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Semiannual Report to Congress October 1, 1995 - March 31, 1996
EPA Office of Inspector General
Semiannual Report to Congress
October 1, 1995 - March 31, 1996
Section 2 -- Report Resolution
As required by the Inspector General Act, as amended, this section contains information on reports in the resolution process for the semiannual period. This section also summarizes OIG reviews of the Agency's follow-up actions on selected reports completed in prior periods. In addition, information is presented on the resolution of significant reports issued by the OIG involving monetary recommendations.
Current Period
As of March 31, 1996, EPA had 218 OIG reports requiring resolution which was 33 percent less than the beginning balance of 327 reports six months ago. The number of past due responses (over six months from report issue date) also dropped 3 percent from 130 to 126 during this six-month reporting period. At the end of September 30, 1995, the number of past due responses was 40 percent of the total inventory of reports in the follow-up system, compared to 58 percent as of the end of this reporting period. The costs questioned in the OIG reports for which management decisions were past due as of March 31, 1996, represented 83 percent of total to be resolved.
At March 31, 1996, Agency management has made no decision on over 64 percent (62 of 97) non-preaward reports between one and nine years old. Three EPA offices--Office of Acquisition Management, Grants Administration Division, and the Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management accounted for 66 percent (64 of 97) of the audits on which no management decision had been made.
About 23 percent (29 of 126) of the past due reports were preaward audits. This is an 8 percent improvement over the previous six-month period. EPA is one of the few agencies that reports on resolution of audits conducted on preaward contract proposals. There often may be multiple preaward audits for any particular EPA contract solicitation. Resolution of these audits occurs when the contracting officer makes the contract award. When there are lengthy negotiations required or when there are a series of proposals required from the contractor, it is common for these audits to remain in the "unresolved" preaward stage for longer than 180 days.
Trends
Over the past three years the Agency has not been timely in submitting responses to Office of Inspector General non-preaward reports. For example, no responses were received within the required six-month resolution period on 29 percent (285 of 972) of the non-preaward reports requiring management decisions from October 1, 1992, through September 30, 1995.
However, EPA is making progress in this area. The percentage of no responses within the required six-month resolution period has decreased from 37 percent in fiscal 1993 to 22 percent in fiscal 1995.
We encourage EPA to continue its work to be more timely. While the OIG recognizes that it takes time to reach a management decision on some reports, swift, appropriate resolution makes the government run better and saves taxpayers the added cost of financing Agency operations through borrowing.
Status Report On Perpetual Inventory of Reports in Resolution Process For The Semiannual Period Ending March 31, 1996 (Dollar Values in Thousands)
Any difference in number of reports and amounts of questioned costs or recommended efficiencies between this report and our previous semiannual report results from corrections made to data in our audit tracking system.
| No. | Report Issuance | Report Resolution
Costs Sustained |
|||
| Quest.
Costs |
Recommended Efficiencies | To Be Recovered | As Efficiencies | ||
| A. For which no management decision has been made by the commencement of the reporting period | 327 | $206,435 | $208,743 | ||
| B. Which were issued during thereporting period | 251 | 28,839 | 44,987 | ||
| C. Which were issued during the reporting period that required no resolution | 137 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Subtotals (A + B - C) | 441 | 234,824 | 253,730 | ||
| D. For which a management decision was made during the reporting period | 223 | 75,113 | 66,891 | 41,634 | 7,703 |
| E. For which no management decision decision has been made by the end of the reporting period | 218 | 159,711 | 186,839 | ||
| Reports for which no management decision was made within six months of issuance | 126 | 133,591 | 143,224 | ||
Status of Management Decisions on IG Reports
This section presents statistical information as required by the Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988 on the status of EPA management decisions on reports issued by the OIG involving monetary recommendations. In order to provide uniformity in reporting between the various agencies, the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency issued guidance on reporting the costs under required statistical tables of sections 5(a)(8) and (9) of the Act, as amended.
As presented, information contained in Tables 1 and 2 cannot be used to assess results of reviews performed or controlled by this office. Many of the reports counted were performed by other Federal auditors or independent public accountants under the Single Audit Act. EPA OIG staff does not manage or control such assignments. In addition, amounts shown as costs questioned or recommended to be put to better use contain amounts which were at the time of the review unsupported by adequate documentation or records. Since auditees frequently provide additional documentation to support the allowability of such costs subsequent to report issuance, we expect that a high proportion of unsupported costs will not be sustained.
EPA OIG controlled reports resolved during this period resulted in $33.8 million being sustained out of $39.6 million considered ineligible in reports under OIG control. This is an 85 percent sustained rate.
