Celebrating Our Success: Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments


Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information
FY 2005 Accomplishments
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ClO's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
ClO's Message
As EPA's Chief Information Officer, I feel privileged to present the Office of
Environmental Information's (OEI) FY 2005 Accomplishments Report,
I salute the dedicated OEI employees and our business partners who responded
to this year's natural disasters in the Gulf Region and continue to advance E-
Government under the President's Management Agenda. We have made
substantial progress in expanding our National Environmental Information Exchange
Network to nearly forty states, streamlining our Toxics Release Inventory data
collection and reporting cycle, and gaining recognition for the Enterprise Architecture
that we are using to drive EPA's information management programs forward.
Our Indicators Initiative has generated interest among our international, federal
and state partners. We are making a real and lasting difference in our ability to
measure and report on national environmental conditions and trends by developing
national indicators. In addition, as an agency, we have addressed decades-old, data gaps and management
issues while integrating indicators development with our strategic planning process. Developing indicators is
becoming one of EPA's "core businesses" as we prepare to publish the upcoming Report on the Environment
and as colleagues start drafting our 2006-2011 Strategic Plan.
Most of all, I am especially proud of the many talented and dedicated people who work in OEI day-by-day,
week-by-week, and year-by-year supporting the Agency's mission with the latest information technology and
secure information resources—whether we are responding to national emergencies like Hurricane Katrina,
providing access to data and information that students can use to do their homework, or simply providing a
phone, computer and e-mail connection to a new EPA employee.
Kimberly T. Nelson
Assistant Administrator and
Chief Information Officer
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Introduction
Having recently celebrated thirty-five years as the nation's environmental and health protection agency EPA
has a strong track record of harnessing the power of the latest information technology to support the Agency's
mission. Over these past years, many of our national environmental and health protection programs were fully
delegated to our regional, state, tribal and local partners driving a demand for shared data resources and web-
based tool development.
At the same time, public expectations to provide the latest emergency response advisories, current science
to inform key policy debates and decisions and improve government services to the public have rapidly
accelerated. Now more than ever before, the Internet transforms the way that we can share data and
information among all levels of government and how working together, OEI can help the public understand and
improve environmental conditions where they live, work and play.
President's Management Agenda for E-Government: Managing for Results at EPA
Responding to This Year's Gulf Coast Disasters
Deploying FOIAXoress Boosts EPA's Responsiveness
Public Participation in Information Quality Guidelines (IQG) Implementation Drives Data-Quality Improvements
Toxics Release Inventory Program Reduces Time and Resources Needed to Report Data While Improving
Community Access
Environmental Indicators Reporting Initiative Responds to Longstanding Data Management Issues
OEI Led EPA's and the President's Council on Environmental Quality "Virtual" Earth Dav Celebrations
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
President's Management Agenda for E-Government: Managing for Results at EPA
Through the President's Management Agenda (PMA) for electronic government (E-Gov), OEI helps deliver EPA
results by expanding and adopting E-Gov principles and best practices in managing the Agency's information
technology (IT) and resources. We continue to improve our capacity providing timely and accurate information
to citizens and government decision-makers while ensuring data quality security and privacy We are working
hard to ensure that our E-Gov activities are strategically coordinated, integrated, and responsive. Under the
leadership of the President's Management Council, EPA actively participates in 18 of the 25 E-Gov initiatives
and five of the six Lines of Business. Most recently, EPA achieved "green" in both status and progress in the
first, second, and third quarters of the Office of Management and Budget's FY 2005 PMAscorecard—just one
of four agencies to achieve "green" in both status and progress over four consecutive quarters.
In addition, EPA is responsible for implementing the government-wide E-rulemaking project. Managed by OEI,
the E-Rulemaking Initiative is overcoming barriers to public participation in the Federal regulatory process
by improving the public's ability to find, view, understand, and comment on Federal regulatory actions. Upon
completion, the E-Rulemaking Initiative will consolidate more than 20 previously existing Federal IT systems
and integrate 135 Federal entities that previously used paper-based rule writing processes into a single
Federal system to better serve the public.
