Science & Technology
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Report: Management Alert - EPA Should Promptly Reassess Community Risk Screening Tool
Report #17-P-0378, September 7, 2017. C-FERST overlaps with other tools and is not yet widely used, underscoring its $400,000 planned yearly investment as a risk.
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Report: EPA’s Alternative Dispute Resolution and Public Involvement Contract Needs Better Management
Report #17-P-0380, September 12, 2017. The EPA must provide better assurance that it effectively receives services and correctly pays for billings under this $51 million contract.
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Report: EPA Needs to Manage Pesticide Funds More Efficiently
Report #17-P-0395, September 18, 2017. With improved funds management, the EPA may achieve maximum use of its FIFRA and PRIA Funds and will reduce the reliance on appropriated funds.
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Report: Eleven Years After Agreement, EPA Has Not Developed Reliable Emission Estimation Methods to Determine Whether Animal Feeding Operations Comply With Clean Air Act and Other Statutes
Report #17-P-0396, September 19, 2017. Until the EPA develops sound methods to estimate emissions, the agency cannot reliably determine whether animal feeding operations comply with applicable Clean Air Act requirements.
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Report: EPA’s Distribution of Superfund Human Resources Does Not Support Current Regional Workload
Report #17-P-0397, September 19, 2017. Due to insufficient human resources to cover all Superfund site work, some regions have had to slow down or discontinue their efforts to protect human health and the environment.
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Report: Region 2 Needs to Improve Its Internal Processes Over Puerto Rico’s Assistance Agreements
Report #17-P-0402, September 25, 2017. Region 2 may have inefficiently used over $217,000 in taxpayer funds by not confirming equipment was used as intended or obtaining support for requested fringe benefit costs.
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Report: Follow-Up Audit - EPA Needs to Strengthen Internal Controls Over Retention Incentives
Report #17-P-0407, September 26, 2017. Additional actions are needed to strengthen internal controls over monitoring and to effectively resolve the cause of the prior audit findings. We question $1,605 of irregular payments.
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Report: EPA Needs to Improve Oversight of Its Audio Conference Services
Report #17-P-0408, September 26, 2017. The EPA is unable to substantiate whether its audio conference service usage totaling $8.4 million was cost-effective.
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Report: Management Alert - EPA Has Not Initiated Required Background Investigations for Information Systems Contractor Personnel
Report #17-P-0409, September 27, 2017. Not vetting contractor personnel before granting them network access exposes the EPA to risks. Contractor personnel with potentially questionable backgrounds who access sensitive agency data could cause harm.
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Report: Management Alert - Controls Failed to Prevent Employee From Receiving Payment in Excess of Statutory Limit
Report #17-P-0410, September 27, 2017. Our audit identified an unauthorized pay adjustment of $23,413 for a Protective Service Detail agent.
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Report: EPA Can Better Reduce Risks From Illegal Pesticides by Effectively Identifying Imports for Inspection and Sampling
Report #17-P-0412, September 28, 2017. Low rates of inspections and sampling can create a risk that the EPA may not be identifying and deterring the import of pesticides harmful to people or the environment.
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Report: Analysis of Toxics Release Inventory Data Identifies Few Noncompliant Facilities
Report #18-P-0001, October 5, 2017. Noncompliance among facilities that must comply with multiple environmental laws or programs can be reduced by making minimal enhancements to EPA reporting software.
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Windblown Dust in CMAQ
CMAQ uses a physics-based model that includes the effects of wind speed, surface roughness, soil moisture, vegetation coverage, soil type and texture, and air density on dust emissions, which can affect weather, climate, air quality, and human health.
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Report: EPA Telework Program Is Consistent With U.S. Office of Personnel Management Guidance
Report #18-P-0024, October 16, 2017. The EPA’s telework policies have resulted in nearly all managers being trained to supervise their teleworking employees.
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Report: Improvements Needed in CSB’s Identity and Access Management and Incident Response Security Functions
Report #18-P-0030, October 30, 2017. Weaknesses in the Identity and Access Management and Incident Response metric domains leave the CSB vulnerable to attacks occurring and not being detected in a timely manner.
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Report: EPA’s Information Security Program Is Established, but Improvements Are Needed to Strengthen Its Processes
Report #18-P-0031, October 30, 2017. Although the EPA has an effective information security program, management emphasis is needed to achieve a higher level of maturity for the agency’s information security program.
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Report: EPA Paid $1.5 Million for Subsidized and Unoccupied Parking Spaces Over a 2-Year Period
Report #18-P-0036, November 8, 2017. The EPA paid $840,000 for subsidized parking and $690,000 for unoccupied parking spaces over a 2-year period.
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Report: EPA Reported Its Fiscal Year 2017 Second Quarter Financial and Award Data in Accordance With the DATA Act
Report #18-P-0037, November 9, 2017. The DATA Act requires the EPA to report and display accurate financial and award data on USASpending.gov.
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Report: Improved Acquisition Planning Will Help EPA Reduce Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in High-Risk Contracts
Report #18-P-0038, November 15, 2017. Without improving its acquisition planning process, the EPA may continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on high-risk contracts that waste taxpayer resources.
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Report: EPA's Fiscal Years 2017 and 2016 Consolidated Financial Statements
Report #18-F-0039, November 15, 2017. We found the EPA’s financial statements to be fairly presented and free of material misstatements.