The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did not always implement effective internal controls to provide oversight of COVID-19 Funeral Assistance.
An audit determined that FEMA’s funeral assistance program greatly expanded the universe of reimbursable expenses for deaths related to COVID-19, even beyond those specifically identified as ineligible under established FEMA policy, without establishing guardrails to ensure relief was limited to necessary expenses and serious needs as required by statute. Instead, OIG said, the operating procedures allowed, with few exceptions, reimbursement for all expenses listed on funeral home receipts, invoices, and contracts.
OIG found that FEMA issued an estimated $24.4 million in COVID-19 Funeral Assistance funds from April 12, 2021, through September 21, 2021, for expenses identified as ineligible under established FEMA policy.
Additionally, the audit found that some of FEMA’s internal controls governing assistance payments did not always work as intended. In particular, the processes for reviewing funeral assistance applications did not always prevent erroneous or questionable payments. During the same period above, OIG found that FEMA issued $1.3 million in assistance payments to multiple parties applying for the same decedents and paid applicants more than the allowable maximum award, resulting in overpayments of $759,026. OIG said FEMA also issued a questionable award amount of $591,805 for unallowable costs on 93 of 389 applications the watchdog reviewed from the period noted above due to inconsistent application of program guidance when reviewing applications and calculating award amounts. In total, OIG is questioning $26.9 million in COVID-19 Funeral Assistance.
As a result of the findings, OIG has made several recommendations, including that FEMA strengthen its COVID-19 Funeral Assistance training practices.
