The EPA Administrator and Deputy Administrator also announced plans to create a new office by January 1997 to consolidate the agency’s planning, budgeting, and accountability processes. In the interim, a work group composed of employees on temporary assignment was established to begin developing the new system. EPA Is in the Process of Staffing Its New Office

In January 1997, the EPA Administrator approved the structure and staffing plans for the new office, called the Office of Planning, Analysis, and Accountability. Given the office’s limited staffing, the development of an integrated system is in the early stages. EPA Must Overcome Information Challenges to Implement Its New System

Although EPA continues to expand and improve the environmental data it compiles, it still needs to fill data gaps; improve the quality of its data; integrate information systems; and build the capability to compile, organize, and analyze the data in ways useful to EPA managers and stakeholders. The scientific and technical challenges include identifying (1) a range of health or environmental conditions that can be measured and (2) changes in these conditions that can be linked to a program’s activities. According to EPA officials, the agency’s and the states’ efforts to develop and use environmental measures have been valuable but disparate.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to improve its methods of establishing priorities, allocating resources, and measuring performance.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) in March 1996, the EPA Administrator announced plans to create a new Office of Planning, Analysis, and Accountability; (2) the office was established in January 1997; (3) in the interim, an EPA work group composed of employees on temporary assignment started to develop the new planning, budgeting, and accountability system; (4) however, the work group was not fully staffed, and the development of the new system is still in the early stages; (5) the new Office of Planning, Analysis, and Accountability will not be fully staffed before July 1997; (6) EPA faces long-term challenges to obtain the scientific and environmental data needed to fully support its new system; (7) although much environmental information has already been collected, many gaps exist and the data are often difficult to compile because divergent data collection methods have been used; (8) likewise, much effort is still required to identify, develop, and agree on a comprehensive set of environmental measures to link the agency's activities to changes in environmental conditions; and (9) without environmental measures, EPA has to rely solely on administrative measures, such as the number of permits issued or inspections made, to measure its performance or success.