49 U.S.C. § 5327 : US Code - Section 5327: Project management oversight

Search 49 U.S.C. § 5327 : US Code - Section 5327: Project management oversight

(a) Project Management Plan Requirements. - To receive United
States Government financial assistance for a major capital project
under this chapter or the National Capital Transportation Act of
1969 (Public Law 91-143, 83 Stat. 320), a recipient must prepare
and carry out a project management plan approved by the Secretary
of Transportation. The plan shall provide for -
(1) adequate recipient staff organization with well-defined
reporting relationships, statements of functional
responsibilities, job descriptions, and job qualifications;
(2) a budget covering the project management organization,
appropriate consultants, property acquisition, utility
relocation, systems demonstration staff, audits, and
miscellaneous payments the recipient may be prepared to justify;
(3) a construction schedule for the project;
(4) a document control procedure and recordkeeping system;
(5) a change order procedure that includes a documented,
systematic approach to the handling of construction change
orders;
(6) organizational structures, management skills, and staffing
levels required throughout the construction phase;
(7) quality control and quality assurance functions,
procedures, and responsibilities for construction, system
installation, and integration of system components;
(8) material testing policies and procedures;
(9) internal plan implementation and reporting requirements;
(10) criteria and procedures to be used for testing the
operational system or its major components;
(11) periodic updates of the plan, especially related to
project budget and project schedule, financing, ridership
estimates, and the status of local efforts to enhance ridership
where ridership estimates partly depend on the success of those
efforts;
(12) the recipient's commitment to submit a project budget and
project schedule to the Secretary each month; and
(13) safety and security management.
(b) Plan Approval. - (1) The Secretary shall approve a plan not
later than 60 days after it is submitted. If the approval cannot be
completed within 60 days, the Secretary shall notify the recipient,
explain the reasons for the delay, and estimate the additional time
that will be required.
(2) The Secretary shall inform the recipient of the reasons when
a plan is disapproved.
(c) Limitations. -
(1) Limitations on use of available amounts. - Of the amounts
made available to carry out this chapter for a fiscal year, the
Secretary may use not more than the following amounts to make
contracts for the activities described in paragraph (2):
(A) 0.5 percent of amounts made available to carry out
section 5305.
(B) 0.75 percent of amounts made available to carry out
section 5307.
(C) 1 percent of amounts made available to carry out section
5309.
(D) 0.5 percent of amounts made available to carry out
section 5310.
(E) 0.5 percent of amounts made available to carry out
section 5311.
(F) 0.5 percent of amounts made available to carry out
section 5320.
(2) Activities. - Paragraph (1) shall apply to the following:
(A) Activities to oversee the construction of a major
project.
(B) Activities to review and audit the safety and security,
procurement, management, and financial compliance of a
recipient or subrecipient of funds under sections 5305, 5307,
5309, 5310, 5311, and 5320.
(C) Activities to provide technical assistance to correct
deficiencies identified in compliance reviews and audits
carried out under this section.
(3) Limitations on applicability. - Subsections (a), (b), and
(e) do not apply to contracts under this section for activities
described in paragraphs (2)(B) and (2)(C).
(4) Government's share of costs. - The Government shall pay the
entire cost of carrying out a contract under this subsection.
(5) Availability of certain funds. - Beginning in fiscal year
2006, funds available under paragraph (1)(C) shall be made
available to the Secretary before allocating the funds
appropriated to carry out any project under a full funding grant
agreement or project construction grant agreement.
(d) Access to Sites and Records. - Each recipient of assistance
under this chapter or section 14(b) of the National Capital
Transportation Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-143, 83 Stat. 320), as
added by section 2 of the National Capital Transportation
Amendments of 1979 (Public Law 96-184, 93 Stat. 1320), shall
provide the Secretary and a contractor the Secretary chooses under
subsection (c) of this section with access to the construction
sites and records of the recipient when reasonably necessary.
(e) Regulations. - The Secretary shall prescribe regulations
necessary to carry out this section. The regulations shall include -

(1) a definition of "major capital project" for subsection (c)
of this section that excludes a project to acquire rolling stock
or to maintain or rehabilitate a vehicle; and
(2) a requirement that oversight begin during the preliminary
engineering stage of a project, unless the Secretary finds it
more appropriate to begin the oversight during another stage of
the project, to maximize the transportation benefits and cost
savings associated with project management oversight.
(f) Financial Plan. - A recipient of financial assistance for a
project under this chapter with an estimated total cost of
$1,000,000,000 or more shall submit to the Secretary an annual
financial plan for the project. The plan shall be based on detailed
annual estimates of the cost to complete the remaining elements of
the project and on reasonable assumptions, as determined by the
Secretary, of future increases in the cost to complete the project.