The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for implementing the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) and working in partnership with states as they play a lead role in the recovery process. As shown in the figure below, FEMA coordinates federal recovery stakeholders using six Recovery Support Functions--structures through which fed

GAO's recent work highlights both the progress and challenges in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) efforts to strengthen federal preparedness. (1) In December 2014, GAO reported that the federal departments responsible for coordinating emergency support functions (ESF) in preparation for national disaster response carry out their responsibili

GAO's recent and ongoing work examining the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) administrative costs of providing disaster assistance highlights opportunities to increase efficiencies and potentially reduce these costs. In September 2012, GAO reported that FEMA's administrative costs for disaster assistance had doubled in size as a percentage of the overall cost of the disasters since fi

In summary, GAO found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported taking various actions to address each of the five provisions of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Post-Katrina Act) that GAO reviewed. (1)6 U.S.C. 319 (b)(2)(C): In response to this provision--which requires FEMA to revise the Catastrophic Incident Annex (the Annex) to the National Response

SBA has made some progress since GAO's July 2009 report in addressing provisions of the Act and continued attention to certain provisions will be important for sustained progress. As of May 2010, SBA met requirements for 15 of 26 provisions of the Act and partially addressed 6. Five provisions do not require any action at this time. Since July 2009 SBA has taken a number of actions. For example,

While SBA has taken some steps toward implementing the Act, the agency still needs to take additional steps to completely address 8 provisions. According to SBA officials, the agency has not yet completely addressed some provisions that require new regulations because to do so, the agency must make extensive changes to current programs or implement new programs--such as the Immediate and Expedite

As of June 2009, SBA met 13 of 26 requirements of the Act, partially addressed 8, and did not take action on 5 which are not applicable at this time. SBA officials told GAO the agency has not yet completely addressed some provisions that require new regulations because to do so, the agency must make extensive changes to current programs or implement new programs. For two requirements that will in

While most policies (41 of 50) that define roles and responsibilities have been completed, such as the National Response Framework, 68 percent (49 of 72) of the plans to implement these policies, including several for catastrophic incidents, are not yet complete. As a result, the roles and responsibilities of key officials involved in responding to a catastrophe have not been fully defined and, t

GAO reported in September 2006 that the experience of Hurricane Katrina showed the need to improve leadership at all levels of government to respond to catastrophic disasters. For example, GAO reported that, in the response to Hurricane Katrina, there was confusion over roles and responsibilities under the National Response Plan, including the roles of the DHS Secretary, the FEMA Administrator, t

FEMA and DHS have made some progress in their efforts to implement the act since it was enacted in October 2006. For most of the provisions we examined, FEMA and DHS had at least preliminary efforts underway to address them. However, we have identified a number of areas that still require action, and it is clear that FEMA and DHS have work remaining to implement the provisions of the act. To stru