Environmental Cleanup

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal, located on 17,000 acres northeast of Denver, is one of the Defense Department's most contaminated installations. The military manufactured chemical weapons there for decades, and the Army leased part of the arsenal to the Shell Oil Company, which produced herbicides and pesticides. GAO found that the Army's process for reviewing claims under its cost sharing for cleanup at the arsenal falls short in ensuring that costs claimed by Shell are appropriate. The review process does not always ensure that (1) enough documentation is available to review claimed costs and (2) formal agreements exist defining which costs should be shared. The review process generally does not look at the detailed documentation supporting cost claims. GAO found that in most cases further information was available, but in some cases, it was not. Also, the review process lacks effective checks and balances, such as separation of key duties and responsibilities and independent review. The combination of limited documentation and inadequate controls places the government at risk of paying for unwarranted charges.

GAO found that: (1) the process the Army uses to review claims under its cost sharing for cleanup at the arsenal has not been sufficient to ensure that costs claimed by Shell are appropriate; (2) specifically, the review process does not always ensure that sufficient documentation is available to review claimed costs and formal agreements exist to define which costs should be shared; (3) the review process generally does not look at the detailed documentation supporting cost claims; (4) GAO's work showed in most cases further information was available, but in some cases it was not; (5) also, the review process does not have effective checks and balances, such as separation of key duties and responsibilities and independent reviews; (6) for example, staff associated on a daily basis with the shared cost system also conduct the annual assessment of the shared costs; and (7) the combination of limited documentation and inadequate controls places the government at the risk of paying for unwarranted charges.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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