claimed $5.1 million.

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana 		2013
DD-13-01 Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), a FEMA grantee, awarded the Authority $122.39 million for damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina, which occurred on August 29, 2005. The award provided 100 percent funding for 71 large and 44 small projects. The audit covered the period August 29, 2005, through January 27,2011, the cutoff date of our audit, and included a review of 28 large and 17 small projects totaling $86.25 million, or 70.5 percent of the total award (see Exhibit A, Schedule of Projects Audited and Questioned Cost). As of our cutoff date, the Authority had claimed $55.22 million, but had not completed all projects.

>Regional Transit Authority Needs To Insure Equipment or Forgo $62 Million in FEMA Public Assistance Funds, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2013
DD-12-20  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to St. Charles Parish, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-19  

>Direct Administrative Costs Paid for FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds 		2012
DD-12-18  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Slidell, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-17  

>FEMA’s Decisions to Replace Rather than Repair Buildings at the University of Iowa 		2012
DD-12-16  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to City of Greensburg, Kansas 		2012
DD-12-15  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-14  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program Funds Awarded to City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin 		2012
DD-12-13  

>FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Funds Awarded to Comal County, Texas 		2012
DD-12-12  

>Legal Responsibility Issues Related to FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office, Orleans Parish, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-11  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to City of Bogalusa, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-10  

>Insurance Allocations to FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, New Orleans, Louisiana 		2012
DD-12-09  

>FEMA Region VII Direct Administrative Costs for Harrison County, Missouri 		2012
DD-12-08  

>FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Dawson Public Power District, Lexington, Nebraska 		2012
DD-12-07  

>FEMA HMGP Funds Awarded to Wichita Public School District #259,Wichita, Kansas 		2012

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

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