OEI's leadership in E-Gov accelerates the Agency's efforts to achieve real environmental results by simplifying
and unifying common work processes across Federal agencies, providing individual customers with one-stop
access to services and transactions, reducing duplicative information collection, and ensuring that the data and
information that we collect on-line once, are shared and updated as needed. Key to EPA's success has been
the ability to assess the Agency's IT requirements and information needs in ways that fulfill both organizational
and strategic goals. In addition to EPA's leadership and active participation in E-Gov and Lines of Business,
EPA achieved "green" status for successfully implementing several other key E-Gov activities, including:
the use of the Enterprise Architecture (EA); Capitol Planning and Investment Control (CPIC), including
the development of an Earned Value Management System (EVMS); Information Security; and leading the
government-wide, E-Rulemaking Initiative and Regulations.gov.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Responding to This Year's Gulf Coast Disasters
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, OEI has been on the front lines providing critically needed
information services and support for a variety of disaster relief efforts. Services including communications
support, geospatial applications, and Internet services provide the "glue" for efforts in monitoring, data
collection, evaluation, and emergency response.
As in any episode of national significance that requires EPA involvement (e.g., the World Trade Center
disaster, Space Shuttle Challenger accident), the Agency must effectively allocate and redirect resources
in order to meet increased and changing requirements for environmental and safety monitoring (including
sampling and data collection) and evaluation. In the Gulf Coast effort, as in other similar efforts, OEI was
instrumental in many facets of this mobilization. OEI provided the information technology operating platforms
for EPA's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), as well as guidance on how to retain records according
to Agency standards. In the field, OEI provided batteries, chargers, and communication devices to first
responders in remote areas. With respect to environmental monitoring and data collection, OEI consultants
ensured quality operations as well as the use of new analytical tools, such as Visual Sampling Plan.
Meanwhile, across numerous locations and many levels of the effort, OEI's geospatial and analytical
capabilities enabled timely, accurate decision-making. One key to our success is providing advanced
geospatial data (maps, charts and diagrams) at local and regional scales in useful formats. Thanks, in large
part, to the experience gained in working with the World Trade Center disaster, the Internet geoservices
team was able to rapidly develop an EnviroMapperfor Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Upon deployment, the
application helped ease the large burden associated with the continual update of static web pages that show
monitoring results for a given day. The application has the capability to show the current monitoring results (for
flood waters, sediments and surface water) dynamically, so the need for the static web pages was reduced.
OEI marshaled geospatial data from federal, commercial and university sources in order to provide extensive
background on and descriptions of the affected regions. As a result, EPA emergency responders access
comprehensive maps of their areas with information about air and water quality, as well as facilities' locations
obtained from a centralized Facilities Registration System. By visiting EPA's Web site (http://www.epa.aov/
Katrina). citizens may monitor environmental conditions with the added benefit of commercial imagery and
atlas data.
OEI leads EPA's efforts to respond to all Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests concerning Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. Our National FOIA Office mobilized resources to expedite all incoming FOIA requests. This
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Responding to This Year's Gulf Coast Disasters (Continued)
ensures that those impacted by the
hurricanes gain timely access to government
records. As EPA's national records
managers, OEI is maintaining all pertinent
records associated with our responses to
Katrina and Rita—including e-mails, key
decisions, and Emergency Operations
Center actions. OEI has provided real-time
guidance to broaden the definition of records
for this effort, so that all key information can
be effectively stored and retrieved.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Deploying FOIAXpress Boosts EPA's Responsiveness
EPA now more efficiently provides timely and consistent responses to public requests for Agency information
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). OEI implemented a new FOIA request management and
tracking system called FOIAXpress. Starting in July 2005 agency-wide deployment of FOIAXpress capped
three years of planning and system development. FOIAXpress replaced a 1999 system (FOIAMATS) with up-
to-date features that allows the Agency to meet its responsibilities under the FOIA Amendments of 1996 and
the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA).
