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Open Recommendations (87 total)

Highway Safety: Foresight Issues Challenge DOT's Efforts to Assess and Respond to New Technology-Based Trends

GAO-09-56
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation In order to develop an approach to decision making and the development of evidence on high-clockspeed trends affecting highway safety that are characterized by uncertainty, the Secretary of Transportation should consider and evaluate practices and principles for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty and for using data in such decision making and, on that basis, develop an approach to guide decision making on high-clockspeed trends that, although somewhat uncertain, may affect highway safety.
Open
In GAO-09-56, GAO recommended the Secretary of Transportation consider and evaluate practices and principles for making conditions under uncertainty and for using data in light of issues encountered in developing evidence on high-clockspeed trends affecting highway safety that are characterized by uncertainty. GAO had studied driver distraction involving electronic devices, in particular cell phones with texting capability and identified these evolving electronic devices as a high clockspeed trend. DOT reports several actions on distracted driving, specifically: (1) an Executive Order to federal employees not to engage in text messaging while driving government-owned vehicles; when using electronic equipment supplied by the government while driving; or while driving privately owned vehicles when they are on official business; (2) the Secretary called on state and local governments to (a) make distracted driving part of their state highway plans, (b) pass state and local laws against distracted driving in all types of vehicles, (c) back up public awareness campaigns with high-visibility enforcement actions; (3) the Secretary directed the Department to establish an on-line clearinghouse on the risks of distracted driving and also (4) pledged to continue the Department's research on how to best combat distracted driving. DOT also notes that the Department's www.distraction.gov website provides information on the latest data on distracted driving and that 34 states have passed laws against texting and driving since the 2009 announcement by the Secretary of DOT. GAO is waiting for additional information to determine whether recent DOT actions warrant closing this recommendation.

Critical Infrastructure: Actions Needed to Better Secure Internet-Connected Devices

GAO-23-105327
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response to jointly work with the Administrator of DHS's Transportation Security Administration and the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, as co-SRMAs for the transportation systems sector, to use the National Plan to develop a sector-specific plan that includes metrics for measuring the effectiveness of their efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of their sector's IoT and OT environments. (Recommendation 7)
Open
In April 2023, DOT stated that, in coordination with co-SRMA partners at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it is developing an update to the 2015 transportation systems sector-specific plan (SSP). DOT noted that it plans to include metrics for measuring the effectiveness of efforts to enhance the cybersecurity of the sector's IoT and OT environments. In addition, DOT stated that the update is dependent on DHS finalizing the National Plan to ensure that the SSP aligns with any substantive changes in the new National Plan. According to DHS, the National Plan is estimated to be completed by September 2025.

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 RAISE officials develop an enhanced process to verify that DOT documents all decisions to include projects with a negative benefit-cost analysis rating on the Highly Rated List prior to sending the Highly Rated List to the Secretary of Transportation. (Recommendation 3)
Open
As of March 2024, DOT stated that it concurred with this recommendation and agreed to provide additional information on its planned actions by May 2024. GAO will monitor DOT's efforts to address this recommendation.

Federal Software Licenses: Better Management Needed to Achieve Significant Savings Government-Wide

GAO-14-413
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To ensure the effective management of software licenses, the Secretary of Transportation should develop an agency-wide comprehensive policy for the management of software licenses that addresses the weaknesses we identified.
Open
As of January 2024, the department had not provided a documented policy for the management of software licenses that address the weaknesses we identified. According to department officials, they have onboarded an enterprise software license manager and expects to have an enterprise software license program plan and governance documentation published to its IT community by September 30, 2024. In July 2016, the MEGABYTE Act of 2016 was enacted, which codified this recommendation for all executive agencies (Pub. L. No. 114-210, 130 Stat. 824). We will follow up with the department to obtain evidence of the department-wide implementation of this recommendation.

Telecommunications: Agencies Need to Apply Transition Planning Practices to Reduce Potential Delays and Added Costs

GAO-17-464
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should ensure that the Department's Chief Information Officer fully demonstrates that DOT's transition goals and measures align with its mission; completely identifies transition risks related to information security, critical systems, and continuity of operations; and fully identifies mission-critical priorities in the transition timeline. (Recommendation 25)
Open – Partially Addressed
Department of Transportation (DOT) provided evidence that its transition goals and measures align with its mission and that it has identified the risks associated with the EIS transition. However, as of January 2024, DOT has not yet provided documentation demonstrating that it has identified mission-critical priorities in its transition timeline. We will continue to follow-up with DOT on its efforts to implement this recommendation.

