FEMA seeks to boost regional offices

House lawmakers applauded actions by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate to boost the authority and capacity of FEMA's 10 regional offices, but personnel shortages could jeopardize those efforts, said Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

"Regions may not have the capacity to handle all their new responsibilities," the Mississippi Democrat said. "We must ensure we are not setting up the regional offices for failure."

A recent study by the National Academy of Public Administration found that while FEMA has made significant progress in creating more robust regional offices, they still lacked the capacity to fully support state, local and tribal stakeholders and implement federal policies and guidance.

In addition, FEMA's internal business practices, especially those relating to personnel planning and management, were ineffective, said Christine Gibbs Springer, executive director of the master's degree program in emergency and crisis management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and one of seven members of the NAPA panel that conducted the study.

NAPA endorsed Fugate's delegation of more responsibilities to regional offices, but "equally important, FEMA should develop a framework to evaluate how successful it is in building robust regional offices, while continuing to assess whether additional authorities should be delegated to the field," Springer said.

As a result of the delegated authorities, regional offices now can issue mission assignments in excess of $10 million; contract for aircraft to support regional requirements; approve requisitions for nondisaster goods and services; and select and hire staff in senior regional positions. Previously those decisions were made at the headquarters level.

Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response, said she was particularly concerned about the regions' capacity to manage homeland security grants.

"This fall FEMA announced that the majority of homeland security grant projects would have to undergo an environmental review process. Putting aside the administrative burden this requirement places on grantees, our understanding is that there is just one person in each region who will be responsible for reviewing hundreds of environmental reviews. This is a bottleneck waiting to happen," Richardson said.

David Garratt, associate administrator for mission support, said FEMA was committed to moving more personnel to the regional offices to handle the additional responsibilities, including those associated with administering grants programs.

Tony Russell, the new administrator of FEMA Region 6, which includes Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas, told lawmakers that shifting authority from Washington to the regions was an acknowledgement that the regions must be stronger and more capable extensions of national emergency management capacity.

In addition, Russell and Garratt both noted that FEMA's deputy administrator is leading a senior-level review of how best to reposition resources to the regions to support their expanded responsibilities.

"This effort may well drive additional functional management changes as we continue to decentralize in ways that will continue to improve the agency's performance," Russell said.

FEMA is actively seeking to fill other vacant regional administrator positions, he added. "We firmly believe these key leadership positions are no place for emergency management novices, and will continue to ensure that only experienced and qualified emergency managers fill these critical positions," Russell said.