The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cannot ensure non-Federal entities used Emergency Food and Shelter Program Humanitarian Relief (EFSP-H) and Shelter and Services Program (SSP) funding in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Without improved oversight, FEMA faces an increased risk of funding unallowable costs and making duplicate payments when administering grants. Specifically, we found FEMA: • did not review EFSP-H expenditures to ensure funds were used for allowable costs and eligible aliens, resulting in $425 million in questioned costs; • did not consistently review SSP payment requests to verify that costs were allowable, resulting in $16.5 million in questioned costs; and • did not perform verification to prevent duplication of funding between EFSP-H and SSP grants. These deficiencies occurred because FEMA did not establish and implement necessary internal controls to review EFSP-H and SSP expenditures. Although DHS terminated the SSP grant awards after we began fieldwork, we completed this audit as our findings may help FEMA avoid fraud, waste, or abuse during program closeout. Data Access: FEMA denied us direct, read-only access to the FEMA Grants Outcomes back-end database. After multiple delays, FEMA instead provided raw data for SSP grants and then direct, read-only access to SSP award records through the system’s front-end interface.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Director of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Division ensure the National Board resolves the $425 million in questioned costs associated with the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian Relief funding during the grant closeout process by collecting supporting documentation, determining whether the costs are allowable, and recouping any costs that are not allowable. | |||||
| 2 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate resolve the $16.5 million in questioned costs associated with the Shelter and Services Program funding identified in our report. FEMA should collect supporting documentation, determine whether the costs are allowable, recoup any costs that are not allowable, and upload the necessary information to the FEMA Grants Outcomes system of record. | |||||
| 3 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate review payment requests during the grant closeout process for all Shelter and Services Program awards in FY 2023 and FY 2024 to minimize the reimbursement of unsupported costs. FEMA should collect supporting documentation, determine whether the costs are allowable, and upload the necessary information to the FEMA Grants Outcomes system of record. | |||||
| 4 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate develop and implement controls to ensure FEMA officials and grant recipients use FEMA Grants Outcomes as the system of record to maintain required documentation supporting all phases of the grants management lifecycle. | |||||
| 5 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Director of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Division and the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate establish a review process to ensure there was no duplication of FY 2023 funding between the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian Relief and the Shelter and Services Program. FEMA should recoup any duplicate payments identified. | |||||
