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Open Recommendations (88 total)

Federal Research: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results

GAO-20-81
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 30)
Open
The Department of Transportation concurred with this recommendation. According to its response to our report, the Department will build upon existing compliance mechanisms to ensure researcher compliance with its public access plan and associated requirements. As part of this process, the Department reported that it plans to update its public access plan, and expects to complete these actions by December 31, 2020. On July 22, 2021, Transportation officials provided an update stating that the Department is working toward implementation of the identified actions by January 15, 2022. As of August 2023, we have requested an update from the Department. When we confirm what actions the Department has taken to implement this recommendation we will provide additional information.

Automated Technologies: DOT Should Take Steps to Ensure Its Workforce Has Skills Needed to Oversee Safety

GAO-21-197
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Director of DOT's Department of Human Resources should complete efforts to identify all cybersecurity occupations across the agency, and incorporate those related to overseeing the cybersecurity of automated technologies into its workforce planning efforts, such as the Workforce Transformation Chart. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOT agreed with this recommendation. DOT completed identifying all cybersecurity occupations across the agency and had identified more than 2,000 positions with duties related to the safety of automated technologies. In March 2024, DOT noted that it planned to incorporate these positions into its Information Technology Workforce Plan by October 2024. To fully implement this recommendation, DOT needs to complete this plan, which we will review when it is available. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.

Discretionary Transportation Grants: DOT Should Better Align Its Application Evaluation Process with Federal Guidance

GAO-24-106280
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that RAISE officials document a specific rationale explaining why all non-awarded Highly Rated projects were not selected for an award. (Recommendation 5)
Open
As of March 2024, DOT has not addressed this recommendation. In its written response to GAO's report, DOT stated that it did not concur with this recommendation. Specifically, DOT stated that its selection portfolio process adequately documents why it did not select projects and that no further documentation is necessary. We disagree for the reasons outlined in our report. Specifically, DOT's selection portfolio did not provide specific rationales for not awarding projects, as required by DOT guidance. In addition, while the selection portfolio stated that a project was not included in the portfolio, it did not explicitly provide the rationale for why DOT did not award these projects. We continue to believe that documenting specific rationales for not selecting projects would provide a clearer picture of how DOT makes award decisions, and that DOT should fully implement our recommendation. GAO will monitor DOT's efforts regarding this recommendation.

Highway Safety: More Robust DOT Oversight of Guardrails and Other Roadside Hardware Could Further Enhance Safety

GAO-16-575
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To promote the transition to improved crash test standards, to strengthen FHWA's oversight of the roadside safety hardware's crash-testing process, and to make more information available to states and industry on how roadside safety hardware performs in actual conditions, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of FHWA to develop a process for third-party verification of results from crash-test labs.
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of February 2024, FHWA officials told us that, they plan to engage with outside organizations to establish a mechanism for third party verification once the the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) has been updated. The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials has initiated this update to the MASH to allow for clearer understanding of the crash testing requirements and evaluation criteria and estimates it will take three years to complete. Once the revisions to the manual are completed, FHWA plans to engage with outside organizations to attempt to establish a mechanism for third party verification. We will continue to monitor FHWA's actions and the extent to which it addresses our recommendation.

Disaster Recovery: Actions Needed to Improve the Federal Approach

GAO-23-104956
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should, in consultation with the Recovery Support Function Leadership Group, identify and take steps to better manage fragmentation between its disaster recovery programs and other federal programs, including consideration of the options identified in this report. If DOT determines that it needs authority for actions that it seeks to implement, it should request that authority from Congress. (Recommendation 3)
Open
The Department of Transportation agreed with this recommendation. In May 2023, Department officials stated that they will continue to coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other interagency partners to explore ways to identify and streamline disaster assistance between recovery programs. They planned to identify initial steps to better manage fragmentation by December 2023. To fully address this recommendation, Department officials will need to demonstrate that they have identified and taken steps to better manage fragmentation between the Department of Transportation's disaster recovery programs and other federal programs, including consideration of the options identified in this report.