Table 1 -- Inspector General Issued Reports With Questioned Costs(questioned costs include the unsupported costs) (Dollar Value in thousands)
| Number | Questioned Costs* | Unsupported Costs | |
| A. For which no management decision has been made by the commencement of the reporting period** | 121 | $206,435 | $82,450 |
| B. New reports issued during period | 29 | 28,389 | 2,130 |
| Subtotals (A + B) | 150 | 234,824 | 84,580 |
| C. For which a management decision was made during the reporting period | 63 | 75,113 | 17,283 |
| (i)Dollar value of disallowed costs | 48 | 41,364 | 6,400 |
| (ii)Dollar value of costs not disallowed | 38*** | 33,749 | 10,883 |
| D. For which no management decision has been made by the end of the reporting period | 87 | 159,711 | 70,512 |
| Reports for which no management decision was made within six months of issuance | 63 | 133,591 | 65,168 |
** Any difference in number of reports and amounts of questioned costs or recommended efficiencies between this report and our previous semiannual report results from corrections made to data in our audit tracking system.
*** 15 audit reports totaling $3,960 were not agreed to by management.
Table 2 -- Inspector General Issued Reports With Recommendations That Funds Be Put To Better Use
| Number | Dollar Value (in thousands) | |
| A. For which no management decision has been made by the commencement of the reporting period* | 63 | $208,743 |
| B. Which were issued during the reporting period | 17 | 44,987 |
| Subtotals (A + B) | 80 | 253,730 |
| C. For which a management decision was made during the reporting period | 51 | 66,891 |
| (i)Dollar value of recommendations that were agreed to by management | 18 | 7,703 |
| - based on proposed management action | n/a | n/a |
| - based on proposed legislative action | n/a | n/a |
| (ii) Dollar value of recommendations that were not agreed to by management | 13** | 17,229 |
| (iii) Dollar value of non-awards or unsuccessful bidders | 26 | 41,959 *** |
| D. For which no management decision has been made by the end of the reporting period | 29 | 186,839 |
| Reports for which no management decision was made within six months of issuance | 15 | 143,224 |
* Any difference in number of reports and amounts of questioned costs or recommended efficiencies between this report and our previous semiannual report results from corrections made to data in our audit tracking system.
** Seven reports were included in C(i) and C(ii). Only the related dollars disallowed were included in C(i), whereas the dollars which were not disallowed were included in C(ii).
*** This amount represents the dollar value of recommendations that funds be put to better use.
Resolution of Significant Reports
Report Resolution
Report Issuance Federal Share
FS Questioned/ to be Recovered/
Report Number Grantee/ Recommended Sustained
Report Date Contractor Efficiency Efficiency
S2CWL5-01-0017 WESTBOROUGH INEL 1,409,113 INEL 1,409,113
5100529 MA UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
9/29/95 RCOM 0 SUST 0
P2CWL2-02-0126 MORRISTOWN INEL 1,192,220 INEL 1,192,220
5100410 NJ UNSP 133,478 UNSP 133,478
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
7/11/95 RCOM 0 SUST 0
D9AGL5-03-0082 CDM FEDERAL INEL 0 INEL 0
5100186 PROGRAMS VA UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
2/17/95 RCOM 2,784,289 SUST 2,784,289
D9AGL5-07-0019 SVERDRUP INEL 0 INEL 0
5100188 ENVIROMENTAL UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE MO UNUR 0 UNUR 0
2/17/95 RCOM 1,412,700 SUST 1,412,700
E2CWN2-09-0339 SAN FRANCISCOINEL 2,109,549 INEL 2,025,030
6200003 CA UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
11/28/95 RCOM 0 SUST 0
E2CWN1-09-0092 RUSSIAN RIVERINEL 6,258,050 INEL 4,167,156
2300082 CSD CA UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE UNUR 13,685,550 UNUR 0
9/25/92 RCOM 0 SUST 0
E2CWN5-09-0126 LOS ANGELES INEL 22,040,839 INEL22,040,839
5300036 CITY CA UNSP 0 UNSP 0
REPORT DATE UNUR 155,326 UNUR 155,325
9/28/95 RCOM 0 SUST 0
E9BGL3-10-0110 CH2M CI INEL 261,751 INEL 261,751
5100232 1985-86 UNSP 1,465,141 UNSP 1,465,141
REPORT DATE UNUR 3,667 UNUR 3,667
3/28/95 RCOM 0 SUST 0
P9BGL4-10-0083 CH2M REM IV INEL 401,582 INEL 401,582
4100309 87-89 CI UNSP 6,473,083 UNSP 1.168,493
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
5/19/94 RCOM 0 SUST 0
P8CMP2-23-0177 PEI ASSOC INEL 23,655 INEL 20,359
3400077 OH UNSP 1,863,579 UNSP 1,329,694
REPORT DATE UNUR 0 UNUR 0
9/1/93 RCOM 0 SUST 0
NOTE: INEL = INELIGIBLE COST
UNSP = UNSUPPORTED COST
UNUR = UNNECESSARY/UNREASONABLE COST
RCOM = RECOMMENDED EFFICIENCIES
SUST = RECOMMENDED EFFICIENCIES SUSTAINED
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