The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released three recommendations to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) risk-based grant assessment model.
Risk models are used to determine how to allot preparedness grants. States and urban areas considered higher risk receive more grant dollars than those considered to be lower risk.
GAO discovered FEMA does not fully utilize scientific practices recognized by the Office of Management and Budget and the National Research Council as best practices.
The recommendations are for the FEMA administrator. GAO recommends the administrator should take steps to coordinate an independent, external peer review of FEMA’s risk-based grant assessment model, and should perform sensitivity analyses to verify how changes to the risk model could affect the resulting risk scores, and document the results. It also recommends that the administrator should fully document the underlying assumptions and justifications that form the basis of the risk-based grant assessment model.
FEMA agreed to the recommendations.
Steps have been made to strengthen the risk model since 2008. Some steps were taken based on GAO recommendations. Earlier this year, FEMA added factors to better assess vulnerability in each state and urban area.
The risk model is used to determine State Homeland Security Program grants and Urban Area Security Initiative grants.