Department of Transportation

What We Looked AtAs the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) operational arm, Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is responsible for providing safe and efficient air navigation services in U.S. controlled airspace. ATO provides air navigation services in over 17 percent of the world’s airspace and...

What We Looked AtMuch of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety oversight work is performed by its aviation safety inspector workforce, whose responsibilities include overseeing the maintenance practices of air carriers and other operators, certifying the airworthiness of new aircraft...

What We Looked AtThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Contract Tower (FCT) Program consists of 257 contract towers in 46 States operated by 3 contractors and the Air National Guard. Contract towers manage about 28 percent of the Nation’s air traffic control operations. The FCT Program is...

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 70 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021. We used the reports to identify significant findings related to programs directly funded by the Department of...

What We Looked AtIn response to a request from the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) reviewed MARAD’s core functions, including its role within the Department of Transportation and its contributions to the Nation. NAPA’s 2017 report included 27...

What We Looked AtThrough its Logistics Center, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains, repairs, and overhauls equipment for the National Airspace System (NAS). The Logistics Center is FAA’s only centralized distribution center for NAS inventory, valued at $735 million. Each year, it...

What We Looked AtThe primary mission of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. To that end, FMCSA regulates commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders involved in interstate commerce and the...

What We Looked AtThe Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) requires agencies to identify, report, and reduce improper payments in their programs. For fiscal year 2020, the Department of Transportation reported one program, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Highway Planning and...

What We Looked AtAfter Hurricane Sandy caused widespread damage to transportation infrastructure in October 2012, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act (DRAA) designated $10.9 billion for the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) new Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program. We assessed (1)...

What We Looked AtTo support its mission to provide the safest, most efficient airspace system in the world, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks to procure state-of-the-art systems, high-quality goods, and first-rate services. In 2017, for example, the Agency made over $4 billion worth of...