Recommendation: Congress should consider reassessing and determining the level of universal postal service the nation requires. (Matter for Consideration 1)

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: When we determine what steps the Congress has taken, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: Congress should consider determining the extent to which USPS should be financially self-sustaining and what changes to law would be appropriate to enable USPS to meet this goal. (Matter for Consideration 2)

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: When we determine what steps the Congress has taken, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: Congress should consider determining the most appropriate institutional structure for USPS. (Matter for Consideration 3)

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: When we determine what steps the Congress has taken, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The TSA Administrator should update the BASE cybersecurity template to ensure it reflects cybersecurity key practices, including the Detect and Recover functions outlined in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: Transportation Security Administration
Status: Open

Comments: TSA concurred with this recommendation and said it would take steps to implement it by updating the BASE Cybersecurity Security Action Item section to ensure it reflects the NIST Cybersecurity Framework Detect and Recover functions. When we confirm what actions TSA has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the Board should require the Safety Recommendation and Communication team to fully document its evaluations when assessing items to propose for Most Wanted List consideration (Recommendation 1).

Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the Board should take steps to publicly and fully communicate the selection rationale, such as including why NTSB believes an issue is "ripe for action" to its documentation on its website (Recommendation 2).

Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop a detailed implementation plan that sets goals and a timeline for the Bureau's continued efforts, fills vacancies in the Bureau, and prioritizes and sequences work to carry out the multiple responsibilities given to the Bureau in the FAST Act. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to develop a strategy with goals and objectives to guide the Bureau's work and to complete this action by August 2020. DOT stated it does not plan to create a detailed implementation plan as that would detract from higher priority efforts. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop performance indicators to assess the Bureau's progress toward meeting its guiding principles or mission as a "one-stop shop." (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to establish a baseline that tracks the average amount of time that projects spend in each of the key developmental phases to assess how long projects take to reach financial close and to complete this action by August 2020. This planned baseline and measure would align with one of the Bureau's four guiding principles, but additional measures would be needed to gauge its overall progress in meeting the Bureau's other guiding principles. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop a mechanism to assess the Bureau's application evaluation process for TIFIA and RRIF and identify and address opportunities to improve and further streamline the process. This evaluation should include mechanisms to solicit feedback from project sponsors that sought financing. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, the Bureau is planning to develop a survey to solicit feedback from project sponsors on their experience with the Bureau and to have an approved survey ready for use by August 2020. We will continue to monitor DOT's actions and the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy should ensure that the Build America Bureau develop and adopt a public statement that outlines DOT's and the Bureau's policy goals and appetite for risk for the TIFIA and RRIF financing programs. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, DOT is planning to develop a strategy that outlines the Bureau's policy goals, but does not intend to issue a public statement that outlines DOT's and the Bureau's appetite for risk. According to DOT, a risk appetite statement would not be feasible given that the loan programs in the Bureau cover a diverse portfolio of publicly and privately funded projects covering a range of transportation modes that range widely in size, complexity, and financial structure. We informed DOT that we continue to believe that a risk appetite statement is both feasible and needed. DOT plans to provide an updated response in October 2020. We will review the Department's response and continue to monitor its actions and determine the extent to which they fulfill our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Administrator of FHWA, working with FRA, should evaluate the Section 130 Program's requirements to determine whether they allow states sufficient flexibility to adequately address current and emerging grade-crossing safety issues. As part of this evaluation, FHWA should determine whether statutory changes to the program are necessary to improve its effectiveness. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) completed a summary report, in cooperation with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, on stakeholder views of the Section 130 program requirements. As part of this evaluation, Volpe obtained feedback from stakeholders about their experience with the program requirements and their views on the flexibility of the requirements to address current and emerging grade-crossing safety issues. The report also contained a literature review. On August 17, 2020, FHWA reported to GAO that FHWA will continue to explore what statutory changes may be appropriate during the upcoming reauthorization cycle. The recommendation remains open because FHWA has not yet determined whether statutory changes to the program are necessary to improve its effectiveness. GAO will continue to monitor FHWA's efforts to implement this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the National Mediation Board should develop and execute a plan to address the rail arbitration case backlog. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: National Mediation Board
Status: Open

Comments: NMB agreed with this recommendation and stated that it is examining the growing arbitration backlog and investigating steps the Board may take to reduce it. In particular, the agency noted that it is discussing proposals with stakeholders and formulating a plan to reduce the backlog in 2018.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the National Mediation Board should develop and implement policies for approval and monitoring of employee requests for outside employment and other outside activities to prevent violations of ethics rules, consistent with Office of Government Ethics standards of conduct and federal internal control standards. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: National Mediation Board
Status: Open

Comments: NMB agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that it has taken significant steps to investigate this matter and has established new controls in order to prevent this type of activity in the future, including establishing a relationship with the IG of the National Labor Relations Board to operate a telephone hotline and email address for the reporting of suspected fraud, waste and abuse at NMB.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the National Mediation Board should complete and take actions on the organizational climate assessment and survey results as a means to address employee concerns. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: National Mediation Board
Status: Open

Comments: NMB agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that the Board is concerned that the 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey revealed a level of dissatisfaction among NMB employees. It plans to conduct an Internal Climate Assessment in 2018 and agency looks forward to the opportunity to better understand and address any employee concerns.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the National Mediation Board should revise NMB's travel policy and develop appropriate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal requirements for travel. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: National Mediation Board
Status: Open

Comments: NMB agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that it is in the process of reviewing the current travel policy, and will revise the policy to be in compliance with federal travel regulations as necessary.