In addition to providing "cradle to grave" electronic tracking of incoming FOIA requests and Agency responses,
the system features web-based access and other enhancements afforded by the new technology With FOIA
requests entered, disseminated and accessible across the Agency electronically, EPA FOIA officers and staff
may query the details of a FOIA request and then process it in ways that will ensure timeliness, higher level
analysis, agency-wide coordination, and consistency in fulfilling requests for agency records. Records used
to respond to requests may be entered into the systems' repository for future access. The system's security
features allow electronically redacted information to be stored in the application and confidentiality is assured
at a high level. OEI is particularly proud of the smooth execution of the deployment to Headquarters and the
Regions, along with training, help desk and user group support. For more information on EPA's FOIA Office,
see http://www.epa.aov/foia/.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Public Participation in Information Quality Guidelines (IQG) Implementation Drives
Data-Quality Improvements
EPA's Information Quality Guidelines (Guidelines), developed pursuant to OMB's Guidelines (per the 2001
Data Quality Act), enable the public to seek and obtain correction of information disseminated by EPA.
Since implementation of its Guidelines in October 2002, EPA has received 32 Requests for Correction and
10 Requests for Reconsideration from a diversity of sources, including private citizens, industry, non-profit
organizations, government environmental agencies, and Members of Congress. These requests challenge
the "objectivity," "utility" and "integrity" of information disseminated on EPA's public Web sites. Requestors
seek correction on a wide variety of information, including actions undergoing rulemaking, policy and guidance
documents, EPA Web site and database content, and risk assessment processes.
In addition to coordinating responses with Agency information owners, OEI uses the information presented in
the requests to improve the quality of the challenged product, and by extension, their impact on environmental
protection. For example, one requestor explained that a fact sheet on storm water runoff was not precise
enough in that it did not distinguish between pollution from construction sites (not containing pathogens)
and pollution from the broader category of urban storm water runoff. In response, EPA revised the fact
sheet to clarify these differences and enhanced it with references to EPA sources. In this way, among
other mechanisms, the Guidelines are viewed as an added value to EPA's Quality policies and established
processes for ensuring that quality is built into the Agency's decisions.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Toxics Release Inventory Program Reduces Time and Resources Needed to Report
Data While Improving Community Access
In FY 2005, OEI completed the first steps in a multi-step strategy to reduce the amount of time, effort, and
resources needed for facilities to report their data to our Toxics Release Inventory program. Early burden
reduction efforts have reduced the reporting burden without compromising the goals of the program or the
availability of data. EPA finalized a TRI Forms Modification rule in January 2005. This rule eliminated over
50,000 hours of burden on the reporting community. OEI streamlined the reporting process and improved
and utilized the Facility Registry System to populate some of the data required in the reports. In addition, EPA
proposed a rule that may allow up to thirty-three percent of current Form R (long form) reporters to switch
to a simpler Form A (short form) for reporting. EPA issued a final regulation that eliminated the need for
1,200 reporters to file reports on methyl ethyl ketone. EPA also notified Congress that it intends to initiate a
rulemaking in 12 to 24 months to consider modifying the reporting frequency.
OEI also made significant progress this year in electronically processing Toxics Release Inventory data.
This progress marked a major milestone in a multi-year strategy to streamline TRI data flows and provide
communities with earlier access to TRI data. As a result of our outreach efforts, OEI saw a dramatic increase
in reporting facilities' use of the Central Data Exchange (CDX) to submit TRI data to EPA. In FY 2005 fifty-two
percent of calendar year 2004 reports were sent to EPA via CDX, which represents a 43 percent increase over
FY 2004 (calendar year 2003 reports). When transmitted electronically via the Internet, the data are received
sooner, are more accurate, and are immediately available for processing. This enables more timely analysis
and dissemination of the data to the public.
