Several issues related to personnel management are among the top challenges for EPA management, according to the agency’s IG, which said that “recent events and activities indicate a possible ‘culture of complacency’ among some supervisors at the EPA regarding time and attendance controls, employee computer usage, real property management, and taking prompt action against employees.”
It said that in recent audits, it has turned up problems including lack of compliance with government policies for retention pay, resulting in unauthorized bonuses being paid; inadequate control of administrative leave, including eight employees who were on such leave for a total of 21,000 hours at a cost of $1.1 million for that paid but non-working time; lack of oversight of travel vouchers and time and attendance records; and lack of disciplinary action for more than a year against two employees found to have been spending one to six hours a day viewing and downloading pornography on agency computers.
It also cited several other instances in which it said the agency failed to act aggressively against misconduct by employees, including several instances where employees were allowed to be on extended administrative leave pending a final action.
“While the EPA is making progress, the agency needs to continue to confront this culture of complacency. Failure to do so could seriously affect agency resources, impacting the ability of the agency to achieve its mission and goals. Additionally, the EPA also needs to increase supervision over computer misuse to prevent unauthorized access attempts and inappropriate misuse, as well as verify results and accomplishments achieved during telework,” it said.
Other main challenges for the agency, it said, include overall workload analysis; cyber threat risk management planning, implementation of security tools, computer security incident response capability, and follow-up on remediation actions; management of chemical risks and contaminated sites; and oversight of state environmental activities.
