Announcements

OIG has initiated oversight efforts of the Department’s response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent recovery activities. OIG’s hurricane relief and recovery oversight effort will include on-site reviews in the Gulf States and work with other Federal, state, and local agencies to: (1) verify that expenditures of Federal funds on transportation services and programs are being appropriately tracked; (2) proactively ensure that the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, the Maritime Administration and state transportation departments exercise adequate oversight of Department expenditures and put systems in place to make certain that funds are appropriately spent; (3) audit selected projects, grants, and contracts; (4) conduct fraud awareness and prevention activities to alert Federal, state, and local government agencies; and, (5) investigate allegations of fraud involving transportation infrastructure projects, to include presenting cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution and participating in resulting prosecutions.