Audit reveals MassDOT Aeronautics Department missing in administrative compliance

A state efficiency audit discovered the MassDOT Aeronautics Department failed to satisfy a number of administrative necessities over a three-year length.

Performed by means of the Workplace of the State Auditor from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2021, the probe printed that the Aeronautics Department does no longer have a industry continuity plan or an inside regulate plan, and didn’t make certain all personnel contributors signed its applicable use coverage and finished cybersecurity consciousness coaching for info era.

The Auditor’s place of business additionally famous that insurance policies and procedures associated with the Aeronautics Department’s pilot program for unmanned airplane methods — usually referred to as drones — must be bolstered to trace drones and coordinate an organizational reaction to emergencies.

“In two earlier audits of the Aeronautics Department, the Workplace of the State Auditor discovered that the department had no longer documented and examined a BCP to revive mission-critical and crucial industry purposes within the match of an emergency,” State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump stated. “I’m happy some motion is being taken to verify the BCP is evolved and applied because of our audit.”

The audit recommends {that a} BCP and ICP be evolved and applied, and that the department require new rent and annual cybersecurity coaching and require all personnel contributors to signal a coverage that denotes correct IT use.

In a commentary, MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator Jeffrey DeCarlo stated: “We these days agree to all federal necessities and the Aeronautics Department is already addressing the state audit suggestions.”

The MassDOT Aeronautics Department, previously referred to as the Massachusetts Aeronautics Fee, has jurisdiction over 35 of the state’s 38 public-use airports — its jurisdiction does no longer come with Logan Global Airport, Worcester Airport and Hanscom Box, that are owned and operated by means of the Massachusetts Port Authority.

It won greater than $35.4 million in blended overall investment for fiscal years 2020 and 2021; greater than $8 million of the ones budget had been directed to the department’s drone program, which makes use of unmanned aerial apparatus to behavior bridge, rail, subway tunnel and airport inspections, along side asset tracking, coincidence investigation and incident reaction all the way through the state.