By Eileen Sullivan
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A government audit says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has failed to follow federal contracting rules.

As a result, auditors say they cannot determine whether the agency was paying fair prices or getting its money's worth from the contractors it hires during disasters.

In a report released Tuesday, the inspector general for the Homeland Security says that investigators looked at 32 disaster contracts from 2007. That year, the president declared 65 major disasters, and FEMA spent $1.5 billion on disaster contracts, including purchasing or delivering ice for hurricane victims.