Opportunities Exist To Improve FHWA’s Oversight of STIPs Including Those With IIJA-Funded Projects

What We Looked AtThe Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) oversees approximately $350 billion appropriated for FHWA programs and activities by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021. To ensure proper planning and budgeting, each State Department of Transportation (State DOT) must submit a Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) that includes all projects planned for implementation over a period of at least 4 years. Given the amount of funding under IIJA, we initiated this audit. Our objectives were to assess whether FHWA (1) issued guidance to support States’ STIP planning, (2) provided timely technical assistance to support States’ STIP development, and (3) provided continued monitoring and oversight of the Division Offices’ updated STIP standard operating procedures.What We FoundFHWA has not finalized all planned guidance to help State DOTs administer IIJA programs and develop STIPs. As of November 2023, the Agency was working on 4 of 22 guidance areas related to IIJA. Federal control standards call for agencies to communicate the information necessary to achieve objectives. FHWA’s lack of complete guidance may increase the risk that IIJA funding will not achieve intended benefits and cause increased project costs. Furthermore, FHWA’s delays in technical assistance to State DOTs on IIJA-funded projects can impact States’ administrative efficiency. It took the Agency up to 5 months to fulfill two requests from one State DOT. Such delays in other States may increase the risk of adverse effects on STIP development for IIJA-funded projects. FHWA has provided guidance to Division Offices on standard operating procedures (SOPs) for STIP reviews and approvals but lacks policy on reviews of updated SOPs. This lack of policy can increase the Agency’s oversight risks.Our RecommendationsWe made three recommendations to help FHWA improve oversight of STIPs that include IIJA-funded projects. FHWA concurred with one recommendation and partially concurred with the other two. We consider all three recommendations resolved but open pending completion of planned actions.