U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                  Office of Inspector General

                  At  a   Glance
                                                         09-X-0196
                                                       July 14, 2009
                                                            Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review

We reviewed open
recommendations from prior
Office of Inspector General
(OIG) audit reports that
focused on assistance
agreement and contract
recipients that could impact
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA's)
American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (Recovery
Act) activities.  Recent Office
of Management and Budget
guidance requires the
expediting of actions on open
recommendations to preclude
continuing weaknesses or
deficiencies that can impact
Recovery Act funding.

Background

Open recommendations are
those for which EPA or the
recipient of an EPA assistance
agreement or contract has not
completed corrective actions.
As of June 3 0,2009,
67 reports had open
recommendations that could
impact EPA's Recovery Act
activities.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs
and Management at
(202)566-2391.


Assistance Agreement and Contract
Recipients with Open Audit Recommendations
May Affect Recovery Act Activities
 What We Found
As of June 30, 2009, EPA used Recovery Act funding to award one assistance
agreement and one contract to recipients with open recommendations.
Providing funding to recipients with known weaknesses and open
recommendations increases the risks of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement
of Recovery Act funds.

We reviewed open audit reports for four audit areas for which the findings and
recommendations primarily addressed questioned costs and internal control
weaknesses:

   •   Financial audits of assistance agreement recipients (9 reports)
   •   Forensic audits of assistance agreement and contract recipients (4 reports)
   •   Single audits (27 reports)
   •   Defense Contract Audit Agency audits (27 reports)

In addition to the two recipients already receiving Recovery Act funding, at least
a portion of the remainder may also receive such funds through assistance
agreements and contracts. EPA should consider known concerns, including open
recommendations, when making future awards.
 What We Recommend
We recommend that EPA verify whether assistance agreement and contract
recipients have corrected weaknesses identified in OIG reports prior to awarding
new funds, and expedite corrective action for open recommendations pertaining
to Recovery Act funding recipients.
To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2009/
20090714-09-X-0196.pdf

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