Department of Transportation Oversight and Accountability ...

1 Program: Highway and InfrastructureObjectives: CFDA No: 1512 Reporting: YesDateOversight ActivityStatusCommentsLinked Related InfoARRAA merican Recovery and Reinvestment ActFDOTF lorida Department of TransportationOIGO ffice of Inspector GeneralFHWAF ederal Highway Administration - US Department of TransportationGAOG eneral Accountability OfficeUS-DOT OIGUS Department of Transportation - Office of Inspector General1/1/2009 Developed an OIG Quarterly newsletter which contained ARRA-related information and disseminated the same to Department personnel and external related articles were provide in three issues of the newsletter - April, July and October 2009. Available upon request. 1/1/2009 Established OIG team (13 staff) to prepare for general provisions and employment reporting requirements of the a Department plan to assist in the implementation of employment reporting district-level personnel responsible for ARRA employment reporting requirements and coordination of additional ARRA activities within each development of an automated electronic employment reporting system in conjunction with the Department 's Office of Information Systems for use by contractors, consultants and local Electronic Employment Reporting System went "live" in May development of three computer-based training modules for the electronic employment reporting system for use by contractors.

2 Consultants and local development of a risk-based assessment for all ARRA-funded Transportation ProgressThe risk-based assessment process is an on-going and reviewed Department Offices of Construction and Contracts Administration staff with the development of two new Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction to include ARRA reporting teleconferences with district-level staff to disseminate information regarding verification, timeliness, and integrity of the data used in the creation of employment reports submitted to the updates (via teleconference) were held with district-level staff as reporting requirements First Bi-Monthly Review - Coordinated, provided and reviewed additional information and comments to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) initial bi-monthly report of ARRA Oversight and monitoring a Department Monitoring and Oversight Plan for all ARRA-funded Transportation projects. The plan included the identification of projects risks, Department control activities, plan design, anticipated budget and organizational a draft of a ARRA general information and electronic employment reporting brochure for dissemination to Department staff, contractors, consultants and local of TransportationOversight and Accountability Related Activities1/17/2012 11.

3 39 AM1 of 17 DOT_OversightActivities Highway&InfrastructureDateOversight ActivityStatusCommentsLinked Related Info4/1/2009 Developed a method to review and track recommendations of GAO, OIG, FHWA, Office of the Auditor General a Fraud Awareness video presentation for use in ARRA "town hall" and submitted the monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the see Accountability and Transparency by State and Program at the link and disseminated a letter detailing specific Single Audit requirements to local with Department staff to ensure ARRA funded projects maintained transparent lines of procurement responsibility, authority and Oversight ; utilized well-structured contracts;competitively awarded contracts;utilized fixed-price contracts;ensured adherence to high ethical standards with regard to contract awards;appointed contract surveillance personnel as soon as contract were awarded;enforced penalties for companies and individuals which commit ethical violations or fail to demonstrate acceptable performance; andcoordinated with state and local program officials and auditors in the planning and execution of contracts, agreements, audits and other Fraud Awareness training for ARRA Transportation project contractors, consultants and local Awareness activities are on-going through the final implementation of the final acceptance testing of the ARRA Electronic Employment Reporting System and moved new system to a production environment for use by contractors, consultants and local reporting system enhancements or changes are training curriculum for use in ARRA "town hall" meetings.

4 Completed5/1/2009 Established an ARRA project communications tree which identified key Department staff and local agency a draft of a ARRA general information and electronic employment reporting brochure for dissemination to Department staff, contractors, consultants and local a schedule for ARRA district-level "town hall" training of 10/30/09 we have conducted seven presentations which trained approximately 610 teleconferences with district Local Agency Program Coordinators regarding the ARRA employment reporting agencies provide Oversight for approximately 75% of the ARRA-funded Transportation and submitted the monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the the FHWA form 1586 - Initial ARRA Project PlanCompleted5/20/2009 Reviewed and submitted the FHWA form 1587 - Monthly Summary Employment ReportCompleted5/20/2009 Reviewed and submitted the FHWA form 1585 - Monthly Recipient Project Status 11.

5 39 AM2 of 17 DOT_OversightActivities Highway&InfrastructureDateOversight ActivityStatusCommentsLinked Related Info6/1/2009 OIG partnered with the United States Department of Transportation to provide three ARRA Fraud Awareness and Reporting seminars in Tallahassee, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale. CompletedOver 1,400 government and external partners were disseminated new fraud awareness video to senior Department staff and training coordinators for use at ARRA project pre-construction Department Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, District Secretaries, District Directors, and Chief Inspector General were provided copies. Additionally the video has been shown at ARRA "town hall" additional information and comments to the Government Accountability Office's second bi-monthly report of ARRA Oversight and monitoring activities and assisted in planning site visits to with the Federal Highway Administration in conducting "town hall" meetings with seven district offices to provide general ARRA-related information and to demonstrate the ARRA Electronic Reporting System and three computer-based training of 10/30/09 we have conducted seven presentations which trained approximately 610 ARRA informational brochure to Department staff, contractors, consultants and local , Disseminated and posted informational sheet on Project Financial submission of FHWA form 1201 - Maintenance of Effort Actual Expenditures an ARRA risk analysis survey to the Office of the Governor.

