FEMA Should Recover $5.3 Million of Public Assistance Grant Funds Awarded to the University of Southern Mississippi – Hurricane Katrina

Our audit objective was to determine whether the University accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. As of October 31,2011, the University received a Public Assistance award of $41.1 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 and repair of buildings, equipment, utilities, and recreational facilities damaged as a esult of the disaster. The aw ard included 118 arge and 202 small projects.