In FY 2005, OEI delivered an important reporting burden reduction solution to facilities and states by
launching a TRI State Data Exchange Network Pilot. Facilities located in four pilot states were able to submit
information to both EPA and the state simultaneously through the CDX. EPA then forwarded the information
to participating states using the National Environmental Exchange Network. States were able to eliminate the
requirement that facilities report separately to EPA and their state. Another ten states are expected to join the
pilot in FY 2006.
Finally, in FY 2005 OEI was able to release the TRI data to communities earlier this year by posting individual
facility data via an electronic Facility Data Release (e-FDR). These individual facility reports were posted four
months earlier than the traditional Public Data Release (PDR). For more information on the Toxic Releases
Inventory Program, see: httD://www.eDa.aov/tri/.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
Environmental Indicators Reporting Initiative Responds to Longstanding Data
Management Issues
In FY 2005 OEI took important steps toward establishing a permanent Environmental Indicators reporting and
improvement function within EPA. OEI is working in partnership with the Office of Research and Development
(ORD) to develop EPA's next Report on the Environment that is expected to be released in early 2007. In
January 2005, the Administrator endorsed the Environmental Indicators effort and the development of the next
Report on the Environment (ROE) as a good way to do business to remain "...focused on specific measurable
outcomes, not just beans." In July, 88 environmental indicators proposed for the next ROE were peer reviewed
by an external, independent panel of scientists. This set of indicators will be used as the basis for publishing
three ROE products—a technical document, a public report and an electronic Report on the Environment
(e-ROE). The e-ROE is envisioned as a Web-enabled gateway for users to access environmental indicator
information associated with EPA's Report on the Environment.
While indicators were identified and documented, OEI led discussions on how to align regular indicator
reporting and information and data gaps analysis with existing Agency decision-making processes. Working
closely with our partners in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), we devised an approach to
integrate indicator reporting with strategic planning that will not only improve the way the Agency articulates
strategic goals, but contributes to closing out a long-held Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA)
weakness concerning needed information improvements. The team developing EPA's 2006-2011 Strategic
Plan has been tasked with identifying priorities for filling key data gaps and developing a preliminary strategy
for meeting the most critical needs. When identifying priorities, the team will consider the information contained
in preliminary analyses of the next Report on the Environment data gaps and limitations, and will propose how
those gaps could be addressed through Agency investment or by leveraging other opportunities.
Finally, in mid-FY 2005 OEI led the development of an overall governance document for the Environmental
Indicators Initiative. This document, entitled "Environmental Indicators Senior Steering Committee (EISC)
and the Environmental Indicators Workgroup (IWG) Structure, Operations, and Decision-making Procedures,"
comprehensively documents, for the first time, the composition of the workgroups and committees that oversee
and carryout Environmental Indicators Initiative projects and establishes processes for decision-making and
issue resolution. This document was approved by the Agency's Senior Environmental Indicators Steering
Committee in May 2005, laying the foundation for responding to a 2004 Government Accounting Office (GAO)
recommendation to clearly establish and describe lines of authority and responsibility for carrying out the work
of the Environmental Indicators Initiative. For more information on the Environmental Indicators Initiative, see
http://www.epa.aov/indicators.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public
OEI Led EPA's arid the President's Council on Environmental Quality
"Virtual" Earth Day Celebrations
This year, Earth Day turned 35. OEI led
both EPA's and a federal government-wide
celebration by developing two web sites
httD://www.eDa.aov/earthdav and htto://www.
earthdav.aov that offered numerous wavs for
parents, families, students and consumers
to protect the environment and public health
everyday where they work, live and play.
