Victims of natural disasters deserve the best help possible, so it’s important for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to monitor the companies it hires and ensure they are performing effectively.
But some FEMA staff in charge of oversight for the $2.7 billion in contracts awarded last year haven’t been properly trained and are “unqualified” for their own jobs, auditors from the Government Accountability Office wrote in a Feb. 6 report.
Specifically, GAO reviewed 15 contracts awarded in response to the Kentucky floods, Hurricane Ian, and the Maui wildfires between FY2018 and FY2023, when contracts for these disasters totaled more than $1 billion.
FEMA employees must complete at least 100 hours of training within two years to become certified contracting officers who provide oversight for the companies FEMA hires.
Over 370 of FEMA’s more than 2,000 contracting officers had expired certifications as of August 2024, the GAO found.
Some officers that were properly certified found that FEMA’s training course had deficiencies. One officer told the GAO, “No training class can prepare someone to be successful on the first day, and field experience, on-the-job training, and mentorship are more important.”
FEMA told the GAO that only one-third of their contracting officers actually work on active contracts, and regular reviews are conducted to ensure they are all properly certified. However, a later section of the report notes that FEMA officials “do not track the number of hours individuals may work to conduct contract oversight.”
For one-third of the contracts reviewed by the GAO, FEMA did not check to make sure contractors were performing up to standard. A company was paid $185 million to inspect schools and hospitals after Hurricane Ian and determine if they needed grants to repair damages, but “there is no documentary evidence … that FEMA officials knew the quality and timeliness” of the inspections, the GAO wrote.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump have both supported shutting down FEMA. It sounds like a drastic action, but it’s clear that at least some changes are long overdue.
(The #WasteOfTheDay is from forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com via RealClearWire.)
