ENVIRONMENTAL 

PROTECTION

EPA Should Develop a 

Strategic Plan for Its 

New Compliance 

Initiative

Report to the Chairman, Committee on 

Environment and Public Works, 

U.S. Senate

December 2012

GAO-13-115

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-115 a report to the 

Chairman, Committee on Environment and 

Public Works, U.S. Senate

December 2012

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Should Develop a Strategic Plan for Its New 

Compliance Initiative 

Why GAO Did This Study

The Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) oversees many environmental 

programs that seek to protect public 

health and the environment. 

Substantial noncompliance with these 

regulations and increasing budget 

pressures, among other things, led 

EPA to propose a new enforcement 

and compliance initiative in fiscal year 

2012. This new initiative—Next 

Generation Compliance—attempts to 

capitalize on advances in emissions 

and pollutants monitoring and 

information technology. Among other 

things, EPA expects Next Generation 

Compliance to provide new and more 

complete enforcement and compliance 

information and promote greater public

transparency and accountability.

GAO was asked to review (1) actions 

EPA has undertaken in Next 

Generation Compliance to increase 

enforcement and compliance 

transparency and accountability and 

(2) the extent to which EPA is 

developing a strategic plan to integrate 

Next Generation Compliance into its 

enforcement and compliance program. 

To conduct this work, GAO reviewed 

Next Generation Compliance 

documents and interviewed selected 

EPA officials. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that EPA 

(1) develop a schedule for completing 

a strategic plan for its Next Generation 

Compliance initiative in a timely 

manner and (2) incorporate selected 

leading practices in federal strategic 

planning in the plan. EPA agreed with 

GAO’s recommendations.

What GAO Found

Since introducing its Next Generation Compliance initiative in fiscal year 2012, 

EPA has taken four primary steps to increase transparency and accountability in 

enforcement and compliance. According to EPA documents and officials, these

actions will provide greater access to data under EPA-regulated programs and 

make regulated entities more accountable to the public. In this regard, EPA

• formed an electronic reporting task force in December 2011 to provide 

recommendations for converting from existing paper-based reporting 

requirements to electronic reporting;

• established a work group in April 2012 to identify advanced emissions and 

pollutants monitoring technology and evaluate how the agency can better 

use such technology;

• formed a work group in September 2012 to advance the use of new 

compliance tools in its enforcement activities, such as in settlement 

agreements with entities that are found in noncompliance with regulations; 

and

• increased the public availability of the enforcement and compliance 

information it currently has available by, among other actions, placing a tool 

on its enforcement website that allows the public to obtain information about 

pollutants that are released into local waterways.

EPA has not developed a strategic plan to integrate Next Generation Compliance 

into its enforcement and compliance program. EPA has prepared some

documents on the initiative and its components, but these documents are general 

in nature and provide little specificity regarding EPA’s plans related to Next 

Generation Compliance. GAO has previously reported that strategic planning for 

activities below the agencywide level is a leading practice for successful 

agencies. EPA acknowledges the need for an overall plan for Next Generation 

Compliance. Developing a plan that incorporates selected leading practices for 

federal strategic planning could help EPA more effectively integrate Next 

Generation Compliance into its enforcement and compliance program and 

promote greater public transparency. Without a strategic plan incorporating these 

leading practices, EPA may face challenges in helping to ensure that its initiative 

will achieve its long-term goals of improving compliance and obtaining greater 

health and environmental benefits from the agency’s regulations. Additionally, 

without a strategic plan to direct its Next Generation Compliance initiative, EPA 

could waste valuable resources, time, and effort. For example, without proper 

planning, EPA may pursue emissions monitoring technologies that not all 

regulated entities—especially the growing numbers of smaller facilities—can fully 

utilize, thereby requiring EPA to rely on costly individual facility inspections with 

its limited resources.

