IG: DHS inaction cost millions

DHS’s failure to implement more than 1,000 recommendations made by its own inspector general has cost the government millions of dollars, according to a report released today by the IG’s office. According to the report by DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner, DHS agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) have implemented just 27 of more than 1,070 recommendations from audits conducted by his office. “Our office issued 214 reports with 1,070 recommendations that, according to our records, had not been implemented as of Dec. 31, 2007,” the report said. “Of the 1,070 recommendations, 27 were closed in January 2008. The largest number of open recommendations was made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). No other single DHS component accounts for more than 12 percent of unimplemented recommendations.”

ABC News’s Jason Ryan reports that according to the report, which was completed in February but released earlier this week, the inspector general made 530 recommendations to FEMA, alone, on how the agency could be managed more effectively. The next agency was the TSA, which had 129 recommendations made by the inspector general, who also made 89 recommendations for Customs and Border Protection. A spokesman for the DHS said the inspector general’s report does not tell the whole story. “We often agree with the inspector general on his recommendations, but we have been known to disagree as well,” DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said. “The fact that a recommendation is made does not immediately qualify it as a good and workable one. The open recommendations cited in his report represent only about one fourth of the roughly 4,500 recommendations issued to date.”

According to the review released today by the IG, a February 2007 report on contracts between FEMA, the Red Cross, and Corporate Lodging Consultants to provide hurricane evacuees with temporary housing, found the program was riddled with problems. “The American Red Cross and the Consultants did not always follow procedures authorized by FEMA for determining evacuee eligibility or require hotels and motels to follow standard industry protocols,” the review said. “Billed room rates were greater than published rates. Definitive proof of occupancy prior to authorizing payments was not required. From our judgmental sample of 3,000 evacuees, we questioned costs of $3.4 million.” The inspector general noted that, while FEMA has issued a corrective action plan in response to the report, eight recommendations in the review were still open and will need to be verified once the action plan is implemented — the inspector general estimated the potential cost savings would be $26 million. One of the reports with open recommendations showed that the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation had numerous cost overruns and obtained FEMA funds for the work. “The objective of the audit was to determine whether the division … effectively administered contracts,” the report said. “In addition, its claim included questioned costs of $7,313,956 (FEMA share $6,582,560) resulting from unsupported costs, unauthorized work, pre-existing damages, and mathematical errors.” The report found that two of six IG recommendations are still pending. “This department’s response to those recommendations has been almost complete silence,” Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in response to the report. “Of these recommendations, only 27 — or 2.5 percent — were acted upon. These unanswered recommendations represent millions of dollars in federal money that was either wasted or worse. I urge [Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff] to require that these recommendations be addressed before this administration leaves office.”

In another example, an audit of a State Homeland Security grant awarded to the American Samoa Government found their program “plans were fundamentally flawed, in that they did not sufficiently identify deficiencies in immediate equipment and training needs,” which cost more than $1.7 million. “As of Dec. 31, 2007, the five recommendations in this report were open,” the IG’s review said. It is unknown whether the recommendations have been implemented.” Knocke said in a statement that “An open recommendation does not equate to incomplete. Open can mean that work is ongoing.” Included in an addendum to the report, a letter to Skinner from the DHS Government Accounting Office/Inspector General Liason noted, “In the coming weeks, we will be working to expeditiously close recommendations. “We would also like to point out that these open recommendations represent only a quarter … of the approximately 4,500 recommendations that have been issued by the OIG since the inception of the department through September 2007,” the letter said.