FEMA Should Recover $8.2 Million of the $14.9 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the Harrison County School District, Mississippi—Hurricane Katrina

The District received a Public Assistance grant award of $14.9 million from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (State), a FEMA grantee, for damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in August 2005. The award provided 100 percent FEMA funding for emergency protective measures, permanent repairs to buildings and facilities, demolition costs, and equipment replacement. The award consisted of 82 large projects and 155 small projects. We audited 17 projects with awards totaling $8.8 million. This included a full scope audit of the costs claimed for seven large projects with awards totaling $8.7 million. We also performed a limited review of 10 small projects totaling $97,713 to determine whether the District completed the projects. See Exhibit, Schedule of Projects Audited and Questioned Costs. The audit covered the period of August 29, 2005, to March 22, 2013, during which the District received $8.8 million in FEMA funds for the 17 projects. At the time of our audit, the District had not completed work on all projects and, therefore, had not submitted a final claim to the State for all project expenditures.