Recommendation: The Chairman of the National Mediation Board should revise NMB's telework policy and develop appropriate internal controls to ensure compliance with federal requirements for telework. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: National Mediation Board
Status: Open

Comments: NMB agreed with this recommendation and stated that it will revise its telework policy and strengthen internal controls, as necessary.

Recommendation: The Office of Transit Safety and Oversight should develop and communicate a method for how it will monitor the effectiveness of the enforcement authorities and practices of state safety agencies. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: DOT concurred with this recommendation. DOT should continue its progress to developing and communicating a methodology for how it will monitor the effectiveness of state safety agencies' enforcement.

Recommendation: As DOT, in response to the FAST Act, conducts additional evaluation and analysis of ECP brakes and updates the regulatory impact analysis, the Secretary of Transportation should direct FRA and PHMSA to create a plan to collect data from railroads' ongoing and future operational experiences using ECP brakes. The plan should include details on how the agency will work with railroads to collect this data, ensure that such data are reliable, and analyze these data to conduct a retrospective analysis of the ECP brakes requirement that could help inform any potential future actions regarding ECP brakes.

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: In December 2017, DOT announced that it would rescind the electronically-controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake rule because its updated Regulatory Impact Analysis estimated that the rule's costs would exceed its benefits. Subsequently, in September 2018, DOT rescinded the ECP brake rule. As a result, DOT confirmed with us in August 2019 that it does not intend to create a plan to collect data from railroads' use of ECP brakes.

Recommendation: As DOT, in response to the FAST Act, conducts additional evaluation and analysis of ECP brakes and updates the regulatory impact analysis, if, based on its updated analysis, DOT promulgates a new rule on the applicable ECP brake system requirements, the Secretary of Transportation should direct FRA and PHMSA to require that freight railroads, once they equip with ECP brakes in response to the requirement, collect and provide data to FRA on their ongoing operational experience with ECP brakes.

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: In December 2017, DOT announced that it would rescind the electronically-controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake rule because its updated Regulatory Impact Analysis estimated that the rule's costs would exceed its benefits. DOT subsequently rescinded the ECP brake rule in September 2018. As a result, this recommendation is currently no longer relevant and DOT confirmed with us in August 2019 that it does not plan to implement this regulation.

Recommendation: To improve the consistency and completeness of Amtrak's financial reporting and to provide Congress with accurate information to make funding decisions, the President of Amtrak should ensure that Amtrak's depreciation expenses are appropriately allocated to its lines of business once the underlying capital asset data are determined reliable.

Agency: National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Status: Open

Comments: As of April 2020, Amtrak had not allocated its depreciation costs to its lines of business, as we recommended. In 2019, Amtrak stated that federal law required Amtrak to allocate and report its capital spending by line of business. Amtrak further stated that depreciation expense is a good proxy for capital spending and that the changed reporting requirements eliminated the need to report depreciation by line of business. In addition, although Amtrak's external auditor did not find any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in Amtrak's fiscal year 2019 audited financial statement-the most recent available-those statements do not allocate Amtrak's depreciation costs to its various business lines. We will update this recommendation's status with any new information from Amtrak.

Recommendation: In addition, to better inform congressional decision making regarding the funding of Northeast Corridor infrastructure improvements, the Northeast Corridor Commission should work with its members to establish criteria for its members to use in selecting and prioritizing capital projects to be included in future editions of its 5-year capital plan.

Agency: Northeast Corridor Commission
Status: Open

Comments: As of April 2020, the Northeast Corridor (NEC) Commission and its members had yet to establish criteria for selecting and prioritizing capital projects in its 5-year capital plan. The Commission staff told GAO that it had developed potential criteria for selecting projects for both regional and NEC-wide priorities to be included the Northeast Corridor Capital Investment Plan, Fiscal Years 2020 - 2024, published in April 2019 and updated in December 2019. However, those potential criteria were not formally adopted by the Commission members. Specifically, the Commission's proposed criteria for selecting NEC-wide priorities included projects that would prevent the potential severing of the Northeast Corridor and advance state-of-good repair. Proposed criteria for regional priorities included projects that would increase train capacity and improve passenger access to rail services. While the proposed criteria were not used to select or prioritize projects in the Capital Investment Plan, Fiscal Years 2020 - 2024, the plan presented the proposed criteria as "benefits" for the projects in that plan. While this information may be helpful to stakeholders in understanding some of the rationale for the inclusion of projects in the plan, it does not demonstrate that the Commission and its members have established formal criteria for selecting and prioritizing projects, as GAO recommended. GAO will continue to monitor the Commission's progress in addressing this recommendation.

Recommendation: To help ensure that the Federal Railroad Administration manages its limited resources and provides flexibility to railroads in implementing PTC, Congress should consider amending RSIA as requested in the FRA's August 2012 PTC Implementation Status Report to Congress, including granting FRA the authority to approve the use of alternative safety technologies in lieu of PTC to allow railroads to improve safety and meet many of the functions of PTC through other means.

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, Congress had not taken any action regarding this Matter for Congressional Consideration.