^EDSX * A \ 1®| VPR0^° U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General At a Glance 19-N-0235 July 15, 2019 What Are Management Challenges? According to the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010, major management challenges are programs or management functions, within or across agencies, that have greater vulnerability to waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement, where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of an agency or the federal government to achieve its mission or goals. As required by the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, we are providing issues we consider to be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) major management challenges for fiscal year 2019. EPA's Fiscal Year 2019 Management Challenges What We Found Attention to agency management challenges could result in program improvements and protection for the public, and increased confidence in management integrity and accountability. The EPA Needs to Improve Oversight of States, Territories and Tribes Authorized to Accomplish Environmental Goals: • The EPA has made important progress, but our work continues to identify challenges throughout agency programs and regions, and many of our recommendations are still not fully implemented. The EPA Needs to Improve Workload Analysis to Accomplish Its Mission Efficiently and Effectively: • The EPA needs to identify its workload needs so that it can more effectively prioritize and allocate limited resources to accomplish its work. The EPA Needs to Enhance Information Security to Combat Cyber Threats: • Though the EPA continues to initiate actions to further strengthen or improve its information security program, issues remain. The EPA Needs to Improve on Fulfilling Mandated Reporting Requirements: • The agency faces challenges in tracking and submitting reports mandated by law that contain key program information for Congress, the EPA Administrator and the public. The EPA Needs Improved Data Quality and Should Fill Identified Data Gaps for Program Performance and Decision-Making: • Poor data quality negatively impacts the EPA's effectiveness in overseeing programs that directly impact human health. Address inquiries to our public affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or OIG WEBPOSTINGS@epa.gov. List of OIG reports. The EPA Needs to Improve Risk Communication to Provide Individuals and Communities with Sufficient Information to Make Informed Decisions to Protect Their Health and the Environment: • In 2018, the EPA Administrator identified Risk Communication as a top priority. Our recent reports indicate risk communication challenges across many EPA programs. ------- |