The Department will achieve its objectives through its leadership role in U.S. transportation policy, operations, investment, and research. To influence results, DOT programs rely on a number of common interventions and actions. These include:

• Direct operations and investment in DOT capital assets that provide capability, such as air traffic control.

• Infrastructure investments and other grants, such as investment in highway, rail, transit, airport, and Amtrak capital infrastructure improvement, and grants for safety, job access, or other important transportation programs.

• Innovative financial tools and credit programs, such as those provided for by the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, and the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program.

• Rulemaking, in areas such as equipment, vehicle or operator standards; for improving safety; and for fostering competition in the transportation sector of the U.S. economy.

• Enforcement to ensure compliance, including inspections, investigations, and penalty action.

• Technology development and application, such as fostering new materials and technologies in transportation, and transportation related research.

• Education, such as consumer awareness, and campaigns to influence personal behavior.

• Public Information, such as that provided by the Bureau of Transportation statistics, and each DOT operating administration, so that states, localities, regions, and private sector entities can better plan their activities.

Some of these interventions and actions reside entirely within the Federal Government, but most involve significant partnering with state and local authorities and with the transportation industry. These are the broad areas of action that DOT – and State and local governments – commonly use to bring about desired results. Tax expenditures are also a significant tool by which the Federal Government encourages transportation investment, but do not represent a key tool of intervention by DOT.

This Performance Plan focuses on DOT’s five strategic goal areas and the FY 2004 resources and program activities that will enable us achieve results. At the same time, some activities are internal ones – like financial management, procurement, and personnel -- without which the Department could not operate or hope to achieve its goals. The Organization Excellence chapter of this plan focuses on overall DOT efforts to achieve our part of the President’s management agenda, ensuring that we are a citizen-centered, results-oriented, Cabinet agency.