42 U.S.C. § 5189h: Agency accountability

Summary

Requires FEMA to put clear, up-to-date information online about big disaster spending, mission orders, monthly budgets, and large contracts. Within 5 days after a public assistance grant over $1,000,000 is awarded, FEMA must post details like the region, declaration number, state and county, applicant name, whether it’s a private nonprofit, the damage category code, the federal share, and the award date. Within 5 days after issuing a mission assignment or task order over $1,000,000 to another federal agency, FEMA must post who is affected, the declaration, the agency assigned, the help requested, a short disaster description, total cost estimate and amount obligated, any State or Tribal cost share, the legal authority, and the request date if there is one. FEMA must update cost and obligation changes within 10 days after each month until the mission is closed. Each month FEMA must publish financial reports and the methods and source data it used. Some monthly financial tables must be submitted and posted by the 5th day of the month; a fuller report is due by the 10th. These reports cover budget-year estimates, carryover balances, obligations for noncatastrophic and catastrophic events (by event and State), recoveries, amounts needed for emergencies and other disaster activities, monthly tables of balances and obligations, spending by category (public assistance, individual assistance, mitigation, admin, operations, etc.), and the date funds will run out. FEMA must also post each contract over $1,000,000 within 10 days after the first day of each month with party, date, amount, scope, whether it was competitive, and if not, why and under what authority, and must give Congress an annual report on noncompetitive contracts. Finally, within 180 days after October 5, 2018, FEMA must collect and store information before project closeout on recipient or subrecipient contracts over $1,000,000 funded under sections 5165b, 5170b, 5170c, 5172, 5173, 5189f, or 5192, make that data available to the DHS Inspector General, GAO, and Congressional committees on request, and send a report on these collection efforts within 365 days after October 5, 2018.

Title 42, §5189h

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Public assistance

Not later than 5 days after an award of a public assistance grant is made under section 5172 of this title that is in excess of $1,000,000, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall publish on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency the specifics of each such grant award, including—

(1)identifying the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region;

(2)the disaster or emergency declaration number;

(3)the State, county, and applicant name;

(4)if the applicant is a private nonprofit organization;

(5)the damage category code;

(6)the amount of the Federal share obligated; and

(7)the date of the award.

(b)Mission assignments

(1)In general

Not later than 5 days after the issuance of a mission assignment or mission assignment task order, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall publish on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency any mission assignment or mission assignment task order to another Federal department or agency regarding a major disaster in excess of $1,000,000, including—

(A)the name of the impacted State or Indian Tribe;

(B)the disaster declaration for such State or Indian Tribe;

(C)the assigned agency;

(D)the assistance requested;

(E)a description of the disaster;

(F)the total cost estimate;

(G)the amount obligated;

(H)the State or Indian tribal government cost share, if applicable;

(I)the authority under which the mission assignment or mission assignment task order was directed; and

(J)if applicable, the date a State or Indian Tribe requested the mission assignment.

(2)Recording changes

Not later than 10 days after the last day of each month until a mission assignment or mission assignment task order described in paragraph (1) is completed and closed out, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall update any changes to the total cost estimate and the amount obligated.

(c)Disaster relief monthly report

Not later than 10 days after the first day of each month, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall publish on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency reports, including a specific description of the methodology and the source data used in developing such reports, including—

(1)an estimate of the amounts for the fiscal year covered by the President’s most recent budget pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31 including—

(A)the unobligated balance of funds to be carried over from the prior fiscal year to the budget year;

(B)the unobligated balance of funds to be carried over from the budget year to the budget year plus 1;

(C)the amount of obligations for noncatastrophic events for the budget year;

(D)the amount of obligations for the budget year for catastrophic events delineated by event and by State;

(E)the total amount that has been previously obligated or will be required for catastrophic events delineated by event and by State for all prior years, the current fiscal year, the budget year, and each fiscal year thereafter;

(F)the amount of previously obligated funds that will be recovered for the budget year;

(G)the amount that will be required for obligations for emergencies, as described in section 5122(1) of this title, major disasters, as described in section 5122(2) of this title, fire management assistance grants, as described in section 5187 of this title, surge activities, and disaster readiness and support activities; and

(H)the amount required for activities not covered under section 901(b)(2)(D)(iii) of title 2; and

(2)an estimate or actual amounts, if available, of the following for the current fiscal year, which shall be submitted not later than the fifth day of each month, published by the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency not later than the fifth day of each month:

(A)A summary of the amount of appropriations made available by source, the transfers executed, the previously allocated funds recovered, and the commitments, allocations, and obligations made.

(B)A table of disaster relief activity delineated by month, including—

(i)the beginning and ending balances;

(ii)the total obligations to include amounts obligated for fire assistance, emergencies, surge, and disaster support activities;

(iii)the obligations for catastrophic events delineated by event and by State; and

(iv)the amount of previously obligated funds that are recovered.

(C)A summary of allocations, obligations, and expenditures for catastrophic events delineated by event.

(D)The cost of the following categories of spending:

(i)Public assistance.

(ii)Individual assistance.

(iii)Mitigation.

(iv)Administrative.

(v)Operations.

(vi)Any other relevant category (including emergency measures and disaster resources) delineated by disaster.

(E)The date on which funds appropriated will be exhausted.

(d)Contracts

(1)Information

Not later than 10 days after the first day of each month, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall publish on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency the specifics of each contract in excess of $1,000,000 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency enters into, including—

(A)the name of the party;

(B)the date the contract was awarded;

(C)the amount and scope of the contract;

(D)if the contract was awarded through a competitive bidding process;

(E)if no competitive bidding process was used, the reason why competitive bidding was not used; and

(F)the authority used to bypass the competitive bidding process.

The information shall be delineated by disaster, if applicable, and specify the damage category code, if applicable.

(2)Report

Not later than 10 days after the last day of the fiscal year, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall provide a report to the appropriate committees of Congress summarizing the following information for the preceding fiscal year:

(A)The number of contracts awarded without competitive bidding.

(B)The reasons why a competitive bidding process was not used.

(C)The total amount of contracts awarded with no competitive bidding.

(D)The damage category codes, if applicable, for contracts awarded without competitive bidding.

(e)Collection of public assistance recipient and subrecipient contracts

(1)In general

Not later than 180 days after October 5, 2018, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall initiate and maintain an effort to collect and store information, prior to the project closeout phase on any contract entered into by a public assistance recipient or subrecipient that through the base award, available options, or any subsequent modifications has an estimated value of more than $1,000,000 and is funded through section 5165b, 5170b, 5170c, 5172, 5173, 5189f, or 5192 of this title, including—

(A)the disaster number, project worksheet number, and the category of work associated with each contract;

(B)the name of each party;

(C)the date the contract was awarded;

(D)the amount of the contract;

(E)the scope of the contract;

(F)the period of performance for the contract; and

(G)whether the contract was awarded through a competitive bidding process.

(2)Availability of information collected

The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall make the information collected and stored under paragraph (1) available to the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, the Government Accountability Office, and appropriate committees of Congress, upon request.

(3)Report

Not later than 365 days after October 5, 2018, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives on the efforts of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to collect the information described in paragraph (1).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Enactment of section by Pub. L. 115–254 applicable to each major disaster and emergency declared by the President on or after Aug. 1, 2017, and authorities provided under div. D of Pub. L. 115–254 applicable to each major disaster and emergency declared by the President on or after Jan. 1, 2016, except as otherwise provided, see section 1202 of Pub. L. 115–254, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2018 Amendment note under section 5121 of this title.

§5189h Agency Accountability

Summary

Title 42, §5189h

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata