Performance Measures Solve Fraud/Waste

Establishing Performance and Funding Standards key

Establishing performance standards and funding limits key to public and congressional support

Gorton: Performance Metrics, Demonstrating Return on Investment Key to Restoring Public Confidence The forum began Thursday night with an address by former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), who is now co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Transportation Policy Project (one of the event’s other co-sponsors). In his remarks, Gorton emphasized the importance of restoring the faith of the American people in government’s ability to make the right choices in meeting infrastructure needs. “The American people remember well the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’—infrastructure as it was—and they are convinced that the stimulus didn’t fulfill its lofty promises,” he said. “So they have a low degree of confidence in the government’s ability to set priorities and to carry out its promises.” Gorton said restoring that confidence and winning support for infrastructure investment will require an emphasis on return on investment and performance metrics at all levels of government. “I believe it is central to our ability to persuade Congress and the American people to support an infrastructure program we deem necessary,” Gorton said. “How do we transform our current unwillingness or inability to measure effectiveness of what we’re doing into an evidentiary and tangible return-focused investment strategy? With so many conflicting demands, data on measuring and understanding performance is absolutely essential for determining highest priorities and ensuring the best returns on the investment of now very scarce dollars.” Gorton also had a couple of other key questions he challenged meeting participants to come up with the answers to. “How do we make fundamental policy choices based on data and evidence rather than on ideology or geography,” he asked. “How do we move from the growing ambiguity of federal, state and private roles to a new federalism and an appropriate reliance on market forces in preserving and upgrading our nation’s critical infrastructure?”

Performance Measures key

Performance metrics key to increase accountability

BAFEF 2k11 (Building America’s Future Educational Fund (BAF Ed Fund) is a bipartisan coalition of elected officials dedicated to bringing about a new era of U.S. investment in infrastructure that enhances our nation’s prosperity and quality of life. Founded by former Governor Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, BAF Ed Fund boasts a politically diverse membership of state and local elected officials from across the nation, “Building America’s Future Falling Apart and Falling Behind,” pg online @ http://www.bafuture.com/sites/default/files/Report_0.pdf //um-ef)

Increase accountability in the federal funding and project delivery process. This means including performance metrics in the funding award process; streamlining the project delivery process; and implementing “use it or lose it” policies. House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica has proposed a “437-Day Plan”—modeled after the Minneapolis bridge reconstruction slated for three years but completed in 437 days—to serve as a guide for improving project delivery.

Solvency: Audits

Audits should be performed- empirically proven to save millions

Puentes 11 (Robert is a senior fellow at brookings, Prior to joining Brookings, Robert was the director of infrastructure programs at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Virginia where he served on the Alumni Advisory Board, and is an affiliated professor with Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. “State Transportation Reform: Cut to Invest in Transportation to Deliver the Next Economy” http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2011/2/22%20infrastructure%20puentes/0222_infrastructure_puentes.pdf feb 22, 2011) CANOVA

Governors should order a full audit of their state’s transportation program to ensure it is functioning in the most efficient, effective manner possible. The audit should start with standard (and useful) examinations of the inner workings of transportation departments’ accounting, procurement rules, fleet management, and training. When he took over as Governor of Virginia in January 2010, Bob McDonnell called for an independent assessment of his transportation department’s organizational structure, programs, and operations. His request was approved by the state legislature and in September 2010, the audit found over $600 million in immediate savings due mainly to better contracting and project acceleration. audit of Idaho’s transportation department found over $30 million in one-time savings over five years, and $6 million annually thereafter. But the audit must go farther, to investigate the entire scope of how transportation investment decisions are made within a state. For example, how closely aligned are project decisions to a cohesive strategic vision for economic growth? How coordinated are infrastructure projects? It makes no sense to make efficiency gains in a program that needs a thorough overhaul. For example, a recent audit of the Texas department of transportation recommended organizational changes intended to diminish the “singular, deeply entrenched culture” of the agency and more emphasis on business and financial management including the use of metrics to determine performance. Governors and legislators should also recognize that the fiscal crisis creates the opportunity to talk about new sources of transportation revenues – including sources that were previously considered politically infeasible.

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