Understanding how federal transit dollars are being spent in the New York City region

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provides $1.4 billion in capital grants to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yearly. This is accomplished under the FTA Transit Award Management System (TrAMS) used to award and manage federal grants. The MTA currently manages an active portfolio of federally-funded capital improvement projects and programs in open grants worth more than $12 billion in direct federal financial assistance. This does not include $3.8 billion in recently approved COVID-19 funding. By comparison, New York City Department of Transportation does the same for $398 million, New Jersey Transit for $2.6 billion and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for $3.9 billion. Dollar values do not include COVID-19 funding.   

As part of the requirements contained within all master grant agreements, using FTA TrAMS, the MTA provides updated Quarterly Financial and Milestone Progress Reports to the FTA on active capital improvement projects and programs. These are usually submitted within 30 days after the fiscal quarter has started on the first of the month and ends last day of the third month. Federal fiscal quarters are October - December, January - March, April - June and July - September.

Does the MTA submit grant applications on time for both formula and discretionary competitive funding opportunities? Do they take advantage of pre-award authority prior to grant approval? Use of pre-award authority affords the opportunity to incur costs for reimbursement at a later date after grant obligation of funding. This allows the MTA to initiate work including advertising, awarding of contracts and issuing notice to proceed for contractors to begin work prior to the grant award. Activities performed by force account or in-house staff can also begin work prior to the grant award.

Have all MTA FTA grant funded capital project contracts been awarded? Are current federal transit projects and programs progressing on schedule, completed on time and within budget? Explanations for project delays and any change orders more than $100,000 are required. Project delays require recovery schedules and revised interim milestones. Are funds being expended on a timely basis? Are there any unspent funds carried over year after year? Are there open grants with no recent financial activity? Are there older grants with small balances and no recent financial activity? Is there any waste, fraud or abuse? Are all change orders for construction projects fair, reasonable and documented?

Does the MTA seek federal reimbursement as appropriate on a regular basis? Are New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the MTA Board, MTA operating agency presidents, chief engineers and others aware of all this information? Do they read these reports? If not, are they briefed on a regular basis by their respective staff on the contents of these reports?

Both the MTA and FTA have independent engineering consultant firms to supplement in-house staff for oversight. These companies provide both oversight and technical assistance for capital projects. FTA usually assigns its own engineering consultant firms to those projects worth $100 million or more. Engineering firms monitor the progress of major capital projects and prepare monthly progress reports. Monthly reports are made available to MTA Chairperson Pat Foye, MTA headquarters staff, MTA Board members (including four each directly appointed by both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo), MTA Agency presidents, including Janno Lieber, Capital Construction, Sarah Feinberg NYC Transit , Philip Eng Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), Catherine Rinaldi Metro-North Railroad and Craig Cipriano MTA Bus, each MTA operating agency chief engineer, FTA headquarters and regional office senior management teams and in-house project oversight staff. Citizens can access some of these documents by going to the FTA or MTA websites.

The FTA also has other consulting firms who conduct periodic Financial Management, Procurement System and Triennial reviews (to insure compliance with FTA rules and regulations), along with various civil rights (including either Title VI, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Equal Opportunity Employment, Americans With Disabilities, rail station, fixed bus route and paratransit) reviews. These reviews may cover either MTA headquarters and/or various MTA operating and construction agencies, including NYC Transit, LIRR, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Capital Construction and MTA Bus.

The reports are made available to most of those on distribution lists for MTA and FTA independent engineering oversight consulting firms reports. Citizens can access some of these documents by going to the FTA website.

Both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo proudly boast how they manage the most transparent administrations in history. How much of the information submitted to the FTA do they require the MTA to post on their website?

New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, New York City Office of Management and Budget and New York City Independent Budget Office all perform periodic audits of MTA projects and programs. U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG), New York State OIG, New York City OIG and MTA OIG all perform periodic audits of MTA and operating agency projects and programs.

City, state and federal financial assistance, along with farebox revenues, fund MTA capital projects and programs. Transit riders and taxpayers are looking for accountability, efficient and timely completion of capital projects, programs and maintenance to assure more reliable and safe commutes.

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