	Background

RSPA has both legislative and departmental responsibilities for  coordinating and evaluating DOT’s research and development programs,  which, in fiscal year 2002, amounted to about $1 billion. RSPA Has Met Some, but Not All, Legislative or DOT Requirements for Coordinating DOT Research Efforts

Although RSPA has developed an annual plan and taken other steps to  facilitate research coordination, it has not fully met legislative and DOT  requirements for coordinating departmental research. RSPA Has Not Reviewed All DOT Research Projects to Identify Unnecessary Duplication

RSPA does not fully meet its legislative requirement to coordinate surface  transportation and technology development activities because it does not  review all surface transportation research projects to determine whether  surface transportation researchers within DOT are unnecessarily  duplicating research efforts. The Associate Administrator said that RSPA does not measure the results  of federal transportation research activities or provide oversight of the  operating administrations’ research program evaluation processes for the  following two reasons: (1) the operating administrations have  responsibility for performing and measuring their own research programs  and (2) the resource constraints that have limited RSPA’s ability to  coordinate DOT-wide research also limit the agency’s ability to oversee  research program evaluations across the department. Status of RSPA’s Multimodal Research Programs

Since 1999, RSPA has conducted four multimodal research programs, of  which two were congressionally mandated. Specifically, TEA-21 required  DOT to conduct research on using (1) technology to improve energy  efficiency, and reduce emissions and transportation dependence on  petroleum, and (2) satellite images to improve transportation safety and  disaster planning. According to the Associate Administrator, RSPA’s current multimodal  research programs are scheduled for completion by the end of fiscal year  2004. He added that RSPA had not  developed and implemented a process for systematically evaluating the  results of its multimodal research because of a lack of funding and staffing  resources. Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

We obtained oral comments on a draft of this report from RSPA officials,  including the Associate Administrator for Innovation, Research, and  Education.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) within the Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for coordinating and ensuring the evaluation of DOT research programs to promote the efficient use of departmental research funds, which in fiscal year 2002 totaled over $1 billion. RSPA is also responsible for conducting multimodal research that cuts across different modes of transportation. The House Committee on Appropriations directed GAO to examine RSPA's coordination and evaluation of research within DOT and the status of its own multimodal research.

What GAO Found

RSPA has met some, but not all, legislative and DOT requirements pertaining to the coordination of departmental research efforts. For example, while RSPA develops an annual plan and meets monthly with other DOT research officials, RSPA does not review the status of all DOT research activities. Thus, it cannot determine whether duplication of research efforts within DOT does or does not occur. Additionally, RSPA has not developed standards against which to measure its performance in coordinating research within DOT. Moreover, RSPA has not fully met all legislative and DOT requirements to measure research results and oversee research evaluations across DOT. RSPA officials cited a lack of ready information on DOT research activities budget constraints and a lack of authority over other DOT agencies as reasons why they served primarily an information-sharing role, rather than as an overseer and manager of the coordination and evaluation processes. Since 1999, RSPA has budgeted $37 million to conduct four major research programs with applicability to more than one mode of transportation--for example, using technology to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions and transportation dependence on petroleum. According to the Associate Administrator for Innovation, Research, and Education, RSPA's current multimodal research programs are scheduled for completion by the end of fiscal year 2004 and have had a variety of positive results. However, RSPA does not have an evaluation process to systematically evaluate the results of its multimodal research programs.