Federal Reports

OIG evaluated the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights’ efforts to ensure compliance and accountability among USDA agencies and staff, in accordance with applicable civil rights laws and regulations.

Why We Did This Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General is issuing this report to Notify the Agency of concerns identified during a review of Inflation Reduction Act grants. The concerns relate to an EPA policy that applies to all Agency subawards, not just to Inflation Reduction Act subawards.

Summary of Findings

The OIG has identified concerns regarding the terms and conditions listed within the revised EPA Subaward Policy, commonly referred to as the Subaward Policy, Amended Grants Policy Issuance (GPI) 16-01, effective October 1, 2024. The Subaward Policy’s statements regarding subrecipient access to information about mandatory disclosure requirements and whistleblower protections and regarding the OIG’s right to access records are inconsistent, incomplete, and not easily navigable.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (WPEA) was signed into law on November 27, 2012 (Public Law 112-199). The law strengthens protections for Federal employees who disclose evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse. The anti-gag provision, codified in the WPEA, requires all Federal agency nondisclosure policies, forms, or agreements to include an explicit statement notifying employees of their rights to report wrongdoing and make protected disclosures to an Inspector General, Office of Special Counsel, and to Congress. Our objective was to determine whether the Department includes the anti-gag provision statement, as required by the WPEA, in nondisclosure policies, forms, or agreements. We found that the Department did not include the anti-gag provision statement, required by the WPEA, in all applicable nondisclosure agreements and forms. Specifically, we identified 6 agreements or forms developed by or currently being used by 3 of the Department’s 17 principal offices that did not contain the required statement. This occurred because the Department does not have documented policies and procedures relating to the development of nondisclosure forms or agreements and has not developed a process to ensure that the anti-gag provision statement is included, when required, in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements.