Follow-Up Report: 

EPA Has Completed Actions 

to Improve Implementation of 

the Rulemaking Process 

Report No. 16-P-0211 June 23, 2016

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

EPA as a High Performing Organization
Report Contributors: Dwayne Crawford

Eric Lewis

Michael Wilson

Abbreviations

ADP Action Development Process

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

OIG Office of Inspector General

Cover photo: Photograph of hand stamps labeled rules and regulations, which symbolizes the 

procedural process of creating rules and regulations. (EPA photo)

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16-P-0211

June 23, 2016

Why We Did This Review

In this follow-up review, we

assessed the U.S.

Environmental Protection 

Agency’s (EPA’s) actions to 

address Recommendations 1, 2 

and 3 in Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) Report No. 

13-P-0167, Efficiency of EPA’s 

Rule Development Process Can 

Be Better Measured Through 

Improved Management and 

Information, issued February 28, 

2013. The EPA Associate 

Administrator for the Office of 

Policy was the action official 

responsible for ensuring 

completion of corrective actions. 

According to the EPA, it is one 

of the most active regulatory 

agencies in the federal 

government. The EPA uses the 

Action Development Process to 

prepare hundreds of regulatory 

actions a year. The EPA 

established the process to 

ensure the quality of its 

regulatory actions. According to 

the EPA, its environmental 

success and credibility is 

directly linked to the quality of 

this work.

This report addresses the 

following EPA goal or 

cross-agency strategy:

• Embracing EPA as a highperforming organization.

Send all inquiries to our public

affairs office at (202) 566-2391

or visit www.epa.gov/oig.

Listing of OIG reports.

 

Follow-Up Report: EPA Has Completed Actions to 

Improve Implementation of the Rulemaking Process

 What We Found

The OIG’s 2013 report addressed key aspects of 

Action Development Process implementation 

efficiency in EPA program offices. The 2013 report

made three recommendations related to the Action 

Development Process, also known as “ADP.” The 

EPA’s system to track actions for this process is 

called ADP TRACKER. The recommendations 

were that the EPA: 

1) Establish guidance that clarifies roles and responsibilities in ADP 

implementation, including data entry, record keeping, and the status of 

action development.

2) Ensure that ADP TRACKER has established clear roles, responsibilities, 

and requirements for the program offices to upload development 

documents; and that entries are updated in a timely manner, are 

monitored for data quality, and all features available are used to evaluate 

the efficiency of the rule development process.

3) Develop and implement a method to track resource use in key rulemaking 

activities. 

We found that the EPA completed the corrective actions agreed to with the OIG. 

The Office of Policy developed and issued user guidance for the ADP TRACKER 

database. This ADP TRACKER user guidance should improve the clarity and 

implementation of the EPA’s Action Development Process by EPA program 

offices. Consistent use of the ADP TRACKER database will assist EPA program 

offices in following and implementing the EPA’s Action Development Process 

during the development and issuance of EPA rules.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Inspector General

At a Glance

The EPA’s completion of 

Inspector General 

recommendations 

should improve the 

clarity and 

implementation of the 

EPA’s regulatory actions. 
June 23, 2016

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Follow-Up Report: EPA Has Completed Actions to 

Improve Implementation of the Rulemaking Process

Report No. 16-P-0211

FROM: Arthur A. Elkins Jr.

TO: Laura Vaught, Associate Administrator

Office of Policy

This is our report on the subject review conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project number for this review was OPE-FY16-0012.

EPA officials reviewed our draft findings and had no comments.

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

However, if you submit a response, it will be posted on the OIG’s public website, along with our 

memorandum commenting on your response. Your response should be provided as an Adobe PDF file 

that complies with the accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as 

amended. The final response should not contain data that you do not want to be released to the public; 

if your response contains such data, you should identify the data for redaction or removal, along with 

corresponding justification. 

We will post this report to our website at www.epa.gov/oig. 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
Follow-Up Report: EPA Has Completed Actions to 16-P-0211

Improve Implementation of the Rulemaking Process

Table of Contents

Purpose...................................................................................................................... 1

Background ............................................................................................................... 1

Responsible Office.................................................................................................... 2

Scope and Methodology........................................................................................... 2

Results of Review ..................................................................................................... 3

EPA Action for Recommendation 1..................................................................... 3

EPA Action for Recommendation 2..................................................................... 3

EPA Action for Recommendation 3..................................................................... 3

Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 4

Appendix

A Distribution ....................................................................................................... 5
16-P-0211 1

Purpose 

We reviewed corrective actions taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) to address the three recommendations in Office of Inspector General (OIG) 

Report No. 13-P-0167, Efficiency of EPA’s Rule Development Process Can Be Better 

Measured Through Improved Management and Information, issued February 28, 

2013. The review involved looking at the Action Development Process (ADP), used 

to ensure the quality of the agency’s regulatory actions, and ADP TRACKER used to 

track process actions. The Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy was the 

action official responsible for ensuring completion of corrective actions in response to 

our recommendations. The three recommendations from the 2013 OIG report were 

that the EPA:

Recommendation 1 - Establish guidance that clarifies roles and 

responsibilities in ADP implementation, including data entry, record keeping, 

and the status of action development. 

