PAR 2006 - OMB PART Program

DOT FY 2006 OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) PROGRAM

Summaries from the FY 2006 PART evaluation cycle are shown below:

Program Name	FAA – Facilities and Equipment
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Organizational Excellence
Score	55% – Adequate
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Continue efforts to develop better internal financial management standards and controls to validate the basis for estimating capital program costs and benefits. Improve contract management discipline by increasing the use of performance-based contracts and employing an incremental lifecycle approach. Revise the Acquisition Management System to ensure it aligns with the government standards for justifying capital investments in FY 2005.
Actions Planned/Taken	The capital investment team (CIT) is an established group and will continue to function in the review and oversight of major capital project acquisitions to ensure better financial management standards. The CIT’s reviews have led to the restructuring or termination of several programs. By FY 2007, FAA will adopt standard cost estimation guidelines to improve accuracy of cost estimates. Improved procurement oversight has enabled us to meet our acquisition goals for cost and schedule for FY 2004 -05. We are on track to meet our goals for FY 2006. FAA has adopted the capital asset plan and business case process recommended by OMB as its own internal process for major IT acquisitions. The Joint Resource Committee (JRC) for major acquisition approved the OMB business case, now the Acquisition Program Baseline (APB).

Program Name	FAA – Aviation Safety
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Safety: Commercial Air Carrier Fatal Accident Rate, General Aviation Fatal Accidents
Score	84% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Develop efficiency metric to measure cost to develop a rulemaking in FY 2005. Conduct look-back study in FY 2005 to determine if rule maximized net benefits.
Actions Planned/Taken	FAA has developed a metric to provide cost per rule. A broader scope efficiency measure would be more representative of the FAA's efforts. The search for such ongoing. After attempting to baseline and determine a suitable target, FAA has contracted with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to analyze labor and cost data to help develop more broad-based efficiency metrics that will allow us to analyze and make decisions based on the data. The timeframe for this to occur is in the September – October 2006. Over the past two years, FAA completed three reviews and has one currently underway. The completed reviews are: (1) Revised Standards for Cargo or Baggage Compartments in Transport Category Airplanes (Class D to Class C Compartments) (FY2004); (2) Fatigue Evaluation of Structure (FY2004); and (3) Revisions of Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) Rules (FY2006). FAA is performing a review of the Terrain Awareness Warning System rule.

Program Name	FHWA – Research and Development Program, Intelligent Transportation Systems
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Mobility
Score	83% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Require the recipients of earmarked funds to demonstrate how projects and intended results support FHWA and DOT goals. Include in FHWA´s RD&T annual performance reports a numeric chart showing progress made towards achieving performance goals at the R&D project level. Discuss how FHWA is implementing the President's R&D investment criteria (relevance, quality, and performance) in the FY 2006 DOT budget and performance documents.
Actions Planned/Taken	All recommendations were completed. Program office is developing new recommendations for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review.

Program Name	MARAD Maritime Security Program
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Security
Score	91% – Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	MARAD has developed and will include in the Budget a new measure to track MSP´s contribution to the total commercial sealift capacity requirement. This will also help DOT evaluate whether the current mix of vessels in the MSP fleet are appropriate. The Budget will also propose to give the MSP more flexibility in entering into contract with the commercial carriers so that the program can better meet the changing requirements of the Department of Defense.
Actions Planned/Taken	All recommendations are completed.

Program Name	Research and Special Programs Administration (now PHMSA) Pipeline Safety
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Safety
Score	81% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Enhance program resources for States to address the performance of gas transmission pipelines. The Administration also will allocate resources to provide improved technical oversight and evaluation of program partners. Include language in pipeline safety grant agreements and other transactions to ensure State program partners commit to and report on the program’s long-term and annual goals. Finalize a program-wide strategic plan, including research and development activities. Develop and collect baseline data for two efficiency measures related to enforcement actions and costs of implementing the Integrity Management Program in HCAs.
Actions Planned/Taken	PHMSA will request authorization authority and resources to provide better technical oversight and recurring systematic evaluation of program partners. Program has developed the language to incorporate the recommendations in pipeline safety agreements. PHMSA is developing a methodology and analyzing the data to develop reasonable baselines for at least two efficiency measures. When will these efforts be complete?

Program Name	FRA Research and Development
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Safety and Organizational Excellence
Score	77% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Develop a strategic framework for managing the program and its component research projects. This would involve developing multi-year R&D program plans that contain detailed schedule and budget information; clear explanations of how research projects support FRA performance goals; standard procedures for soliciting stakeholder input on setting research agendas; and standard procedures for obtaining merit reviews of work performed and funded by FRA. Request $150,000 in the FY 2006 budget for staff and resources to coordinate this effort. Include in FRA´s annual performance reports a numeric chart showing progress made towards achieving performance goals at the R&D project level. Develop process for tracking 'on-budget' and 'on-schedule' efficiency measures.
Actions Planned/Taken	FRA has developed and is continuing to refine efficiency measures for this program. Additionally, FRA requested and received funding for a new employee to develop multiyear R&D program plans that contain detailed schedule and budget information and clear explanations of how research projects support strategic goals.

Program Name	FTA – Formula Programs – Section 5307 and 5309
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Mobility and Organizational Excellence
Score	92% – Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Administration will work with FTA to evaluate ways to improve national ridership rates and to ensure that FTA continues to administer the grants efficiently.
Actions Planned/Taken	FTA has worked with the 150 largest transit agencies to adopt best practices that will lead to increased ridership. FTA has also initiated a three-pronged effort to ensure that the average number of days to award and process a grant, as well as grantee performance, is monitored and controlled. For FY 2006, FTA committed to: ensuring that the average number of days to process a grant is 36 days or fewer, after receipt of a completed application by the appropriate regional offices; closing-out 95% of fully disbursed grants by September 30, 2006; and reducing the backlog of inactive, open grants by 90%.

Program Name	FMCSA –Safety and Operations
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Highway Safety
Score	73% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Develop and implement a comprehensive and recurring Regulatory Evaluation program. This program will provide a comprehensive review of Agency regulations to evaluate their timeliness and effectiveness in improving Agency performance. Develop and implement a comprehensive Quality Assurance Program to ensure Agency programs and practices are consistent, standardized and applied in a timely manner.
Actions Planned/Taken	All recommendations have been completed.

Program Name	NHTSA – Operations and Research
Strategic Goal(s) Effected	Highway Safety
Score	75% – Moderately Effective
Major Findings/ Recommendations	Increase funding for fatality data analysis to ensure that DOT has timely and accurate fatalities statistics. Conduct a review of completed safety evaluations to determine the effectiveness of programs in contributing to safety goals. o Implement its Motorcycle Safety Program Plan to identify methods and strategies for improving motorcycle safety.
Actions Planned/Taken	Following the passage of SAFETEA-LU, FastFARS (Early Fatality Notification System) was initiated, with a goal of providing more timely fatality counts so States can use the information to improve their highway safety programs within weeks, rather than over a year later. A review was conducted of the effectiveness of enacted rulemakings and NHTSA vehicle and behavioral safety programs, which enables the Agency to prioritize future rule making actions. For example, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), initially installed in SUVs and a few expensive passenger vehicles, was evaluated and found to be highly effective. NHTSA is initiating a rulemaking for ESC to be a required feature in all private vehicles. The 2006 Motorcycle Safety Plan, which incorporates SAFETEA-LU mandates and new initiatives, has been completed and can be viewed at: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/MotorcycleSafety.pdf.