WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is outsourcing the verification of disaster assistance applicants' identities.
FEMA took the decision after last year's debit card handout in the wake of Hurricane Katrina allowed fraudulent and wasteful purchases, officials said Monday.
FEMA also announced Monday that it would reduce each household's maximum share of government emergency funds from $2,000 to $500.
FEMA Director R. David Paulison said the agency has opted to contract out identity verification. He acknowledged that the agency was not prepared to defend its fund against fraud last year. "FEMA did not have a system in place" to verify people's identities, he said according to a GovExec.com report.
FEMA spokesman Aaron Walker said the verification work has been awarded to ChoicePoint, a company that has multiple credentialing and identification contracts with the federal government. DHS' procurement office arranged the contract, Walker said.
The agreement runs through the end of January 2007, Walker said, at a cost of $1.6 million. Because ChoicePoint had an existing deal with the Library of Congress, FEMA's part of the agreement was attached as a "bridge contract," he said.
Thousands of workers will be sent to areas predicted to be hit by a hurricane before the storm makes landfall to prepare recovery efforts, officials said at a Monday morning briefing for reporters on changes to disaster relief programs.
FEMA already has 2,000 workers to deliver assistance, but these will be supplemented by thousands more reserve cadre part-time employees, many of whom gained disaster experience following Hurricane Katrina last year. Some of FEMA's workers will help displaced individuals and families sign up for emergency fund identity verification at five mobile units that will be equipped with phones and Internet access.
