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/U9 Tnrn.nss.d4ni'uil.f993 ...a EPA in Sad Ohape, New Boss Testifies 1loney Being Wasted, Browner Tells Hill , Aawcuted Prese Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol M. Browner said yesterday she is appalled at her agen- cy's "total lack of management, ac- countability and discipline," and vowed to straighten it out. "It goes to the very heart of how this agency operates," she told a House subcommittee. "Not only is taxpayers' money being wasted• the American people's faith in their gov- ernment is being undermined." E'?A inspector general John Mar- tin reported this week that agency contracts are riddled with massive cost overnum and are so poorly man- aged that highly paid professionals end up caring for animals and paint- ing furniture. Money earmarked for other pur- poses ended up in travel budgets. contracts have been awarded without he required competitive bids and in ne case, $30,000 in research and development funds were improperly spent on a plan for a day-caro center, Martin reported. The agency's problems go far be- yoad what the report covered, Brqwner told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on over- sight and investigations. "It goes to all financial resources in ous agency," including grants, overall management and the financial oper- ations, she said, adding that EPA's base budget has not been thoroughly reviewed for more than 10 years. She cited "poor management prac- tices, serious violations of rules and intolerable waste of taxpayers' mon- ey." Foremost among the problems is management of the hundreds af mii- hons of dollars worth of EPA con- tracts at its laboratories throughout the country, she said. Subcommittee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) called EPA "one of the worst cesspools" he had seen and harshly criticized Browner's kepub- Itcan predecessor, William K. ReJly. Reilly agreed that management problems existed in the agency but blamed them mostly on the nature of the Reagan-era staff curtailntents that required EPA to contract out for a significant portion of its work- $1.2 billion out of a$7 billion annual ~ budget during his tenure, ' ^[n my view that's a mistake, That mntes problems," Redly said in a telephone interview trom Cahinrn:a uhere he was on vacauon, He said hr twd given "a very high pnontc" io CAROL M.BROWNBR ... cites "total lack of maua6emenl" solving the problems, including launching a contracting overhaul last year after abuses came to light. Browner acknowledged that Re- illy's administration had begun to take corrective steps and noted "pockets of improvement," but she said much more needs to be done. Browner said she will designate 26 senior officials to take over all re- sponsibility for agency contracts. She said she will impose new discipWwry procedures that will make clear the penalties for violating rules on pro- cedures and waste. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CaliL) expressed concern that a potential I decrease in the amount of EPA con- tracts would leave more work for the agency itself at a time when Presi- dent Clinton is seeking a govern- ment-wide paring back of empbyees. Martin's report, summariang sur- veys of several EPA laboratories last year, details numerous managetnent problems, including work performed outside the contracts. ~ The contracts involve private firms as well as universities and other government agencies who do work for the environmental agency. [n the case of a $67.2 tnillion cun- tract at EPA's Health Effects Re- search Laboratory in Research Tri- angle Park, N.C., contractor Mantech Environmental Technology used en- gineers and computer programmers to care for test anvnals. "Therefore. EPA may have been ~, billed for higher classified and more I costly personnel to complete task !s originally intended for lower-level personnel;" the internal report said. I It did not Rive a dollar amount. Mantech also used technical lab contractors for "handyman duties," including painting and moving furni- ture,the report said. In another case, an EPA chemist assigned to monitor the work of a contractor at the Air and Energy En- gineering Research Laboratory, also in Research Tnangle Park• was ii working as a consultant for the same contractor. Before coming to work , bx the agrnrr. thr chemist had tt"nrked Ior tht' contractDr on the EPA lab pro)ecl Tiff V,11rI1SCT11s p0• r