A government watchdog group is raising concerns about a possible conflict of interest related to the appointment of a former contractor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to serve as FEMA’s chief of staff.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano named Jason R. McNamara as FEMA’s chief of staff March 4. He previously served as associate vice president and director of emergency management and homeland security at Dewberry LLC since 2005. The planning, engineering and management firm is based in Fairfax, Va.
Showing posts with label FEMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FEMA. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
GT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: FEMA Proposes Forgiving Some Community Disaster Loans
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has proposed an amendment to the regulations governing special community disaster loans (CDLs). The regulation submitted to the Federal Register today proposes procedures and requirements for the cancellation of CDLs under certain conditions.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
POST-GAZETTE: FEMA to review city fire equipment contract
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will ask the city of Pittsburgh for documents explaining its $977,550 purchase of a firehouse ventilation system from an Ohio company with federal money and without a competitive process, agency officials said today.
The city is buying the system, made by Sweden-based Nederman Inc., from Toledo-area firm Clean Air Systems Inc. Two other vendors have complained that they were not given the opportunity to submit their own proposals, though FEMA -- which is paying $716,760 of the cost under an Assistance to Firefighters Grant -- demands "full and open competition" on all purchases made with its grants.
FEMA regularly reviews grants, and in this case will conduct "a full desk review," said Lisa Lewis, director of the agency's grants management division. "With the concerns [expressed by competing vendors] we'll take a closer look at it" than normal.
WTHR: FEMA makes laptops more secure after theft
Griffith - The Federal Emergency Management Agency is putting new safeguards in place to protect sensitive information stored on laptop computers after one containing personal information for about 50 Indiana flood victims was stolen from an inspector's car.
FEMA is installing more protection software on all of its laptops and now uses additional encryption and data-tracking software in all portable data storage devices, the Post-Tribune of Merrillville reported Sunday.
TIMES-PICAYUNE: Obama undecided on whether to make FEMA separate department
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he has not decided whether to restore the Federal Emergency Management Agency to a stand-alone department but promises that his administration is committed to robust Gulf Coast recovery efforts regardless of the agency's status.
WGNO: Rainwater Encouraged By New FEMA Tone
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisiana's hurricane recovery chief said he's encouraged to hear a new tone at FEMA. Paul Rainwater met Friday with Tony Russell, the newly named acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Louisiana office. Rainwater said the two discussed issues including the new state-federal "decision teams" meant to help settle funding disputes and speed rebuilding projects stemming from the 2005 hurricanes.
TIMES PICAYUNE: N.O. FEMA office gets 'Decision Team'
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Wednesday that, in cooperation with Louisiana officials, she is creating a new "Decision Team" at the New Orleans' FEMA office to "expedite final decisions" about rebuilding projects that have been the source of long-running disputes between FEMA and the state.
WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY: Auditors declare FEMA acquisition files a disaster
Contracting documents at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters office are such a mess that the agency was unable to find two-thirds of the files requested during a recent audit.
Contracting officers at FEMA’s Washington office could not locate 16 of the 24 files the accounting firm Urbach Kahn and Werlin requested, according to the audit released March 13 by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general.
And the files FEMA did find were not in good shape, the auditors said.
HS TODAY: FEMA Would Succeed In or Out of DHS, Deputy Says
The acting deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) argued before a House panel Tuesday that removing his agency from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would not disconnect it from valuable resources in times of a catastrophe.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
FEMA: Underground Power Lines Spare Bardstown Big Repair Bills
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- It's the trees. Nestled in north-central Kentucky, the densely wooded Camelot subdivision of Bardstown, Ky., often found trees or broken limbs falling on its overhead power lines during storms, leaving the subdivision in the dark. The City of Bardstown was repeatedly forced to dispatch utility crews, each time at great expense. In a single year of bad weather, the city might pay a minimum of $15,000 just to keep the overhead wires repaired.
For city Risk Manager Michael Forsee, the obvious solution was to bury the power lines, but the $100,000 cost was prohibitive. He applied for a Hazard Mitigation Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) when he learned that the grants provide funds for local communities to strengthen their infrastructure against natural disasters. The Camelot subdivision fit the criteria.
