Audits

We issued a final report on project data shortfalls in FHWA’s Financial Management Information System (FMIS) that impact FHWA’s ability to perform adequate oversight of more than $30 billion in annual grant payments. We reported this as a material weakness in our audit of the FY’04 Highway Trust Fund (HTF) financial statements and it will negatively affect future financial statements until corrected. Our report highlights FMIS’s inability to aggregate the total cost of highway projects and provide needed schedule data for effective oversight and project delivery. We recommended that FHWA: (1) expand plans to aggregate project costs in FMIS to ensure they are aggregated for projects under $1 billion and make that information available for preparation of the FY 2005 HTF financial statements; and (2) identify a strategy and associated costs for collecting project schedule data needed to improve oversight of Federal‑aid highway program activities and measure achievement of the Department’s project delivery goal by March 31, 2005.