United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-03-02 monographic deposited born digital 13 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-302 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302 P0b002ee180389278 f:d01302 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302 GAO-01-302 Environmental monitoring Cost control Contract costs Projections Prices and pricing Superfund Program Letter Report The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which manages the cleanup of the nation's most hazardous abandoned sites through the Superfund program, relies heavily on contractors to conduct its cleanup activities. Currently, EPA spends about 50 percent of its approximately $1.5 billion annual Superfund budget on contractors. With so much at stake, it is critical that the government get the best contract price for this cleanup work. EPA's and GAO's reviews have shown that the agency has made significant progress over the past decade in addressing the weakness of its cost-estimating processes. EPA regional work assignment managers are currently developing independent estimates, which contracting officers are using to negotiate the prices for cleanup work. The agency's current initiatives should help the agency successfully address the Army Corps of Engineers' and GAO's remaining concerns by providing the managers with the training and tools they need to develop better estimates. By incorporating some relatively simple additional steps to more fully implement and better scrutinize the effectiveness of the initiatives, the agency can better ensure that its efforts improve cost estimates agencywide. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302.pdf GAO-01-302 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-302 Letter Report GAO-01-302; Superfund: EPA's Contract Cost-Estimating Initiatives Show; Environmental monitoring Cost control Contract costs Projections Prices and pricing Superfund Program