Fire Grants: FEMA Could Enhance Program Administration and Performance Assessment
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) revised fire grant policies for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG), Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER), and Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant programs in response to the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2012 (FGRA). GPD incorporated a majority of these changes into its existing application and award processes. For example, FGRA established minimum award allocations for three types of fire departments. In 2013 and 2014, each of these types of departments received more than the minimum of fire grant funds. FEMA also developed a performance assessment system for the AFG and SAFER programs in response to FGRA. The figure summarizes the types of uses for each fire grant program.
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Fire Grant Programs
FEMA has several opportunities to enhance its administration of fire grants and how their contributions to national preparedness are assessed. For example, while FEMA developed performance measures for the AFG and SAFER programs, the agency did not include measurable performance targets linked to AFG and SAFER program goals that could help better assess the impact of the program and report program achievements. Establishing measurable performance targets linked to program goals could enhance the quality and utility of the new performance assessment system by providing a yardstick against which these investments can be evaluated. In addition, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) provides firefighter training and education as well as fire-related research, data collection, and analysis, and acts as a consultant for GPD's fire grant programs, but FEMA has not defined and documented USFA's specific role or responsibilities with the fire grants program. As a result, there is no formalized relationship or policy regarding, for example, how the two organizations' programs could work together to achieve common goals. Using collaborative mechanisms GAO's work has identified across the federal government could help GPD better leverage USFA's expertise and resources to support programmatic management of the fire grants programs. Both GPD and USFA officials agreed that defining and documenting the roles and responsibilities of GPD and USFA would enhance the administration of the fire grants programs.
Why GAO Did This Study
Public fire departments in the U.S. responded to almost 1.3 million fires occurred in the United States in 2014, which resulted in more than 3,275 civilian deaths, 15,775 injuries, and $11.6 billion in property loss. To help support local firefighting efforts, FEMA, within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allocated almost $5.8 billion from 2009 to 2016 to award grants to fire departments and other organizations for equipment, staffing, research, and other needs.
The Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2012 (FGRA), which amended and reauthorized the three grant programs, includes a provision for GAO to review changes to the grant programs and FEMA's assessment of the fire grants' performance. This report examines (1) the extent to which the fire grants' policies and performance assessments changed as a result of FEMA's implementation of FGRA, and (2) what additional opportunities exist to enhance FEMA's management of fire grant processes and performance assessment efforts. GAO reviewed FGRA and FEMA grant policy documents, and interviewed FEMA officials and relevant stakeholders who provided insights on key actions taken.
Recommendations
GAO is making four recommendations, including that FEMA establish measurable performance targets, and define and document the roles and responsibilities of GPD and USFA in administering the fire grants. DHS concurred with all four recommendations, and described planned actions to address them.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Homeland Security | To better assess the impact of the fire grants program, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the FEMA Administrator to establish measurable performance targets linked to AFG and SAFER program goals, such as the desired percentage of awardees who used grants to achieve compliance with equipment standards. |
In response to our recommendation, in March 2018 FEMA released its Fiscal Year 2017 AFG Annual Report to Congress. FEMA's report contained measurable performance targets under the AFG program, and features comparisons of performance measurement targets against actual results from completed grant projects. According to FEMA, this enables the agency to better measure outcomes and assesses trends in program performance over time. But, the Fiscal Year 2017 report did not contain similar measures for the SAFER program, since, according to FEMA officials, there is no longer a legislative requirement to report SAFER measures to Congress. In response to our recommendation, FEMA is collecting SAFER performance information for internal program management purposes. Specifically, in February 2019, FEMA's Fiscal Year 2018 SAFER Notice of Funding Opportunity grant announcement required applicants to provide performance data for 3 of the 4 SAFER performance measures GAO originally assessed. FEMA plans to use the information from these measures as program priorities in determining grant awardees. Collecting such information from grantee's applications for the AFG and SAFER programs could further assist FEMA in assessing the impact of the fire grants program.
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| Department of Homeland Security | To enhance FEMA's efforts to assess and integrate the fire grant programs' contributions to national preparedness, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the FEMA Administrator to use the National Preparedness Goal's definition of critical infrastructure as the basis of collecting information from applicants and using the National Critical Infrastructure Prioritization Program list to measure fire grant programs' performance in addressing national priorities. |
In response to our recommendation, in July 2018 FEMA provided us with their Fiscal Year 2017 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Annual Report to Congress. As one of the five program priority metrics, this report includes the percentage of grantee organizations located within a 5- and 10-mile radius of a critical infrastructure buffer, as defined by the classified National Critical Infrastructure Protection Program list. FEMA notes that for those grantees that that protect critical infrastructure have a greater responsibility for supporting national preparedness and regional response. As a result, use of the National Preparedness Goal definition should further enhance FEMA's ability to target AFG grant dollars based on risk, and communicate to stakeholders the fire grant programs' contributions to national preparedness.
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| Department of Homeland Security | To enhance FEMA's efforts to incorporate new National Fire Operations Reporting System (NFORS) and Fire Community Assessment Response Evaluation System (FireCARES) data elements into fire grants program management activities, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the FEMA Administrator to develop a project management plan for identifying relevant data elements in the new NFORS and FireCARES systems and determining how they can be used to improve fire grant applications and awards processes and the performance assessment system. |
FEMA responded to our recommendation in December 2017 by providing us with a project management plan. FEMA's plan is based on project planning principals outlined in GAO's Schedule Assessment Guide. FEMA's plan includes information on such key considerations as project scope, objectives and requirements; stakeholders; organizational and work breakdown structures; design, procurement, and implementation; and, risk and opportunity management plans. In addition, FEMA has leveraged the collaboration with NFORS and FireCARES. As a result, FEMA's project management plan helps the agency to determine what, and how, NFORS and FireCARES data elements can be used to improve the fire grants' application and award processes, performance assessment system, and help enhance program management efforts and subsequent changes to information systems and policies. As a result, this recommendation is closed as implemented.
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| Department of Homeland Security | To further leverage the expertise and resources in support of FEMA's fire grants programs, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the FEMA Administrator to define and document the roles and responsibilities of USFA in administering the fire grant programs. |
FEMA's Grant Programs Directory (GPD) and FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) have prepared a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and are coordinating to improve joint management of the AFG suite of grant programs. This MOU was finalized on December 1, 2016. The MOU assigns roles and responsibilities for coordination of their separately legislated responsibilities to (a) maximize FEMA's service to the Fire and Fire Based Emergency Management Services, and (b) prevent programmatic inconsistencies and conflicts. The MOU will guide programmatic optimization for management of the AFG suite of programs with special emphasis on the Fire Prevention and Safety Grants where the greatest opportunities exist for enhanced coordination.
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