*	' U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	11-N-0199
| jDL \ Office of Inspector General	March 30 2011
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At a Glance
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review
The Council of Inspectors
General for Integrity and
Efficiency (CIGIE) suggested
a series of certifications be
included in Small Business
Innovative Research (SBIR)
awards government-wide. The
Office of Inspector General
reviewed the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) SBIR
solicitations and contracts to
determine whether EPA
included those certifications.
Background
The SBIR program provides
incentive funding to small
businesses to translate their
innovative ideas into
commercial products that
address environmental
problems.
EPA's Small Business Innovative
Research Awards Should Include
Additional Certifications to Reduce Risk
What We Found
Our review of EPA's SBIR solicitations and contracts found that EPA has
certifications and contract clauses that address many of the CIGIE concerns.
However, EPA would benefit from two additional certifications CIGIE suggested.
EPA does not require awardees to submit a certification against false statements
when submitting the proposal. EPA also does not require a certification with the
final report that addresses, among other items, that the report statements are true
and completed. We believe that the risks CIGIE identified would be significantly
mitigated if EPA added these certifications to its SBIR program.
What We Recommend
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development
add a certification statement to the current requirements SBIR funding applicants
must submit prior to award and require SBIR funding recipients to submit a
certification statement with their final reports.
In response to the draft report, EPA concurred with our recommendations. In
2010, the Office of Research and Development required the signed certification
for phase 2 contracts prior to award and at the time of the final report. For March
2012 solicitations and thereafter, EPA has agreed that signed certifications will be
required for phase 1 contracts prior to award and at the time of the final report.
Also, a new certification will be added to phase 1 and 2 contracts for signature
prior to final report issuance.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs
and Management at
(202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2011/
20110330-11 -N-0199.pdf

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