DOT's Fiscal Year 2022 Top Management Challenges

What We Looked AtAs required by law, we report annually on the Department of Transportation's (DOT) most significant challenges to meeting its mission. We considered several criteria in identifying DOT's top management challenges for fiscal year 2022, including their impact on safety, documented vulnerabilities, large dollar implications, and the ability of the Department to effect change. In addition, we recognize that the Department faces the extraordinary task of meeting these challenges while also responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we included COVID-19 considerations in all nine of our top management challenges.What We FoundWe identified the following top management challenge areas for fiscal year 2022: Aviation safety. Key challenges: maintaining confidence in the aircraft certification process and advancing FAA's air carrier oversight to keep pace with safety management system requirements. Surface transportation safety. Key challenge: increasing compliance with surface safety transportation regulations and programs by improving monitoring and enforcement. Air traffic control and airspace modernization. Key challenges: delivering NextGen benefits to airspace users and deploying controller automation tools to improve efficiency. Surface transportation infrastructure. Key challenges: employing effective oversight of Federal funding for response, recovery, and rebuilding projects and enhancing risk-based oversight to improve project delivery and update and maintain surface transportation infrastructure. Contract and grant fund stewardship. Key challenges: managing domestic preference and supply chain risk and dedicating qualified and sufficient oversight resources for contract and grant funds. Information security. Key challenges: addressing DOT's recurring cybersecurity weaknesses and protecting DOT's IT infrastructure and sensitive information. Financial management. Key challenges: avoiding increases in improper payments and improving policies and procedures to monitor and report grantee spending. Innovation and the future of transportation. Key challenges: safely integrating new technologies into transportation systems and implementing executive orders and other Federal priorities to tackle the impact of climate change, advance equity, and promote resilience in infrastructure and supply chains. Evolving operations and workforce management. Key challenges: integrating lessons learned to facilitate workplace reentry and communicating fully and consistently with employees on workplace procedures, status, flexibility, and expectations.