View GAO-13-115. For more information, 

contact David C. Trimble at (202) 512-3841or 

trimbled@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

Letter 1 

Background 4

EPA Has Taken Steps under Next Generation Compliance to 

Increase Transparency and Accountability 7

EPA Has Not Developed a Strategic Plan for Its Next Generation 

Compliance Initiative 9

Conclusions 11

Recommendations for Executive Action 12

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 12

Appendix I Comments from the Environmental Protection Agency 14

Appendix II GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 16

Table

Table 1: Selected Leading Practices in Federal Strategic Planning 10

Abbreviations

ECHO Enforcement and Compliance History Online

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act

NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

OECA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance

OMB Office of Management and Budget

Contents 

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

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Page 1 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548

December 10, 2012

The Honorable Barbara Boxer

Chairman

Committee on Environment and Public Works

United States Senate

Dear Madam Chairman:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees many 

environmental programs, in partnership with state agencies, that seek to 

protect public health and the environment from pollutants produced by a 

range of entities, including sewage treatment facilities, petroleum 

refineries, and power plants. In carrying out its mission, EPA develops 

regulations governing facilities that treat, store, or dispose of hazardous 

waste; establishes limits for entities discharging pollutants such as 

effluent or wastewater to surface waters; and sets national ambient air 

quality standards for entities discharging certain pollutants into the air, 

among other things. To ensure that regulated entities meet these 

environmental regulations, EPA has established an enforcement and 

compliance program. This program includes EPA actions to monitor 

regulated entities’ compliance with environmental laws and regulations, 

enforcement of regulatory requirements through civil and criminal 

penalties for violations, and oversight of state enforcement activities 

authorized by EPA.1 In recent years, EPA has reported that it is not 

achieving all of the environmental and public health benefits it expected in 

regulating certain entities because of substantial rates of noncompliance 

in some programs. For example, 2010 EPA data (the most recently 

available data) indicate that 45 percent of certain entities subject to 

effluent limits through EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 

System (NPDES) permit program have reported violations.2

 

1

EPA has authorized states to carry out many of the day-to-day responsibilities for timely 

and appropriate enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.

Furthermore, 

2

EPA calendar year 2010 annual noncompliance report, A State-by-State Summary of 

Violations and Enforcement Response At Smaller Clean Water Act Dischargers under the 

NPDES Program, August 2012. Under the NPDES program, all facilities that discharge 

pollutants from any point source into U.S. waters are required to obtain a permit, typically 

from their state or EPA region. Before such an entity discharges pollutants, it must receive 

an NPDES permit that, at a minimum, incorporates any relevant pollutant limits from 

EPA’s effluent guidelines.

 
 

Page 2 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

because of incomplete or unreliable data on compliance in some 

programs, such as the NPDES, EPA cannot determine the full extent of 

entities’ compliance. In addition, as we have previously reported, 

unreliable data in EPA’s drinking water program limits EPA’s ability to 

identify violations.3 We and the EPA Inspector General have also 

reported inconsistencies in the enforcement of certain state 

environmental programs, which are overseen by EPA.4 For example, the 

Inspector General reported that, while EPA has made efforts to improve 

state performance and oversight consistency, state enforcement 

programs are underperforming.5

To ensure better enforcement and compliance by regulated entities, EPA 

announced a new initiative in fiscal year 2012—Next Generation 

Compliance—to capitalize on advances in emissions and pollutants 

monitoring and information technology.

Given these challenges, as well as 

growing federal and state budget pressures, EPA stated that it has 

become increasingly difficult to rely primarily on its traditional approach of 

inspecting individual entities to increase compliance with the nation’s 

environmental laws and regulations.

6

 

3

GAO, Drinking Water: Unreliable State Data Limit EPA’s Ability to Target Enforcement 

Priorities and Communicate Water Systems’ Performance, 

Under this initiative, which 

remains in the early stages of development, the agency proposes to rely 

less on its traditional single-entity-at-a-time inspection method and more 

on electronic reporting of information from regulated entities and the use 

of new technologies to monitor their compliance. For example, according 

to EPA documents, EPA anticipates that advanced emissions and 

pollutants monitoring equipment, such as infrared cameras that could 

detect emission leaks and fence-line monitoring equipment that could 

provide emissions monitoring around the perimeter of an entity, will be 

used to identify violations and promote compliance. Also under this 

initiative, EPA states that Next Generation Compliance will provide new 

GAO-11-381 (Washington, 

D.C.: June 17, 2011).

4

GAO, Environmental Compliance and Enforcement: EPA’s Effort to Improve and Make 

Consistent Its Compliance and Enforcement Activities, GAO-06-840T (Washington, D.C.: 

June 28, 2006) and EPA Office of Inspector General, EPA Must Improve Oversight of 

State Enforcement, Report No. 12-P-0113, Dec. 9, 2011.

