GAO identified 58 programs in 11 federal agencies that reported providing support to U.S. manufacturing by fostering innovation through research and development, assisting with trade in the global marketplace, helping job seekers enhance skills and obtain employment, and providing general financing or business assistance. Twenty-one of these programs reported using all of their obligations in fis

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

The Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) has taken a number of steps to implement the Federal Loan Guarantees for Innovative Technologies in Manufacturing (ITM) program, but several key tasks remain before EDA can issue loan guarantees. EDA hired a contractor to assist with developing the program, drafted program documents and published them in the Federal Register f

The Denali Commission has faced two key challenges in fulfilling its statutory purpose of providing, among other things, infrastructure and economic development services to rural communities; but options exist to address them. First, a 90 percent decrease in Commission funding from its peak in fiscal year 2007 has raised concerns about whether the Commission can sustain its current approach as pr

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has established some practices for managing its implementation of required changes under the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act (Biggert-Waters Act), as amended by the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA). Consistent with related federal internal control standards, FEMA has collaborated with stakeholders on prioritizing legislat

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) obligated $12.7 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) for its administrative costs from fiscal years 2004 through 2013 and has taken some steps to reduce and better control these costs. This $12.7 billion represents 13 percent of the $95.2 billion obligated from the DRF for the 650 major disasters declared during this time frame. FEMA's average

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

Of the approximately $608 million spent by the Department of Commerce's (Commerce) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in fiscal years 2009 through 2013 on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, NIST used most of the funds to directly support MEP centers. Specifically, NIST spent about $495 million on awards to centers and spent the rest on contracts, staff, agen

The four countries GAO analyzed--Canada, Germany, Japan, and South Korea--offer a varied mix of programs to support their manufacturing sectors. For example, Canada is shifting emphasis from its primary research and development (R&D) tax credit toward direct support to manufacturers to encourage innovation, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Germany has established applied i