Office of Inspector General

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

At a Glance

22-P-0018
February 22, 2022

Why We Did This Audit

We conducted this audit to
determine the extent to which the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has implemented the
coronavirus pandemic-related
grant flexibilities permitted by the
Office of Management and
Budget. Specifically, we assessed
the extent to which the EPA
modified work plans, adjusted
budgets, and extended periods of
performance for grants; granted
administrative relief or continued
to compensate grant recipients
whose work had been interrupted;
and provided regulatory
exceptions on a case-by-case
basis.

In response to the coronavirus
pandemic, the Office of
Management and Budget issued
several memorandums that
provided temporary
administrative, financial
management, and audit
requirement flexibilities for grants.

The EPA manages over
$20 billion in cumulative grant
awards annually.

This audit supports an EPA
mission-related effort:

•	Operating efficiently and
effectively.

This audit addresses a top EPA
management challenge:

•	Managing infrastructure funding
and business operations.

Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.

List of OIG reports.

EPA Should Consistently Track Coronavirus
Pandemic-Related Grant Flexibilities and
Implement Plan for Electronic Grant File Storage

The EPA risks mismanaging over
$20 billion in cumulative grant funds
by inconsistently tracking grants
that were modified during the
coronavirus pandemic and lacking
an electronic data storage plan.

What We Found

The EPA Office of Grants and
Debarment does not know the full
extent to which program offices and
regions have implemented grant
flexibilities and exceptions permitted by
the Office of Management and Budget
due to the coronavirus pandemic—that
is, the SARS-CoV-2 virus and resultant COVID-19 disease.

Program offices and regions inconsistently tracked pandemic-related flexibilities
and exceptions. The Office of Grants and Debarment tracked grants that
received flexibilities through its issued class waivers and regulatory exceptions
but did not track grants that received flexibilities and exceptions approved by
program offices and regions. The lack of agencywide tracking of grant
flexibilities and exceptions hindered the Agency's ability to assess how the
coronavirus pandemic impacted the grant process as it relates to the grant
recipient's ability to accomplish its program mission to protect human health
and the environment.

Additionally, the EPA should implement an official agencywide electronic grant
file storage system that provides staff with consistent access to grant files in
emergencies and while teleworking. Program offices and regions stored grant
files inconsistently—such as on local computer hard drives, in the Agency's
email system, on shared drives, and in grant-management systems—or had
hard copies of the files, while teleworking during the pandemic. The Office of
Grants and Debarment did not require program offices and regions to use a
centralized electronic system to access and store official grant files. As a result,
the Agency's grant data and documents are at risk of being lost, especially if
they are stored on local hard drives, or could be inaccessible if the EPA staff
member who stored the data or documents is unavailable.

Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions

We recommend that the assistant administrator for Mission Support develop a
standard operating procedure that instructs program offices and regions on
tracking and documenting grant flexibilities and exceptions for unanticipated
events to ensure consistency in the information needed to manage grants, as
well as develop a plan to implement, by December 2022, a uniform electronic
record-keeping system for grants to meet the Office of Management and
Budget's direction that all federal records be created, retained, and managed in
electronic formats. The EPA agreed with our three recommendations, which are
resolved with corrective actions pending.


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