FEMA Wakes Up

The folks running the Federal Emergency Management Agency have apparently been stricken with common sense. After being criticized for awarding more than a billion dollars in no-bid federal contracts for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, FEMA has vowed to re bid in an effort to prevent any waste or abuse.

Why FEMA didn’t think of accepting competitive bids to avoid waste or abuse in the first place is baffling. In the weeks after the storm, more than 80% of at least $1.5 billion in FEMA contracts were awarded with no competition or they had open-ended or vague terms that previous audits have cited as being highly prone to abuse.

Additionally, 90% of the contracts awarded for debris removal in Mississippi were not put out for competitive bids.