6 Chief Inspector GeneralCompleted6/1/2009 Updated OIG and Department websites with ARRA-related newsletter article for the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties regarding ARRA employment reporting requirements, Single Audit and Fraud Awareness and OIG points-of-contact for local agency questions regarding Single Audit, external audit coordination and liaison activities and the electronic employment reporting and submitted the FHWA form 1585 - Monthly Recipient Project Status and submitted the monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the and submitted the FHWA form 1587 - Monthly Summary Employment ReportCompleted6/30/2009 Completed CIG Program Risk AssessmentCompletedThe risk score was: (0=lowest risk, 5 = highest risk)7/1/2009 Reviewed Implementing Guidance for the Reports on Use of Funds pursuant to ARRA issued by the Office of Management and Budget on June 22, 2009.

7 Contacted FHWA Division Office for clarification on how current reporting efforts would be affected by the new 11:39 AM3 of 17 DOT_OversightActivities Highway&InfrastructureDateOversight ActivityStatusCommentsLinked Related Info7/1/2009 Conducted a meeting with Performance Management Office to discuss a database which captures information relating to the Department s performance measurement system. Discussion was held regarding the collaborative use of this database as part of the Department s effort to ensure Accountability and transparency for ARRA-funded Florida Transportation projects. Completed7/1/2009 Attended webinar at FHWA division office to go over the future changes to Recovery Act Data System (RADS). The changes to RADS are intended to address the additional data requirements included in the Office of Management and Budget s (OMB) June 22, 2009 guidance, improve the efficiency of the database, and reduce the monthly submission of State analysis of June Transportation project lettings and compared to Engineer s a frequently asked questions guidance document for ARRA-funded Transportation projects and post document to the OIG and Department ARRA web sitesCompleted7/1/2009 Attended seven webinars that provided information on implementing the guidance set forth in OMB Memorandum M-09-21, Implementing Guidance for the Reports on Use of Funds pursuant to ARRA released on June 22, 2009.

8 Each webinar focused on a major section of the guidance as well as the technology Second Bi-Monthly Review - Coordinated, provided and reviewed information to GAO in preparation for their second site visit and coordinated GAO staff site visits in District 2 and District 3 for the month of and submitted the FHWA form 1585 - Monthly Recipient Project Status and submitted the monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the and submitted the FHWA form 1587 - Monthly Summary Employment ReportCompleted7/20/2009 The OIG in conjunction with FHWA conducted a post-authorization / LAP review of 30 projects in District Three during July 20 - 22, OIG in conjunction with FHWA conducted a post-authorization / LAP review of 33 projects in District Two during July 23 - 24, handled 19 ARRA-related help desk calls for July meetings in two district offices to demonstrate the departments automated ARRA Employment Reporting System and Computer-based training modules to contractors, consultants and local 11.

9 39 AM4 of 17 DOT_OversightActivities Highway&InfrastructureDateOversight ActivityStatusCommentsLinked Related Info8/1/2009 Completed a risk-based assessment for all ARRA-funded Transportation projects and prioritize the types of reviews based on risk factors ( , high-dollar contracts, local agencies who have never managed a LAP project, project type an independent review team to conduct analyses of all ARRA data (by field) prior to the Department submission of data to the FlaReporting with the FHWA by conducting federal post-authorization and Local Agency Program reviews in two Department Second Bi-Monthly Review - Responded to questions from and reviewed final drafts of bi-monthly GAO visits and a draft of an on-line survey of all local agencies to obtain an understanding of the their readiness regarding ARRA reporting requirements and to determine potential improvements for Local Agency Program support provided by district in development of modifications to the FHWA Recovery Act Database System (RADS) based on Office of Management and Budget requirements.)

10 CompletedThe RADS system replaced the FHWA forms 1585, 1586 and and disseminated an OIG weekly dashboard of ARRA project information to key Department staff. The weekly briefing dashboard contains information relating to the total number of ARRA projects which were bid, awarded, Completed, total amount of ARRA funds obligated, ARRA Transit project information "town hall" meetings with four district offices to provide general ARRA-related information and to demonstrate the ARRA Electronic Reporting System and three computer-based training modules to 270 contractors, consultants and/or local and submitted revised (for June 2009 data) monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the and submitted the FHWA form 1585 - Monthly Recipient Project Status OIG in conjunction with FHWA conducted a post-authorization / LAP review of 13 projects in District Four during March 12 - 13, and submitted the FHWA form 1587 - Monthly Summary Employment ReportCompleted8/20/2009 Reviewed and submitted the monthly Congressional House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee report to Chairman Oberstar and the Executive Office of the handled 28 ARRA-related help desk calls for August 11.