Review of FEMA’s Recommendation 

Tracking Process 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Office of Inspector General 

 

OIG-07-66 August 2007 
Office of Inspector General 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Washington, DC 20528

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 August 14, 2007

 

MEMORANDUM FOR: R. David Paulison 

 Administrator 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

 

FROM: Richard L. Skinner 

 Inspector General 

SUBJECT: Review of FEMA’s Recommendation Tracking Process 

 Report Number: OIG-07-66 

The purpose of this memo is to inform you of the status of recommendations contained in reports 

that we previously issued to FEMA. We understand that legislative mandates are a priority and 

recognize the pressures you are under to fulfill those requirements. Many of our recommendations 

are similar to legislative mandates and recommendations from other audit and investigative reports. 

As a result, we request that you respond to our open and unresolved recommendations and provide 

an implementation plan describing the actions taken or plan to take and address them within 30 days 

(please see the attached Appendix for a list of recommendation status definitions). 

As required by the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, and OMB Circular A-50, agency 

management officials are responsible for receiving and analyzing audit reports and taking prompt 

corrective action where appropriate. Our responsibility is to monitor the resolution and 

implementation actions to ensure that disagreements between us and management are resolved as 

promptly as possible, and that corrective actions are implemented as agreed upon by management 

officials. The DHS Deputy Secretary will decide any unresolved disagreements between our office 

and management. In the coming weeks we will initiate an audit of FEMA responses to audit and 

management advisory report recommendations pertaining to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

RESULTS OF REVIEW

Between October 5, 2005 and June 12, 2007, we issued 85 reports with 162 recommendations. Of 

the 162 recommendations, 22 are open and resolved, 86 are open and unresolved, and 54 are closed 

and resolved as of June 12, 2007. Of the 86 open and unresolved recommendations, 64 are open and 

unresolved because we have not received a response from FEMA. A majority of our reports cover 

housing and debris removal activities and include issues regarding questionable contract costs and 

other contracting concerns. 
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In addition, our March 2006 Inspections Report, A Performance Review of FEMA’s Disaster 

Management Activities in Response to Hurricane Katrina, OIG-06-32, contained 38 

recommendations, of which 32 were directed to FEMA. FEMA concurred with most of the 

recommendations and provided a detailed draft action plan to specifically address how they intend to 

comply with the recommendations. However, the official response has not been received. 

Other DHS components have faced similar problems organizing and resolving report 

recommendations. For example, TSA has implemented a web-based recommendation database to 

help track its progress on recommendations more efficiently and resolve them in a timelier manner. 

FEMA has recently developed a recommendation-tracking database. Given FEMA’s staffing 

constraints, only a portion of the data for this system has been entered. We have no basis to 

determine the effectiveness of the system. 

We look forward to working closely with FEMA on follow-up of our recommendations. 

Specifically, we are interested to learn about the status of the resolved and open, and unresolved 

recommendations, as well as FEMA’s plans to address the tracking and communication concern in 

the future. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

We recommend that the Administrator, FEMA: 

1. Respond to our previously reported recommendations and provide initial comments, 

including implementation plans, describing the actions taken or to be implemented 

and address them within 30 days of this letter. 

2. Describe the actions to be implemented and address all future OIG recommendations 

within 30 days of report release. 

3. Ensure that FEMA’s recommendation-tracking database contains all necessary 

information to provide adequate and timely follow-up, as required by OMB Circular 

A-50. 

DISCUSSION WITH MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT FOLLOW-UP

Please advise us within 30 days of the actions taken to implement our recommendations. Should 

you have any questions, please call me, or your staff may contact Matt Jadacki, Deputy Inspector 

General for Disaster Assistance Oversight, at 202-254-4100. 

Attachment 

cc: Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer, FEMA 

Director of Management and Chief Acquisition Officer, FEMA

Director, GAO/OIG Liaison Office 

Audit Liaison, FEMA 
Appendix 

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Recommendation Status Definitions 

Recommendation status is generally defined, as follows: 

Open and Resolved The agency’s management accepted the recommendation (or a 

satisfactory resolution was negotiated) and an acceptable action plan 

was presented along with a target date, but the final action has not 

taken place. 

Open and Unresolved 1) The agency’s management accepts the recommendation but has not 

provided an acceptable action plan or a target completion date; 

2) No response has been received from the agency’s management; or 

3) The agency’s management does not agree with the 

recommendation and has not offered an acceptable alternative. 

Closed and Resolved The agency’s management accepted the recommendation (or a 

satisfactory resolution was negotiated) and an acceptable action plan 

was presented along with a target date. Documentation was received 

that supported the completion of the action steps and final resolution of 

implementation of the recommendation was confirmed. 
Additional Information and Copies 

To obtain additional copies of this report, call the Office of Inspector General 

(OIG) at (202) 254-4199, fax your request to (202) 254-4305, or visit the OIG web 

site at www.dhs.gov/oig. 

OIG Hotline 

To report alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement, or any other kind of 

criminal or noncriminal misconduct relative to department programs or 

operations: 

• Call our Hotline at 1-800-323-8603; 

• Fax the complaint directly to us at (202) 254-4292; 

• Email us at DHSOIGHOTLINE@dhs.gov; or 

• Write to us at: 

DHS Office of Inspector General/MAIL STOP 2600, Attention: 

Office of Investigations - Hotline, 245 Murray Drive, SW, Building 410, 

Washington, DC 20528. 

The OIG seeks to protect the identity of each writer and caller.