In danger of losing federal funding, auditors at the Guam Office of Public Accountability went before senators today to discuss its findings in an investigative audit performed on Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense.

The investigation revealed $8.4 million in federal reimbursements have not been received by the general fund.

Guam OPA Supervising Accountability Officer Vincent Duenas said this comes after FEMA placed grant restrictions on Guam Homeland due to the agency’s repeated noncompliance with federal guidelines and regulations.

“These documents have repeatedly warned that if corrective action is not taken that there is a potential danger of GHS/OCD losing its federal funding. These noncompliance issues were caused by a lack of consistent ghs/ocd leadership and a qualified fiscal and grants management team. GHS/OCD’s mission is crucial as they respond to all types of emergencies in order to protect lives, environment and property of the island of guam. However, its current environment is at high risk for mismanagement. Again, as the public auditor mentioned, this investigative audit was prompted by a hotline concern received by the public auditor himself regarding the administration of federal grants at Homeland Security/OCD,” Duenas said.

He added a second audit is underway.

The full report can be view here.