5

EPA Office of Inspector General, 12-P-0113.

6

EPA officials stated that, while the Next Generation Compliance initiative was formally 

started in fiscal year 2012, it originated from the Clean Water Act Action Plan and some of 

that plan’s ideas in 2010 and 2011.
 

Page 3 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

and more complete information to regulated entities and the public to 

promote greater transparency and accountability, as well as improve the 

ability of states to implement their authorized federal environmental 

programs.

As we have previously reported, in developing new initiatives, agencies 

can benefit from following leading practices for strategic planning.7

Furthermore, federal departments and agencies such as EPA are to 

comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 

1993, as amended, which was passed by Congress to improve the 

efficiency and accountability of federal programs, among other purposes.8

GPRA requires, among other things, that federal agencies develop longterm strategic plans that include agencywide goals and strategies for 

achieving those goals. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has 

provided guidance in Circular A-11 to agencies on how to prepare these 

plans in accordance with GPRA requirements. We have reported that 

these requirements also can serve as leading practices at lower levels 

within federal agencies, such as planning for individual divisions, 

programs, or initiatives.9

In light of EPA’s key role in enforcing our nation’s environmental laws and 

helping protect the public’s health, you asked us to review EPA’s efforts 

to improve enforcement and compliance. Our objectives were to examine 

(1) the actions EPA has undertaken in Next Generation Compliance to 

increase enforcement and compliance transparency and accountability 

and (2) the extent to which EPA is developing a strategic plan to integrate 

Next Generation Compliance into its enforcement and compliance 

program.

To address our first objective, we obtained and reviewed EPA documents 

about the Next Generation Compliance initiative. These documents 

included a three-page Next Generation Compliance overview document, 

slides describing the initiative, information regarding the roles and efforts 

 

7

GAO, Environmental Justice: EPA Needs to Take Additional Actions to Help Ensure 

Effective Implementation, GAO-12-77 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 6, 2011).

8

Pub. L. No. 103-62 (Aug. 1993), as amended.

9

For example, see GAO, Foreign Aid Reform: Comprehensive Strategy, Interagency 

Coordination, and Operational Improvements Would Bolster Current Efforts, GAO-09-192 

(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 17, 2009).
 

Page 4 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

of Next Generation Compliance work groups, an EPA training workbook 

on how to design rules with compliance, information on EPA’s efforts to 

implement electronic reporting for the NPDES program, and the Office of 

Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) fiscal year 2013 

national program manager guidance. We also interviewed EPA officials in 

headquarters from OECA and the Office of Research and Development. 

We reviewed related federal policies on regulatory accountability and 

compliance information to understand how they could apply to EPA’s 

Next Generation Compliance. In addition, to demonstrate how EPA has 

applied some aspects of Next Generation Compliance, we reviewed 

selected EPA settlement agreements with regulated entities that were 

publicly announced from October 2011 through October 2012. Through 

this review, we identified agreements that included facets of the Next 

Generation Compliance initiative, such as requirements for using 

advanced emission or pollutant controls, or reporting provisions intended 

to provide more information to the public.10

We conducted this performance audit from March 2012 to December 

2012 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.

To address our second 

objective, we also spoke with OECA officials about their planning efforts 

regarding the initiative and reviewed planning-related documents, 

specifically the three-page Next Generation Compliance overview 

document and descriptive slides. We also reviewed our prior work on 

leading practices in federal strategic planning for agency divisions, 

programs, or initiatives.

EPA manages its environmental enforcement and compliance 

responsibilities primarily through its OECA. OECA monitors the 

compliance of regulated entities, identifies national enforcement concerns 

and sets priorities for addressing them, and provides overall direction on 

enforcement policies. OECA can take enforcement actions, such as fining 

 

10We did not review all EPA settlement agreements that we found from EPA news 

releases related to enforcement and compliance on EPA’s website, and information from 

our examples cannot be generalized to all EPA settlement agreements.

