U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 

Catalyst for Improving the Environment 

 Evaluation Report 

EPA’s BioWatch Role Reduced 

 Report No. 10-P-0106 

 April 20, 2010
 
 

Report Contributors: Jeffrey Harris 

 Denton Stafford 

 Steve Weber 

Abbreviations 

DHS U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

OAR Office of Air and Radiation 

OIG Office of Inspector General 

Cover photos:	 BioWatch 3 detectors being tested and researchers collecting data during a 

study on airflow in Boston’s subway system. (Photos courtesy U.S. 

Department of Homeland Security) 
 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 10-P-0106 

April 20, 2010 Office of Inspector General 

At a Glance 

Catalyst for Improving the Environment 

Why We Did This Review 

We performed this review to 

follow up on the Office of 

Inspector General’s (OIG’s) 2005 

report titled EPA Needs to Fulfill 

Its Designated Responsibilities to 

Ensure Effective BioWatch 

Program. In 2005, the OIG 

found that the U.S. 

Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) did not provide 

adequate oversight of BioWatch 

sampling operations and did not 

ensure quality assurance guidance 

was followed. 

Background 

BioWatch was created by the 

U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) to detect 

biological agents in select cities. 

Introduced in early 2003, 

BioWatch is part of an evolving, 

nationwide biosurveillance 

system that looks for early 

indicators of the exposure of 

people, animals, and plants to 

biological agents. Initially, EPA 

maintained the sampling portion 

of the BioWatch program, in part 

because of the Agency’s 

experience in air monitoring. 

For further information, contact 

our Office of Congressional, 

Public Affairs and Management at 

(202) 566-2391. 

To view the full report, 

click on the following link: 

www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2010/ 

20100420-10-P-0106.pdf 

EPA’s BioWatch Role Reduced 

What We Found 

EPA’s role has been significantly reduced from that at the time of our 2005 

review. DHS has assumed control of the major components of BioWatch for 

which EPA was initially responsible. These activities include the sampling 

portion of the program and the issuance of grants to State and local air 

monitoring agencies to conduct daily monitoring activities. Further, the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local public health labs are 

now responsible for filter collection and analysis. As of January 2010, EPA 

was providing technical assistance relating to emergency response and was 

responsible for updating post detection sampling plans requested by 

jurisdictions. For the 1-year period January 2009 to January 2010, EPA 

received $780,000 from DHS for its BioWatch activities. In Fiscal Years 2004 

and 2005, EPA received $26.8 million from DHS. 

When the BioWatch program was first introduced in 2003, the designated 

responsibilities of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation constituted a crucial part 

of the BioWatch program – the sampling operations. These operations 

included monitor deployment, site security, oversight, and assessment of 

monitor technology. In the OIG’s 2005 report, we found that EPA did not 

provide adequate oversight of the sampling operations to ensure quality 

assurance guidance was adhered to, potentially affecting the quality of the 

samples. 

Because EPA’s role in the BioWatch Program has been reduced, follow-up on 

implemented corrective actions agreed to for the previous OIG report is no 

longer required. We concluded that EPA did not need to take further action in 

response to our 2005 report. 

This report makes no recommendations. As a result, no further action is 

required by EPA. The Agency did not have formal comments on the draft 

report. 
 

 

 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

OFFICE OF 

INSPECTOR GENERAL 

April 20, 2010 

MEMORANDUM 

SUBJECT: EPA’s BioWatch Role Reduced 

 Report No. 10-P-0106 

FROM: Wade T. Najjum 

TO: Mathy Stanislaus 

 Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

This is our report on the subject evaluation conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This report does not contain findings and 

recommendations. 

The estimated cost of this report – calculated by multiplying the project’s staff days by the 

applicable daily full cost billing rates in effect at the time – is $158,446. 

Action Required 

Because this report contains no recommendations, you are not required to respond to this report. 

We have no objections to the further release of this report to the public. This report will be 

available at http://www.epa.gov/oig. 

If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please contact me at 202-566-0827 

or najjum.wade@epa.gov, or Jeffrey Harris at 202-566-0831 or harris.jeffrey@epa.gov. 

Assistant Inspector General for Program Evaluation 
 

10-P-0106 

Purpose 

The purpose of this review was to evaluate the status of corrective actions taken by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to an Office of Inspector General (OIG) 

report issued in 2005.1 Specifically, we sought to determine EPA’s current role in the BioWatch 

program and whether the recommendations from the OIG 2005 report are still applicable. 

