Should FEMA Report to Congress on its Pre-Disaster Advance Contract Process? (S. 979)

What is S. 979?

(Updated December 23, 2020)

This bill, known as the FACE Act, would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to report to Congress on advance contracts, which are contracts established before disaster to provide goods and services in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

The report would be required to include:

• Information on recurring disaster response requirements, and
  
• An updated strategy defining the objectives of advance contracts, explaining how advance contracts contribute to FEMA disaster response operations, maximizing the award of advance contracts to small business concerns, and assessing whether and how advance contracts should be prioritized in relation to new post-disaster contract awards.
  

Additionally, this legislation would define additional responsibilities for FEMA with respect to advance contracts. These responsibilities would include requiring FEMA to 1) update and implement guidance for its program office and acquisition personnel to identify acquisition planning time frames and considerations across the entire acquisition planning process, and 2) communicate the purpose and use of a master acquisition planning schedule.

This bill’s full title is the Federal Advance Contracts Enhancement (FACE) Act.

Argument in favor

Requiring FEMA to report to Congress on its use of advance contracts to build up federal readiness ahead of disaster is an important accountability measure that will help ensure that the agency uses federal funds responsibly. Updating FEMA’s advance contract strategy is an important means of ensuring that FEMA’s strategy in this area is as efficient as possible.

Argument opposed

The report that this bill would require FEMA to create is a waste of time, given that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) already created a report with nine recommendations for FEMA in 2017. Rather than creating needless work for FEMA employees, it would be better to require FEMA to act on the GAO’s 2017 recommendations.

Impact

FEMA disaster response efforts; FEMA agency spending; and Congress.

Cost of S. 979

The CBO estimates that this bill would cost $2 million to implement over the 2019-2024 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced this bill to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure more effective use and management of its advance contracts for goods and services:

“While Florida’s nearly through another hurricane season, I am proud to see that the Senate has passed our bipartisan FACE Act. Congress must implement lessons learned from past disasters to ensure that gaps in recovery efforts are addressed and future federal response is more effective and efficient. I urge my colleagues in the House to consider this legislation quickly and send it to the president.”

Original cosponsor Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) added:

“Planning ahead for natural disasters can help streamline recovery efforts and save taxpayers in Michigan and across the country millions of dollars in the long run. “As a co-chair of 2019 National Preparedness Month, I’m proud to support the commonsense reforms in this bill that will help ensure communities are prepared when disaster strikes and can quickly access the resources they need for a full and swift recovery.”  

This legislation unanimously passed the Senate with the support of five bipartisan Senate cosponsors, including three Republicans and two Democrats. Its House companion, sponsored by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), has three bipartisan House cosponsors, including two Republicans and two Democrats, and has not yet received a committee vote.

Of Note: After Hurricane Katrina, Congress required Congress to establish advance contracts for goods and services to enable the federal government to quickly mobilize resources to affected areas after disasters. After the historically destructive disaster season, in which FEMA was forced to rely heavily on advance contracts in its responses to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and the 2017 California wildfires, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review the federal government’s response and assess a number of issues.

In its report, the GAO found a number of issues with FEMA’s handling of advance contracts and made nine recommendations, all of which FEMA concurred with.

Media:

• Sponsoring Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) Press Release
  
• CBO Cost Estimate
  
• GAO Report (Context)