Capital Investment Grants Program: FTA Should Improve the Effectiveness and Transparency of Its Reviews

GAO-20-512
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The FTA Administrator should take steps to provide information to Congress and sponsors to better clarify how FTA applies the methods and factors it considers when performing its review of sponsors' projects. Clarification could include how FTA uses documents, such as project roadmaps, to help sponsors advance through the development process; estimated time frames for reviewing submissions and responding to sponsors' requests; and how FTA considers geographic diversity of projects in its decision-making. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOT did not concur with this recommendation. At the time of GAO's report, the Department stated that it believes FTA already provides ample information to Congress, stakeholders and project sponsors. However, in light of the findings in the report, GAO continues to believe FTA could clarify certain aspects of its review process to help sponsors navigate the development process, bridge gaps in expectations, and address the areas of confusion project sponsors mentioned. For example, as noted in the report, FTA communicates the required time frame to respond to projects, but there are many interim steps and project sponsors reported being unaware of the pace of FTA's decision-making process. In March 2024 DOT stated that FTA's position on this recommendation has not changed. Specifically, FTA does not anticipate taking action on this recommendation in their planned guidance update.

Critical Infrastructure: Actions Needed to Better Secure Internet-Connected Devices

GAO-23-105327
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Director, Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response to jointly work with the Administrator of DHS's Transportation Security Administration and the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, as co-SRMAs for the transportation systems sector, to include IoT and OT devices as part of the risk assessments of their sector's cyber environment. (Recommendation 8)
Open
In April 2023, DOT stated that it will coordinate with co-SRMA partners at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support, as needed, their ongoing efforts to develop Transportation Systems Sector Risk Assessments and planned to address this recommendation by June 30, 2024.

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 the RAISE NOFO identifies all selection factors, such as those used when creating a selection portfolio or other process to facilitate award decisions. (Recommendation 4)
Open
As of March 2024, DOT stated that it concurred with this recommendation and agreed to provide additional information on its planned actions by May 2024. However, in its written response to GAO's report, DOT also stated that it sufficiently notified potential applicants that geographic diversity would be a selection factor through its statement in the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) that "the Secretary selects projects from the Highly Rated List for award, consistent with the selection criteria and statutory requirements for geographic and modal diversity." However, as stated in our report, DOT guidance requires DOT to disclose policy factors used during the selection process in an objective and clear way. While DOT's NOFO informed applicants that award selections would be consistent with statutory requirements for geographic diversity, it did not inform applicants of how DOT would implement the geographic diversity requirement. We maintain that knowing that DOT established a goal of awarding one grant to each state or territory would have provided applicants with clear and objective information that they can use to assess their odds of receiving an award and factor into their application decision. As such, we believe that DOT should fully implement our recommendation to ensure that the RAISE NOFO identifies all selection factors used to assist the Secretary in making award decisions. DOT agreed to provide details on its planned actions to address this recommendation by May 2024. GAO will monitor DOT's efforts regarding this recommendation.

Slot-Controlled Airports: FAA's Rules Could Be Improved to Enhance Competition and Use of Available Capacity

GAO-12-902
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To help maximize the use of available capacity at slot-controlled airports, enhance competition through greater airline access to slots, and enhance transparency of slot information, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to apply slot rules to individual slots, as opposed to pools of slots within a slot period.
Open
Previously, in January 2015, the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the New York City area airports. The proposal included changes to how the FAA would determine compliance with minimum slot usage rules similar to GAO's recommendation and the WSG. Under that concept, a slot would only be considered for a flight or series of flights in a single slot and not potentially applied or averaged to more than one slot. The NPRM was withdrawn by DOT and FAA in April 2016 to allow further evaluation of recent changes in demand, competition, operations, and other factors in the New York City area airports. The FAA and the Office of the Secretary continue to evaluate the circumstances at the New York City area airports and DCA and, if necessary, will consider steps to ensure compliance with minimum slot usage, including future rulemaking. In March 2018, DOT indicated that it has no plans to initiate a rulemaking on this issue. However, as of May 2022, DOT said it continues to evaluate options, including potential future rulemaking activities. GAO believes this recommendation continues to have merit. In March 2024, GAO reached out to DOT to see whether it had taken steps to address the recommendation and DOT stated that there were no additional updates at this time. GAO will continue to monitor DOT's efforts regarding this recommendation.

Telecommunications: Agencies Need Better Controls to Achieve Significant Savings on Mobile Devices and Services

GAO-15-431
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To help the department effectively manage spending on mobile devices and services, the Secretary of Transportation should ensure procedures to monitor and control spending are established department-wide. Specifically, ensure that (1) procedures include assessing devices for zero, under, and over usage; (2) personnel with authority and responsibility for performing the procedures are identified; and (3) the specific steps to be taken to perform the process are documented.
Open – Partially Addressed
As of January 2024, the Department of Transportation had partially implemented the recommendation. Specifically, the Office of the Chief Information Officer's Resource Management Office Customer and Contract Support team developed procedures for assessing mobile device usage. However, the department has not specified which of its components the procedures apply to. We will continue to monitor the department's efforts to fully implement the recommendation.
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