Review for PHMSA Research and Development Program and project activities is an essential component for output quality assurance. There are many sources of guidance for conducting legitimate External, Stakeholder and Peer reviews. Guidance has come from the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Secretary of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). A number of laws and regulations codify these requirements including the Pipeline Safety and Integrity Act of 2002 (PSIA-2002), the Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) evaluation process for the OMB, the President's Management Agenda R&D Investment Criteria and the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Congress ultimately has a significant role in evaluating the budget and the performance of PHMSA. Interagency Agreements between agencies with complementary pipeline R&D programs must be factored into reviews. Finally, there is oversight of the safety advisory committees, State pipeline safety organizations such as National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives, national standards organizations such as American Society of Mechanical Engineers, industry trade and technology organizations, and the general public. Over any given year, PHMSA is involved with several items that assist in providing quality assurance for R&D activities and outputs. These items can be filed into an external, stakeholder, and peer review approach which applies to both program and project level activities.
For more information on any given area of program and project review, please select one of the following specific topics:
