Better Procedures Needed for Inspections at Sewage Treatment Construction Projects

GAO reviewed 18 sewage treatment plant construction projects in five states to: (1) evaluate how well the Army Corps of Engineers is carrying out its inspection monitoring function for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and (2) the adequacy of the resident inspector's recordkeeping process to record construction deficiencies.

GAO found that a national interagency agreement between EPA and the Corps broadly defines the Corps' construction monitoring responsibility. The Corps provides its onsite reviewers with only general guidance for performing their work. GAO found that, in some cases, the Corps reviews are not sufficiently detailed to ensure that the resident inspectors perform their work properly; in other cases, the review results are not always reported to the grantees, states, or EPA. Properly performing the monitoring reviews would help give EPA assurance that projects are built in accordance with approved plans and specifications. EPA has issued a general construction inspection guide to all grantees which only suggests that an accurate daily inspection report should be prepared. Therefore, resident inspectors have not been instructed to document day-to-day construction deficiencies or to maintain material test reports, correspondence, or deficiency reports.

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.

Director: Hugh J. Wessinger Team: General Accounting Office: Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-5489