Budget in Brief Table of Contents | DOT.gov

U.S. Department of Transportation
Fiscal Year 2009 Budget In Brief

Policy, Performance and Program Outlook

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 decision making processes. The fiscal year (FY) 2009 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 2009 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 Department's strategic goals of safety; reduced congestion; global connectivity; environmental stewardship; security, preparedness and response; and organizational excellence; and the Secretary's priorities of safety, transportation systems performance and reliability, and 21st century solutions for 21st century transportation challenges.

Program Assessment Rating Tool

The Department uses the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to evaluate many of its programs. The PART asks approximately 25 important, yet common sense questions about a program's performance and management. For each question, there is a short answer and a detailed explanation with supporting evidence. The answers determine a program's overall rating. Once each assessment is completed, we develop a program improvement plan so we can follow up and improve the program's performance.

PART assessments help us learn how we can achieve better results for the American people - we are always striving to make improvements, regardless of whether a program performs well or not. The rating indicates how well a program is performing, so the public can see how effectively tax dollars are being spent. Programs can receive one of the following five ratings:

• Effective – This is the highest rating a program can achieve. Programs rated Effective set ambitious goals, achieve results, are well-managed, and improve efficiency.
• Moderately Effective – In general, a program rated Moderately Effective has set ambitious goals and is well-managed. Moderately Effective programs likely need to improve their efficiency or address other problems in the program's design or management in order to achieve better results.
• Adequate – This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability, or strengthen its management practices.
• Ineffective – Programs receiving this rating are not using your tax dollars effectively. Ineffective programs have been unable to achieve results due to a lack of clarity regarding the program's purpose or goals, poor management, or some other significant weakness.
• Results Not Demonstrated – A rating of Results Not Demonstrated indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.

The table below lists the PART assessments that have been conducted for DOT programs along with the responsible operating administration (OA), the associated budget cycle the assessment was completed, and the overall rating:

The FY 2009 budget formulation process continues to fully incorporate the use of PART findings 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. The information gathered through the PART was provided to senior officials and was instrumental in making decisions regarding programmatic funding requests. For additional information concerning PART assessments for DOT programs, see http://www.expectmore.gov.

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 details of the Department's efforts to improve performance in each initiative area and 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 as of 12/31/07	Progress as of 12/31/07
Human Capital — DOT remains “green” in both status and progress. OPM approved full SES performance management certification for DOT. DOT also has initiated the expanded use of telework agency-wide and incorporated telework training for leaders and employees into its electronic learning management system (eLMS).	Green	Green
Competitive Sourcing — DOT remains at “yellow” in status for failure to initiate public-private competitions. However, DOT achieved a “green” progress rating due in part to FAA having initiated business case development for its cartographic services high-performing organization. DOT also initiated independent validation of savings for Maritime Administration’s headquarters administrative support services competition and FHWA’s Visual Information Services and Data Analysis and Collection Services.	Yellow	Green
Improved Financial Management — Status is upgraded to “yellow” for the first time. DOT earned a clean audit opinion by removing the prior year qualification related to the Federal Aviation Administration’s construction in progress finding; however this finding was repeated in the FY 2007 audit. DOT also resolved the Highway Trust Fund material weakness on financial reporting & oversight. DOT has now received a clean audit opinion for six of the past seven years.	Yellow	Green
E-Government — DOT’s status remains “yellow” as the Department has not demonstrated achievement of the green standard for Earned Value Management (EVM). However, DOT provided information on 27 of 33 major investments using EVM.	Yellow	Green
Performance Improvement Initiative — DOT is a leader in the Government in Budget and Performance Integration and Performance Improvement and has achieved its “green” status. DOT’s FY 2009 Budget submissions incorporated PART findings and are structured to show full costs by strategic and performance goal.	Green	Green
Eliminating Improper Payments — DOT remains “yellow” for status and “green” for progress. DOT has developed FY 2008 work plans to expand nationwide improper payment rate testing for selected FHWA, FAA, and FTA grant programs.	Yellow	Green
Real Property Asset Management — DOT targeted the first quarter of FY 2008 to achieve a “green” status rating. OMB approved DOT’s Green Presentation with minor modifications; however, the evidence document submitted to meet the third and fourth “green” standards does not address a number of key questions necessary to demonstrate that data is used in decision-making across the organization.	Yellow	Green
Green = Satisfactory Yellow = Good Progress Red = Unsatisfactory