View PDF Document

Summary

On August 5, 2013, we issued our report on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) compliance with revised requirements in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) regarding the use and management of cost-reimbursement awards.

Our audit found that the six DOT Operating Administrations we reviewed do not fully comply with revised FAR requirements on the use and management of cost-reimbursement awards. Specifically, we found that the Operating Administrations do not (1) fully comply with the revised FAR requirements related to acquisition planning and documenting justifications or (2) consistently assess oversight risks, properly designate oversight personnel, or verify that contractors’ accounting systems are adequate to provide valid and reliable cost data. The Operating Administrations’ noncompliance is primarily attributable to the Department’s lack of internal guidance for implementing these new requirements and lack of oversight needed to verify departmentwide compliance.

We made five recommendations to the Office of the Senior Procurement Executive to improve DOT’s compliance with the revised FAR requirements on the use and management of cost-reimbursement awards. OST concurred with four recommendations and partially concurred with one because it stated that the recommendation would be most appropriately made to the Maritime Administrator. We are requesting that OST reconsider its request that we redirect the recommendation to the Maritime Administrator and provide planned actions and timeframes to address the recommendation.