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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
12-X-0090
November 22, 2011
Why We Did This Review
We received a complaint that
the Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District of Greater
Chicago may have used
noncompetitive practices when
procuring bond underwriting
contracts and incurred
excessive or inappropriate
expenses on American
Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)-
funded projects.
Background
According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), Region 5, the
State of Illinois used a
combination of Clean Water
State Revolving Fund
(CWSRF) and Recovery Act
funds to provide $20 million
for four district projects. The
Recovery Act provided
$10,000,001 of the total
$20 million. The Recovery Act
funding consisted of
$5,000,002 in principal
forgiveness and $4,999,999 in
loans. The CWSRF portion was
also a loan.
Close-Out of Complaint on Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Incurring
Inappropriate Expenses on Recovery Act Projects
What We Found
Our review did not disclose any indication of misuse of funds provided to the
district by Illinois" CWSRF loans or Recovery Act funds provided through EPA.
The types of costs mentioned in the complaint were not included in the amounts
paid to the district by the CWSRF. According to state personnel, most, if not all,
of the funding administered through the CWSRF was for construction-related
expenses. The CWSRF and Recovery Act funds did not pay for professional
services contracts or other administrative costs such as training, travel,
entertainment, or conference expenses.
Since we did not find any indication that the district misused CWSRF or
Recovery Act funds, we have closed the complaint and plan no further action on
this matter.
For further information, contact
our Office of Congressional and
Public Affairs at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2012/
20111122-12-X-0090.pdf

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