Disaster Contracting: FEMA and the Corps of Engineers Have Opportunities to Improve Local Vendor Use
What GAO Found The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Army Corps of Engineers have key responsibilities for disaster response and recovery activities. Contracting with local businesses—those that reside or primarily do business in declared major disaster areas—is one way to fulfill their responsibilities. Both have policies and guidance to promote local vendor use, but they do not monitor associated data on this use. As a result, they do not know the extent to which they are using local vendors or helping jump-start the local economy. Further, the contracting officers that GAO interviewed were not always aware of how to identify the local disaster area. Under federal regulat.
Reported by Maria LopezDisaster Contracting: FEMA and the Corps of Engineers Have Opportunities to Improve Local Vendor Use.
The item is dated Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:01:57 -0400.
TeamCog is carrying it as a audits report from GAO reports and testimonies RSS.
What GAO Found The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Army Corps of Engineers have key responsibilities for disaster response and recovery activities.
Contracting with local businesses—those that reside or primarily do business in declared major disaster areas—is one way to fulfill their responsibilities.
Both have policies and guidance to promote local vendor use, but they do not monitor associated data on this use.
As a result, they do not know the extent to which they are using local vendors or helping jump-start the local economy.
Further, the contracting officers that GAO interviewed were not always aware of how to identify the local disaster area.
Official Source
GAO reports and testimonies RSS. Accessed 2026-09-03T15:00:02.549Z.