FEMA Yet to Award $2 Billion in BRIC Grants, Delaying Community Projects
Communities awaiting Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities subgrants face delays as FEMA has not awarded over $2 billion through March 2026.
FEMA has not awarded any Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) subgrants nor obligated funds from April 2025 through March 2026, leaving more than $2 billion in available funding unallocated and delaying mitigation projects for countless localities.
GAO reports that FEMA awarded 1,245 BRIC subgrants during fiscal years 2020-2023, allocating about $2.5 billion - half of the $4.8 billion authorized. The agency reimbursed $62 million and 37 subgrants have completed work and entered closeout. However, 700 subapplications remain pending a second-stage review, representing roughly $2.2 billion of the authorized budget. The median time to finalize a subgrant review was 7 to 9 months.
FEMA announced the program's termination in April 2025 but did not disclose the change internally or externally until its March 2026 decision to restart BRIC. The agency failed to clarify which subgrants would be terminated, creating uncertainty that caused some subrecipients to halt work and potentially increase project costs. Additionally, FEMA set performance goals without consistent measurement methods or targets, limiting its ability to assess program effectiveness.
GAO issued seven recommendations to FEMA's Administrator, including assessing the subapplication review process for inefficiencies, improving internal and external communications, establishing results-oriented performance goals with measurable targets, generating annual performance data, using that information to guide decision-making, and annually informing external stakeholders of goal attainment. DHS concurred, and the agency has identified actions it plans to take, though implementation status remains open.
The unawarded funds and protracted review timelines extend project schedules and raise mitigation costs, undermining the program's intent to reduce disaster impacts. Accelerating award decisions and enhancing communication could enable communities to commence resilience projects sooner and achieve the cost-saving benefits envisioned by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
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