Aviation Safety: FAA's Risk-Based Oversight for Repair Stations Could Benefit from Additional Airline Data and Performance Metrics [Reissued on September 2, 2016]

GAO-16-679
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To enhance FAA's risk-based approach for oversight of repair stations, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and implement a process in Flight Standards for incorporating into SAS the volume of critical maintenance that each U.S. airline contracts to repair stations.
Open
FAA continues to indicate that the agency does not concur with this recommendation and does not plan to take any actions to implement it because the agency believes the subjective nature of volume of work makes it an ineffective risk indicator. As of January 2024, FAA stated the agency monitors many risk indicators within the FAA's Safety Assurance System (SAS), such as high workforce turnover; changes in management; rapid growth or downsizing, changes in aircraft complexity/programs, financial conditions, and age of fleet. FAA noted that it uses these risk factors, among others, to assess repair stations to ensure they have the necessary facilities, equipment, materials, and personnel consistent with their ratings. FAA officials said they have made improvements to enhance SAS tools and resources that the agency believes further allows them to better assess risks at repair stations. Within SAS, for example, when a new hazard is identified, safety inspectors may add action items for follow up to address a safety issue. Further, FAA's process includes evaluating the new hazard and responding with an overall risk value. While volume data is not specifically collected, FAA contends the risk management process within SAS provides for the identification, analysis, and disposition of newly identified hazards. Without incorporating data on the volume of maintenance work performed for U.S. airlines into FAA's repair station oversight process, FAA's ability to administer a comprehensive risk-based oversight system could be limited. This information would help determine trends in airlines' use of contractors and identify the often-used repair stations, and without doing so, FAA risks degrading its oversight of airlines' maintenance programs and delaying the identification and prioritization of potential high-risk repair stations.

Cybersecurity: DOT Defined Roles and Responsibilities, but Additional Oversight Needed

GAO-23-106031
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that the DOT CIO participates in the performance reviews of OA CIO equivalents. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of June 2023, the agency has not provided sufficient evidence to address this recommendation. We will continue to follow up with DOT.

Cybersecurity: Agencies Need to Fully Establish Risk Management Programs and Address Challenges

GAO-19-384
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Transportation should fully develop a cybersecurity risk management strategy that includes the key elements identified in this report. (Recommendation 26)
Open
The Department of Transportation concurred with this recommendation. As of March 2024, DOT officials stated that they had drafted a departmental cybersecurity strategy and planned to finalize it in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024. Once the department has provided evidence of these actions, we plan to verify whether implementation has occurred.

Automated Technologies: DOT Should Take Steps to Ensure Its Workforce Has Skills Needed to Oversee Safety

GAO-21-197
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation
Priority Rec.
The Director of DOT's Department of Human Resources should assess skill gaps in key occupations that are involved in overseeing the safety of automated technologies. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOT agreed with this recommendation. As of March 2024, DOT officials noted that the agency had finished identifying which of its positions that oversee the safety of automated technologies require cybersecurity skills. DOT officials also noted that they developed a tool to assess competencies and skill gaps within these positions and would deploy that tool and analyze the results by June 2024. While cybersecurity skills are important for overseeing the safety of automated technologies, other skills-such as data analysis-are also important. To fully implement this recommendation, DOT needs to complete its plan to assess skill gaps related to cybersecurity and to also assess skill gaps in relevant data analysis positions. Implementing this recommendation would help DOT better understand the expertise that exists within its workforce and enable DOT to address any gaps to ensure that its workforce can effectively oversee the safety of automated technologies. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts to implement this recommendation.

Cybersecurity: Federal Agencies Made Progress, but Need to Fully Implement Incident Response Requirements

GAO-24-105658
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that the agency fully implements all event logging requirements as directed by OMB guidance. (Recommendation 12)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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