Summary: The Resolution Trust Corporation's (RTC) environmental site assessments are required to identify any assets with special resource values, such as wetlands, endangered species, and historic buildings, or environmental hazards, such as underground storage tanks, hazardous waste, asbestos, and radon. RTC's planning and management of environmental services contracts at the HomeFed Bank Federal Association in San Diego, California, were ineffective, and RTC incurred added costs in excess of $570,000--25 percent of the $2.3 million spent to date. HomeFed was one of the largest environmental contracting efforts undertaken by RTC, with 20 contracts and more than 500 assets. RTC failed to (1) adequately consider the magnitude of its task and the staffing needed to achieve its sales objectives, (2) provide contractors with complete information on contract requirements or assets to be assessed, (3) follow contracting procedures, (4) ensure that key staff were available to resolve basic project issues, (5) know the status of individual environmental assessments during the project, and (6) provide effective oversight of contractors and the contracting officer's and oversight manager's performance. As a result, RTC's efforts to complete the environmental assessments required for the asset sales were impeded.
