Fiscal Year 2024 Top Management Challenges Podcast


Dana:	Hello! My name is Dana Baldwin and I work in the congressional and public affairs unit within the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Joining me today is Andre von Hoyer, an analyst with the OIG. Andre, thanks for joining me!

Andre:	Thanks, Dana, I’m happy to be here!

Dana:	Our office just issued a report on the top management and performance challenges facing the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, also known as the CSB, for fiscal year 2024. Andre, can you tell us, in general terms, what these challenges are and why our report on them is important?

Andre:	Well, Dana, the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 requires federal inspectors general to report annually on the most serious management and performance challenges facing their agencies. The inspector general for the Environmental Protection Agency also oversees the CSB, so each year we issue a separate Top Management Challenges report for each of our two agencies. Our CSB report summarizes what the inspector general considers to be – and here I’m quoting from the statute – “the most serious management and performance challenges facing the agency.” Our report also assesses the CSB’s progress in addressing those challenges. The top management challenges represent the programs and activities most vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, where barriers may exist that prevent the CSB from completing its mission. That mission is to drive chemical safety change through independent investigations to protect people and the environment. The top management challenges identified also lay groundwork for the OIG in planning our oversight activities to assist the CSB in mitigating the challenges and accomplishing its mission economically, efficiently, and effectively.

Dana:	Thank you, Andre. Can you also tell us how the Office of Inspector General comes up with the top management challenges?

Andre:	Sure, Dana! Each year, we solicit input from senior CSB leadership, consider our prior year’s oversight work and how the CSB’s programs addressed management challenges identified in other fiscal years. We also review any relevant congressional hearings and public statements, analyze oversight work pertaining to the CSB conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and consider issues raised in media coverage and the civil sector. For FY 2024, we also considered a report published by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics following an inspection of the CSB.

Dana:	So, practically speaking, what is the purpose of the top management challenges?

Andre:	The top management challenges let the CSB know what oversight areas the OIG will be focusing in on for the next year in terms of discretionary audits and evaluations. There are many areas for potential oversight, but the top management challenges are, in the inspector general’s judgment, the greatest barriers to the CSB in fulfilling its mission in the near future. It’s also important to note that it’s the responsibility of the CSB to address these challenges. The OIG identifies them, and we provide the oversight to ensure that the CSB can meet its mission to drive chemical safety change through independent investigations to protect people and the environment.

Dana:	Thanks for that overview, Andre. The OIG’s report identifies four challenges facing the CSB for fiscal year 2024. Am I right that some of them are the same as the challenges we identified for fiscal year 2023?

Andre:	That’s right, Dana. Three of the four challenges we identified for the CSB this year are carried over from last year. Although the CSB has made progress in mitigating these issues, it has more work to do to fully address them. We also added one new challenge this year. 

Dana:	Okay, thank you, Andre. So, specifically, what are the four challenges that the Office of Inspector General identified for the CSB to address during fiscal year 2024?

Andre:	The four challenges, in no particular order, are:
1.	Operating effectively without a full five-member board.
2.	Minimizing mission critical staff vacancies and attrition rates.
3.	Improving cybersecurity.
4.	Promoting ethical conduct.

In our report, we explain each of these challenges in detail.

Dana:	Which of those challenges is brand-new?

Andre:	In light of two recent reports, one from our office and another from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, we identified “promoting ethical conduct” as a challenge facing the CSB for fiscal year 2024.

Dana:	Thank you for sharing this information with me, Andre. And thank you, listeners, for checking out our podcast. You can find the OIG’s complete top management challenges for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and other EPA OIG reports, on our website at www-dot-epaoig-dot-gov.