FEMA needs adequate data, plans and systems to effectively manage resources for day-to-day operations, GAO has said.
Because of competition for resources within DHS and a history of constant organizational change within FEMA, the agency must strategically plan for and manage its day-to-day operations to ensure they efficiently and effectively support the agency’s disaster relief mission, according to GAO-07-139.
However, after examining resource trends and management related to FEMA’s day-to-day operations from fiscal 2001 through 2005, GAO said that has not always been the case.
From the beginning of fiscal year 2003 — when FEMA was transferred into DHS — through fiscal 2005 a significant number of programs and their associated funding moved into and out of FEMA, disrupting operations to an unknown degree, the report said.
It said the way FEMA managed existing resources compounded problems, and that the agency lacks a strategic workforce plan and related human capital strategies such as succession planning or a coordinated training effort, which are integral to managing resources.
The report also said FEMA also lacks business continuity plans for its day-to-day operations, which puts support for the disaster-relief mission at increased risk.
