Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICES AND
ADDITIONAL CONTROLS CAN IMPROVE
Issued on May 7, 2010
Highlights
Highlights of Report
Number: 2010-20-044 to the Internal
Revenue Service Chief, Agency-Wide Shared Services.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
Federal
agencies have been directed to improve their energy efficiency and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) management indicated the agency’s overall energy program
has consistently met standards set forth in all pertinent Executive Orders and
legislative mandates. However, while
data centers typically consume more energy than other types of buildings, the
IRS has not yet fully implemented most data center best practices. As a result, the IRS has not maximized the
energy efficiency and use of taxpayer funds resulting from decreased energy
consumption in its data centers.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
This audit was initiated to determine whether the Real
Estate and Facilities Management organization has established and implemented an effective
environmental and energy program to ensure the improvement of data center
energy efficiency.
In January 2007, Executive Order
13423, Strengthening Federal
Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management, was enacted to
strengthen the environmental, energy, and transportation management of Federal
agencies.
WHAT
TIGTA FOUND
The Real Estate and Facilities
Management organization has implemented programs and processes to improve
energy efficiency. For example, some facilities
fully implemented an Environmental Management System and/or were awarded
the ENERGY STAR® designation. In addition, the Real
Estate and Facilities Management organization has a training program to
ensure employees requiring training have access to
applicable courses and completion of the training is documented.
However, the
IRS does not have policies and procedures for improving energy efficiency in
the data centers or for implementing data center energy efficiency best
practices. TIGTA estimated that the IRS
could potentially realize savings of $3,172,872 over 4 years, at 2 sites, by
implementing best practices to improve airflow management.
The IRS also had not developed adequate policies and procedures for
controlling and monitoring energy efficiency improvement projects.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the Chief,
Agency-Wide Shared Services, work with the Chief Technology Officer to ensure
1) policies and procedures are established to
evaluate and determine which best practices to implement, 2) information
technology equipment energy use is measured (i.e., sub-metered),
3) employee
workstations, equipment, and furniture that are no longer needed are removed
from the data centers, 4) current and future data center space needs are
identified and plans developed to consolidate
or reduce excess data center space, and 5) energy audits (including an
assessment of best practices) are performed at the data centers. In addition, the Chief, Agency-Wide
Shared Services, should ensure 6) a governance process is established and 7) a
database of all recommendations and projects is established.
In
their response to the report, IRS management agreed with all of the
recommendations but questioned the outcome measure contained in the audit
report. The IRS plans to take many
corrective actions. After considering
the IRS’ comments, TIGTA maintains that the outcome measure in the report is
valid.
READ THE
FULL REPORT
To view the report, including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to: http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2010reports/201020044fr.html.
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site:
http://www.tigta.gov