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Brought to you by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
Federal Reports
Report Date
Agency Reviewed / Investigated
Report Title
Type
Location
Department of Homeland Security
Indiana Needs to Improve the Management of Its FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security (Indiana) received $27.9 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds to disburse to eligible subgrantees for projects in 10 disasters declared from June 2004 to April 2014. Our objective was to determine whether Indiana administered the grant program in accordance with Federal regulations and ensured subgrantees properly accounted for and expended FEMA funds. Indiana unable to demonstrate it has procedures and processes to ensure compliance with all Federal monitoring and financial reporting requirements. Specifically, Indiana did not perform required subgrant monitoring during project implementation and post closeout; submit quarterly progress and financial reports that met requirements; and comply with financial management requirements to ensure subgrantees accounted for and expended FEMA grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines.
Audit of USAID Resources Managed by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Through the Primary Health Care Institute - Iringa in Tanzania Under Strategic Objective Agreement 621-0011.01, Implementation Letter 50, July
We determined that FEMA established the Sandy Claims Review Process (SCRP) in response to negative publicity and pressure from Members of Congress following Hurricane Sandy. In doing so, FEMA did not rely upon certain legislatively mandated internal controls designed to ensure appropriate payments for flood victims. Additionally, during the formation and operation of the SCRP, FEMA failed to establish contractor expectations or provide consistent guidance and oversight related to Hurricane Sandy claims. These omissions resulted in policyholders receiving unsupported additional payments, excessive costs to operate the SCRP, and time delays processing the claims. We made seven recommendations to FEMA, which emphasize the importance of FEMA communicating clear guidance to adjusters, and identifying and implementing better methods to inform policyholders of flood coverage limitations. FEMA concurred with all seven of our recommendations and has already begun implementing corrective actions.
The OIG investigated allegations that an Indian community councilman failed to pay the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) the required fees associated with farming and grazing leases on an Indian reservation.Our investigation determined the councilman failed to pay the required fees for his leases from 2008 to 2014, resulting in a $135,375 delinquency owed to the affected tribe. The councilman admitted to the tribal council that he had not paid his lease fees and agreed to pay the tribe $13,537 each year for 10 years. We also determined that the BIA Realty Office was aware in 2013 that the councilman had not paid the required fees and subsequently canceled the councilman’s leases for nonpayment.As the councilman had entered into a repayment plan and BIA had canceled his leases, we closed our investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana declined to prosecute.