Background 

EPA, in concert with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of 

Energy, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deployed an air sampling system 

during the period late January to mid-April 2003, for which preexisting monitoring stations 

across the United States were selected. This system is part of the BioWatch program, which is 

designed to provide early detection of releases of select biological agents in the air through a 

comprehensive protocol of monitoring and laboratory analysis. BioWatch is funded by DHS. 

Initially, EPA maintained the sampling portion of the BioWatch program because of the 

Agency’s experience in air monitoring and ability to provide grants to State and local air 

monitoring agencies conducting daily monitoring activities. EPA’s Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards in the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) coordinated the air sampling 

component. This sampling component involved aerosol monitors mounted on preexisting EPA 

air quality stations to detect biological pathogens that might be intentionally released by 

terrorists. The aerosol monitors contained filters that were manually collected at 24-hour 

intervals, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. 

Noteworthy Achievements 

EPA has collaborated successfully with DHS on BioWatch and provided DHS with the expertise 

to take over the complete program. According to staff from OAR’s Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards, the original intent of EPA’s involvement in BioWatch was to shift its 

responsibilities to DHS when it had the capability and capacity to manage the program. 

Scope and Methodology 

We conducted this evaluation in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the evaluation to obtain sufficient, 

appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our 

objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based upon our objectives. We performed our follow-up evaluation from 

October 2009 through March 2010. 

We reviewed the status of the implementation of recommendations from our previously issued 

report. To complete our review, we met with staff from EPA’s Office of Emergency 

1

 EPA OIG, EPA Needs to Fulfill Its Designated Responsibilities to Ensure Effective BioWatch Program, Report No. 

2005-P-00012, March 23, 2005. 

1
 
10-P-0106 

Management and OAR and analyzed support documents to determine the status of 

implementation of the report’s recommendations. We also spoke with Office of Inspector 

General representatives from DHS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We 

reviewed EPA’s Audit Management Process 2750 CHG 2 and discussed the report’s final action 

data with the audit follow-up coordinator. 

Prior Audit Coverage 

The OIG initiated a review in 2004 to determine how well EPA was carrying out activities 

related to its role in the BioWatch program. During that review, we sought to determine: 

•	 What were EPA’s designated responsibilities in the BioWatch program? 

•	 How well was EPA implementing its designated responsibilities in the BioWatch 

program?
 

Our 2005 report found that EPA should ensure that it fulfilled all of the BioWatch-designated 

responsibilities. We found that EPA did not provide adequate oversight of the sampling 

operations and did not ensure quality assurance guidance was followed. EPA’s lack of oversight 

and quality assurance for the BioWatch program raised concerns about the capability of the 

program. We recommended that EPA ensure that it fulfill all of its BioWatch-designated 

responsibilities, including ensuring that quality assurance guidance is adhered to. 

Results 

We found that EPA’s role in the BioWatch program has been significantly reduced since 2003. 

As a result, corrective actions agreed to for the previous OIG report are no longer required. DHS 

has assumed control of the major components of BioWatch for which EPA was initially 

responsible. These activities include the sampling portion of the program and the issuance of 

grants to State and local air monitoring agencies to conduct daily monitoring activities. 

As of January 2010, EPA’s BioWatch responsibilities were limited to providing consultation for 

the development of consequence management plans for local jurisdictions upon request. In 

addition, an OAR staff member had an advisory role in BioWatch relating to investigating and 

testing of new technologies. Funding for these activities is provided via an interagency 

agreement with DHS. For the 1-year period January 2009 to January 2010, EPA received 

$780,000 from DHS for its BioWatch activities. This is a significant reduction from the 

$26.8 million DHS provided EPA for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. We concluded that EPA’s 

limited involvement in the BioWatch program eliminated the need to evaluate the status of 

corrective actions taken in response to our 2005 report. 

2
 
 

 

1 

10-P-0106 

Status of Recommendations and 

Potential Monetary Benefits 

POTENTIAL MONETARY 

RECOMMENDATIONS BENEFITS (in $000s) 

Planned 

Rec. 

No. 

Page 

No. Subject Status1 Action Official 

Completion 

Date 

Claimed 

Amount 

Agreed To 

Amount 

No recommendations 

O = recommendation is open with agreed-to corrective actions pending 

C = recommendation is closed with all agreed-to actions completed 

U = recommendation is undecided with resolution efforts in progress 

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10-P-0106 

Appendix A 

Distribution 

Office of the Administrator 

Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

Agency Follow-up Official (the CFO) 

Agency Follow-up Coordinator 

General Counsel 

Associate Administrator for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations 

Associate Administrator for Public Affairs 

Audit Follow-up Coordinator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

Acting Inspector General 

4