Hurricane season closes without major incident
FEMA director pledges continuing improvements; agency on the brink of filling all of its regional director positions.
Thursday marked the passing of the 2006 hurricane season, the first full season with R. David Paulison at the helm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And, with no major catastrophes, Paulison is breathing a bit easier.
"I'm very happy about that," he told reporters and attendees of a luncheon at the National Press Club.
Paulison, who took over the beleaguered agency amid the Hurricane Katrina crisis in September 2005, has sought to guide it away from the mismanagement that made it an easy target for criticism. He said Thursday that the "new FEMA" being established under his direction is a vast improvement.
For instance, FEMA is on the verge of hiring full-time regional directors to fill all 10 available positions. One slot is still vacant, but will be filled soon, Paulison said.
The agency also has taken steps since Hurricane Katrina to set up as many contingency contracts as possible in advance of disasters, Paulison said. This way, employees will not find themselves scrambling to gather necessities once they are needed.
Paulison strongly cautioned state and local responders against waiting until the last moment to secure disaster supplies, and said they should avoid no-bid contracts.
"Any time you do a no-bid contract, you don't get the best deal," he said.
FEMA successfully implemented the first phase of its Total Asset Visibility system and installed 20,000 GPS tracking units on supplies. The tracking devices can tell officials an emergency shipment's whereabouts "right down to the very street corner it sits on," Paulison said.
Before, he said, FEMA lacked the ability to track resources once they left warehouses.
In addition, the agency is undergoing assessments of its human resources, logistics, budgeting, communications, financial management and procurement and data systems. Paulison said he plans to bring a logistics expert on board soon.
FEMA also is considering adding regional segments to its Web site, a source familiar with the agency's operations said. This would involve creating sites for each of 10 regions, to improve communication between the agency and people who likely would be affected by a disaster or emergency.