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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
17-P-0378
September 7, 2017
Why We Did This Review
We received a hotline complaint
alleging concerns with the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Office of Research
and Development's (ORD's)
Community-Focused Exposure
and Risk Screening Tool
(C-FERST). To address the
hotline allegations, we evaluated
how ORD planned, developed
and implemented C-FERST.
C-FERST is an online information
and mapping tool, launched in
September 2016, that
communities and the public can
use to learn more about their
environmental issues and
exposures. According to ORD,
C-FERST is intended to serve a
broad range of users (e.g.,
general public, state/local risk
assessors, public health agencies
and environmental justice
coordinators). The purpose of this
management alert is not to raise
a health concern but rather to
timely notify the EPA so that it
can promptly act to better
manage its planned investment in
C-FERST to prevent waste.
This report addresses the
following:
•	Improving EPA research
programs.
•	Operating efficiently and
effectively.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
Listing of OIG reports.
Management Alert: EPA Should Promptly
Reassess Community Risk Screening Tool
What We Found
Our review substantiates some hotline
allegations about C-FERST. We found that ORD
took 8 years to develop a tool that:
•	Is different from its intended purpose.
•	Did not have a project proposal or request
for its development.
•	Was outside the agency's information
technology requirements.
•	Overlaps with other EPA tools.
•	Was not widely used in the approximately
9 months after it was publicly released,
according to available user data.
C-FERST overlaps with
other tools and is not yet
widely used,
underscoring its $400,000
planned yearly
investment as a risk.
Efforts by the agency to
cut costs, streamline
activities and avoid
duplication compound
the need for the EPA to
promptly review C-FERST
and similar tools.
ORD planned and designed C-FERST internally as a research tool—outside of
the agency's information technology monitoring and accountability
requirements—and altered the original purpose of the tool during development
without properly documenting this change. ORD also did not consider outcome
measures or possible joint governance with similar EPA tools.
Without proper accountability controls, ORD creates a risk that the estimated
$400,000 it plans to spend annually for maintenance, operation and
enhancements of C-FERST is wasteful government spending. Without metrics
to measure performance, it is unclear if C-FERST is being used for its intended
purpose or meets user needs. Further, having multiple agency mapping tools
that perform similar functions can confuse potential users.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for ORD review C-FERST and
develop an action plan to address issues identified, including whether to retain
the tool. If retained, we recommend that ORD develop performance metrics
and a user survey. We also recommend that ORD develop certain policies and
procedures, review new and existing ORD research tools to determine
applicability of the EPA's information technology requirements, and work with
agency offices responsible for other geospatial mapping tools to develop a
decision support matrix on when to use certain tools. ORD agreed with our
findings and recommendations and provided acceptable corrective actions and
estimated completion dates. ORD's recommendations are resolved with
corrective actions pending.
We also recommend that the Deputy Administrator examine all of the EPA's
web-based risk screening and mapping tools to ensure the need for each tool.
This recommendation is unresolved.

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