U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
09-P-0087
January 27, 2009
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review
The Office of Inspector
General (OIG) sought to
determine whether the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) effectively
implemented corrective
actions to address findings and
recommendations in our
previous report, EPA Needs to
Better Implement Plan for
Protecting Critical
Infrastructure and Key
Resources Used to Respond to
Terrorist Attacks and
Disasters, issued in April
2006.
Background
Homeland Security
Presidential Directive No. 7,
issued in 2003, requires
Federal agencies to identify,
prioritize, and protect Critical
Infrastructure and Key
Resources from terrorist
attacks. In 2004, EPA issued
its Critical Infrastructure and
Key Resources Protection
Plan (CIPP).
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public
Affairs and Management at
(202)566-2391.
EPA Plans for Managing Counter Terrorism/
Emergency Response Equipment and Protecting
Critical Assets Not Fully Implemented
What We Found
EPA has progressed in implementing the counter terrorism/emergency response
(CT/ER) initiatives, but is behind schedule in implementing the Radiation
Ambient Monitoring (RadNet) System. EPA encountered delays and problems
with the administration of the contract. Further delays may occur as EPA may
need to modify installed monitors after testing is completed. As a result, the
Agency may have less information about the levels of radiation should a national
radiological or nuclear emergency occur.
EPA has not fully implemented a national equipment tracking system. While
some delays were due to technical issues, according to staff responsible for the
CT/ER system, unrealistic milestones for completing the project and limited
resources also contributed to the nearly 2-year delay in implementing a national
CT/ER equipment tracking system. Not having a functional national system to
track and manage equipment may impair EPA's ability to protect public health
and the environment in the event of another terrorist attack or other nationally
significant incident.
For almost 2 years, EPA did not track corrective actions in the Management
Audit Tracking System for the April 2006 audit report and did not notify the OIG
when it made changes to the corrective action plan. When the Agency started
tracking corrective action, the information was not accurate. Not properly
tracking corrective actions may adversely affect the completeness and accuracy
of the Agency's annual reporting process and reports to Congress.
Our full audit report contains specific details on the areas where improvements
are needed. However, because specific information on the initiatives is sensitive
homeland security information, the full report is not available to the public.
What We Recommend
We recommend that EPA monitor the RadNet contract and develop a schedule for
addressing concerns of the Science Advisory Board; identify milestones, account-
ability, and resources for implementing the national CT/ER equipment tracking
system; and accurately track the corrective actions in response to our 2006 report.
The Agency generally agreed with the proposed recommendations and provided
corrective action plans, but disagreed with some of the report language.
Concerning the CT/ER equipment tracking system, EPA stated that it planned to
have a pilot of the system completed by December 2007, and not the full system
identified in the response to the 2006 report.
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