EPA's Grade Inflation
By Allan Holmes | Friday, February 29, 2008 | 05:19 PM
By Allan Holmes | Friday, February 29, 2008 | 05:19 PM
Government Executive's Robert Brodsky reported today about how the Environmental Protection Agency may have wasted millions of dollars in extra fees to contractors for meeting performance thresholds. "EPA regularly gave contractors ratings of 'exceeds expectations' or 'outstanding,' which facilitated the higher incentive fees, according to" an EPA inspector general report.
Brodsky cites one of the nine contracts the IG analyzed, in which a high rating "was justified only with the following comment: 'The project management was excellent with no problems encountered and costs were within scope of work.' A project that merely encountered no problems or stayed within budget should have earned a grade of satisfactory, the IG said."
Since government projects typically miss deadline and come in over budget, encountering no problems and keeping costs within scope may seem like quite an accomplishment. Others may view it it as simply doing your job.
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It's interesting to note that EPA's accountability sickness even extends to its contracting relationships. A couple of sentences in this article well illustrate the problem: "Because EPA consistently provided high ratings, we believe award fees are more of an expectation for contractors than a factor that motivates excellence." and "Evaluation board members also acknowledged there was a tendency to nearly always award contractors some level of award fee because a satisfactory rating seems to have a negative connotation."
EPA's mindset of pretend compassion, and its willingness to avoid conflict at all costs, is precisely the trouble with employee performance ratings, which employees have come to disassociate from performance and somehow regard as metrics of positive intent.
Yes, EPA is ill. This Administration tried mightily, but without success, to cure the sickness, but it resides deep in the agency's bones. It will take surgical skill to cut it out, and resoluteness. Let's hope the next Administration hires a determined surgeon to run EPA--one willing to bear the piteous cries of the patient without lifting or slowing the scalpel that is cutting out the cancer.
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