NEWLY RELEASED: @FEMA mismanaged the distribution of commodities in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico,” according to a report just released by the Inspector General. The findings are shocking. See thread below. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2020-09/OIG-20-76-Sep20.pdf

“FEMA lost visibility of about 38% of its commodity shipments to Puerto Rico, worth an estimated $257 million. Commodities successfully delivered to Puerto Rico took an average of 69 days to reach their final destinations.”

“Inadequate FEMA contractor oversight contributed to the lost visibility and delayed commodity shipments. FEMA did not use its Global Positioning System transponders to track commodity shipments, allowed the contractor to break inventory seals, &..”

‘...did not ensure documented proof of commodity deliveries. Given the lost visibility & delayed shipments, FEMA cannot ensure it provided commodities to Puerto Rico disaster survivors as needed to sustain life & alleviate suffering as part of its response and recovery mission.”

“In addition, FEMA’s mismanagement of transportation contracts included multiple contracting violations and policy contraventions. These violations occurred because of poor acquisition planning that did not address requirements for transoceanic shipments.”

The inspector general wrote: “While we understand FEMA’s priority on expediting commodity shipments to disaster survivors, it overrode the importance of following sound inventory management practices, significantly increasing the potential for fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“Contract costs grew without FEMA having proof that services were performed as required and ultimately led to contract overruns of about $179 million and at least $50 million in questioned costs.”

“...Specifically, it took FEMA an average of 13 days to ship the commodities from various contractor sites located within CONUS to Puerto Rico. Once on the island, commodities sat in FEMA’s custody at various locations on the island approximately 48 days...”

“... The final transfer of the commodities from FEMA’s custody to their end destinations took about 7.5 additional days.”

“... Water and food, two of the most important life-sustaining commodities, experienced average shipping delays of 71 and 59 days, respectively...”

“ Of the approximately 97 million liters of water FEMA shipped to Puerto Rico between September 2017 and April 2018, 36 million liters (approximately 37 percent) reached the RSAs or PODs for distribution.”

“...Likewise, during the same period, of the 53 million meals FEMA shipped to Puerto Rico, 24 million (approximately 45%) reached the RSAs or PODs for distribution. The remaining commodity shipments for both water and meals that arrived in the Commonwealth either remained in..”

“...FEMA’s custody, were in contractor facilities, or had unknown destinations...According to our survey results, it took FEMA an average of 10 days immediately after the hurricanes to deliver the first food and water to the disaster survivors.”

“Furthermore, only 27 percent (8 of 30) of the municipalities received sufficient amounts of water and only 20 percent (6 of 30) received sufficient amounts of food in the first commodity delivery.”

“Although commodity distribution improved over the first 2 months after Hurricane Maria, approximately 24 percent (6 of 25) of municipalities did not receive sufficient food and water to support their disaster survivors.”

“Furthermore, 40 percent (12 out of 30) of municipalities said they experienced significant problems with receiving expired food.”

“Moreover, the food that was delivered was nutritionally deficient. In an effort to quickly ship commodities to survivors, FEMA provided various food types such as meals ready-to-eat (MRE), snack boxes, and shelf-stable food that it deemed as meals.”

“However, these meals varied widely in food type, and some meal types contained questionable nutritional value. For example, FEMA sent “meal” boxes that included junk food such as Oreos, candy, cereal bars, and other similar items that lacked sufficient nutritional value.”

“FEMA sent these snack boxes because it was unable to order additional meals ready-to-eat due to the demand from concurrent disasters. Advance contract vendors were at capacity in providing nutritional meals following Hurricane Harvey and could not produce any more to support...”

“... the effort in Puerto Rico. As a result, Puerto Rico increased the number of snack boxes distributed per survivor to account for the nutritional deficiencies of the food items. Puerto Rico officials reported one meal for approximately every 12 snack boxes distributed to a...”

“... survivor. This created challenges for FEMA when it attempted to reconcile Puerto Rico’s meal distribution records with its LSCMS records as the meal figures did not match FEMA’s distribution figures...”

