New Audit Announcements

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) is responsible for improving the U.S. marine transportation system to meet the Nation’s economic, environmental, and security needs. To support its broad mission, MARAD has several distinct programs; for example, it runs the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; partners with the U.S. Navy to support the Military Sealift Command; and provides loan guarantees and grants for shipbuilders.

In response to MARAD’s request for an independent review of its core functions, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) issued a report in 2017 with 27 recommendations for improving the Agency’s mission focus and program alignment. In turn, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 directed us to audit MARAD’s actions to address 16 of those recommendations, including those related to the Agency’s mariner education and training mission. Accordingly, we are initiating this audit to assess MARAD’s actions to address the 16 recommendations from NAPA’s 2017 report specified by Congress.