EPA Releases Reports as Part of Agency Efforts to Optimize Pesticide Registration Processes
Released October 9, 2025
Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a major step to evaluate and optimize key pesticide registration functions by releasing two evaluations of EPA programs. The first report provides the results of a third-party audit focused on assessing the operational performance of the agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) and provides recommendations for improvement. The second report evaluates OPP’s training and education gaps to support implementation of the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA 5). The agency is sharing this information in an effort to help improve the registration process for pesticide registrants and other stakeholders. This action supports Administrator Zeldin’s work to advance permitting reform by increasing efficiency and providing more regulatory certainty for companies that make pesticides and the businesses that use them to control pests and ensure our country’s food supply.
In December 2022, PRIA 5 was reauthorized with new mandates designed to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of EPA’s pesticide registration process. PRIA 5 called for a third-party process assessment to evaluate and improve OPP’s operational performance, as well as the training needs and potential gaps in existing materials. The results of these assessments are being released today.
Additionally, PRIA 5 provided for an independent workforce assessment to evaluate the adequacy of staffing resources implementing PRIA. The workforce assessment is tentatively scheduled to be conducted next year.
Operational Performance Report
The operational review report released today was informed by the review of more than 100 process documents and interviews with nearly 80 EPA staff and registrants. This third-party process assessment identified operational improvements that could reduce backlogs, streamline reviews and strengthen internal coordination. The evaluation of OPP’s core registration and registration review functions included the initial content screen, the preliminary technical screen and efforts to reduce the backlogs of PRIA and non-PRIA registration submissions.
While the report recognizes that OPP has made meaningful strides in improving core operations, such as replacing its outdated internal systems with a modern internal tracking system, the assessment identified challenges and barriers that continue to impact efficiency and predictability. These barriers span multiple functions and organizational levels and create ripple effects across application reviews, decision-making, and coordination. Some of the challenges identified include topics such as data quality, underutilized tools, process fragmentation, and knowledge gaps.
Training Gaps Report
Under PRIA 5, OPP is required to administer training and education programs relating to its regulatory responsibilities and policies. The training gaps analysis was conducted using an inventory of existing pesticide training materials, feedback from interviews with internal OPP points of contact, workflow process maps, and insights from External Stakeholder Feedback Sessions. Common challenges identified include difficulty locating training materials, limited cross-divisional understanding, and inconsistent workflow management.
More than 200 distinct training actions and more than 40 supporting non-training actions are documented as part of the report. The actions identified largely aim to reduce reliance on informal mentoring, improve cross-divisional coordination, and strengthen communication with applicants and registrants by improving consistency, efficiency, and transparency.
As required in PRIA 5, OPP plans to release a solicitation for grant proposals to continue the analysis of training needs and delivery.
Next Steps
One of EPA’s top priorities is reducing the backlog of pesticide regulatory actions pending review. Since January 20, 2025, EPA has decreased this backlog by over 5,000 actions.
EPA is reviewing the reports to consider how to best implement the recommendations and remains committed to further process improvements and IT efforts to modernize key pesticide registration functions, reduce the pesticide registration backlog and implement gold-standard science.