Compendium podcast transcript Kim: Hello and welcome to EPA Uncovered, the official podcast of the EPA Office of Inspector General. I'm your host, Kim Wheeler, and today, we're taking a closer look at a very important, but sometimes not as well-known part of the OIG's oversight—our recommendations process. When the OIG publishes an audit, evaluation, or inspection, you might think that's the end of the story. But the publication of a report is often one point in a longer process. OIG reports often include recommendations designed to improve EPA programs and operations, and both the agency and the OIG have an important responsibility to make sure that those recommendations lead to meaningful corrective actions being implemented. For our part, the OIG continues to track the status of its recommendations until all corrective actions are fully implemented and make sure that both the administrator and Congress are fully informed regarding the status of recommendations that have not been closed. To that end, each year we publish a compendium of open recommendations to highlight resolved, unresolved, and high-priority recommendations. With us today to talk more about this year's report and the OIG's follow up process is supervisory auditor Claire McWilliams. Claire, thanks for joining us. Claire: Thank you for having me. Kim: So, let's start with some basics. Can you tell us a little bit about the OIG’s recommendations process and also the different types of recommendations discussed in this report? We've got open, resolved, unresolved, closed—what do these terms actually mean? Claire: Sure. So, open recommendations are what we issue in our reports based on what we find and those can be resolved or unresolved. Recommendations are then closed after the agency completes the agreed upon corrective actions. The process starts when we send our draft reports with recommendations to the agency and then generally EPA responds to the draft report with proposed corrective actions and estimated completion dates. If the OIG agrees, the recommendation considered resolved. So, that's the first phase: agreeing to corrective actions for each recommendation. Phase two involves the EPA completing corrective actions, OIG confirming they are complete, and then the recommendations closing. Sometimes, the EPA and OIG disagree on a recommendation or a corrective action, which results in a recommendation being considered unresolved. And this report, as you said, focuses on open recommendations. Kim: Let's shift focus to the report. The compendium says there were 77 resolved recommendations that remained open as of May 31st of this year. Should listeners interpret that as 77 recommendations that the EPA was late in implementing? Claire: No, open recommendations are a part of our process, our regular process, and some recommendations will just take longer to address than others. If the agency needs an extension, they will often request revised completion dates. Kim: OK, so “open” does not automatically mean “overdue.” Claire: Correct. Kim: And the OIG continues tracking recommendations throughout that period, as you talked about earlier—can you tell us a little bit more about what that follow-up actually looks like? Claire: Sure, the agency has a recommendation tracking system, and we regularly—at least monthly—review that tracking system to determine whether corrective actions have been completed or if the plan completion date has been extended. Kim: And I feel like you can actually see that process at work here in the Compendium. Yes, the report is focused on recommendations that remain open, but one of the things I noticed is that, at the beginning of the report, it talks about 83 resolved recommendations that were still open at the time of our most recent semiannual report to Congress. Now, that report covers the first half of fiscal year 2026, which ended March 31st. And the cut-off for the compendium was May 31st. So, in that two-month window between the end of March and the end of May, the number of resolved recommendations that remained open had gone from 83 to 77, which means the agency completed actions for and we closed six recommendations just during that brief period. Why is it important to recognize closed recommendations as well? Claire: While closing recommendations marks improvement to the agency processes and reduction of the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse, and for some recommendations, we also see potential cost savings. The OIG has been issuing recommendations for a long time and closing recommendations helps the agency achieve its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Kim: So, it's a win all around. Claire: That’s right. Kim: At the same time, this compendium calls attention to recommendations that are taking longer to implement. Of the 77 resolved recommendations highlighted here, 38 had been open three years or longer. Why does the OIG highlight that? Claire: We specifically call out recommendations that take three years or more because the agency is responsible for timely completion of the corrective actions, and we encourage the Agency to do so within a year. The EPA may determine a corrective action will take longer, and as mentioned before, the agency may also request revised completion dates. And as you mentioned before, of the 77 resolved recommendations, about half will take three years or more to implement. Kim: Okay. So, even though open doesn't mean overdue, the longer an important corrective action remains incomplete, the longer that underlying risk remains. So that's why this follow-up matters, right? Claire: That’s right. Kim: The report also says that the EPA revised planned completion dates for 27 of those 38 recommendations that were taking three years or more to implement—that's about 71%, according to the Compendium. Is revision of a completion date necessarily a problem? Claire: It means that the agency needs additional time to complete the corrective actions, and completing those actions are not always simple or straightforward. Some corrective actions are involved, they have multiple steps. But those 38 recommendations that have been open for three years or longer represent over $33.3 million in potential monetary benefits, so we would like to see those realized. Kim: So, ultimately, we want the agreed upon corrective action completed so the intended benefit can be realized, and sometimes those benefits are, as you mentioned, financial with the the $33.3 million of potential cost savings. But are benefits always financial, the benefits of our recommendations. Claire: No, actually as of the beginning of this fiscal year, which was October 2025, we began to track non-monetary benefits as well. And the three types of benefits we are recognizing are process improvements and increased program effectiveness, (2) guidance enhancements, and (3) increased accuracy and reporting. We highlighted these in our last semiannual report to Congress and have also started identifying them in the compendium for recommendations that have been made since October 2025. Kim: Excellent. Now the Compendium also highlights 15 recommendations that the OIG said are high priority. What makes a recommendation high priority? Claire: So, for high-priority recommendations, our teams identified recommendations that could (1) significantly impact EPA program efficiency and effectiveness, (2) improve the agency's ability to manage operations and programs, or (3) result in significant potential monetary benefits. The 15 high-priority recommendations represent $328 million in potential monetary benefits, and of those recommendations, over half of them specifically benefit the agency's human health and environmental outcomes. These recommendations could provide real value if completed. Kim: And both the OIG and the agency want to realize those improvements. Now going back a little bit. Earlier, you mentioned unresolved recommendations. There are seven recommendations that are unresolved and you explained that an unresolved recommendation is one that the agency disagrees with, or maybe they haven't responded to it yet, or they may have proposed a corrective action that the OIG didn't agree meets the intent of the recommendation. So, with seven unresolved recommendations compared to 77 resolved recommendations, it sounds like this doesn't happen that often. But can you talk us through what happens when the OIG and the agency disagree on how to address an issue identified in one of our reports? Claire: Sure. When a recommendation is unresolved when the report is published, the agency develops a response within sixty days after the final report is issued, and the OIG would then analyze the response and determine whether to accept the the new proposed corrective actions. If the OIG disagrees with the agency's proposed corrective actions, the OIG and the EPA need to meet to resolve the issues. Kim: But at the end of the day, the objective is resolution, right? So the OIG and the EPA will continue to work together until they identify a corrective action that they both agree will work. Claire: That is correct. Kim: So, when you put all of this together, what should people take away from this report? Claire: This report is really meant to keep stakeholders aware of which recommendations are still open, and this is important because the OIG needs to hold the agency accountable for meaningfully addressing recommendations. This then helps the agency improve its programs and operations and reduces the risk of potential fraud, waste, and abuse. Kim: So, from everything you've explained to us today, I think another take away could be that, you know, an open recommendation doesn't mean that the process isn't working. Follow up is part of the process and so every recommendation that the agency completes is an improvement that helps the EPA better protect public health and the environment and better safeguard taxpayer dollars. Claire: Yeah, I would agree with that. Kim: Well, Claire, that is all the time that we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for explaining the recommendations process and and why it's such an important part of the OIG's work. And for our listeners. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. You can find the compendium of open recommendations and related oversight reports on our website that is www.EPAOIG.gov. Until next time, thanks for listening.