Response to Senators Grassley and Johnson

This memorandum responds to your letter of February 27, 2015, which requests information relating to our audits and investigations of Amtrak’s programs and operations. The information below corresponds to the seven questions listed in your letter.

1. As of December 1, 2016, there were 50 outstanding unimplemented recommendations from 22 audit and evaluation reports. Management agreed or generally agreed with 49 recommendations and disagreed with 1 recommendation.1
The provided Attachment lists our specific recommendations, management’s agreement decisions, and the associated dates for this period. The outstanding unimplemented recommendations include potential cost savings of approximately $286.1 million.

2. We had one investigative report that was not responded to within 60 days. In that case, we investigated an allegation that an Amtrak passenger conductor violated a company policy by engaging in conduct that created a conflict of interest between his employment at Amtrak and a personally owned business. We found that the passenger conductor engaged in a conflict of interest between his personal website development business and his employment by creating a website for a local safety reporting project. We also found evidence that the project facilitator solicited the employee to create the website, and that the conductor eventually invoiced the company for $3000. On May 18, 2016, we submitted our report of investigation. On September 29, 2016, the company agreed with our findings and responded they had counseled the employee. Also, they did not pay the invoice and the project was suspended.