The assistance includes temporary housing and other benefits for individuals as well as public assistance. Following a disaster declaration, FEMA helps survey damaged facilities and prepares damage survey reports (DSRs) that contain estimates of repair costs. Clearer Criteria Are Needed to Determine Eligibility

For disasters declared in fiscal years 1989 through 1994, FEMA projects that public assistance grants for permanent repairs and restorations will total over $5.2 billion. Additionally, without clear criteria, inconsistent or inequitable eligibility determinations and time-consuming appeals by grantees and subgrantees may be more likely to occur. The need for clearer, more definitive criteria dealing with the eligibility for public assistance takes on added importance because of FEMA’s use of temporary personnel with limited training to help prepare and process DSRs, which are used in determining the scope of work eligible for funding. Also, FEMA has recently taken steps to improve policy dissemination. FEMA Relies Largely on States to Ensure Eligibility of Expenditures

To ensure that expenditures are limited to eligible items, FEMA relies largely on states’ (grantees’) certifications. States may also perform audits of specific subgrantees. Options that (1) the FEMA regional officials strongly recommended and (2) the National Emergency Management Association endorsed for further consideration are:
Better define which local authorities govern the standards applicable to the permanent restoration of damaged facilities.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) public disaster assistance program.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) FEMA program criteria are ambiguous; (2) criteria clarifications are needed to determine which damaged facilities should be restored and the eligibility of nonprofit facilities' services for assistance; (3) inconsistent or inequitable eligibility determinations, time-consuming appeals, and waste are more likely to occur if eligibility criteria are not clear and current; (4) FEMA use of temporary employees with limited training to prepare damage survey reports makes the need for clearer criteria more urgent; (5) FEMA has not systematically updated or disseminated eligibility policy changes to its regional offices, but it plans to do so; (6) although it approves specific subgrantee projects, FEMA relies on states as public assistance grantees to certify that expenditures are limited to eligible items; (7) as an additional, limited control over disbursements, FEMA has independent auditors or its Inspector General Office audit some subgrantees; and (8) options to reduce costs include better defining local authorities that govern establishment of restoration standards, eliminating or restricting eligibility of certain facilities, placing limits on the appeals process, improving insurance requirements, limiting temporary relocation costs, and increasing the damage percentage for facility replacement.