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* *.	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	20-P-0335
§ jyi \	Office of Inspector General	September 29,2020
v	At a Glance
Why We Did This Project
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency provides
financial assistance to states
and tribes to help them develop
and implement environmental
programs. For example, the
EPA's Indian Environmental
General Assistance Program
awards grants to federally
recognized tribes and tribal
consortia for planning,
developing, and establishing
environmental protection
programs in Indian Country.
The Office of Inspector General
conducted this audit to
determine whether the costs
claimed under selected
individual Indian tribal grants
are reasonable, allocable, and
allowable in accordance with
applicable laws, regulations,
and grant terms and conditions.
This report addresses the
following:
•	Operating efficiently and
effectively.
This project addresses a top
EPA management challenge:
•	Overseeing states, territories,
and tribes responsible for
implementing EPA programs.
Regions 1 and 5 Need to Require Tribes to
Submit More Detaiied Work Pians for Grants
What We Found
EPA Region 1 and EPA Region 5 can improve internal
controls for determining whether grant costs are
reasonable, allowable, and allocable for the
Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Fond du Lac Band Tribe
by requiring them to submit more detailed work plans.
Inadequate work
plans in Regions 1
and 5 put tribal
grants at risk for
unsupported costs.
Federal law and EPA policies require detailed work plans in the management
and administration of grants. Without adequate controls and adherence to federal
requirements, regional tribal grants are at risk, and the regions have limited
assurance that costs charged to the grants were reasonable, allowable, and
allocable.
We found that work plans from these Tribes lacked adequate details regarding
supply-related components, such as laptops and computer services, or funding
amounts. We identified $22,868 in questioned costs. In Region 1, we identified
$16,533 in questioned costs for the Passamaquoddy Tribe grant. In Region 5, we
identified $6,335 in questioned costs for the Fond du Lac Band Tribe grant.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the respective regional administrators require the
Passamaquoddy Tribe in Region 1 and the Fond du Lac Band Tribe in Region 5
to submit detailed work plans that include estimated funding amounts for each
work plan component, determine the allowability of unsupported costs identified
during our audit, and recover the costs as appropriate. Regions 1 and 5
concurred with our recommendations and provided acceptable planned
corrective actions and estimated completion dates. We consider the
recommendations resolved with corrective actions pending.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
List of OIG reports.

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