The Department of Transportation (DOT) is undertaking a number of initiatives to meet its performance and strategic goals.
During this time period, homeland and national security continues to be one of the top priorities of DOT. The events of September 11 underscore the importance of transportation security as part of America’s homeland and national security. DOT is working to ensure a seamless transition of both the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 1, 2003.
For FY 2003, DOT’s proposed budget totals $59.3 billion. When proposed funding for the Coast Guard and TSA are removed from this figure, the budget request totals $51.3 billion.
DOT has several performance and financial priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Below are these initiatives with their corresponding budget request. (Note: Figures shown do not reflect amounts being requested for the Coast Guard and TSA in FY 2003).
Safety. DOT’s top priority continues to be safety. A total of $12.7 billion is requested for safety activities and initiatives for FY 2003.
Homeland and National Security. As stated above, DOT is committed to complete the transfer of the Coast Guard and the TSA to DHS and continue the good working relationship between DOT and DHS. In the remaining portion of DOT’s FY 2003 budget request, $758 million is requested for homeland and national security.
Mobility. Another major DOT strategic priority is the free flow of passengers and goods. The FY 2003 budget requests $34.0 billion to improve mobility.
Environment. DOT’s objective is to advance the benefits of transportation while minimizing the negative environmental impacts. The 2003 budget requests $3.6 billion for environmental initiatives.
Financial Systems. Delphi, DOT’s modern financial systems initiative, is moving DOT away from the legacy system into an advanced financial systems environment. DOT has implemented Delphi in all of its organizations – except for FAA, FHWA, MARAD, FMCSA, and Volpe—which will implement Delphi in 2003.
Streamlining Financial Practices. Through the electronic transmission of data and information for both our internal processes (i.e., employee travel, salary payments, procurement), and our external processes (i.e., payments to grantees and vendors, etc.), we are making things easier and quicker for all of our customers and cutting administrative costs.
Another challenge for DOT is the reauthorization of its surface and aviation programs which expire at the end of FY 2003. DOT looks forward to working with the Congress and the appropriate stakeholders during the reauthorization of these critical infrastructure programs.
Along with DOT’s successes, the Department will also address several management challenges in the upcoming year. The DOT Inspector General (OIG) has identified several challenges and these detailed on the following pages.