While FEMA has developed a project management plan for a new system for assessing national preparedness capabilities, the plan does not fully identify milestones and program risks for developing quantifiable metrics necessary for measuring preparedness capabilities, GAO said.
It called for a more complete plan identifying milestones and program risks to provide FEMA with greater assurance that it can produce a system to assess capabilities and inform decisions related to improving national preparedness.
FEMA’s strategic plan for fiscal years 2008-2013 recognizes that each of its components must develop its own strategic plans that integrate the elements of national preparedness, but the agency’s national preparedness directorate has yet to develop its strategic plan.
It plans to use a draft annual operating plan to guide its efforts, but GAO said that plan does not include all elements of a strategic plan, such as how the directorate will integrate the various elements of the system over time to improve national preparedness.
GAO also called on the national exercise division to improve its implementation of statutory and program requirements by developing internal control policies and procedures that validate the completeness and accuracy of data used to measure program performance.
