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U.S. Department of Transportation
2007 Budget in Brief

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) continues to be a leader among Federal agencies in supporting the President's Management Agenda and instituting the use of performance-based budgeting in its internal processes. The fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget request builds on DOT's successful implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 by strengthening the linkages between budgetary resources and programmatic and performance outcomes that benefit the Nation. The resources requested in the Department's FY 2007 budget will enable DOT to achieve a transportation system that is safe, efficient, and secure. At the departmental level, performance goals and measures focus on core transportation missions, and reflect the Secretary's transportation priorities of safety, mobility, global connectivity, environmental stewardship, security, and organizational excellence.

The budget documents for DOT's individual operating administrations reflect the successful steps to integrate budget and performance. Beginning with the FY 2004 budget cycle, DOT organized its budget submissions to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congress in such a way that the linkages between additional resources and improved performance would be more apparent. The linkages were further strengthened for the FY 2005 budget submissions. The FY 2006 budget submission began DOT's efforts to take performance budgeting to the next level by estimating the marginal cost of performance (i.e. what results can be achieved at different levels of funding) for selected programs. FY 2007 extends this effort across the Department as each operating administration has estimated the marginal cost of performance for at least one of its performance goals.

Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)

The FY 2007 budget formulation process continues to fully incorporate the use of OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) in resource allocation decisions. The PART is intended to gauge whether a program's design and purpose are clear and defensible; weigh whether the agency sets valid annual and long-term goals for programs; rate agency management of programs, including financial oversight and program improvement efforts; and focus on results. The PART process is meant to complement traditional management techniques and to be used to stimulate a constructive dialogue between program managers, and budget and policy officials.

During the FY 2004 budget formulation process, four DOT programs were evaluated using the PART instrument: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Grants-in-Aid for Airports program; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Grants; the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Infrastructure Investments; and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Grants.

Six additional DOT programs were evaluated during the FY 2005 budget formulation process: FAA Air Traffic Services; FAA Research, Engineering and Development; the FHWA Federal Lands Highways program; the rail safety portion of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Safety and Operations; the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) New Starts program; and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grants.

In FY 2006, nine more programs were evaluated: FAA Facilities and Equipment; FAA Regulation and Certification; FHWA's Research and Development program; the Maritime Administration (MARAD) Maritime Security Program; PHMSA's Pipeline Safety program; FRA's Research and Development program; the FTA Urbanized Area Formula Grant and Fixed Guideway Modernization programs; Federal Motor Carrier Safety and Operations; and NHTSA Operations and Research.

Six additional programs were evaluated as part of the FY 2007 budget cycle: FHWA's Emergency Relief Program, PHMSA's Office of Hazardous Material Safety, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation’s (SLSDC) Operations and Maintenance program, Amtrak, and two MARAD programs - the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and State Maritime Schools.

The PART process assisted in identifying programs that were "effective," "moderately effective," "adequate," and "ineffective." The information gathered through the FY 2004 - 2007 PART processes was provided to senior officials and was instrumental in making decisions regarding programmatic funding requests.

Managing for Results

Fiscal responsibility requires sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars. This means that once the Congress and the President decide on overall spending levels, taxpayer dollars should be managed to maximize results. The President's Management Agenda (PMA) is creating a results-oriented Government where each agency and program is managed professionally and efficiently, and achieves the results expected by the Congress and the American people.

The PMA, launched with the broad goal of making the Government more results-oriented, focuses on achievement and accountability. Areas of emphasis, or sub-components, were identified for the Agenda, as well as expected levels of achievement, or Standards for Success. Implementation of the PMA has brought focus and attention to how DOT operates, and identified ways that it can be more effective.

The PMA initiatives are identified in the following PMA Scorecard Table, along with OMB's assessment of the Department's efforts to improve performance in each initiative area. OMB provides both a "Status" and "Progress" rating for each initiative. The "Progress" rating indicates the direction of the Department's efforts as it strives to improve its "Status" rating.

President’s Management Agenda Scorecard
Initiative	Status 12/31/05	Progress 12/31/05
Human Capital — DOT continued to strengthen its human capital management by gaining provisional certification for its Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance plan and a SES pay plan that links pay to organizational performance. Also, all employees have performance plans with a multi-level performance rating system.	Green	Green
Competitive Sourcing — DOT has achieved a "green" status for its competitive sourcing initiative. All competitions have been completed within prescribed timeframes, and DOT believes it has developed best practices in streamlined competitions.	Green	Green
Improved Financial Management — DOT's progress rating dropped to "yellow"; from green. While DOT received an unqualified audit for 2005, it also received three material weaknesses including two repeat weaknesses.	Red	Yellow
E-Government — DOT fell to a "yellow" status for this initiative. Although DOT made progress in implementing several E-government initiatives, DOT still needs to implement additional security improvements for information technology (IT) systems and improve management controls to address "at risk" IT programs.	Yellow	Green
Budget & Performance Integration — DOT is a leader in the government on Budget and Performance Integration and has achieved its "green" status. DOT's FY 2007 Budget submissions incorporated PART findings and are structured to show full costs by strategic goal.	Green	Green
Eliminating Improper Payments - DOT is working to eliminate improper payments. Accounting firm KPMG was hired to review the Department's risk susceptible programs. DOT also conducted a research project with the State of Tennessee to develop a statistical methodology for testing for improper payments at the local level.	Red	Green
Property Asset Management — DOT took several steps to improve the management of its real property, including enhancing its inventory system to be consistent with Government-wide standards, implementing performance metrics, and establishing an agency-wide plan for managing real estate.	Yellow	Green

Green=Satisfactory
Yellow=Good Progress
Red=Unsatisfactory

^1/ Italicized numbers represent preliminary estimates or projections from trends.
^2/ Starting in FY 2005, measure was redefined to measure 'good' rated pavement versus 'acceptable' rated pavement. Results for FY 2004 have been adjusted accordingly.
^3/ The FY 2007 goal reflects a 0.2 percent decrease below the projected 0.7 percent yearly growth rate in congestion.
^4/ Starting in FY 2005, measure was redefined to exclude delays resulting from extreme weather, air carrier action, and security delays. Adjusted results for FY 2004 are unavailable.
^5/ Replaced the wetlands replacement measure which is now being tracked as a FHWA supplemental measure.
^6/ Starting in FY 2006, measure has been redefined to exclude highly volatile liquids. FY 2004 results have been adjusted.

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