Questioned Highway Safety Program Costs in Mississippi

In response to a congressional request concerning the resolution of questioned highway safety program costs in Mississippi, GAO investigated whether the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had fairly and equitably reviewed the State's response to two Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit reports on the Mississippi Governor's Highway Safety Program.

On the whole, NHTSA had fairly and equitably reviewed the Mississippi Governor's Highway Safety Program's (GHSP) responses to the two OIG audits. However, the resolution process was prolonged because NHTSA, OIG, and GHSP did not reach a mutual understanding of the audit findings and the actions to resolve them, and because GHSP did not assign high priority to responding to the audit findings. In addition, NHTSA has provided technical assistance to GHSP to help it improve its financial management.