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@hq.nasa.gov