Due to poor contract management controls, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been overpaying contractors, and has had inadequate invoice reviews for noncompliant invoices that were undetected, a new EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found.
Among reasons cited by OIG for the poor controls: staffing issues, high turnover in the EPA’s Office of Acquisition Solutions, contract management file disorganization, and inadequate oversight of contract management.
The resulting deficiencies for EPA led to a “lack of available contractor performance information, reduced accountability for the EPA’s contract management responsibilities, an increased risk of unauthorized acts, and a reduced assurance that costs were billed in accordance with contract requirements.”
The EPA OIG made seven recommendations to the Assistant Administrator for Mission Support for actions to improve contract management, internal controls, and oversight. Recommendations weren’t made for some of the findings in the report because the contracts related to those findings have since expired.
The EPA has completed corrective actions for two of the recommendations, with five others on track for resolution with corrective actions pending.
