Department of Transportation

Turboliner Modernization Project: Payment Verification and Close-out Costs

In the Turboliner Modernization Project, certain Amtrak trainsets were to be remanufactured by a contractor so that they could travel at higher speeds. In our prior audit report 2002-S-15, we examined payments made to the contractor through June 30, 2002. In this report, we examined subsequent payments, including the close-out costs for this $71.8 million contract.

We disallowed $1.4 million in close-out costs claimed by the contractor, because the costs could not be substantiated. For example, in several instances, the cost of the materials used in the remanufacturing process was overstated because of data entry errors and because planned unit costs were claimed rather than actual unit costs. In other instances, claimed costs were not documented or were not actually incurred. We recommended that these costs be recovered from the contractor. We also found that $1.5 million in claimed costs were not fully supported by the available documentation. We recommended that these costs be evaluated by the Department of Transportation, and all overpayments be recovered. We further recommended that $4.7 million in claimed costs be audited by the Department before payment was made to the contractor.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-S-10 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.