Summary: GAO performed a management review of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine how EPA can: (1) make and sustain management improvements to strengthen policy development; (2) better achieve program initiatives; (3) improve the integrity of management support systems; and (4) enhance planning for future environmental issues.
GAO found that EPA actions to increase managerial and operational effectiveness included: (1) managing programs and activities with emphasis on achieving measurable environmental results; (2) establishing more effective working arrangements with states; and (3) obtaining improved financial, management, and programmatic information to better set priorities, administer programs, and assess programs. GAO also found that EPA: (1) lacked clearly defined goals for managing measurable environmental results; (2) has not ranked program priorities or made essential links between actions and desired results; (3) has made only limited progress in developing measures of environmental quality and linking them to program activities; (4) has numerous design and implementation problems and information gaps which limit its research effectiveness; (5) has achieved some success in balancing its oversight needs with states' needs for flexibility and autonomy; and (6) lacked fully developed data standards and data requirements and definitions across programs.
