x^ed sta^
*	- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	13-p-0366

i	\ Office of Inspector General	August 30 2013
s
"V—'—J"
% V|// "
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
Within the past 3 years, the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Inspector
General issued three audit
reports containing
recommendations designed to
improve the agency's workforce
and workload management.
We conducted this audit to
determine whether the EPA
effectively implemented
corrective actions for issues
identified in OIG reports relating
to the agency's
workforce and workload.
Deficiencies in workforce and
workload management have
been a longstanding issue at the
EPA. Recent budget cuts due to
sequestration have highlighted
the need to improve workforce
and workload management.
This report addresses the
following EPA Goal or
Cross-Cutting Strategy:
• Strengthening EPA's
workforce and capabilities.
The EPA Needs to Improve Timeliness and
Documentation of Workforce and Workload
Management Corrective Actions
What We Found
The EPA did not complete the majority of the corrective actions relating to
workload and workforce management within planned timeframes. Further, some
corrective actions were delayed by more than 6 months and the EPA did not
notify the OIG of those delays, as required by EPA Manual 2750. The Office of
Management and Budget Circular A-50 requires agencies to establish systems to
assure the timely implementation of corrective actions. Complex corrective action
plans and implementing new workload and workforce management initiatives
contributed to delays in completing the corrective actions. Program staff and
managers from the Office of Administration and Resources Management and the
Office of the Chief Financial Officer informed us they were not aware of the
Manual 2750 requirement to notify the OIG if actions are delayed 6 months or
more. Delaying corrective actions relating to workforce and workload
management resulted in unfinished improvements to the EPA's management of
its limited resources.
We also found that the EPA did not update the status for several of the corrective
actions we reviewed. EPA Manual 2750 requires audit follow-up coordinators to
manage audit data in the agency's Management Audit Tracking System. This
includes entering and updating corrective actions and their associated due dates
for each corrective action. However, the AFCs and other program staff did not
believe it was necessary to update the status for completed actions since the
completion date had been added in a separate field. There were some instances
where the AFC could not update the status field because program staff had not
provided certification that it was complete or had not provided a new planned
date. If the EPA does not update MATS with current information, the OIG and
other stakeholders do not have accurate information available regarding the
status of corrective actions.
Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions
For further information, contact
our Office of Congressional and
Public Affairs at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2013/
20130830-13-P-0366.pdf
We recommend that the chief financial officer: (1) send notifications to all the
EPA's action officials informing them that when corrective action dates will be
extended by more than 6 months they must provide the OIG with written
notification that includes the new milestone dates, and (2) ensure that training
provided to staff on EPA Manual 2750 emphasizes that AFCs should update all
fields in MATS and that program staff should provide timely information to AFCs.
EPA agreed with both recommendations and proposed corrective actions that we
believe will address our findings.

-------