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COTA hurdles USDOT State Management Review audit
Alfreda Camacho Maratita, special assistant for Public Transportation, poses with Bernardo Bustamante, director for the office of Program Management and Project Oversight, and Ryan Fujii, general engineer, both from the U.S. Department of Transportation – FTA Region IX, during the Territorial Climate and Infrastructure Update Presentations last March in Honolulu, Hawaii. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
The Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority has successfully completed the required State Management Review audit, which the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted on COTA last year.
In a news release yesterday, it stated that Ray Tellis, who is the administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration Region IX, notified Alfreda Camacho Maratita, special assistant for Public Transportation, last May 2, 2022, thanking COTA for successfully completing the State Management Review audit.
The SMR is a comprehensive oversight review of grantees designed to assess management practices and program implementation to ensure that the programs are administered in accordance with all federal transit law provisions, FTA requirements, and are meeting program objectives.
Specifically, the USDOT: FTA inspected the following areas: Transit Asset Management, Procurement, Drug and Alcohol Program, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, Maintenance, Satisfactory Continuing Control, Legal, Financial Management and Capacity, Technical Capacity -Awards Management, Program Management, Project Management, Title VI, ADA, and the following specific Federal Section Requirements: 5307, 5310, and 5311.
The review was done between March and July 2021.
“The successful completion of this State Management Review audit is a true reflection of [COTSA’s] continuing commitment to sound program management, financial capabilities, and technical capacity. It also reflects our commitment as FTA grantee recipients for the CNMI that we are responsible for administering millions of federal funds to which has gone into the creation and the expansion of surface transportation for the betterment of our beloved Commonwealth,” said Maratita.
Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres thanked Maratita and everyone at COTA—“from the bus drivers to the office staff—for adhering to the federal transit requirements upon their successful completion of the State Management Review audit, and I commend them for their hard work in continuing to provide, ensure, and expand reliable, safe, and comfortable public transportation throughout the Marianas.” (Saipan Tribune)
