WASHINGTON -- The Government Services Administration, in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Association, announced this week they are accepting bids on a single lot of FEMA units manufactured in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A total of 21,012 travel trailers, 886 park models and 737 mobile homes will be awarded to the highest bidder.

The units many not have been tested for formaldehyde levels, which one Louisiana RV dealer finds puzzling. Jimmy Bankston, with Reliable RV in Biloxi, Miss., has been monitoring the impact FEMA units have on the RV industry for several years.

"If the federal government has declared formaldehyde to be a dangerous, toxic substance, how can they sell 21,012 travel trailers without testing to see if they are dangerous?" Bankston asked. "I can tell you. Because they are exempt from any legal action in the formaldehyde cases."

Bankston told RV Daily Report today that he fears the units will be pushed onto unsuspecting people thinking they are buying a recreation vehicle. And that by flooding the market with such trailers, federal government is hurting RV dealers at the time the market is starting to improve.

"They are selling more trailers in one lot than are normally shipped to RV dealers from manufacturers every month," Bankston noted.

From Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2009, a total of 93,100 travel trailers were shipped to dealers, according to figures provided by the RV Industry Association. The single GSA auction represents 22.6 percent of all travel trailers produced in North America last year.

The winning bidder will have 240 business days to remove all the units from the storage area in Melville, La.