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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	15-B-0076
f	\ Office of Inspector General	February 5,2015
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
On August 27, 2013,
Congress requested that the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Office of
Inspector General (OIG) initiate
work in connection with a fraud
committed by John C. Beale, a
former Senior Policy Advisor
with the EPA's Office of Air and
Radiation. In particular,
Congress requested the OIG to
determine EPA policies and
processes that "facilitated"
Beale's fraud.
We initiated an audit on EPA's
employee vetting process. As
part of the assignment, we also
conducted an audit on the
OIG's own employee vetting
process.
This report addresses the
following OIG goal:
• To be responsible stewards
of taxpayer dollars.
Improvements Needed by EPA OIG to
Reduce Risk in Employee Hiring Process
Without verification of
prior employment or
references the EPA
OIG may not hire the
best job candidates.
What We Found
The EPA OIG does not have a requirement to verify
information in a job application, including job
employment history or references. Once an
applicant meets the minimum requirements and is
considered eligible for the position, the office relies
extensively on the applicant self-certifying the
information they submitted on their resume and application. Without verification
of prior employment or references for eligible job candidates, the potential exists
that the OIG will not hire the best possible candidate, or hire a job applicant
based on misleading information.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management and EPA policies and procedures do not
have a requirement to verify prior employment or references for eligible job
candidates. According to OIG guidance, the selecting official is responsible for
ensuring that references are checked prior to making final selections and for
maintaining all documentation used for selection. However, there is no assurance
that the verifications are performed and documentation is consistently
maintained. Like the guidance for the Office of Personnel Management and EPA,
the OIG guidance does not require the verification of prior employment history.
Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions
We recommend the Deputy Inspector General require selecting officials to verify
prior employment and references prior to making final selection and retain
documentation as outlined in OIG guidance and procedures. In addition, the
Deputy Inspector General should establish OIG policies to enhance internal
controls for employee vetting.
The Deputy Inspector General agreed with the recommendations and provided
corrective actions with planned completion dates to address all
recommendations.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oia.
The full report is at:
www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2015/
20150205-15-B-0076.pdf

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