x-^tD SW
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	18-P-0288
I" \ Office of Inspector General	September 26,2018
v At a Glance
Why We Did This Audit
The Office of Inspector
General (OIG) conducted this
audit to determine
(1)	whether the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's)
non-competitive awards to
nonprofit organizations for
fellowships are in the public's
best interest and an effective
use of taxpayer dollars,
(2)	whether the EPA's
execution of the fellowship
program maximizes the
environmental research
results and meets the EPA's
mission, and (3) the accuracy
and allowability of costs
reported by nonprofit
organizations from fellowship
cooperative agreements.
The EPA provides financial
support for research
fellowships and professional
development opportunities to
encourage students to obtain
advanced degrees in the
environmental sciences, and
to pursue science,
technology, engineering and
math-related careers, to
bolster the workforce needed
to generate solutions to
environmental issues.
This report addresses the
following:
• Improving EPA research
programs.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
EPA Paid $14.5 Million to Foreign Fellows that
Could Have Funded Research by U.S. Citizens
or Permanent Residents
We found that
64 percent of EPA
fellowships awarded
to NAS were to
foreign nationals.
What We Found
Of the 166 fellows hosted at EPA laboratories over an
11-year period under EPA cooperative agreements
awarded to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS),
107 of those fellows were foreign nationals or persons
who were not citizens or permanent residents of the
United States. When the EPA directly awards
fellowships, it requires U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. However, the EPA
does not specify citizenship requirements for fellowships awarded through
cooperative agreements.
Although two of the three cooperative agreement recipients audited require
citizenship eligibility similar to the EPA's requirements, the third—NAS—did not.
NAS awarded $14.5 million to foreign nationals over the past 11 years. EPA
officials said they did not believe the EPA can establish criteria forspending
federal funds for fellowships awarded through cooperative agreements. We
believe the taxpayer dollars will be put to better use if the EPA's cooperative
agreements included the same citizenship requirements for fellowships.
Reported expenses to the EPA from the other two nonprofit organizations audited
were sometimes inaccurate. In the drawdown requests audited, two fellows were
overpaid $11,965. Neither the applicable EPA grant specialists nor project officers
received any financial documentation to explain why additional funds were
requested. Consequently, the EPA was not aware of potential unallowable costs.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the EPA stipulate in future applicable grants and cooperative
agreements that fellowships can only be awarded to U.S. citizens or those holding
a visa permitting permanent residence in the United States. We also recommend
that the EPA develop a policy for fellowships awarded under cooperative
agreements. Further, we recommend that the EPA perform advanced
administrative monitoring reviews for the two audited cooperative agreement
recipients that reported inaccurate expenses to ensure the recipients comply with
cooperative agreement terms and conditions.
The EPA agreed with the recommendations and provided planned corrective
actions and completion dates that are acceptable and meet the intent of the
recommendations.
Listing of OIG reports.

-------