Pursuit's Take
OIG found that the EPA could not fully demonstrate that its Lean Government Initiative is operating as intended to eliminate waste and achieve savings. We found the following opportunities for the EPA to strengthen its Lean Government Initiative:
- Selection of Lean projects to avoid overlap.
- Improvements in monitoring Lean efforts to gauge progress.
- Improvements in reporting Lean projects, including cost metrics.
- Identification and tracking of Lean projects.
- Development of a cohesive strategy for leading, implementing and
monitoring the Lean initiative.
- Implementation of consistent and standard Lean training.
The federal government has issued guidance on how federal agencies can optimize performance, improve efficiencies, and identify ways to eliminate wasteful practices and operate more efficiently. In addition, the EPA has issued memorandums on how to use Lean specifically within the agency. However, the EPA’s internal controls for implementing Lean in accordance with this guidance and these memorandums need improvement, such as identifying and tracking Lean projects to gauge progress and costs, as well as leading and monitoring the Lean initiative agencywide. Because these controls have not been fully implemented, Lean has not been institutionalized at the EPA. These internal controls must be improved before the agency can fully maximize the application of Lean practices and ensure that it is not wasting resources by failing to create efficiencies.