Other Support Activities

Theft of Government Property

Our investigation of a FEMA employee disclosed falsification of billing records and the theft of $30,000 of government equipment and materials. We recovered the property at the employee's residence. The employee was indicted and subsequently found guilty of felony theft of government property, and sentenced to 3 years probation, a $1,000 fine, and one hundred hours of community service. FEMA terminated the individual's employment.

Property Management

We reviewed the policies, procedures, and practices of the Atlanta Regional Office for obtaining, accounting for, and disposing of property acquired with disaster relief funds. We concluded that Regional officials did not inquire about the availability of property from FEMA's central inventory prior to purchasing property and, once acquired, did not properly account for such property according to FEMA's property management requirements the Logistics Information Management System (LIMS). Moreover, upon closure of the Disaster Field Office, Region officials shipped the property valued at $169,600 to the Regional Office rather than to the central site maintained for disaster operations property. As a result of these conditions, disaster relief funds may have been spent needlessly, and property acquired with such funds was not safeguarded against pilferage or other improper use.

We recommended that the Regional Director: (1) enforce the LIMS requirements for obtaining, accounting for, and disposing of property acquired for disaster purposes; (2) return the property, valued at $169,600, to FEMA's Disaster Information System Clearinghouse; and (3) take action to locate and account for any missing equipment.

FEMA's Administration of the Federal Employees Compensation Act Program

We reviewed FEMA's administration of the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) to determine whether FEMA was correctly charging the appropriate funds for FECA and whether controls over the FECA claims payment process were adequate. We found that FEMA charged the Disaster Relief Fund for all FECA claims regardless of the nature of the injury, including nondisaster related claims. We could not determine, however, the extent to which nondisaster related claims were paid from the Disaster Relief Fund because neither FEMA nor the Department of Labor maintained records of disasterrelated claims. We recommended that FEMA: (1) review active FECA payments and charge them to the correct appropriation; (2) make any required adjustments to FEMA's funds for FECA payments erroneously charged to the Disaster Relief Fund; and (3) maintain files showing the correct appropriation to charge FECA claims.