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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C. 20546

June 23, 2003

RELEASE 2003-041: NASA NONCOMPLIANCE WITH WASTE REDUCTION
REQUIREMENTS

The audit report "NASA Noncompliance With Waste Reduction
Requirements" (IG-03-013) has been posted to the NASA Office of
Inspector General Web site at:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/ig-03-013.pdf

One of the Federal Government's goals for protecting the environment
is to lead waste reduction efforts by using recycled and
environmentally preferable products.  Executive Order 13101,
"Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and
Federal Acquisition," September 14, 1998, and Section 6002 of the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act require agencies to meet this
goal by implementing affirmative procurement programs to increase the
use of recycled and environmentally preferable products.

Results of Audit

We found that NASA's affirmative procurement program needs 
improvements.  Specifically, NASA Centers were not obtaining waivers
to justify purchases of certain nonrecycled products because Center
personnel were not aware that a waiver was required, and a waiver 
process did not exist at one Center.  In addition, the Federal 
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses related to waste reduction and 
using products containing recovered materials were not included in 
applicable support services contracts because the contracting
officers had not received adequate training or guidance on the FAR
requirements. Further, the Agency Environmental Executive needs to be
at a higher level to meet Executive Order 13101 requirements.

Recommendations

We recommended that NASA emphasize the affirmative procurement 
requirements and provide training on the requirements for applicable 
personnel.  We also recommended that Johnson Space Center direct 
appropriate officials to implement a waiver process for purchases of 
certain nonrecycled products.  In addition, we recommended that NASA 
provide training for contracting officers on affirmative procurement 
requirements and require that Procurement Management Surveys assure 
affirmative procurement FAR clauses are included in applicable 
contracts.  Further, we recommended that NASA revise agency guidance
to address the requirements of the Executive order and that the
Assistant Administrator for Management Systems assume the role of the
Agency Environmental Executive.

Management's Response

NASA concurred with the report recommendations and has initiated 
corrective actions.  We consider management's comments to be
responsive to the recommendations.

To comment on this report, please send e-mail to
igrelease{at}hq.nasa.gov 

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Report Crime, Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement to the NASA OIG
Hotline at:  800-424-9183, TDD 800-535-8134.

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