35th Anniversary
Earth Day
J protecting our planet
22,2005
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Introduction
Since the advent of the Internet, government and private-sector firms have been challenged to quickly adapt
the latest information technology and innovations to their business practices. Why have hundreds of separate
regulatory dockets for example, when you can index and then search a government-wide "e-docket" containing
all proposed rulemakings in one place? Since OEI was created in 1999, EPA has struggled to integrate the
legacy "stove-pipe" databases and infrastructure that have supported many of our national environmental
protection programs. More recently with OEI's implementation of extensible Markup Language (XML), EPA
can now access data to respond to specific questions or decision-making needs from a wide range of sources.
These and many more IT advances are rapidly changing the ways in which EPA can meet mission goals to
protect the environment and public health. At the same time, each new OEI idea, application or innovation
offers the Agency a chance to excel in being known for our best practices in information management.
EPA's Security Assessment Tool (ASSERT) Adopted bv Multiple Agencies
National Geospatial Data Policy Developed
EPA Improves IT Security through Management Accountability
IT Support Aids Federal Government PINNACLE Exercises
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
EPA's Security Assessment Tool (ASSERT) Adopted by Multiple Agencies
Three federal agencies: Federal Aviation Administration, the Social Security Administration, and General
Services Administration (hosted at EPA's National Computer Center) have chosen EPA's ground-breaking,
web-based automated reporting and remediation tracking tool—the Automated Security Self-Evaluation and
Remediation Tracking (ASSERT) to help them meet Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
requirements. Through a customer-driven improvement process, OEI recently released a more powerful,
user-friendly version of ASSERT which will help senior officials further improve the security of their IT
resources and make decision-making easier. We designed ASSERT to facilitate federal IT annual security self-
assessments for tracking and remediating discovered weaknesses. This pioneering tool allows senior officials
to immediately set priorities to fix IT security weaknesses. Results are reported to Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) and Congress. Most importantly, these data are used in the Congressional FISMA Report Card.
We look forward to other federal agencies joining us in this exciting ASSERT partnership.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
National Geospatial Data Policy Developed
Geospatial data includes, for a given point in space: address information, latitude and longitude values,
and metadata (i.e., description of geospatial data assets and key attributes). EPA's Geospatial Data policy
establishes principles, responsibilities and requirements for collecting and managing geospatial data used for
facilities, sites, and monitoring and observation points regulated or tracked by EPA. OEI led this effort in our
role to oversee the development of Agency data policies. The benefits of the new policy include:
•	a comprehensive life cycle approach, taking into consideration the stages of data utilization: from
conception through growth in use, to retirement. With key attributes available—such as date of
construction, users can assess whether the data are appropriate for their needs;
•	a centralized "Market Place" concept for universal access to all of EPA's geospatial assets so that users
can access all required information quickly and in one transaction (e.g., for emergency operations). Users
can also specify current and future requirements;
•	standards for generating metadata for geospatial data. This ensures that the data created are easily
shared and accessible;
•	alignment of EPA's geospatial program with EPA's enterprise architecture, ensuring that our information
assets are properly aligned and their capabilities maximized; and,
•	compliance with National Spatial Data Infrastructure requirements and Federal Geographic Data
Committee data standards.
For more information on EPA's Geospatial Data Policy, see httD://www.eDa.aov/alnDo/fund/nadD.Ddf.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
EPA Improves IT Security through Management Accountability
In today's ever-changing world of IT vulnerabilities and Internet security concerns, EPA is effectively protecting
its vital information. We have built a strong security program—featuring senior management support and Chief
Information Officer (CIO) leadership, using an enterprise approach for IT security management, providing
adequate allocation of resources, measuring success and requiring accountability, fostering an effective
network of security professionals, and using a suite of innovative tools.
To ensure that this high level of protection continues, OEI has established an extensive program of self-
monitoring and evaluation using scorecards (high-level "red-yellow-green" ratings) to report to senior
management the status of IT security for their program office. The scorecards allow senior Agency officials to
evaluate the performance of EPA's IT security program. These scorecards have two major areas of emphasis:
(1) Agency network real-time compliance with security standards and (2) Agency compliance with Federal
Information Security Management Act (FISMA) requirements.