DAILY WORLD: New chief should rebuild FEMA
President Barack Obama has named a new director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After all the complaints lodged against the agency and the solid evidence of FEMA's need for revamping, continued operation under the same leadership would have been unwise. It would have sustained strong discontent, particularly along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Monday, March 9, 2009
POST-TRIBUNE: Feds: FEMA laptop security inadequate
The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not properly secure thousands of laptops it manages and, as a result, sensitive personal information stored on those computers is not secure, according to a July 2007 report by FEMA's own parent agency.
FEMA has not ensured that the 32,000 laptops it owns or manages adhere to "minimum-security settings" or meet "adequate laptop computer inventory management procedures," the 33-page report from the Department of Homeland Security says.
"As a result, sensitive information stored and processed on Federal Emergency Management Agency laptop computers may not be protected properly," says the report, issued by Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.
The report indicated that "significant work remains for (FEMA) to further strengthen ... controls necessary to protect its government-issued laptop computers."
EHS TODAY: Floodplain Managers Call for an Independent FEMA
The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) recommends that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be restored to its former independent-agency status, with direct access to the president.
RADIO WORLD: FEMA Seeks Public Comment on EAS Proposal
The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to hear from you about the open standards process for the Emergency Alert System and specifically the coming upgrade to the Common Alerting Protocol.
This is the next step in the process to upgrading emergency alerts to a next-gen public warning system. The goal is to allow the president and authorized officials to send alerts using television, radio, wireless and wired telephone, e-mail and other communications technologies.
FEMA asks emergency management industries, state and tribal leaders and first responders to review and comment on the open standardization process for EAS CAP.
This is the next step in the process to upgrading emergency alerts to a next-gen public warning system. The goal is to allow the president and authorized officials to send alerts using television, radio, wireless and wired telephone, e-mail and other communications technologies.
FEMA asks emergency management industries, state and tribal leaders and first responders to review and comment on the open standardization process for EAS CAP.
ALLGOV: FEMA Administrator: Who is Craig Fugate?
Taking over the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), one of the most historically ridiculed federal operations in the United States, is W. Craig Fugate, whom some have called “Mr. Hurricane.” Fugate brings a long resume of tackling disasters, after heading up Florida’s version of FEMA for most of this decade.
GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY: Craig Fugate, Possible FEMA Administrator, Supported by Emergency Managers
On March 4, President Barack Obama announced that he intended to nominate Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Emergency management organizations and professionals are applauding Obama's possible nomination of Fugate.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
PR NEWSWIRE: AFGE to FEMA Nominee: We'll Pick You Up!
WASHINGTON, March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The announcement of Craig Fugate to head up FEMA couldn't have come at a better time, American Federation of Government Employees National President John Gage said today in response to President Obama's announcement of intent to name Fugate FEMA administrator.
"The recent sexual harassment and retaliation scandal in the Louisiana FEMA office was just the tip of the iceberg," said Leo Bosner, chief steward of AFGE FEMA Local 4060. "FEMA is rife with corruption and mismanagement, and our best employees continue to be discouraged and driven out by this.
"This is an agency still suffering from a failure in leadership, the heavy influence of political appointees, a lack of strategic direction and coordination, poor and unqualified management, over-reliance on contractors, undervaluation of employees, hostile work environments, wasteful spending, duplication of effort, and a systemic failure across the agency to integrate proven principles and concepts of emergency and incident management into programs and operations," the Local wrote in its recent report, Shattering the Illusion of FEMA's Progress.
"AFGE gets more complaints than ever from the employees, and we now have a half-dozen major grievances pending arbitration," Bosner said. "FEMA is desperately in need of strong, experienced leadership to get us back on track, and we believe that Craig Fugate is the one to do this.
"How soon can he get here? Tell him to give me a call if he needs a ride from the airport. I'll pick him up myself," Bosner added.
MSN: Statement of Joe M. Allbaugh on FEMA Director Designate Craig Fugate
President and CEO, Allbaugh International Group, LLC
Former FEMA Director
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES: Obama nominates Florida's seasoned emergency director Craig Fugate to head FEMA
The day W. Craig Fugate took over Florida's Division of Emergency Management in 2001, the state faced a major crisis. Florida was in the midst of a drought so serious that then-Gov. Jeb Bush said he was praying for rain.
In 2004, Fugate faced the opposite problem: four powerful hurricanes that dumped rain in biblical proportions.
Now Fugate, 49, faces his biggest challenge ever. He has been tapped by President Obama to take over the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which became notorious under Michael Brown for its fumbling response to Hurricane Katrina.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