Background 
 

Page 5 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

entities that are in noncompliance with EPA regulations, but most of 

EPA’s enforcement responsibilities are carried out by its 10 regional 

offices. These offices carry out program activities under each of the major 

federal environmental statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean 

Water Act, have compliance related responsibilities, and also take 

enforcement actions. For example, among other things, a regional office 

can conduct inspections, provide compliance assistance and training to 

state enforcement programs, and take enforcement actions such as 

assessing fines for noncompliance with EPA regulations. The regional 

offices also oversee certain state enforcement programs and implement 

certain programs in Indian country.11

EPA proposed the Next Generation Compliance initiative in fiscal year 

2012 to capitalize on advanced technical capabilities and efficiencies in 

enforcement and compliance. In developing this new initiative, EPA 

stated that it wanted to go beyond its traditional enforcement approach of 

inspecting individual entities and make available, among other things, 

new and more complete enforcement and compliance information. 

According to agency documents, the long-term goals of the initiative are 

to improve compliance and obtain greater health and environmental 

benefits from EPA’s regulations. The proposed elements of the initiative 

are described in a brief overview document and some slide presentations 

that the agency has prepared about the initiative. In summary, according 

to these materials, the five components of the Next Generation 

Compliance initiative are the following:

Many federal environmental statutes 

direct EPA to approve or authorize qualified states to implement and 

enforce environmental programs consistent with federal requirements, 

and most states have responsibility for multiple laws. EPA-authorized 

states are to monitor compliance of regulated entities, conduct 

inspections, take enforcement actions against entities found in 

noncompliance, and report their actions to EPA.

• Rulemaking—designing and structuring rules and regulations to 

ensure greater compliance, such as including requirements for 

regulated entities to regularly assess their compliance.

 

11“Indian country” includes all land within the limits of an Indian reservation under the 

jurisdiction of the U.S. government, all dependent Indian communities within the borders 

of the United States, and all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been 

extinguished.
 

Page 6 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

• Technology—using advanced emissions and pollutants monitoring 

technology, such as infrared cameras, for compliance monitoring so 

that regulated entities and the public are better informed about 

entities’ pollution.

• Electronic reporting—using modern information technology to 

transition from paper to electronic reporting of items such as permit 

data, compliance information, and enforcement actions.

• Transparency—making both current and new entities’ enforcement 

and compliance information, such as information obtained from 

advanced emissions and pollutants monitoring and electronic 

reporting, more publicly available.

• Innovative enforcement approaches—employing new or innovative 

enforcement approaches, such as including tools like advanced 

emissions and pollutants monitoring or electronic reporting 

requirements in EPA enforcement settlement agreements with 

entities.

EPA envisions that Next Generation Compliance benefits will come from 

(1) designing and structuring rules and regulations to ensure greater

compliance by regulated entities; (2) obtaining and making public more 

and better compliance data so that the public can determine the extent of 

regulated entities’ compliance with environmental regulations, thereby 

exerting pressure on violators for greater compliance; and (3) improving 

the ability of EPA-authorized states to implement their environmental 

programs. EPA officials informed us that EPA has started provided 

training to EPA staff on how to incorporate the Next Generation 

components into designing rules and regulations. As part of this effort, 

EPA developed a training workbook for staff on how to design rules with 

an emphasis on increasing regulated entity compliance. With regard to 

making public more and better compliance data, according to EPA

documents, providing information to the public, together with public 

accountability, can result in greater compliance by regulated entities. For 

example, EPA stated that reductions in regulated entities’ noncompliance 

with NPDES permits in certain states may be related to EPA’s increasing 

the public disclosure of related compliance data, along with the release of 

state enforcement performance information. These actions, according to 

EPA, created more pressure on states to enforce and on these entities to 

comply with NPDES permit requirements. Furthermore, EPA believes that 

the improved enforcement and compliance data Next Generation 
 

Page 7 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

Compliance will provide will allow states and EPA to be more innovative 

in developing new approaches to improving compliance. 

Since introducing its Next Generation Compliance initiative in fiscal year 

2012, EPA has taken four primary steps to increase transparency and 

accountability in enforcement and compliance. According to EPA 

documents and officials, these steps provide greater access to data under 

EPA-regulated programs and make regulated entities more accountable 

to the public.

First, EPA formed an electronic reporting task force in December 2011 to 

provide recommendations for converting from existing paper-based 

reporting requirements to electronic reporting. This action is in support of 

a broader EPA effort to require regulated entities to electronically report 

data, such as permit data and compliance information, to EPA and state 

environmental agencies. According to EPA documents, electronic 

reporting is not simply e-mailing files to the government, but it is an 

electronic method that guides the entity through the reporting process. 

