Office of Inspector General
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
At a Glance
21-P-0265
September 30, 2021
Why We Did This Audit
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of
Inspector General conducted this
audit to (1) evaluate the EPA's
internal controls over travel cards
and (2) determine the risk of
illegal, improper, or erroneous
use of travel cards.
The Government Charge Card
Abuse Prevention Act of 2012
requires the inspector general of
each executive agency with card
spending of more than
$10 million in travel to conduct
periodic audits or reviews of
travel card programs to analyze
the risk of illegal, improper, or
erroneous purchases and
payments.
This audit supports EPA mission-
related efforts:
•	Compliance with the law.
•	Operating efficiently and
effectively.
This audit addresses a top EPA
management challenge:
•	Complying with key internal
control requirements (policies
and procedures).
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
List of OIG reports.
EPA Needs to Strengthen Oversight of Its
Travel Program Authorization and Voucher
Approval Processes
The Agency did not
consistently comply with
travel program requirements,
which can lead to
mismanagement of the EPA's
annual travel expenses,
which totaled $52.7 million in
fiscal year 2019.
What We Found
EPA policy and procedures were not always
effective in ensuring sufficient oversight of
travel card use. We found that EPA staff did
not consistently comply with travel policy
requirements. Out of our sample of 31 travel
transactions, 29, or about 94 percent, had
deviations from policy in travel card use. EPA
staff approved authorizations without
sufficient justification of travel policy
deviations, processed late vouchers, and reimbursed vouchers for costs that
lacked required documentation. These issues occurred because of (1) travelers'
and approvers' unfamiliarity with travel policies, (2) monitoring weaknesses
within the EPA team responsible for overseeing travel approvals, and (3) vague
travel procedures in some instances. As a result, the Agency continues to be at
risk from travel payments that could result in the mismanagement or waste of
taxpayer funds.
Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions
We recommend that the chief financial officer assess the feasibility of modifying
Concur, the EPA's travel system, to restrict individuals from bypassing
authorization justifications or required voucher receipts; reemphasize, through
training or other methods, the requirement for justifications and documentation;
require annual training for all approvers and travelers to certify that they are
knowledgeable about the Federal Travel Regulation and EPA policies; and
identify system-monitoring reports for oversight. We also recommend that the
chief financial officer issue policy addendums to (1) require approvers to
estimate and compare the total cost of temporary change of station versus
extended temporary duty travel and authorize the one that is most
advantageous for the Agency, cost and other factors considered, and (2) set a
predetermined number of days for the travel card cancellation and closeout
process.
The EPA agreed with our recommendation to require annual training for
approvers and travelers and initiated the corrective action on January 5, 2021,
by implementing an annual training requirement. We consider this
recommendation resolved. The remaining recommendations are unresolved.

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