Originally published GAO: Report Finds DOT Needs to Better Track and Communicate Infrastructure Act Funding on by https://www.hstoday.us/industry/latest-from-gao/report-finds-dot-needs-to-better-track-and-communicate-infrastructure-act-funding/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=report-finds-dot-needs-to-better-track-and-communicate-infrastructure-act-funding at Homeland Security
Key Takeaways
- A 2021 law provided $551 billion to the Department of Transportation for about 100 grant programs. Most of the funds will go to state and local governments and others to build things like roads and bridges.
- DOT and awardees must sign grant agreements before DOT can commit the funds. If this doesn’t happen before a program’s deadline, funds can become unavailable.
- Awardees told the GAO they faced challenges that could delay grant agreements. For example, if project costs increase due to inflation, awardees have to redefine their budgets or take other steps before the agreement.
- The GAO recommended that DOT assess this and other challenges to funding projects.
What GAO Found
Enacted in 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) authorized and appropriated over $551 billion to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide grants to states, local governments, and other entities for transportation investments. As of April 2025, DOT has obligated 59 percent of its available IIJA funding and outlaid over half of that funding to recipients and awardees.
While DOT has publicly reported some IIJA funding information, it has not provided complete information to Congress on the amounts of obligations and outlays for formula and discretionary grant programs in aggregate. Doing so could provide Congress with information on how these two funding types affect obligation and outlay rates. This would be valuable as Congress considers the mix of programs to fund in upcoming surface transportation legislation.
Based on GAO’s survey, discretionary grant awardees commonly experienced challenges with inflation cost increases; defining project budget and schedule; National Environmental Policy Act reviews; and Build America, Buy America Act requirements. These interrelated challenges create risks for awardees, including that funding will expire or no longer be available to the awardee. Approximately 23 percent of surveyed awardees for selected fiscal year 2022 discretionary grant programs reported that they did not have a signed grant agreement when they responded to GAO’s survey from December 2024 to March 2025.
DOT has not fully assessed the risks posed by challenges awardees cited to the efficient and effective delivery of IIJA funds. While DOT has taken some steps, it has not comprehensively identified risks, fully assessed their likelihood and impact, and monitored them. For example, efforts GAO reviewed assess risks for a single program or individual projects but do not look across DOT’s portfolio of grant programs. Fully assessing risks could help ensure that DOT has strategies to effectively address awardee challenges and guide DOT as it makes decisions about delivering the remaining billions in IIJA funding.
Why GAO Did This Study
DOT administers over 100 grant programs to provide billions of dollars each year to eligible entities to build highways, transit, and other infrastructure. DOT and grant recipients and awardees work to sign agreements, at which point DOT generally obligates the funding. If the grant funding is not obligated before the program’s statutory deadline, the funding becomes unavailable. Deadlines vary by program. While some do not have deadlines, others have a deadline as early as September 30, 2025.
In January 2025, the current administration issued an executive order to pause the disbursement of certain funds appropriated through the IIJA. As of April 2025, DOT is reviewing projects without signed discretionary grant agreements for alignment with administration priorities.
This report (1) assesses the status of IIJA grant funding as of April 2025, (2) identifies challenges grant awardees reported facing, and (3) evaluates DOT actions to assess risks posed by reported awardee challenges.
GAO analyzed DOT funding data from USAspending.gov as of April 2025 and surveyed awardees of 316 projects from December 2024 to March 2025 and interviewed DOT officials and funding awardees.
Read the full GAO report here.
Originally published GAO: Report Finds DOT Needs to Better Track and Communicate Infrastructure Act Funding on by https://www.hstoday.us/industry/latest-from-gao/report-finds-dot-needs-to-better-track-and-communicate-infrastructure-act-funding/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=report-finds-dot-needs-to-better-track-and-communicate-infrastructure-act-funding at Homeland Security
Originally published Homeland Security