Although FEMA has taken initial efforts to develop measures to assess the effectiveness of its grants programs, TSA and FEMA lack a plan and related milestones for developing specific measures for the Transit Security Grant Program, GAO has said.
It said DHS does not have the capability to measure the effectiveness of the program or its investments, and although the department awarded $755 million from fiscal 2006 – 2008 through the program, just 3 percent of that money had been spent as of February.
DHS has used a risk analysis model to allocate TSGP funding and award grants to higher-risk transit agencies, although transit agency officials have expressed concerns about changes that have occurred since the TSGP’s inception, such as revised priorities, according to GAO-09-491.
The chair of the House Homeland Security Committee commented that the joint administration of the TSGP program between TSA and FEMA has resulted in poor information sharing and led to delays in awards.
“Since 85 percent of the TSA budget is devoted to aviation security, it is critical that we ensure that we are allocating adequate resources to defend the nation’s other vital modes of transportation,” said Thompson, who requested the report.
