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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	17-P-0346
i ftA \ Office of Inspector General	July 31,2017
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this audit to
determine whether the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) current use
of Lean methodologies
operates as intended by
eliminating waste and
achieving savings. Lean is a
set of principles and methods
used to help organizations
identify and eliminate waste in
their processes.
In a 2014 memorandum, the
EPA introduced its Lean
Government Initiative "as a way
to maximize the agency's ability
to effectively implement its
mission." The memorandum
referred to "expectations for
taking the EPA's Lean work to
the next level" and announced
the launch of an agencywide
GreenSpark event designed to
engage all employees in the
Lean effort. To meet these
objectives, the EPA dedicated
significant resources—including
contract and staff support—to
apply Lean methodologies and
educate the workforce about
Lean.
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.
Listing of OIG reports.
EPA Needs to Institutionalize Its "Lean" Program to
Reap Cost and Time Benefits
What We Found
We found that the EPA could not fully
demonstrate that its Lean Government Initiative
is operating as intended to eliminate waste and
achieve savings. We found the following
opportunities for the EPA to strengthen its Lean
Government Initiative:
Why "Lean" the EPA?
Tight and dwindling
resources necessitate more
efficient use of the EPA's
multibillion dollar budget.
•	Selection of Lean projects to avoid overlap.
•	Improvements in monitoring Lean efforts to gauge progress.
•	Improvements in reporting Lean projects, including cost metrics.
•	Identification and tracking of Lean projects.
•	Development of a cohesive strategy for leading, implementing and
monitoring the Lean initiative.
•	Implementation of consistent and standard Lean training.
The federal government has issued guidance on how federal agencies can
optimize performance, improve efficiencies, and identify ways to eliminate
wasteful practices and operate more efficiently. In addition, the EPA has issued
memorandums on how to use Lean specifically within the agency. However, the
EPA's internal controls for implementing Lean in accordance with this guidance
and these memorandums need improvement, such as identifying and tracking
Lean projects to gauge progress and costs, as well as leading and monitoring the
Lean initiative agencywide. Because these controls have not been fully
implemented, Lean has not been institutionalized at the EPA. These internal
controls must be improved before the agency can fully maximize the application
of Lean practices and ensure that it is not wasting resources by failing to create
efficiencies.
Recommendations
We recommend that the Associate Administrator for Policy implement a strategy
for institutionalizing the Lean Government Initiative within the agency. In addition,
the Office of Policy (OP) should develop policies that specify how to plan, design,
oversee and implement Lean practices. OP should also establish agencywide
controls for monitoring, tracking and measuring the progress of Lean projects, as
well as for vetting and collaborating on Lean projects to avoid overlap. Lastly, OP
should develop standard Lean training for EPA staff. The EPA concurred with all
of the recommendations and initiated corrective actions.
Noteworthy Achievements
OP has launched a new automated Lean tracking system—called LeanTrack—
which OP said "will simplify information submissions, summarize work, and
provide an understanding of project activity across EPA and in the states."

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