Freight Waves |
By John Gallagher | March 5, 2021
Results of an investigation into potential conflicts of interest involving former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao have renewed concerns about the agency’s ability to oversee a fair process when selecting grant winners for major infrastructure projects.
A report on the investigation’s findings released this week by the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) inspector general (IG) — at the request of U.S. House Democrats in 2019 — found no evidence that Chao used her office to steer federal grants issued by her department to highway projects in Kentucky — the state represented by her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, who was majority leader of the chamber at the time.
The issues raised by both the IG and GAO are lingering concerns for groups such as the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC), whose members have regularly competed for the over $4 billion worth of competitive DOT grant funds issued since 2016.
“We have had concerns about the lack of transparency in the competitive grant-making process, and we have encouraged DOT to document how the decisions are made in order to promote trust in the program and also to encourage the highest and best applications to be submitted for the programs,” CAGTC Executive Director Elaine Nessle told FreightWaves.
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