Inland Waterways: Actions Needed to Increase Budget Transparency and Contracting Efficiency
Abstract
The Corps is primarily responsible for operating and maintaining the nations inland waterways, including maintaining locks and dams as well as rehabilitating, modernizing, or constructing new infrastructure as needed. Persistent schedule delays and cost overruns for inland-waterways construction projects have prompted some in Congress to explore funding and management alternatives. GAO was asked to review options to change the management of inland waterways. Among other things, this report assesses how the Corps allocates funds for operations and maintenance for the inland waterways, describes how the Corps funds construction projects, and assesses the effect of the current funding approach on projects' costs and schedules. GAO reviewed Corps documents and data; interviewed officials from Corps headquarters, six districts, and representatives of regional and national stakeholder groups--including commercial and recreational interests as well as contributors to relevant literature--selected to achieve a variety of viewpoints; and developed a simulation of the effect of various funding approaches on the total funding requirements and timelines for a set of hypothetical construction projects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1157289
Entities
People
- Alexandra Rouse
- Amy Abramowitz
- Amy Rosewarne
- Andrew Von Ah
- Carol Henn
- Cheryl Peterson
- Faisal Amin
- Hannah Laufe
- Josh Ormond
- Katie Hamer
- Krister Friday
- Lisa Shibata
- Pamela Snedden
- Sara A. Moessbauer
- Susan Zimmerman
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office