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Public Transportation: Better Data Needed to Assess Length of New Starts Process, and Options Exist to Expedite Project Development

GAO-09-784 Published: Aug 06, 2009. Publicly Released: Aug 06, 2009.
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Highlights

The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. FTA has acted recently to streamline the process. This report discusses the (1) time it has generally taken for projects to move through the New Starts process and what Congress and FTA have done to expedite the process and (2) options that exist to expedite the process. In response to a legislative mandate, GAO reviewed statutes, FTA guidance and regulations, and project data. GAO also interviewed Department of Transportation (DOT) officials, projects sponsors, and industry stakeholders.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To improve the New Starts program, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FTA Administrator to continue to improve data collection and retention for statutorily defined milestones and determine if additional data would help to better describe the time it takes for a project to move through the New Starts process. In doing so, FTA should establish mechanisms to ensure the accuracy of the data and routinely analyze the data in order to identify the length of time it takes projects to move through each phase, potential causes for perceived delays, and potential solutions. FTA should make its analysis available to Congress and other interested parties.
Closed – Not Implemented
As FTA stated in its agency comments to this report, FTA disagreed with GAO's recommendation. And, FTA's position regarding this recommendation has not changed. On April 29, 2011, an FTA official reiterated that FTA continues to disagree with this recommendation. Further, on June 29, 2011 FTA indicated that they have no intention of making the recommended changes. The FTA officials indicated they would like us to close the recommendation even if we indicated not implemented.
Department of Transportation To improve the New Starts program, the Secretary of Transportation should direct the FTA Administrator to continue to analyze the streamlining options identified in this report, along with any additional options, to determine which options, if any, to implement--seeking legislative change if necessary--to expedite the project development within the New Starts program.
Closed – Implemented
In 2009, GAO reported that the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) had recently taken action to streamline the New Starts project development process. GAO contacted project sponsors, transit consultants and others who identified a number of options to further streamline and expedite this process. Although each of these options could streamline the process, each option has advantages and disadvantages to consider. In addition, FTA must also strike the appropriate balance between expediting project development and maintaining the rigor and accountability of the New Starts program. Therefore, GAO recommended that FTA analyze streamlining options and determine which to implement or seek legislative approval of, as necessary. In response, FTA considered various streamlining options and determined which to implement to streamline New Starts project development process. FTA officials indicated that in September 2009, the agency published policy guidance taking some immediate steps to extend pre-award authority for activities such as utility relocation and procuring real estate and vehicles, so project sponsors could decide to take these steps before final FTA approval, possibly eliminating some delay. In addition, FTA published a Notice of Proposed rulemaking in January 2012; this rulemaking has, as one of its broad goals, streamlining the New Starts and Small Starts project development process. As a result, the length of New Starts Process should serve as less of a deterrent and encourage more communities to turn to transit to solve their transportation challenges.

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Topics

AccountabilityBudgetingConstruction grantsCost analysisData collectionEngineeringEvaluation criteriaEvaluation methodsFederal fundsFederal grantsFuture budget projectionsInternal controlsInvestment planningInvestmentsJoint venturesMass transitMass transit fundingProgram evaluationProgram managementRecordsReporting requirementsRequirements definitionTransportationPolicies and procedures