Report takes issue with FAA grants

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded $36.3 million in economic stimulus money to low-priority construction projects, including nearly $15 million to replace an Alaska airport averaging fewer than two flights a day, according to an internal watchdog report.

In a report issued last week, Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel also concluded that the FAA awarded about $15 million in stimulus money to four airports with histories of mismanagement.

Scovel recommended that the FAA change its evaluation process for $1.1 billion in Airport Improvement Program grants and consider canceling low-priority projects that have not yet received any money. "These grants may not fully comply with (stimulus) requirements calling for transparent, merit-based selections and effective administration of funds," he wrote.

Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari on Monday defended the projects in a letter to Scovel. Porcari said the projects low on the department's priority list were necessary to bring the airports up to national safety standards. He said the four airports cited for mismanagement have resolved those problems. "These are hardly examples of government waste," Porcari wrote.

The FAA has approved 263 airport stimulus projects worth $873.9 million, Scovel reported.

Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida, the ranking member of the House Transportation Committee and a critic of the $787 billion stimulus package, said Monday that the report shows "stimulus money is missing its target and FAA is not providing appropriate direction."

The FAA's guidelines call for spending stimulus money on projects scoring above 62 on the agency's 100-point priority ranking system, the report says. Still, the FAA awarded grants to two Alaska airports whose projects scored 40 out of 100 and approved three other projects rated under 50, Scovel wrote.

The Alaska airport replacement projects include $14.7 million for Ouzinkie, an island town of 167, and $13.9 million for Akiachak, a town of 659 along the Kuskokwim River. Ouzinkie's airport averages 42 flights a month and Akiachak's average is 57 flights a week, the report says. Both towns are accessible only by air or water.