The Transportation has made only limited progress in carrying out recommendations of a report issued four years ago finding weaknesses in the process to suspend and debar contract or grant awardees when appropriate, the department’s IG has said.
The IG noted that in a 2010 report, it reported significant delays in the department’s deciosn making and reporting and a lack of internal controls to safeguard against awards to excluded parties.
In the follow-up report, the IG said that 40 percent of the decisions it reviewed were made after the 45-day time limit in government-wide regulations. “We also identified significant data errors in the DOT S&D system, which undermine the system’s effectiveness as a management tool,” it said.
The department continues to provide untimely and inaccurate reporting of its decisions to the government-wide System for Award Management, the report said. “Failure to report excluded parties puts the federal government at risk of doing business with prohibited parties found to be unethical or irresponsible.”
It said DoT management fully or partially concurred with all of the IG’s recommendations.
The report is here: https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/32201