“... Approximately 4 months into the disaster response, FEMA & Puerto Rico came to an agreement on the meal conversion factors for reporting purposes, which significantly reduced the number of meals FEMA reported for certain meal types...”

“FEMA did not fully utilize its GPS technology to monitor commodity movements for over 75 percent of its shipments to Puerto Rico, and over 96 percent of its shipments within Puerto Rico...”

“... To illustrate, FEMA did not ensure GPS transponders worked properly or record GPS numbers in LSCMS. Additionally, FEMA had challenges using its GPS for commodity shipments to PR because the vertical stacking of containers on barges and at staging yards caused signal...”

“...loss that prohibited the transmission of geographic data. Given inadequate use of the GPS technology, FEMA had GPS data recorded for only 3.4% of the commodity shipments transported within PR. FEMA consequently had limited knowledge about the location of commodity shipments.”

Click to read the report https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2020-09/OIG-20-76-Sep20.pdf

“FEMA Allowed the Contractor to Break Container Seals & Redistribute Commodities in Different Containers... due to inadequate FEMA oversight, Crowley Maritime Corporation (Crowley), FEMA’s transportation contractor, broke the FEMA inventory seals & repackaged commodities at a...”

“... second cross-docking location20 in Jacksonville, FL.... Disregarding the original packing slips and cargo manifests provided by FEMA, Crowley created generic cargo manifests labeled “relief supplies” that negatively impacted subsequent commodity shipment operations.”

“Cargo manifests are critical as they provide details such as descriptions of the goods and their respective quantities, and relevant consignor and consignee information. According to FEMA personnel, the accuracy of Crowley’s manifests was questionable.”

“Crowley did not know the contents of all containers shipped due to its generic cargo manifests. Consequently, our data analysis indicates about 1,000 containers may have never left the Jacksonville port.”

“FEMA personnel in Jacksonville indicated that over 1,500 containers that FEMA packed — most of them early in the disaster — may have never made it to Puerto Rico.”

“The contractor reported that it broke the seals to cross-dock and maximize shipping space to balance commercial and FEMA requirements. This contributed to delays in providing commodities to disaster survivors...”

“... For example, of the 7,942 commodity shipments sent from the CONUS to Puerto Rico, 41 percent took longer than 14 days to arrive on the island.”

“Not only did the practice of breaking seals to cross-dock delay shipments leaving CONUS, it also delayed shipments traveling within PR...data shows 538 shipments departed Crowley Bayamon Yard in PR...each of these shipments was subject to an additional delay of about 9 days.”

“The Puerto Rico government lacked a formal records management system to track commodities received from FEMA and distributed to the municipalities. Instead, Puerto Rico government personnel maintained manual records that were not filed in an organized manner in a designated...”

“... location where they could be easily retrieved. For example, we requested supporting documentation to verify commodity distribution numbers in the Puerto Rico government’s summary reports provided to FEMA...”

“... Puerto Rico government officials could not provide the supporting commodity distribution records because they were dispersed throughout various locations on the island, including a personal residence.”

“FEMA’s mismanagement of its transportation contracts with Crowley and Estes Express Lines (Estes) resulted in multiple violations of Federal regulations. Specifically, we noted the following:...”

“FEMA’s advanced transportation contracts did not include adequate transportation services necessary for disaster response;
FEMA awarded an unauthorized sole source contract with no reasonable price determination;
did not practice sound funds mgmt...”

“...& improperly validated & approved payment on contractor
invoices..Further, management’s priority on disaster response, which overrode adherence to sound business practices, contributed to the violations...”

“... As a result, FEMA allowed transportation contractors to exceed their contract ceilings by a combined $179 million. These actions also resulted in significant risk for fraud, waste, and abuse, including questioned costs of approximately $50 million.”

Here was the conclusion from the Inspector General: “FEMA faced tremendous challenges meeting mission requirements because of the catastrophic nature of Hurricane Maria and multiple, concurrent, nationwide disasters...”