United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-04-08 monographic deposited born digital 12 p. GA 1.13:T-RCED-97-127 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127 P0b002ee1803996e1 f:rc97127t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127 T-RCED-97-127 Contract administration Hazardous substances Cooperative agreements Government collections Budget obligations Deobligations Unexpended budget balances Waste disposal Superfund Program Other Written Product RCED GAO discussed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to recover funds obligated for completed Superfund projects, focusing on the: (1) total amount of unspent obligated funds remaining on completed contract work orders and assistance agreements and the EPA offices and regions primarily responsible for administering these funds; and (2) timeliness of EPA's recovery of such funds.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) as of December 1996, about $249 million in unspent obligated funds was potentially available to be recovered on over 6,000 completed work orders and assistance agreements; (2) EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and its regional offices located in Atlanta, New York, and Philadelphia administer most of the funds; (3) in the early 1990s, EPA recognized the need to take more timely action to recover unspent funds; (4) however, according to the agency's Inspector General, EPA's offices responsible for managing contracts and assistance agreements were not provided sufficient resources to do so, while carrying out their other responsibilities; (5) consequently, in 1994, EPA created the Superfund Deobligation Task Force to respond to a growing backlog of completed work orders and assistance agreements, and the associated unspent funds; (6) since fiscal year 1994, the task force has recovered over $400 million; and (7) however, the task force is not keeping up with a growing backlog of completed work orders and assistance agreements because it is composed of part-time members who perform these activities only when their primary job responsibilities enable them to do so. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127/html/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127.pdf GAO/T-RCED-97-127 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-127 Other Written Product GAO/T-RCED-97-127; Environmental Protection: Opportunities to Recover Funds Obligated for Completed Superfund Projects; Contract administration Hazardous substances Cooperative agreements Government collections Budget obligations Deobligations Unexpended budget balances Waste disposal Superfund Program