I get it. Dealing with FEMA sucks. :bad:
Also, if this is your first eLOMA you WILL get audited. So be prepared for when that happens....
Paul D, post: 352870, member: 323 wrote: Also, if this is your first eLOMA you WILL get audited. So be prepared for when that happens....
Figures...
Has anyone else noticed an increase in eLOMA audit frequency since Michael Baker Intl. has been contracted to review audits for FEMA? Audits used to occur at a rate of maybe 1 in 4. Now almost every application gets audited. As someone stated previously, the review comments are laughable. They may want Avenue abbreviated as Ave. The next audit they will change their mind and say they want it spelled out as Avenue. This is nonsense. I have talked with other surveyors in my area that are having the same issues. Does Baker Intl. have an incentive to audit as many apps as possible? What they are doing is turning the eLOMA process, which used to be efficient, into a waste of time. You might as well use the online LOMC tool instead since you have to upload all the documentation now in either case. Remember the good old days when you could do a quick eLOMA and print out your certificate all in about 30 minutes without uploading half a dozen scanned documents?
Paul D, post: 214232, member: 323 wrote: I asked the eLOMA manager why we kept getting audited and he said --- the one that he had just audited was because the house a couple of doors down had received a LOMA and that if the Lat Long was close to an existing LOMA it got audited.
Same story here, never had one overruled but am continually audited. Figured it was because I was from NY, ha ha.
I was also told audits are based on proximity to existing loma's.
I just did a eloma, and it was audited.....I forgot to sign the elevation certificate...d'oh!
Once I did that and re-sent it in, I was approved in less than 24 hours.
"I forgot to sign the elevation certificate...d'oh!"
That brings up an interesting question, how many surveyors submit elevation certificates with their eLOMA'S rather than the Elevation Form. I haven't submitted an Elev. Cert in a long time.
My MO is first to determine LAG in the field, then either supply the client with an Elev. Cert for rating purposes or submit an eLOMA for removal.
fee is the same for either.
Jim
I always send an EC in lieu of the elevation form. If I'm filling it out anyway it provides any additional info the reviewers might want.
My last two were audited. FEMA made a correction of 0.000001å¡ in my reported Latitude on my last submission. My location source - field survey, FEMA's location source - Google Earth Pro. I kid you not.
We get audited on just about every submission, but as someone else said, our eLOMA volume is low as many are more complicated. Even with audits, it's still much quicker for a client with a lender breathing down their neck than an On-Line or paper submission. We just have learned to build in to our pricing a little extra time to do the dress-up/scan/upload routine that is now required with all eLOMA's.
BUT, what frosts my behind is the crap that comes out of an audit. Such as rejecting a deed reference as being in "Volume XX" in the legal description and rewriting it as being in "Book XX" 'cause that's what their format says. This when the official recording information on the face of the deed (as well as in prior references in the body of the deed) that was submitted for audit are in "Volumes". My old man always claimed there was nothing dumber than a Federal employee, but he was wrong. Federal contractors take the cake.
