Congressional Letter to US Transportation Department Inspector General re Annual Dulles Metrorail Line Annual Audits from Frank Wolf and Tom Latham, February 15, 2011

Mr. Calvin Scovel
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave SE 7th Fl
Washington, D.C. 20590

Dear Mr. Scovel:

We write you today to request that your office perform an annual audit of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension project. The audit should include Phase 1, for which an initial report was released in 2007, and Phase 2, for which bids are scheduled to be let in March. As members of the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, we have a responsibility to ensure that projects receiving federal assistance are completed in the most cost effective way and believe that your office is in a position to bring additional transparency and accountability to Dulles Rail.

We want to ensure that Dulles Rail is done well, done on time, and done on or under original cost estimates. It is imperative that all project decisions are made with the primary focus on keeping overall costs at a minimum. We ask that your office provide reports to Congress, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Fairfax and Loudoun counties no later than December of each year until Phase 2 is completed and transferred to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

We appreciate your assistance and look forward to working with your office.
 
Best wishes.

Sincerely,
Frank Wolf                                                            Tom Latham
Member of Congress                                           Member of Congress