United States	Office of Enforcement and	May 2012
Environmental Protection Agency	Compliance Assurance
v>EPA	Results of the Evaluation of the
Interim Policy on Managing the
Duration of Remediation
Design/Remedial Action Negotiations
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Site Remediation Enforcement
In fiscal year (FY) 2012, the Office of Site
Remediation Enforcement (OSRE) conducted
an evaluation of the implementation and
effectiveness of the 2009 Interim Policy on
Managing the Duration of Remedial
Design/Remedial Action (RD/RA) Negotiations
("Interim Policy"). The objectives of the
evaluation were to analyze implementation,
review data on remedial design/remedial action
(RD/RA) negotiation durations, determine
effectiveness, and look for possible ways to
improve the Interim Policy.
Background and Policy Objectives
Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) RD/RA
cleanup is a top priority for EPA's Superfund
Enforcement program. With the overarching
goal of accelerating the pace of RD/RA
negotiations in order to begin cleanup as soon as
practicable, OSRE issued the Interim Policy on
September 30, 2009. Recognizing that the
duration of negotiations was increasing while
the number of settlements were decreasing,
OSRE sought to strengthen our negotiation
practice, shorten the duration of negotiations,
and achieve timely settlements by
fundamentally changing the way we manage
RD/RA negotiations. The main objectives of
the Interim Policy were to:
•	Move away from a paper-work intensive
approval process;
•	Focus on advanced planning and the use of
best negotiation practices;
•	Develop a robust dialogue-based approach
with systematic elevation and expectations
at each stage; and
• Broaden the scope of tracking negotiations
beyond RD/RA negotiation starts to include
post-ROD activities, which also have an
impact on the start date of enforcement-
lead cleanups.
The Interim Policy shifts away from a system
that requires Regions to request written approval
to continue negotiation beyond certain
milestones to a process that involves engaging
the Regions, Headquarters (HQ), and the
Department of Justice (DOJ) in a dialogue about
the progress of the negotiations. The rationale
behind this shift was that, through these
dialogues, attention would be focused on the
issues that may be impeding negotiations and
jointly explore solutions.
Evaluation Process
As part of the Interim Policy, OSRE committed
to conducting an evaluation that consisted of an
analysis of Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability
Information System (CERCLIS) data and a
survey that was sent to each Region, DOJ, and
the regional liaisons in October 2011. The
survey included questions about the use of
enforcement/settlement tools and negotiation
plans, useful as well as problematic aspects of
the Interim Policy, and overall effectiveness of
the Interim Policy. After receiving the Regional
survey responses, OSRE held conference calls
with each Region to discuss the survey results,
Region-specific issues, and the Region's
experience in implementing the Interim Policy.

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Evaluation Results
Based on the Regional surveys and follow-up
conference calls, there was general support and
positive feedback about the Interim Policy as
compared to the previous process. Among the
most useful aspects noted were the verbal status
conference system versus the paper prior written
approval process and helping move the case
through the Regions, DOJ, and HQ.
Aspects of the Interim Policy the Regions found
more problematic were scheduling status
conferences, especially with upper management
and DOJ, and meeting the ambitious deadlines
for negotiation completion.
OSRE compared the mean duration of
negotiations during the evaluation period
(FY10-FY11)1 to the mean duration of
negotiations for the five years preceding the
implementation of the Interim Policy.
The drop in the mean negotiation durations from
449 days to 269 days is encouraging, represents
a trend in accelerated negotiations, and indicates
that the Interim Policy may be helping to
accelerate the pace of negotiations. However,
due to the small number of cases during the
evaluation period and the fact that this data does
not account for negotiations started after the
Interim Policy and are still ongoing, it is
difficult and premature to conclude that the
Interim Policy has had a direct effect on
1	This data set includes negotiations that started after the
start of FY 10 and were completed by the end of FY11.
2	This data set includes negotiations that started after the
start of FY05 and were completed by the end of FY09.
-3
negotiation durations. OSRE will continue to
track negotiation durations and we hope that the
declining duration trend will continue.
A key component of the 2009 Interim Policy
was to start tracking the amount of time it takes
to start negotiations after the ROD is issued.
OSRE therefore compared the duration of time
between the record of decision (ROD) and
negotiation starts/ SNL between the two data
sets. During FY2005-2009, the mean duration
of 296 reflects the fact that for many sites,
negotiation starts were often delayed well over
200 days. Although the mean duration during
the evaluation period is 239 days, that number is
misleading due to some extreme cases.4 For
most negotiations, the duration between the
ROD and SNL was under or close to 90 days.
As part of the policy evaluation, OSRE also
reviewed negotiations where status conferences
were triggered and compared that number to the
number of status conferences that were actually
held. Overall, only a third of these status
conferences occurred. In some situations, the
Regions explained that even if formal status
conferences were not held, HQ was highly
involved and was routinely updated on the
progress of negotiations.
Recommendation:
Finalize the Policy with modifications: Based
on the evaluation results, OSRE plans to finalize
the Interim Policy with a few modifications,
e.g., providing a process for monitoring
negotiations that continue beyond 300 days.
Once finalized, OSRE plans to re-issue the
policy as "Managing the Duration of RD/RA
Negotiations."
3	As of 9/30/11, there were approximately 15 ongoing
RD/RA negotiations, most of which started after the
Interim Policy was issued. Of those that started after the
Interim Policy, only 2 were over 500 days.
4	In two cases, the duration between the ROD and
negotiation start was over 1000 days. Excluding those
two cases, the mean duration would be 131 days.
Time
period
Mean
duration:
ROD to
neg. start
Mean neg.
duration
# of
completed
neg.
FY 05-09
296 days
449 days
101
FY 10-11
239 days
269 days
24
2

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