Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
ADDITIONAL EFFORTS ARE NEEDED TO
IMPLEMENT THE ELECTRONICS STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM AND MAXIMIZE THE ENERGY
EFFICIENCY OF DESKTOP COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
Issued on June 15, 2010
Highlights
Highlights of
Report Number: 2010-20-056 to the
Internal Revenue Service Chief, Agency-Wide Shared Services, and the Chief Technology
Officer.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
Federal
agencies have been directed to improve their energy efficiency and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Additional actions
by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to minimize the energy consumption of its
110,000 desktop computers and improve printing practices could potentially save
the IRS more than $18.2 million over four years.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
This audit was initiated to determine whether the IRS has
taken effective steps to ensure the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of
energy efficient desktop computer equipment.
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. In
July 2007, the Department of the Treasury established the Electronics
Stewardship Program and Implementation Plan to ensure sustainable practices in
the area of electronics and to provide policy and guidance regarding
acquisition, operations and maintenance, and end-of-life management.
WHAT
TIGTA FOUND
The IRS has taken actions to
improve the energy efficiency of desktop computer equipment. For example, the IRS is purchasing energy
efficient desktop computer equipment and has enabled an energy saving feature
on computer monitors that puts the monitors in “sleep mode” during periods of
inactivity.
However, the IRS has not
established an implementation strategy to ensure timely completion of
applicable action items in the Electronics Stewardship Program and
Implementation Plan. For example, timely
actions have not been taken to implement power management (e.g., power
down/sleep mode) functionality on desktop computers (also includes laptop computers). Policies and
procedures have not been established to implement duplex (two-sided)
printing on printers. In addition,
actions to ensure procurement of energy efficient desktop computer equipment
need improvement.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the Chief
Technology Officer, in coordination with the Chief, Agency-Wide Shared
Services, 1) assign clear responsibilities to ensure effective execution of the
Electronics Stewardship Program and Implementation
Plan and require each organization to periodically report its progress in
completing the action items. The
Chief Technology Officer should 2) develop an implementation strategy and plan
to ensure the applicable energy efficient practices such as power management for
desktop computers and duplex printing are implemented, as soon as possible, to the maximum degree based on the IRS mission needs. In addition, the Director, Office of
Procurement, should 3) implement an effective process to timely review training
records and ensure employees complete required annual training by the June 30
due date and 4) develop a tracking system to support the ongoing review of IRS
efforts in acquiring energy efficient electronic products.
In
their response to the report, IRS
officials stated they agreed with the four recommendations and plan to take corrective
actions, including providing updated progress reports of the completion of Electronics
Stewardship Program and Implementation Plan action items to the Department of
the Treasury, and developing implementation strategies and plans to ensure
energy efficiency practices for power management on desktop computers and the default
use of duplex printing. In addition, the
IRS plans to add the annual Buying Green Training to each affected employee’s
learning plan automatically, and add changes to the Integrated Procurement
System to implement a tracking system for Electronic Product Environmental
Assessment Tool-registered products.
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/201020056fr.html.
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site:
http://www.tigta.gov