Performance measures and comprehensive funding data could enhance management of preparedness resources in the National Capital Region, GAO has said.
It said FEMA’s NCRC officials are not assisting regional officials in developing performance measures to better assess the implementation of their strategic plan or in identifying federal funding available to prioritize preparedness investments.
They are not doing so because they view their role as that of acting as a coordinator for other federal agencies, although they agreed that they could do more to support regional efforts and are positioned to do so, according to GAO-13-116R.
It said NCR preparedness officials have been working to develop preparedness measures since 2003 but that improved preparedness is difficult to quantify – particularly in the case of millions of dollars spent on public alerts and warnings.
Further, FEMA officials have not yet addressed longstanding challenges to establishing a process for collecting comprehensive information on available federal preparedness funding related to homeland security and emergency management, said GAO.
It said establishing and measuring preparedness capabilities is essential to determining the impact of prior investments, identifying future needs, and prioritizing funding available from local, state, and federal funding sources.
GAO called on FEMA to require the director of NCRC to assist regional officials in developing measures to better assess the implementation of the NCR’s strategic plan, and to collect and maintain available information for NCR jurisdictions on DHS grant funding, and other federal grant funding that are relevant to homeland security and emergency management capabilities.
