Federal Reports

The $2.5 billion Acela 21 program is the largest single investment in Amtrak’s (the company) 49-year history. Through this program, the company will replace its existing Acela fleet with 28 new high-speed trainsets to upgrade service on its most profitable business line. In January 2020, we reported on management and structural weaknesses in the Acela 21 program.Our report identified five key steps—commonly called “program elements”—the company must complete to launch service by the planned date in 2021. One of these is the program’s Information Technology (IT) element, which involves the IT department developing and implementing eight different systems—or workstreams—needed for critical functions like performing trainset maintenance and federally required daily safety inspections.

Our objective was to perform the required risk assessment to determine whether an audit or review of the Department’s grant closeout process was warranted. We assessed the risk of the Department’s grant closeout process as moderate and determined that an audit or review is warranted. Specifically, we identified risks with the reliability of grant data and related GONE Act reporting, as well as the Department’sgrant closeout policies and procedures, including a policy allowing older grants to be closed in compliance without required reports being provided by the grantee. In addition, we also found that both the volume of expired grants and amount of undisbursed grant funds has significantly increased between the date of initial GONE Act reporting (September 30, 2017) and January 30, 2020, indicating that grant closeout is less of a focus now that GONE Act reporting is over.

A Senior Director in Washington, D.C., was terminated from employment on April 14, 2020, following the issuance of our investigative report to the company. Our investigation found that the employee violated company policy when she participated on a Technical Evaluation Committee involved in the rating and selection of her friend’s company to conduct work for Amtrak. In addition, we found that the employee accepted a gift from this vendor.