The Federal Emergency Management Agency has improved the capability of its acquisition workforce by reorganizing the acquisition organization and improving management and oversight and increasing the number of acquisition staff and training them, but it lacks necessary plans, policies and preparedness to respond to catastrophic disasters, a recent audit has concluded.
Conducted on behalf of the DHS inspector general by Foxx & Company, an independent public accounting firm, the report concludes that while FEMA has concentrated its efforts on building an effective acquisition organization, it also needs to focus on preparing the acquisition workforce to respond to catastrophe.
Recommendations for the director of FEMA’s Office of Acquisition Management include coordinating with the other FEMA components and other federal disaster-response acquisition organizations; implementing detailed acquisition workforce policies and procedures; and, completing a staffing analysis to determine the appropriate size of the Disaster Assistance Employee contracting cadre.
