Office Of Mission Support (oms)

OMS leads the agency’s core mission support functions to improve efficiency, coordination, and customer experience for internal customers, stakeholders, and the public, including protection of EPA’s facilities and other critical assets nationwide, acquisition activities (contracts), grants management, human capital, information technology, and information management activities.

Grant Reform

EPA now awards up to $30 billion in grants annually—up to half of the agen- cy’s annual budget. Of these funds, $500 million is awarded as discretionary. This grantmaking—discretionary and otherwise—is driven by ideology instead of need. Of particular concern is a practice whereby numerous small-dollar grants are administered to a great number of grantees while larger grants are given to academic institutions. As a result, grant funds produce little to no meaningful improvements in the environment and public health and instead fund questionably relevant projects at elite, private academic institutions that invariably produce radical environmental research.

Steps should be taken to ensure that grants are awarded based on need instead of ideological affiliation or academic preference. Specifically, EPA should:

Institute a pause and review for all grants over a certain threshold. Put a political appointee in charge of the grants office to prioritize distribution of grants to those who are most in need and toward projects that will tangibly improve the environment. Cap the number and dollar amounts of grants that the Office of Research and Development can award and require that they be reviewed by the Administrator’s office.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (OCFO)

OCFO formulates and manages EPA’s annual budget and performance plan, coordinates EPA’s strategic planning efforts, develops EPA’s annual Performance and Accountability Report, and implements the Government Performance and Results Act.57

Needed Reforms

EPA has been audited by the agency’s Inspector General for decades, well beyond accepted norms for private-sector financial audits. Audit teams should be diversified. Staffing assignments, especially at the senior level, should be reviewed and streamlined, and the office should consolidate space to save agency costs. For example, six offices need six security contracts to protect employees when one contract would suffice.

New Policies

Review travel and reimbursement policies for best practices aligned for industry norms.

Personnel

The Deputy Chief Financial Officer position is currently reserved for a career official, but political appointees may serve as Associate CFO, Special Advisor, and other senior officials. In addition to evaluating whether the Deputy Chief Finan- cial Officer position should be reserved for a career official, a new Administration should immediately fill these positions with political appointees and establish a new political leadership position for Appropriations Liaison, which is currently overseen by career employees.

Budget

OCFO is responsible for drafting and sharing the President’s budget with Con- gress. The CFO often testifies along with the Administrator. Efforts to simplify the budget request could improve the overall transparency and general understanding of the agency’s work.

CONCLUSION

A more conservative EPA will prevent unnecessary expenditures by the regulated community, allowing for investment in economic development and job creation, which are keys to thriving communities. Cutting EPA’s size and scope will deliver savings to the American taxpayer. Improved transparency will serve as an important check to ensure that the agency’s mission is not distorted or coopted for political gain. Importantly, a conservative EPA will deliver tangible environmental improvements to the Amer- ican people in the form of cleaner air, cleaner water, and healthier soils.