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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	15-P-0033
December 8, 2014
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
Based on Office of Inspector
General (OIG) concerns,
we conducted an audit to
determine the extent to which
personal property—any
property except real property—
stored in warehouse space is
effectively utilized, accounted
for and disposed of by the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
The OIG issued the following
early warning reports related to
this audit:
•	Main EPA Headquarters
Warehouse in Landover,
Maryland, Requires
Immediate EPA Attention,
May 2013.
•	National Service Center for
Environmental Publications
in Blue Ash, Ohio, Spent
$1.5 Million to Store
Excess Publications,
March 2014.
This report addresses the
following EPA goal or
cross-agency strategy:
•	Embracing EPA as a high-
performing organization.
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/2014/
20141208-15-P-0033.pdf
EPA Needs Better Management of
Personal Property in Warehouses
What We Found
The EPA did not adequately inventory property nor
provide adequate oversight to ensure effective and
efficient use of EPA resources. Specifically, the EPA:
Monetary benefits
totaling $8.9 million can
be achieved by the EPA
through improved
warehouse
management of
personal property.
•	Did not have policies to account for its
non-accountable and non-sensitive personal
property.
•	Did not maintain annual physical inventories of
personal property.
•	Did not follow a requirement to inventory and track all electronic property.
•	Inventoried personal property in a separate, manual system rather than in its
official inventory system.
Also, the EPA did not establish effective and efficient controls for its property
stored at its warehouse facilities. Specifically, the EPA:
•	Did not timely excess or dispose of property.
•	Did not sufficiently utilize warehouse space to store property.
•	Unnecessarily stored items that were readily available for purchase locally
or did not fulfill an immediate need.
•	Did not prevent the unauthorized use of government property.
The EPA did not implement effective oversight and controls to ensure efficient
use of stored EPA property. Though the EPA contracted for almost $50 million for
warehouse management at the eight facilities we reviewed, it has incomplete
information, which impairs its ability to safeguard property against theft, loss,
waste and mismanagement.
Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions
We recommend that the EPA update policies to inventory non-accountable and
all electronic property, have the same inventory management system for all
property stored, and reconcile annual physical inventory counts against its
inventory system records for all personal property. Additionally, we recommend
that the EPA optimize space, improve property storage procedures, and address
oversight and accountability.
The agency agreed with our recommendations and provided corrective actions
with estimated completion dates. All of the nine recommendations we made are
resolved and corrective actions are completed or ongoing.

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