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Transit Grants: Need for Improved Predictability, Data, and Monitoring in Application Processing

RCED-00-260 Published: Aug 30, 2000. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 2000.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) administration of transit grants, focusing on: (1) the timeliness and consistency of FTA's processing of grant applications; (2) the number of applications for labor protection certifications for which the Department of Labor's (DOL) processing time extended beyond 60 days and the factors contributing to any processing delays; and (3) the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in connection with DOL's certification process.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation should establish formal goals for processing transit grant applications and monitor the status of grant applications.
Closed – Implemented
FTA established a 90-day goal for processing and approving all capital, planning and operating grants. This processing goal was announced by FTA in its 2001 Apportionment and Allocations Federal Register Notice. FTA is monitoring its grant processing times through a report that documents these times for key grant programs and its regional offices.
Department of Transportation The Secretary of Transportation, in cooperation with the Secretary of Labor, should: (1) take action to ensure that both departments' transit application databases are comparable and reliable; and (2) periodically assess the status and timeliness of federal transit application processing by both departments, provide data on the exceptions where the goals have not been met, and report the results of this assessment along with measures to implement any needed improvements to Congress.
Closed – Implemented
To help ensure that DOT's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Department of Labor (DOL) transit application data bases are comparable, DOL discontinued routine partial certifications requiring that grants be split into two numbers. In addition, on January 29, 2001, FTA issued its first periodic report documenting grant processing times for major FTA grant programs. This report compares FTA's processing times to the agency's 90-day processing goal by FTA program and regional office. The report also documents the processing time for DOL certifications.

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Topics

Federal aid for transportationFederal grantsGrant administrationGrant award proceduresLabor lawMass transit fundingMass transitTransportation costsTransportation workersGrant applications