The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs to provide more information to state and local governments to help them better meet requirements for the agency’s Homeland Security Grant Program, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
The grant program requires state and local governments to spend 30 percent of their funds on “National Priority Areas,” which are designated threat categories such as cybersecurity. FEMA has changed these priority areas over time, for example, by adding an election security area in fiscal year (FY) 2022.
However, GAO said that FEMA has not properly documented the rationale and process used for making these changes, and it has not shared enough information with the grantees about the changes.
“FEMA has hosted webinars and technical assistance calls to provide grantees information on grant applications. But FEMA has not conducted additional targeted outreach, such as the listening sessions it conducted in fiscal year 2021 to solicit suggestions to improve its communication with stakeholders,” the report says.
“Doing so would help FEMA better understand and address communication and other challenges stakeholders reported facing with implementing National Priority Area changes,” it adds. “This could also help FEMA better assist grantees with their planning efforts and help allow for the better prioritization of program funds moving forward.”
FEMA monitors grantees’ projects to ensure they align with the National Priority Areas, and GAO found that grant projects from FY2020 to FY2022 “generally aligned with these areas.”
Nevertheless, GAO made two recommendations to improve transparency and institutional knowledge of the program. The first recommendation is for DHS to fully document the rationale and process for making changes to the National Priority Areas. The second recommendation is for FEMA to conduct targeted outreach to stakeholders.
DHS and FEMA agreed with GAO’s two recommendations.
