Early Warning Audit of FEMA Public Assistance Grants to Lee County, Florida

Submitting OIG:

Report Description:

We contracted this audit with Cotton & Company LLP, which found that FEMA did not ensure Lee County, Florida (the County) established and implemented policies, procedures, and practices to ensure it accounted for and expended PA program grant funds awarded to disaster areas in accordance with Federal regulations and FEMA guidance. Specifically, the County requested FEMA funding for $994,425 in unsupported force account labor, equipment, and materials; was unable to provide supporting documentation for $16,210 in costs incurred to operate an emergency shelter; did not maintain adequate documentation to support $267,452 in costs incurred for road repair services; did not include all required provisions in its contracts to obtain disaster recovery services related to Hurricane Irma; and had not evaluated the risk of subrecipients’ noncompliance with Federal requirements, obtained subrecipient audit reports, or developed plans for monitoring subrecipients. We made nine recommendations that, when implemented, should improve Lee County, Florida’s management of FEMA Public Assistance funds. FEMA concurred with all nine recommendations.

Date Issued:

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Department of Homeland Security

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

OIG-20-48

Component, if applicable:

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Location(s):

Lee County, FL

United States

Type of Report:

Audit

Questioned Costs:

Funds for Better Use:

Number of Recommendations:

View Document:

Attachment	Size
OIG-20-48-Jul20.pdf	1.12 MB

Additional Details Link:

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/audits-inspections-and-evaluations

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation
1	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to ensure that the County's funding and/or reimbursements for the above projects is properly reduced by $899,450 for unsupported force account costs and $61,109 for unallocable contract costs.
3	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to determine the allowability of the unsupported costs of $16,210 for Project 6683 and collect any amounts that are determined to be unallowable.
4	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to adequately review costs and ensure that the request for funding includes sufficient supporting documentation before approving the costs for FEMA reimbursement.
5	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to determine the eligibility of the contract costs and disallow these costs if the contractors did not bill the costs in accordance with contract terms and did not adequately support the billings.
6	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, provide additional technical assistance and monitoring for the County's projects, to provide FEMA with reasonable assurance that the County properly accounts for contract costs, including obtaining and retaining supporting documentation.
7	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to educate the County representatives on including the required CFR provisions in their contracts and to increase monitoring to ensure compliance with related Federal provisions.
8	Open	No
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, assess the status and adequacy of FDEM's corrective actions with respect to establishing a subrecipient monitoring program and reviewing subrecipient Single Audit reports.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

Open

We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to ensure that the County's funding and/or reimbursements for the above projects is properly reduced by $899,450 for unsupported force account costs and $61,109 for unallocable contract costs.

Open

We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to determine the allowability of the unsupported costs of $16,210 for Project 6683 and collect any amounts that are determined to be unallowable.

Open

We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to adequately review costs and ensure that the request for funding includes sufficient supporting documentation before approving the costs for FEMA reimbursement.

Open

We recommend that the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IV, work with the State of Florida to determine the eligibility of the contract costs and disallow these costs if the contractors did not bill the costs in accordance with contract terms and did not adequately support the billings.