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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
12-R-0109
December 8, 2011
Why We Did This Review
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Office of
Inspector General conducts site
visits of American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(Recovery Act) clean water and
drinking water projects. The
purpose of the visits is to
confirm compliance with
selected Recovery Act
requirements. We selected the
Elizabeth City Well Field
Expansion Project in Elizabeth
City, North Carolina, for
review.
Background
The city received a $2,366,255
Recovery Act loan from the
North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural
Resources (NCDENR) under
the Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund program. The
loan included $1,183,127 in
principal forgiveness. The city
will expand its well field with
four new wells to meet the
state's 12 hour/day maximum
pumping requirement.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Site Visit
of the Elizabeth City Well Field Expansion Project,
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
What We Found
We conducted an unannounced site visit of the Elizabeth City Well Field
Expansion Project in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in July 2010. We toured the
project site; interviewed city, NCDENR, engineering firm, and prime contractor
and subcontractor personnel; and reviewed documentation related to Recovery
Act requirements.
In the draft report, we questioned whether three manufactured goods used on the
project met the Buy American requirements of Section 1605 of the Recovery Act,
and whether engineering costs claimed were allocable to the Recovery Act
project. In response to the draft report, the city provided additional information to
support Buy American compliance for one item. The city took corrective action
and added the two remaining items to the project's Buy American de minimis
waiver list. We reviewed the de minimis list and concurred with the action taken
by the city to include those items on the list. We analyzed additional engineering
support received from Region 4 and the city, and agree that the costs incurred
prior to the Recovery Act were needed to make the project shovel-ready and,
therefore, were allocable to the project.
No additional issues or concerns came to our attention that would require action
from the city, NCDENR, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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/2012/
20111208-12-R-0109.pdf

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