For example, our perimeter defenses such as firewalls and intrusion detection sensors identify, in real-time,
new vulnerabilities for corrective action. In one case our perimeter defenses identified a possible worm
infection, as indicated by a remote access user who within 30 minutes generated 44,000 firewall log entries
(and within the next 24 hours, generated another 500,000). The user was denied access pending clean-up of
the offending system.
Beyond day-to-day troubleshooting, the use of internal scorecards has been instrumental in strengthening
the Agency's IT security program. The Network Security Scorecard on NetWare (as measured by automated
scans of Agency IT devices) is at 95% (green) compliance. From an initial compliance rate of 35% (red) in
2001, the Agency's Network Security Scorecard on Netware (as measured by automated scans of Agency
IT devices) now regularly registers a 95% (green) or better compliance rate. Similarly, the FISMA Security
Scorecard (as measured by ASSERT, the Agency's automated risk management tool) is at 97% (green)
compliance rate.
This high level of performance has been further validated outside of the Agency. EPA placed fifth out of twenty-
four in IT Security Performance in ratings by the Congressional Government Reform Committee—scoring
a "B," up from a "C" last year. Congress' measure gauges the overall effectiveness of information security
programs across federal agencies.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
IT Support Aids Federal Government PINNACLE Exercises
EPA successfully participated in a series of federal government-wide emergency preparedness exercises over
the past year. These exercises allowed federal officials to implement Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans,
test communications connectivity, and demonstrate that essential functions can be effectively executed during
threats and emergencies. The PINNACLE exercises focus on testing operations and procedures for essential
government functions without testing actual response capabilities (as these are tested in the more rigorous
TOPOFF Exercise).
OEI successfully provided desktop and telecommunications capabilities/support to essential employees
who were re-located to the Environmental Science Center in Ft. Meade, Maryland. This required providing
an interface to EPA's IT infrastructure that allows all Agency personnel to coordinate and collaborate during
simulated "crisis" events, while continuously monitoring critical EPA IT assets across the EPA network.
OEI staff utilized a variety of technical approaches to accomplish this goal, including the implementation of
specialized software on USB "thumb-drives" to ensure that essential personnel have laptop access to the
network with full capabilities.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers
Introduction
Now networked more than ever before, OEI is finding new approaches to creating enterprise solutions by
partnering with other agencies and departments, private sector vendors and non-governmental groups to
deliver information services and build our enterprise architecture. The majority of EPA's new web sites and
web-based tools are now developed with our customers via needs assessments, focus groups, usability testing
and post-launch evaluations and reviews.
Information Services for Environmental Analysis and Emerging Science Areas Enhanced
Environmental Information Exchange Network Adopts New Governance Structure as Expansion Continues
New Standard Tackles Data Quality bv Going to the Source
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers
Environmental Information Exchange Network Adopts New Governance Structure as
Expansion Continues
EPA's Exchange Network electronically collects and stores accurate information, integrates information across
many disparate sources, and provides secure access to information in a timely manner. Using the Internet
and standardized data formats, the Network exchanges information between nodes, or portals maintained
individually by participating partners.
The Exchange Network originated in 1998, when state environmental agencies, in collaboration with the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), formed the Information Management Work Group (IMWG). The
IMWG's mission is to address the issues surrounding information management, including growing data
integrity problems, and inefficient information exchange among partners. By 2000, the IMWG created a design
blueprint that specified how the Exchange Network would share and exchange environmental information in a
more effective and efficient manner.
In FY 2005, OEI designed and implemented a new governance structure to provide a more suitable long-term
approach to sustaining the Network. In March 2005, the IMWG approved the Exchange Network Business
Plan. The IMWG is no longer the decision-making body for the Exchange, but now acts as a forum for all
environmental information issues, not just those pertaining to the Network. The Exchange Network Leadership
Council is now the principal director of the Network's policies and strategic direction. The Network Operation
Board directs the operations of the Exchange Network, acting as a clearinghouse for all Network Operations
issues with the aid of two subcommittees: (1) the Network Technology Group, that is responsible for the day-
to-day operations and technology of the Network; and (2) the Network Partnership and Resources Group, that
is responsible for policy and planning for the Network.
