Laws & Regulations

Report: EPA Can Improve Its Improper Payments Reporting

Report #12-P-0311, March 1, 2012. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complied with IPERA in that it reported all required information on improper payments, but EPA can improve the accuracy and completeness of the information.

Report: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Site Visit of the Botanic Garden of Western Pennsylvania

Report #12-R-0321, March 8, 2012. The Botanic Garden used Recovery Act funds to construct ponds that are not being used for their stated purpose.

Report: EPA's Purchase Card and Convenience Check Program Controls Are Not Effective for Preventing Improper Purchases

Report #18-P-0232, August 20, 2018. Ineffective oversight at the EPA contributed to improper purchases totaling $57,017 from sampled transactions.

Report: Stronger Management Controls Will Improve EPA Five-Year Reviews of Superfund Sites

Report #12-P-0251, February 6, 2012. The FYR process benefited from OSRTI reviews of draft reports, but improvements could be made to increase the impact of these reviews.

Report: Great Lakes National Program Should Improve Internal Controls to Ensure Effective Legacy Act Operations

Report #12-P-0407, April 9, 2012. GLLA program funding has increased five-fold over the last 7 years; however, the program has not established needed internal controls to ensure effective operations.

Report: Examination of Costs Claimed Under Cooperative Agreement X7-83325501 Awarded to Kathleen S. Hill, Chiloquin, Oregon

Report #12-4-0224, January 23, 2012. Kathleen S. Hill did not have a financial management system that met federal standards.

Report: EPA Data Standards Plan Completed But Additional Steps Are Needed

Report #12-P-0519, June 5, 2012. The actions taken by EPA were either incomplete or lacked steps to help management determine the overall effectiveness of the Agency’s implementation of data standards.

Report: EPA Needs to Improve Security Planning and Remediation of Identified Weaknesses in Systems Used to Protect Human Health and the Environment

Report #16-P-0006, Oct 14, 2015. EPA’s network security is essential to provide the information, technology and services necessary to advance the protection of human health and the environment.

Report: EPA Superfund Contract Initiatives and Controls to Reduce Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

Report #12-P-0360, March 16, 2012. We identified three EPA initiatives related to Superfund contracting controls.

Report: EPA Office of Inspector General’s Report on Reducing Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in the Small Business Innovative Research Program, as Required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Pub. L. 112-81 (2012)

September 28, 2012. The EPA OIG is required by Section 5143 of the NDA Act for Fiscal Year 201 2, Pub. L. No. 112-81 (2012), to report on reducing vulnerability to fraud, waste and abuse in the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program.

Report: Improvements Needed in Estimating and Leveraging Cost Savings Across EPA

Report #13-P-0028, October 22, 2012. Regions 4 and 7, which were the focus of our review, did not apply reliable methods for estimating savings and cost avoidances.

Report: EPA Can Improve Its Reporting of Dollars Leveraged From the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Brownfields Program

Report #12-R-0898, Sept 27, 2012. EPA project officers verified grant recipient reported outputs and outcomes for Recovery Act brownfields assessments completed, acres ready for reuse, and cleanups completed, but did not always verify dollars leveraged.

Report: Weaknesses in EPA’s Management of the Radiation Network System Demand Attention

Report #12-P-0417, April 19, 2012. Broken RadNet monitors and late filter changes impaired this critical infrastructure asset.

Report: Costs Claimed by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Inc., Under EPA Grant No. X96418405

Report #12-4-0499, May 23, 2012. The NCREDC did not comply with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), specifically 2 CFR Part 230, regarding financial management.

Report: Status of Corrective Actions in Response to 2008 Report, “Framework for Developing Tribal Capacity Needed in Indian General Assistance Program”

Report #13-P-0057, November 27, 2012. EPA has taken a number of actions to address findings and recommendations from the OIG’s 2008 report, including developing the GAP Online database, drafting a GAP guidebook, and revising GAP guidance.

Report: Results of Technical Network Vulnerability Assessment: EPA’s Region 1

Report #12-P-0518, June 5, 2012. Our vulnerability assessments of Region 1’s wireless network infrastructure found no security weaknesses.

Report: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Site Visit of Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Project, City of Nappanee, Indiana

Report #12-R-0789, September 12, 2012. We noted in our draft report 7 of 32 instances where the city could not demonstrate compliance with Buy American requirements as set out in Section 1605 of the Recovery Act.

Report: Examination of Costs Claimed Under EPA Cooperative Agreements CB-97324701 Through CB-97324705 Awarded to Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc.

Report #12-4-0720, August 22, 2012. The recipient did not comply with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)—specifically, 40 CFR Part 30 and 2 CFR Part 230—regarding procurement and financial management requirements.

Report: Results of Technical Network Vulnerability Assessment: EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory

Report #12-P-0900, September 27, 2012. Vulnerability testing of networked resources located in the NVFEL identified Internet Protocol addresses with potentially 9 critical-risk, 70 high-risk, and 297 medium-risk vulnerabilities.

Report: EPA’s Office of Environmental Information Should Improve Ariel Rios and Potomac Yard Computer Room Security Controls

Report #12-P-0879, September 26, 2012. The security posture and in-place environmental control review of the computer rooms in the Ariel Rios and Potomac Yard buildings revealed numerous security and environmental control deficiencies.