Recommendation 2 - Ensure that ADP TRACKER has established clear 

roles, responsibilities, and requirements for the program offices to upload 

development documents; and that entries are updated in a timely manner, are 

monitored for data quality, and all features available are used to evaluate the 

efficiency of the rule development process. 

Recommendation 3 - Develop and implement a method to track resource 

use in key rulemaking activities. 

Background

EPA regulations cover a range of environmental and public health protection 

issues, including setting standards for clean water, establishing requirements for 

proper handling and reduction of toxic wastes, and controlling air pollution.

According to the EPA, it is one of the most active regulatory agencies in the 

federal government. Each year, the agency develops hundreds of rules, which 

address highly technical, scientific and complex environmental problems. 

According to the agency, much of its environmental success and organizational 

credibility is directly linked to the quality of its work under the ADP. The ADP 

serves as a framework to ensure that rules are developed using quality 

information; and that all scientific, economic and policy issues are addressed 

during the appropriate rule development stages.

The EPA’s official management system to track all actions is called 

ADP TRACKER. The EPA uses the ADP TRACKER database to track and 

monitor the development of regulations, guidance documents, general permits and 

other action types that follow the ADP. 
16-P-0211 2

The purpose of the OIG’s 2013 review was to evaluate whether the EPA’s ADP

ensures the timeliest, most efficient and most effective method for rule 

development. The prior review focused on key aspects of efficiencywith which 

EPA program offices implement the ADP guidance. The 2013 report found that

the EPA’s database for creating and tracking rules1 was sparsely populated. The 

OIG found program offices were not adequately using the agency’s database due 

to a lack of standardized procedures from the Office of Policy establishing 

responsibility for uploading documents to the databases used to manage the ADP 

process. 

Responsible Office

The EPA’s Office of Policy, through its Office of Regulatory Policy and 

Management, manages the regulatory development process for the agency by 

providing support and guidance to the EPA’s program and regional offices as they 

develop regulations. The EPA’s Office of Policy manages the ADP and 

infrastructure (i.e., ADP TRACKER database), and also serves as liaison to other 

agencies involved in rule development, such as the U.S. Office of Management 

and Budget. 

Scope and Methodology

We performed our review from February 2016 through June 2016. We verified the 

information in the EPA’s Management Audit Tracking System to determine whether

the EPA completed corrective actions for OIG Recommendations 1, 2 and 3 in

OIG Report No. 13-P-0167. We did not independently verify whether the corrective 

actions mitigated the causes for concerns associated with each of the 

recommendations reviewed. Therefore, we do not make any conclusions as to the 

effectiveness of the corrective actions taken. 

We reviewed documentation provided by the Office of Policy to validate 

information recorded in the Management Audit Tracking System regarding 

completed corrective actions for the three recommendations. We also reviewed 

EPA guidance documents and correspondence as part of our analysis for this 

review. 

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted 

government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform 

the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis 

for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.

 1 Prior to January 2012, the name of the EPA’s database for creating and tracking rules was the Rule and Policy 

Information and Development System (RAPIDS). In January 2012, the EPA launched a new database to replace 

RAPIDS, called ADP TRACKER.
16-P-0211 3

Results of Review

EPA reported completed corrective actions for Recommendations 1, 2 and 3 from 

the 2013 OIG report. Our review found that the EPA’s corrective actions met the 

intent for our three recommendations.

EPA Action for Recommendation 1 

Recommendation 1 required the EPA to 

establish guidance that clarifies roles and 

responsibilities in ADP implementation, 

including data entry, record keeping, and the 

status of action development. On August 15, 

2013, the EPA issued the guidance document 

ADP TRACKER Data Entry Responsibilities. 

Our review identified that this guidance 

document addressed all the elements in our

recommendation. 

Figure 1: Cover page of EPA’s

ADP TRACKER Data Entry 

Responsibilities guidance document.

EPA Action for Recommendation 2

Recommendation 2 required the EPA to ensure 

that ADP TRACKER has established clear roles, 

responsibilities and requirements for the 

program offices to upload development 

documents; and that entries are updated in a 

timely manner, are monitored for data quality, 

and all features available are used to evaluate 

the efficiency of the rule development process.

In August 2013, the EPA issued two guidance 

documents—ADP TRACKER Data Entry 

Responsibilities and ADP TRACKER Milestone 

Management for AAships. Our review identified 

that these guidance documents addressed all 

elements requested in our recommendation. 

EPA Action for Recommendation 3

Recommendation 3 required the EPA to develop and implement a method to track 

resource use in key rulemaking activities. Recommendation 3 was unresolved 

when we issued our 2013 OIG report because the EPA disagreed with the 

Figure 2: Cover page of EPA’s 

ADP TRACKER Milestone 

Management for AAships guidance 

document.
16-P-0211 4

recommendation. During the recommendation resolution process, the Office of 

Policy proposed using existing budget and financial management systems to

support resource allocation decisions in the EPA’s rule development activities. 

The OIG accepted the proposed action. Our review finds that the Office of 

Policy’s action meets the intent of the recommendation, which we now consider 

resolved.

Conclusion

The EPA completed actions to address the issues raised in the OIG’s 2013 report 

on the ADP. These actions should improve clarity and consistency in the EPA’s 

implementation of the rulemaking process.
16-P-0211 5

Appendix A

Distribution

Office of the Administrator

Associate Administrator for Policy

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 the Administrator