The task force is also developing agency policy to include electronic 

reporting requirements in all new EPA regulations. According to a senior 

EPA official responsible for coordinating the Next Generation Compliance 

initiative, in June 2012, the task force started working with the 

Environmental Council of the States, a national association of state and 

territorial environmental agency leaders, to explore how regulated entities 

could electronically conduct business with EPA and state environmental 

agencies, including providing electronic submissions of permit 

applications and modifications, as well as emissions and pollutants data.

Second, the agency formed a work group in April 2012 to identify 

advanced emissions and pollutants monitoring technology and evaluate 

how the agency can better use such technology. Among other things, the 

work group is charged with preparing a national inventory of the 

advanced monitoring equipment EPA owns or has access to from other 

sources, such as contractors. The work group’s charter called for it to 

prepare a report by September 2012 that addresses 10 items and, among 

other things, provide suggestions to establish formal policies and 

procedures for deploying and maintaining advanced emissions and 

pollutants monitoring technology and training staff on its use. According to 

EPA officials, an interim report that contained initial findings and 

recommendations from the work group was provided to the OECA Deputy 

Assistant Administrator on September 29, 2012.

EPA Has Taken Steps 

under Next 

Generation 

Compliance to 

Increase 

Transparency and 

Accountability 
 

Page 8 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

Third, EPA has begun including Next Generation Compliance in its 

enforcement activities by incorporating elements of the initiative into 

selected settlement agreements. For example, under an EPA settlement 

agreement announced in May 2012, a petroleum company agreed to 

install “state-of-the-art” pollution controls at its refinery, as well as a fenceline emissions monitoring system.12 According to the terms of the 

settlement agreement, the company will post data collected from the 

fence-line monitoring system on a public website. In an EPA agreement 

announced in April 2012, another petroleum company also agreed to 

install “state-of-the-art” pollution controls at its refineries and in the 

process provided resources and assistance to EPA to acquire new 

scientific information for measuring certain air emissions.13

Fourth, the agency has increased the public availability of the 

enforcement and compliance information it currently has available. EPA 

officials informed us that they are observing the public’s increasing use of 

EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) website and 

are continually looking for ways to improve and expand the information 

publicly available on the website. For example, in January 2012, EPA 

released a Clean Water Act Discharge Monitoring Report Pollutant 

Loading Tool on its ECHO website to provide the public with information 

about pollutants that are released into local waterways.

EPA informed 

us that this settlement agreement, taken in its entirety, is an example of 

identifying and using advanced technology to both monitor and reduce 

emissions. In September 2012, EPA formed a work group to advance the 

use of Next Generation compliance tools in EPA settlement agreements.

14

 

12In this agreement, the controls included certain modifications to the refinery heaters and 

boilers, among other things. Additionally, a fence-line monitoring system is used to 

determine representative pollutant concentrations at the boundary of an entity or source.

According to 

EPA documents, the tool allows the public to compare annual pollutant 

discharge amounts from certain regulated entities under the Clean Water 

Act and includes a mapping application, toxicity data, and links to other 

compliance information.

13In this agreement, the controls included certain modifications to the refineries’ waste gas 

combustion devices, referred to as flares, among other things.

14According to information about the tool on ECHO, it includes discharge data for more 

than 44,000 regulated entities, but does not contain a complete inventory of all discharges 

permitted under the Clean Water Act. ECHO also contains other examples of EPA's 

efforts to provide the public with enforcement and compliance information.
 

Page 9 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

EPA has not developed a strategic plan to integrate Next Generation 

Compliance into its enforcement and compliance program. EPA has 

prepared a brief overview document and some slides that provide basic 

information on the initiative’s five components, but these documents are 

general in nature and provide little specificity regarding EPA’s plans, 

goals, or performance measures related to Next Generation Compliance. 

A senior EPA official responsible for coordinating the Next Generation 

Compliance initiative told us that EPA recognizes the need for a strategic 

plan for the initiative and expects to prepare one in fiscal year 2013, but 

he could not provide a specific time frame for either starting or completing 

the plan.

