Federal Reports

What We Looked AtThe Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is a multibillion dollar infrastructure project aimed at modernizing our Nation's aging air traffic system to provide safer and more efficient air traffic management. Since 2006, our office and others have identified a number of challenges to implementing NextGen programs and capabilities, which have led to program delays and lower usage of new capabilities. Given these concerns, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 mandated that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) study the potential impacts of a significantly delayed, diminished, or completely failed delivery of NextGen. Our audit objectives were to (1) compare the current expected benefits of NextGen with the initial projections and identify the reasons for revising those projections and (2) identify lessons learned from developing and implementing significant air traffic modernization programs.What We FoundNextGen's actual and projected benefits have not kept pace with initial projections due to implementation challenges, optimistic assumptions, and other factors. FAA's most recent business case projects total NextGen benefits to be over $100 billion less than the Joint Planning and Development Office's original estimate, and benefits actually achieved to date have been minimal and difficult to measure. FAA's projections were optimistic about traffic growth and did not account for risk factors. We also found that significant declines in air traffic due to COVID-19 have further extended the timeframe for realizing expected NextGen benefits. In addition, prior OIG NextGen-related work has identified lessons that FAA could use to improve NextGen delivery. For example, while FAA has collaborated with industry to prioritize, implement, and measure benefits of NextGen programs, there are still opportunities for improving transparency, which will be critical to secure industry's long-term investment. Further advancing NextGen will depend on resolving complex implementation challenges, including effectively prioritizing programs, integrating interdependent capabilities, and harnessing controller automation tools to achieve benefits.Our RecommendationsFAA concurred with our three recommendations to improve NextGen delivery and other future National Airspace System modernization efforts, and provided appropriate actions and completion dates. Accordingly, we consider all recommendations resolved but open pending completion of the planned actions.

This report found that SBA awarded the CARES Act entrepreneurial development cooperative agreements and grants in accordance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and guidance. We found program officials established performance goals and identified performance indicators. To more effectively ensure performance goals are achieved as intended, SBA should clearly define the performance goals and set performance targets.We recommended that SBA enforce standard operating procedures requiring defined performance goals and include performance targets in all future SBDC and WBC cooperative agreements and grants. We also recommended that SBA collect and analyze the CARES Act entrepreneurial development cooperative agreement recipient’s performance results and establish a goal-setting process for technical assistance programs established for future disasters. SBA management agreed with both recommendations.

This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit to assess the management of Highway Contract Route (HCR) irregularities due to contractor failure at the New Jersey International (NJI) Network Distribution Center (NDC).

A management official and a company Inspector violated Amtrak policies by accepting gifts and favors from a construction contractor who was awarded a $58 million contract by the company. The management official received gifts from the contractor, including three trips to Philadelphia, and drinks and entertainment at a gentleman’s club. His employment with the company was terminated on February 1, 2021. The Inspector received gifts from the contractor, which included a furnace for his church, a suit, and a pair of shoes. His employment with the company was terminated on March 30, 2021.

We investigated allegations that Nathan Shumaker, a service supervisor employed with Alliance Energy Services, LLC, knowingly discharged oil from the offshore platform known as Vermillion 124F into the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in 2016.Black Elk Trust operated the Vermillion 124F platform located on a Federal lease in the GOM and hired Montco Oilfield Contractors, LLC, to perform work on the offshore platform. Montco hired Alliance as a subcontractor to perform plugging and abandonment operations associated with the platform.We conducted a joint investigation with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and found that Shumaker discharged oil mixed with produced water into the GOM from a “gas buster” tank located on the Vermillion 124F platform. Shumaker discharged the fluid over the objection of another concerned employee. Shumaker also discussed the discharge with Thomas Wharton, Montco’s company representative in charge of the platform and the individual who had ultimate work authority. Because of his position, Wharton was legally responsible for reporting the discharge to Federal authorities, but he failed to do so.The U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice, prosecuted this matter in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. As a result, Shumaker pleaded guilty to a violation of 33 U.S.C § 1319(c)(1)(A), “Negligent Violation of the Clean Water Act,” and on December 14, 2020, he was sentenced to 1 year of probation, issued a $2,500 fine, and issued a $25 special assessment. Wharton pleaded guilty to a violation of 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5), “Failure to Notify Authorities Under the Oil Pollution Act,” and on December 7, 2020, he was sentenced to 24 months of probation, issued a $10,000 fine, and issued a $100 special assessment.