Dear CAGTC Members,
Last week, the U.S. Office of Government Accountability (GAO) released its 2020 update of priority recommendations to USDOT. The report outlines 16 priority recommendations, eight of which had been previously recommended and have yet to be implemented by USDOT, the remaining eight were newly added by GAO. The full report can be found here, and a brief summary of two recommendations of interest to CAGTC can be found below.
In 2016, GAO issued recommendations to enhance the transparency and consistency of USDOT’s selection process for discretionary grant awards, including that the Secretary should release a department-wide directive with requirements to:
- Develop a plan for evaluating project proposals in advance of issuing a notice of funding availability that defines the stages of the process, including how the process will be overseen to ensure a consistent review of applications;
- Document key decisions, including the reason for any rating changes and the officials responsible for those changes, and how high-level concerns raised during the process were addressed; and
- Align stated program purpose and policy priorities with the evaluation and selection process.
USDOT concurred with this recommendation and issued a one-page memo in March 2019, directing all departments that administer discretionary grants to update their policies and procedures to address GAO’s recommendation. However, according to GAO, USDOT did not take steps to ensure that the recommendation was consistently interpreted and implemented across the various applicable offices. Additionally, USDOT did not provide direction on how these offices should document their grant award decisions to ensure that the rationale for those decisions is clear, including the reasons individual projects were selected or not selected. GAO also suggested Congress consider including provisions in the next surface transportation reauthorization that would require USDOT to develop and implement transparency measures for its discretionary grant programs.
In 2014, GAO recommended USDOT include in its National Freight Strategic Plan (NFSP) a section outlining the federal role in mitigating freight-related local congestion impacts. GAO also suggested the Plan incorporate a strategy to improve the availability of national data needed to quantify, assess, and establish measures on freight trends and impacts on local traffic congestion. Although USDOT concurred with this recommendation, it has not yet issued the NFSP. As a reminder, the FAST Act’s deadline for USDOT to finalize and publish the Plan was in 2017. USDOT sought comments on the NFSP’s development earlier this year and has stated its intent to release the Plan in 2020.
Thank you,
Cecile
Cecile Entleitner
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org
(202) 828-9100