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11/24/2025
The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) oversight of Hurricane Sandy recovery and resiliency grants was insufficient, leading to prolonged project activity and unclosed programs with unexpended funding, according to a Nov. 19 report issued by the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The report outlines OIG's findings in its assessment of the FTA's unexpended Hurricane Sandy funds associated with the weather disaster that struck the East Coast in 2012. In January 2013, the FTA received $10.9 billion for disaster recovery and resiliency programs; $10 billion was to be obligated for grant recipients. As of March 2024, $3.8 billion, or 38%, remained unspent, according to the report.
Previous OIG assessments of the FTA have identified concerns with the FTA's tracking and oversight, including issues with timely recipient spending.
The OIG found most of the unspent funds are related to prolonged project activity. At the time of the OIG's assessment, there were 28 grant-funded projects with ongoing work. Those projects had completion milestones ranging from April 2025 to July 2030. The OIG also identified 14 grants for which recipients spent approximately $95.4 million after their grants' periods of performance ended, OIG officials said. The $95.4 million are now considered questioned costs.
The FTA heavily relies on self-reporting to learn about the status of grant recipients' spending, which is insufficient, OIG officials said.
Additionally, the OIG found that there were six grants worth a combined $96.9 million in unexpended funding. Those grants also had open-project status, despite recipients completing all project activities. The recipients had extended project milestones without requesting extensions to the grants' performance periods, giving the FTA no reliable benchmark to assess the timeliness of grant program closeouts.
The FTA has no guidance or timeframes for grant recipients to complete projects, begin the grant project closeout process and de-obligate unspent funds, OIG officials said.
The OIG issued four recommendations to the FTA, including better monitoring of grant recipients with unexpended funds to address project completion delays and grant closeouts. To read those recommendations and the entire report, click here.