Federal departments and agencies such as EPA must comply with GPRA 

requirements and are to follow associated OMB guidance in developing 

their departmental or agencywide strategic plans. We have previously 

reported that strategic planning for activities below the agencywide 

level— such as planning for individual divisions, programs, or initiatives— 

is a leading practice for successful agencies.15 In addition, we have 

previously reported on federal agencies’ strategic planning efforts and 

have identified additional useful practices to enhance agencies’ strategic 

plans. Taken together, the strategic planning elements established under 

GPRA and associated OMB guidance and practices we have identified 

provide a framework of leading practices in federal strategic planning.16

 

15For example, see GAO, Pipeline Safety: Management of the Office of Pipeline Safety’s 

Enforcement Program Needs Further Strengthening, 

These include such actions as defining the missions and goals of a 

program or initiative and involving stakeholders and leadership in 

planning, among others. Table 1 lists five selected leading practices in 

federal strategic planning and their characteristics. We highlight these five 

practices because EPA’s Next Generation Compliance initiative is still 

GAO-04-801 (Washington, D.C.: July 

23, 2004) and GAO-09-192. 

16For example, see GAO, Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the Government 

Performance and Results Act, GAO/GGD-96-118 (Washington, D.C.: June 1, 1996); GAO, 

Tax Administration: IRS Needs to Further Refine Its Tax Filing Season Performance 

Measures, GAO-03-143 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 22, 2002); and GAO, Managing for 

Results: Strengthening Regulatory Agencies’ Performance Management Practices, 

GAO/GGD-00-10 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 28, 1999).

EPA Has Not 

Developed a Strategic 

Plan for Its Next 

Generation 

Compliance Initiative 
 

Page 10 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

being developed, and these practices are particularly relevant to the early 

stages of developing a strategic plan.17

Table 1: Selected Leading Practices in Federal Strategic Planning

Selected leading practice Characteristics 

Define the mission and goals A mission statement explains why the agency—or a specific program—exists, what it 

does, and how it does it.

Strategic goals explain the purpose of agency programs and the results—including 

outcomes—that they intend to achieve.

Define strategies and identify resources 

needed to achieve goals 

Strategies should be designed to align activities, core processes, and resources to 

support the mission and help the agency meet long-term strategic goals. Strategies 

should also address management challenges that threaten an agency’s ability to meet its 

long-term strategic goals.

Strategies should include milestones for significant actions to be taken, as well as a 

description of the resources needed to meet established goals.

Ensure leadership involvement and 

accountability 

Only an agency’s senior leadership can ensure that strategic planning becomes the basis 

for day-to-day operations.

Successful organizations use formal and informal practices to hold managers accountable 

and create incentives for working to achieve the agency’s goals. 

Involve stakeholders Successful organizations involve stakeholders in developing their mission, goals, and 

strategies to help ensure that they target the highest priorities. Stakeholders include: 

Congress and the administration; state and local governments; agency staff; and agency 

customers, interest groups, and the public.

Stakeholders can influence success or failure of agencies’ programs.

Develop and use performance measures Performance measures allow an agency to track the progress it is making toward its 

mission and goals.

Measures provide managers information on which to base their organizational and 

management decisions and create powerful incentives to influence organizational and 

individual behavior. 

Sources: GAO analysis of GPRA, OMB guidance, and prior GAO work.

Without a plan that incorporates leading strategic planning practices such 

as those included in table 1, EPA cannot be assured that it has 

established a framework to effectively guide and assess the success of 

this initiative and cannot be assured that it is effectively integrating the 

initiative into its overall enforcement and compliance program. For 

example, we have previously reported when developing a strategic plan, 

it is particularly important for agencies to define strategies that address 

management challenges that threaten their ability to meet long-term 

 

17We did not consider all practices from among these sources because the Next 

Generation Compliance initiative is still being developed.
 