During FY 2005, the number of states with active nodes on the Exchange Network went from 15 to 38,
enabling 23 additional states and many other partners to become active participants. In addition, the first
tribal node became active when the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe began flowing Air Quality Subsystem data in early
September. In FY 2005, EPA also provided resources to support the development of state, tribal and territorial
capability to participate on the Exchange Network by awarding approximately $20-million in 60 Exchange
Network grants. For more information on EPA's Environmental Information Exchange and Grant Program, see:
http://www.epa.aov/exchanaenetwork.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers
New Standard Tackles Data Quality by Going to the Source
EPA's data standards program promotes the efficient sharing of environmental information among EPA, states,
tribes, and other information partners through the cooperative development of data standards. The entities
benefit from cooperative development because common data standards, with the imposition of consistent data
element names, definitions and formats, lead to better data sets (with respect to quality and capacity) available
for public use. The use of data standards enables data from many different sources (municipal, county, state,
federal agencies, private labs) to be aggregated for emergency response, risk analysis and in assessing
In FY 2005, OEI issued the Environmental Sampling, Analysis and Results Standard (ESAR). The ESAR
is particularly critical to data standard objectives because it addresses data quality concerns associated
with data origination—from field and laboratory sources—where an accurate understanding of methods and
measurement are essential factors for correct interpretation of results. OEI led this collaboration, requiring a
variety of perspectives from the scientific and regulated community including: laboratory managers, chemists,
program analysts, environmental scientists, regulators, and information systems managers from states and
EPA. This standard is already in use, supporting a new approach to expanding the comprehensiveness and
reusability of data in water quality monitoring and in drinking water analysis. For more information on EPA's
data standards program, see httD://iasDub.eDa.aov/edr/eDastd$.startuD. For a draft of the ESAR standard, see:
http://www.epa.aov/edr/DRAFT ESAR rev0-1.pdf.
trends.
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Celebrating Our Success:
Office of Environmental Information FY 2005 Accomplishments
CIQ's Message
Serving Customer Number One: the American Public | Leading Government and IT Community Best Practices
Collaborating with Our Partners and Customers | Awards and Accolades
Awards and Accolades
Individuals
•	Kimberly T. Nelson—Executive Leadership in Data Warehousing, Data Management Forum, 2005
•	Kimberly T. Nelson—Environmental Commission of the States Founder's Award for contributions to
building a state-federal information exchange network, 2005
•	Jerome N. Carrillo—Exemplary Leadership In National Equal Employment Opportunity Award, EPA
National Honor Awards, 2004
•	Debra Villari—Distinguished Service Award, EPA National Honor Awards, 2004
Facilities
•	National Computing Center—Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
Award, U.S. Green Building Council, 2005
•	Research Triangle Park—Power Partner Award, Duke Power, 2004
•	EPA Docket Center—Exemplary Customer Service Award, EPA National Honor Awards, 2004
Programs
•	ASSERT and Security Scorecards—CybersecurityAward, Government Computer News, 2005
•	eRulemaking/eDOCKET—Intergovernmental Solutions Award, finalist, American Council for
Technology, 2005
•	eRulemaking/eDOCKET—Innovations in American Government, finalist, Harvard University,
Kennedy School of Government, Ash Institute for Democracy and Council for Excellence in
Government, 2005
•	eRulemaking/eDOCKET—Excellence.gov, finalist, E-Gov Institute, 2004 and 2005
•	E-Government Team/Green E-Gov Scorecard—Gold Medal, EPA National Honor Awards, 2004
•	Mercury Portal Project—Silver Medal, EPA National Honor Awards, 2004

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