.tfEDs	19-P-0277
* —	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	August 19,2019
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	 % Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
Why We Did This Project
We conducted this audit to
determine whether (1) the data
collected and used to assess
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Office of Research and
Development's (ORD's)
Strategic Measure (SM) 21 —
whether research products are
meeting customer needs—
provide a reasonable and
accurate measure of customer
satisfaction, and (2) the ORD
faces any barriers when
collecting data to support this
measure.
The ORD was assigned
objective 3.3 (prioritize robust
science) in the EPA Fiscal
Years (FYs) 2018-2022
Strategic Plan, and SM-21 was
the strategic measure for that
objective. Per the ORD, a
product is a deliverable that
results from a specific research
project or task and is meant for
use by an ORD customer. The
ORD developed a data
collection instrument for FY
2018 baseline data.
This report addresses the
following:
• Improving EPA research
programs.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
List of OIG reports.
EPA Office of Research and Development
Needs to Address Barrier to Gathering External
Customer Feedback
What We Found
The ORD is in the process of gathering internal
customer satisfaction data for FY 2019. However,
without sufficient data beyond the FY 2018
baseline, we cannot completely answer our first
objective on whether the data collected and used
to assess the ORD's SM-21 provides a reasonable
and accurate measure of customer satisfaction.
Surveying non-federal
external customers will
widen the ORD's
reporting under the
strategic measure on
whether research
products meet customer
needs.
With regard to our second objective, the ORD faces a key barrier of being
significantly limited in surveying non-federal external customers when collecting
data to support its strategic measure. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the
ORD cannot survey more than nine non-federal external customers without
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The ORD is aware
of this barrier and noted that, because of it, current SM-21 customer input is not
representative of the ORD's full user base.
To address this barrier, the ORD is in the process of developing, for the OMB's
approval, an information collection request to obtain non-federal external
customer feedback. The information collection request is in draft and the ORD
has not yet submitted it to the OMB for review. According to the ORD, the
process to obtain approval from the OMB for the information collection request is
expected to take as many as 18 months. Completing actions to address this
barrier to gathering non-federal external input will widen the customer base the
ORD could survey to determine whether its research products meet customer
needs.
Recommendation and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development
submit to the OMB for review an information collection request to be allowed to
survey more than nine non-federal external customers regarding research
products meeting customer needs. Should the OMB not grant approval of the
information collection request, we recommend that the ORD develop alternatives
to assess non-federal external customer satisfaction to more fully inform
reporting under the strategic measure. The ORD concurred with our
recommendation and plans to complete corrective actions by July 30, 2020 (July
30, 2021, in the event the OMB rejects the information collection request). Our
recommendation is resolved with corrective actions pending.

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