A Performance Audit
An Audit Report on Hurricane Harvey Disaster Recovery Funds Administered by the General Land Office
October 2019
Summary Analysis
The General Land Office (Office) implemented some processes and related controls to award, disburse, and monitor Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery funds. However, the Office should strengthen and document those processes and controls to ensure that it awards, disburses, and monitors those funds according to requirements as it continues to administer them. Strengthening and improving those processes will become increasingly important for the Office as it (1) addresses future disasters using the Partial Repair and Essential Power for Sheltering (PREPS) program or similar immediate needs programs and (2) continues processing applications for current Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery programs and begins administering additional programs under the longer term Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) appropriation.
The Office administered the PREPS Program in accordance with federal program requirements. The Office ensured that repaired homes were safe, clean, and secure to enable homeowners to return to their homes immediately following Hurricane Harvey. However, the Office did not always complete those repairs timely, maintain complete documentation, or physically secure third-party data.
The Office appropriately determined eligibility for the Homeowner Reimbursement Program and the Homeowner Assistance Program. However, it did not always ensure that all documentation was received and complete prior to approving the applicant for the Homeowner Assistance Program.
The Office appropriately prioritized applications received, ensured that applications were complete and received timely, and ensured that the applicant and property were eligible for the Affordable Rental Program. However, the Office did not always ensure that documentation of its due diligence review processes was sufficient to support the completion of all aspects of that review.
The Office expended CDBG-DR administrative funds on allowable items for all 24 (100 percent) costs tested. However, while the Office had a process to determine whether costs were allowable, that process did not ensure that costs were consistently allocated between federal or state programs when those costs benefited more than one program.
The Office followed applicable requirements in its planning, procurement, and formation of Hurricane Harvey-related contracts for the PREPS and CDBG-DR programs. However, it did not always report contracts to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) in accordance with General Appropriations Act (85th Legislature) requirements.
Additionally, while the Office had monitoring processes in place, it should strengthen those processes to ensure that monitoring is sufficient and adequately documented. Specifically, the Office should implement an oversight process to ensure that all monitoring activities it determines to be necessary are performed and documented.
The Office ensured that user access to three (75 percent) of four key information systems for managing the PREPS and CDBG-DR programs was reasonable and appropriate for users’ job duties.
Graphics, Media, Supporting documents