EPA continues to rely on high risk cost-reimbursement contracts and time-and- materials task orders in the Superfund remedial program. The President, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Congress, and U.S. Government Accountability Office have called for a reduction in high risk contracts. Resistance to change, regional program office pressure, lack of leadership, and lack of trained qualified staff have contributed to the reliance on high risk contracts. Reducing the reliance on these contracts can result in numerous benefits, including cost savings, increased competition, and achievement...

We recommend that the Regional Administrator for Region 9 direct the contracting officer for EPS90804 to require CORs to document oversight according to regulations and policies, which he agreed to do. We also recommend that the Regional Administrator recover funds for the prohibited clause, as well as determine if the clause is in other contracts and recover funds for those contracts. Finally, we recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management enforce the requirement for CORs to ensure contract staff meet the qualifications, and review EPA's practices...

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action officials did not complete planned corrective actions under its Libby Action Plan in a timely manner. This occurred because the scope of the work was larger than originally thought; there was no established charter; and there were contracting delays, competing priorities, unanticipated work, and poor communication with stakeholders. Consequently, the Agency has twice revised its estimates for completing actions in response to our December 2006 report. The toxicity assessment is one of two components (an exposure assessment being the other)...

Section 5(a) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. 3), requires each inspector general to issue semiannual reports to Congress and include "an identification of each significant recommendation described in previous semiannual reports on which corrective action has not been completed." The Office of Inspector General prepares the Compendium of Unimplemented Recommendations to satisfy this requirement. The Compendium highlights for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board management those significant...

We sought to determine to what extent management at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-owned research facilities establish and implement information security practices to protect Agency information technology assets. Agency IT assets must be maintained in accordance with security requirements defined by applicable federal laws, executive orders, directives, policies, standards, and regulations to ensure adequate confidentiality, availability, and integrity of the resources and information stored on or transmitted through the EPA network. Network vulnerabilities can expose IT assets to...

We found that three of the four NMED bureaus audited did not always comply with requirements found in the Code of Federal Regulations under 2 CFR Part 225. The Air Quality Bureau and Drinking Water Bureau charged labor, fringe benefits, and indirect costs to federal grants based upon budget allocations instead of actual activities performed. Personnel activity reports we received from the Surface Water Quality Bureau to support charges for labor costs incurred prior to July 2006 did not meet 2 CFR Part 225 requirements. Title 2 CFR Part 225 requires that where employees work on multiple...

Emissions from diesel exhaust can lead to serious health conditions like asthma and allergies, and can worsen heart and lung disease, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly. These emissions can also damage plants, animals, crops, and water resources. Under the authority of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded almost $3 million to the Railroad Research Foundation to reduce diesel emissions by repowering five locomotives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an ozone nonattainment area. Our objective was to...

EPA does not have adequate information to ensure effective E-waste management and enforcement to protect public health and conserve valuable resources. For example, EPA manages E-waste without a consistent approach for defining E-waste. This hampers EPA's ability to effectively collect relevant information and set goals. Further, EPA lacks complete information on E-waste disposition, which hinders the effective use of its resources. EPA enforcement is hampered by the lack of complete information on cathode ray tube (CRT) exporters in the United States. This incomplete information hinders...

TDOT followed most applicable laws, regulations, and terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement in the procurement and monitoring of contracts for the TSE facilities-with the exception of the Buy American requirements of the Recovery Act. TDOT did not determine whether trusses used in the construction of TSE facilities by one contractor qualify as substantial transformation as defined in 2 CFR 176.160. This occurred because subsequent to the contract awards, EPA incorrectly determined that the Buy American requirements did not apply to the project. Consequently, there is no assurance...

CSB does not have an effective management system to meet its established performance goal to " c]onduct incident investigations and safety studies concerning releases of hazardous chemical substances." CSB has not fully accomplished its related strategic objective to " c]omplete timely, high quality investigations that examine the technical, management systems, organizational, and regulatory causes of chemical incidents." We identified five reasons why CSB did not meet its objective to timely complete investigations: A lack of defined performance indicators in CSB's annual performance plan,...