Implementation Guidelines - Federal Transit Administration - U.S. ...

depending on the size and complexity of the
transit system.
The audit process is comprehensive in
nature, including a review of each
grantee/subrecipient’s policies, procedures,
and record keeping. Each agency’s service
agents including collection sites, medical
review officers, substance abuse
professionals, and third party administrators,
if appropriate, are also interviewed and a
mock collection is performed. Complete
audits are also performed on a select number
of grantees/subrecipient’s safety-sensitive
contractors and their respective service
agents. These contractors are held to the
same standards as the direct
grantees/subrecipients.
Transit systems are selected for audits
through a process that ensures a
representative cross section of FTA
recipients including system size, location,
and mode of operation. Systems with
compliance issues identified in FTA
Triennial Reviews or MIS reports will also
be candidates for a detailed FTA audit.
Transit systems that have previously been
audited may be selected for a re-audit. Reaudits
are limited in scope and address the
non-compliant issues identified in the
original audit. A detailed discussion of reaudits
is provided in Section 5 of this
chapter.
Section 1. AUDIT TIME LINE
The audit process was designed to be
completed in 22 weeks. The process is
initiated once the grantee is notified of
selection, and ends when the grantee
receives a letter of compliance from FTA.
Grantees/subrecipients are notified directly.
State DOTs are notified of rural systems
selected for an audit.
The on-site portion of the audit begins 7
weeks following the first notification. Every
effort is made to schedule audits to avoid
conflicts with other FTA oversight efforts
such as triennial reviews, financial
management oversight reviews, or state
management reviews. The audit is
scheduled so as not to be an undue burden,
but once the dates are set, they are firm and
not negotiable.
The audit notification letter will outline
the schedule of the audit as illustrated in the
Audit Time Line chart on the following
page. The letter will also include an agenda
and summary of expectations for the audit.
The on-site review will take 2 to 4 days
to complete. The audit team generally
completes all on-site questioning and record
review within 3 days. On the fourth day, the
team compiles the report and the final report
is provided to the grantee during an exit
interview held on the fifth day. Following
the exit interview, you and your safetysensitive
contractors and service agents will
have 90 days to respond to the audit and
resolve any identified deficiencies
associated with your drug and alcohol
testing program. Additional audit responses
may be required following the 90-day period
if audit findings have not been completely
addressed to the satisfaction of the FTA.
The FTA will notify you of your compliance
status within 30 days after receiving a
completed response.
Chapter 14. Administrative Requirements 14-2 August 2002