U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 'Operation Blue Roof' Project in Response to Hurricane Katrina

摘要

The Operation Blue Roof program provides a free temporary roof for residential structures, schools, day care centers, and all publicly owned facilities. These temporary roofs provide short-term relief until the owner can make permanent repairs. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) manages the Operation Blue Roof program for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Congressmen Bennie G. Thompson and Bill Pascrell Jr. requested the USACE Inspector General to review the contracts awarded for Operation Blue Roof following Hurricane Katrina. Due to a lack of resources, the USACE requested that the DoD Office of Inspector General (IG/DoD) perform the review. The IG performed this review to determine whether the USACE properly awarded and administered contracts for temporary roofing repairs in response to Hurricane Katrina. They determined that, overall, the procurements were properly solicited and awarded. The USACE properly reviewed responsive proposals and conducted the source selection according to the methodology stated in the solicitation. As of August 2006, the USACE had not completed performance evaluations of the prime contractors; however, the USACE Internal Review Teams, Defense Contract Audit Agency auditors, and homeowner inquiry and complaint forms identified contractor performance issues. The USACE did not initially award prime contracts to small, minority, or locally owned firms because those firms were not among the top five most technically qualified responders. However, the USACE did award two contracts for temporary roofing repairs to small disadvantaged businesses in October 2005. The USACE St. Louis District office internal controls were adequate in that the IG identified no material internal control weaknesses in the award of temporary roofing repairs contracts.