United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-05-16 monographic deposited born digital 17 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-736T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T P0b002ee1803a5baa f:d01736t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T GAO-01-736T Data collection Flood insurance Geographic information systems Performance measures Program evaluation Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles FEMA Cooperating Technical Partners Initiative Testimony A01008 This testimony discusses GAO's preliminary results of its ongoing review of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Federal Insurance Administration (FIA) and Mitigation Directorate. This program, which includes building standards aimed at minimizing flood losses, is a major component of the federal government's efforts to provide flood-related assistance. GAO found that FEMA has a number of performance goals aimed at improving the results of the NFIP, including increasing the number of insurance policies in force. While these goals provide valuable insights into how well the NFIP's mission of reducing flood-related losses is being carried out, they do not assess the degree to which the most vulnerable residents--those living in flood-prone areas--participate in the program. Capturing data on the numbers of uninsured and insured structures in flood-prone areas can provide FEMA with another indication of how effectively the program is penetrating those areas most at risk of flooding, whether the financial consequences of floods in these areas are increasing or decreasing, and where marketing efforts can better be targeted. However, before participation rates can be used to measure the success of NFIP, better data are needed on the total number of structures in flood-prone areas. While FIA tracks data on the number of insurance policies in these areas, data on the overall number of structures are incomplete and inaccurate. Some communities are developing more accurate data on the number of structures in flood-prone areas. FEMA is also working to improve the quality of its data on the number of structures in flood-prone areas and is participating in the development of new mapping technologies that could facilitate the collection of such data. The cost of using the new technologies to gather data on the number of structures is not fully known, but this expense will be shared through partnerships with federal, state, and local agencies. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T.pdf GAO-01-736T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-736T Testimony GAO-01-736T; Flood Insurance: Emerging Opportunity to Better Measure Certain Results of the National Flood Insurance Program; Data collection Flood insurance Geographic information systems Performance measures Program evaluation Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles FEMA Cooperating Technical Partners Initiative Public Law 90-448 Public Law 93-234 Public Law 103-325