Page 11 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

strategic goals and include a description of the resources, actions, time 

frames, roles, and responsibilities needed to meet established goals.18

EPA acknowledges the need for a plan for the Next Generation 

Compliance initiative, but it has not yet developed one that clearly 

articulates a strategy for integrating the initiative into the existing 

enforcement and compliance program and provides a comprehensive 

analysis of how the initiative will help to achieve the overall goals of the 

program. The brief overview documents and slides EPA has developed

for the initiative include only general statements about the need for and 

benefits of the new initiative and descriptions of the initiative’s broad 

goals. Specifically, EPA’s overview and other documents do not, among 

other actions, (1) clearly define the goals of the initiative and steps 

needed to achieve these goals; (2) identify and develop a strategy for 

including milestones for significant actions to be taken, as well as a 

description of the resources needed to accomplish them; and (3) ensure 

that all key stakeholders are involved in both the planning and 

implementation of the initiative. Without a strategic plan incorporating 

selected leading practices, EPA may face challenges in helping ensure 

that the initiative will achieve its long-term goals of improving compliance 

and obtaining greater health and environmental benefits from the 

agency’s regulations.

Without a strategic plan to direct its Next Generation initiative, EPA could 

waste valuable resources, time, and effort. For example, without proper 

planning, EPA may pursue emissions monitoring technologies that not all 

regulated entities—especially the growing numbers of smaller facilities—

can fully utilize, thereby requiring EPA to rely on costly individual facility 

inspections with its limited resources.

EPA began its Next Generation Compliance initiative in an effort to move 

beyond its traditional enforcement strategies to improve overall regulatory 

compliance. As part of the effort, the agency has undertaken several 

worthwhile steps to increase enforcement and compliance and encourage 

transparency and accountability. However, the agency has not developed 

a strategic plan for implementation of Next Generation Compliance and 

 

18GAO, Managing for Results: Critical Issues for Improving Federal Agencies’ Strategic 

Plans, GAO/GGD-97-180 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 16, 1997) and GAO, U.S. Tsunami 

Preparedness: NOAA Has Expanded Its Tsunami Programs, but Improved Planning Could 

Enhance Effectiveness, GAO-10-490 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 28, 2010).

Conclusions 
 

Page 12 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

could face challenges in helping ensure that the initiative will achieve its 

goals of improving compliance and obtaining greater health and 

environmental benefits from agency regulations if it moves forward 

without one. Also, without such a plan to direct its Next Generation 

Compliance initiative, EPA could waste valuable resources, time, and 

effort and cannot be certain that it effectively integrates the initiative into 

its overall enforcement and compliance program.

To better integrate Next Generation Compliance into its overall 

enforcement and compliance program and ensure that the initiative will 

achieve the goals EPA envisions for it, we recommend that the 

Administrator of EPA direct the Assistant Administrator of OECA to take 

the following two actions:

• Develop a schedule for completing, in a timely manner, a strategic 

plan for Next Generation Compliance; and

• Ensure that this strategic plan incorporates selected leading practices 

in federal strategic planning, as appropriate, and describes how Next 

Generation Compliance is to be integrated into the enforcement and 

compliance program.

We provided a draft of this report to EPA for review and comment. In 

written comments, which are included in appendix I, EPA agreed with the 

report’s recommendations. Regarding the first recommendation, EPA 

stated it will prepare a strategic plan for Next Generation Compliance in 

fiscal year 2013. Regarding the second recommendation, EPA stated it 

will consider incorporating leading practices in federal strategic planning, 

where appropriate, as it develops the strategic plan. The agency also 

stated that it anticipates that integrating Next Generation Compliance into 

its enforcement and compliance program will be a primary component of 

the strategic plan. EPA also provided technical comments on the draft 

report, which we incorporated as appropriate.

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. At that time, we will send copies to the Administrator of EPA, 

the appropriate congressional committees, and other interested parties. In 

addition, the report also will be available at no charge on the GAO 

website at http://www.gao.gov.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
 

Page 13 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-3841 or trimbled@gao.gov. Contact points for 

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David C. Trimble, 

Director, Natural Resources and Environment
Appendix I: Comments from the Environmental 

Protection Agency

Page 14 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

Appendix I: Comments from the 

Environmental Protection Agency
Appendix I: Comments from the Environmental

Protection Agency

Page 15 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection
Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 16 GAO-13-115 Environmental Protection

David C. Trimble (202) 512-3841 or trimbled@gao.gov

In addition to the individual named above, Vincent P. Price, Assistant 

Director; Cheryl Arvidson; Elizabeth Curda; Cindy Gilbert; Richard P. 

Johnson; Kirk D. Menard; Carol Herrnstadt Shulman; Kiki 

Theodoropoulos; and Jason Trentacoste made key contributions to this 

report.

Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments 

(361377)
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