EPA was established in 1970 to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. EPA is staffed with large numbers of technically trained personnel; more than half of its employees are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists. Today, it employs 18,000 people. EPA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 10 regional offices and laboratories across the country. EPA’s OCR, a staff office in the Office of the Administrator, is responsible for managing the agency’s discrimination complaints program. This program is intended to ensure that all EPA employees and applicants for employment are afforded equal employment and advancement opportunities free of discrimination. Moreover, OCR is responsible for the timely processing and resolution of discrimination complaints. Specifically, discrimination complaints are processed by OCR’s Compliance and Internal Resolution Team. Over the years, allegations and complaints have been made that EPA tolerates discrimination, retaliates against whistleblowers, and fails to take corrective action on these matters. The agency’s policies and practices were further questioned when an employee won a high profile court case in 2000. EPA’s EEO practices have also attracted congressional interest in general and about untimely complaint processing in particular. Hearings before the House Committee on Science in October 2000 highlighted alleged discriminatory conduct. EPA, like other federal agencies, is required to comply with the nation’s civil rights laws. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against their employees or job applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (42 U.S.C. 2000e et.seq). The Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination (29 U.S.C. 206(b)). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, prohibits employment discrimination against individuals who are 40 years of age and older (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.). Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work or apply to work in the federal government (29 U.S.C. 791 and 794a). Federal agencies are required to make reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or applicants with disabilities except when such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. EEOC is responsible for enforcing all of these laws. In addition, a person who files a complaint or participates in an investigation of an EEO complaint or who opposes an employment practice made illegal under any of the statutes enforced by EEOC is protected from retaliation or reprisal. EPA’s EEO program, like those in other agencies, is subject to several regulations. EPA is responsible for developing and implementing its own equal employment program, including establishing or making available alternative dispute resolution programs and adopting complaint processing procedures as required by 29 C.F.R. Part 1614. EEOC Management Directive 110 (Federal Complaints Processing Manual) provides general guidance on how agencies should process employment discrimination complaints. Agencies are also required to provide EEO discrimination complaint data to EEOC (29 C.F.R.1614.602.). EEOC compiles these data and reports them to Congress each year in the EEOC Annual Report on the Federal Workforce. Information contained in EPA’s discrimination complaint data system was unreliable because of data entry problems. EPA officials also maintain that the computer software, which was obtained from a now defunct supplier, was flawed and not able to report data accurately. Reliable discrimination complaint data are necessary for EPA’s OCR to track complaints and look for trends that might indicate the need for specific actions and to respond to EEOC reporting requirements. EPA recently implemented a new EEO data system and is taking steps to train staff members and hold them accountable for maintaining the data system. Officials attributed data system weaknesses in part to a now defunct data management company whose data system was used to track and process discrimination complaint information. Officials said the system was flawed and was further compromised because EPA’s EEO specialists did not always enter, update, or maintain discrimination complaint data. As a result, EPA had difficulty providing accurate EEO information. Moreover, EPA had trouble discerning if there are trends in workplace problems that lead to EEO complaints; this in turn has inhibited understanding sources of conflict and planning corrective actions. EEOC regulations point out that agencies should make every effort to ensure accurate record keeping and reporting of EEO data. Data fosters transparency, which provides an incentive to improve performance and enhance the image of the agency in the eyes of both its employees and the public. We initially requested discrimination complaint data for a 10-year period (1991-2000). However, OCR officials said they had no confidence in discrimination complaint data prior to fiscal year 1995 because the data are unreliable and source documents were not available to permit its reconstruction. OCR provided discrimination complaint data for fiscal years 1995 through 2002; however, in reviewing these data, we found that the information was incorrect. These data understated the actual number of discrimination complaints on hand, the number of new discrimination complaints filed, the number of complaints closed, and the year ending numbers. Also the data provided to us differed from the discrimination complaint data reported to EEOC. For example, the number of discrimination complaints on hand at the end of fiscal year 2000 was reported to us as 176, but EPA reported to EEOC that the number was 264. The number of new discrimination complaints filed in 2000 was reported to us as 79, but the number reported to EEOC was 75. After we pointed out some problems with the data, OCR manually reviewed source documents and revised these numbers. We did not verify the accuracy of the revised numbers because doing so would have required considerable effort to reconstruct all the data. To determine if the numbers provided for complaints on hand, new, closed, and ending were supportable, we reviewed the information EPA reconstructed, including handwritten notes. We also selected a number of supporting documents for review and found that the data reported agreed with the supporting documentation. These documents were also reviewed to determine if the numbers of complaints reported to us matched those reported to EEOC. Although we believe the reconstructed numbers are indicative of the situation at EPA, we cannot attest to the overall accuracy of these data. Table 1 shows the number of complaints on hand at the start of the year and the number of new, closed, and on hand at the end of the year for fiscal years 1995 through 2002 as reported to EEOC. The number of complaints closed fluctuated from a low of 44 in 1999 to a high of 123 in 2001. For fiscal years 1995 through 2002, a total of 548 people filed 679 complaints. The number of discrimination complainants is usually less than the number of complaints filed because more than one complaint can be made by a complainant. As table 2 shows, the number of complainants and discrimination complaints filed spiked in fiscal years 1998 and 2002. OCR officials could not provide any explanation for the increased complainants and complaints filed in these years. The agency closed 588 complaints during this period, including 125 dismissals; 48 withdrawals; 222 agency decisions, none of which found for the complainant; and 178 settlements. Settlements represented 30 percent of all discrimination complaints closed over the period. In each year from fiscal year 1996 to 2000, the number of cases settled at the agency numbered less than 20, while 54 cases were settled in 2001. These settlements represented 44 percent of all discrimination complaint cases closed in 2001. According to agency officials, a number of settlements were reached during 2001 as part of an effort to eliminate the large number of backlogged complaints. Settlements can be achieved by different methods. For example, for the years 1996 through 2001, a total of 29 discrimination complaint cases were settled at the EEOC hearing stage while another 7 cases were settled while pending before federal district courts. Beginning in 2000, as required by EEOC, EPA began a program to make Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) available in precomplaint and formal complaint processes. The agency uses mediation as its alternative method to resolve EEO complaints and administrative grievances. During the first 6 months of fiscal year 2003, there were 18 requests for mediation, of which 14 EEO cases were accepted for mediation, 1 case is under review, and 3 cases are pending further action. The data showed that headquarters discrimination complaints focused mainly on race, reprisal, gender, and age. The specific issues addressed in these complaints were non-selection for promotion, appraisal, and harassment. Similarly, in regional offices the most often cited bases for discrimination complaints were race, reprisal, and gender. The specific issues most cited in the regional complaints were non-selection for promotion, appraisal, harassment, and time and attendance. Table 3 lists the percentages of complaints by the bases of complaint. Table 4 lists the percentages of complaints by the issues of the complaint. EPA takes a long time to process complaints. Over the fiscal years 1995- 2002 period, it took an average of 663 days from the time a complaint was filed until it was closed. A major contributing factor to this lengthy process was the time used to investigate complaints. Over the same 8-year period, the average time to complete an investigation was 465 days. EEOC regulations require EPA and other agencies to complete investigations within 180 days of receiving discrimination complaints unless the period is extended. In 2002, the average number of days for completed investigations was 427 days in comparison to the 180-day standard. Discrimination complaint cases closed in 2002 took an average 839 days to process. When compared to the other 23 agencies that are required to comply with the CFO Act, EPA’s total number of days to process a complaint from filing to closing ranked fifth highest in 2002. EPA is taking steps to improve data system reliability. It contracted with a company to procure an EEO data system and to train employees on how to use the new software program.