Audit of FEMA Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to Volunteer Energy Cooperative, Tennessee, for February 2015 Severe Winter Storm

We determined that Volunteer Energy Cooperative (Volunteer) accounted for and expended FEMA funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. Volunteer properly accounted for and adequately supported its claim of $8.3 million for disaster-related activities. However, Volunteer’s contracting process did not meet all Federal procurement requirements. Volunteer used its own contracting procedures to award $6.5 million of noncompetitive contracts for disaster-related work. We concluded that exigent circumstances warranted Volunteer’s use of noncompetitive contracts. However, we noted that Volunteer’s contracting procedures did not meet other Federal procurement requirements. We are not questioning any contract costs in this case because of the exigent nature of the work and other extenuating circumstances regarding the timing of the disaster declaration and completion of the contract work. Because the audit did not identify any issues requiring further action from FEMA Region IV, we consider this audit closed.