OIG Completes Review of Cape Cod Airport's Use of Federal Pandemic Relief Funds

The OIG found that the Cape Cod Gateway Airport used federal pandemic relief funds appropriately.

Boston, MA — In a letter sent last week, Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro informed Cape Cod Gateway Airport officials that the Office of the Inspector General’s Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) found that the $19,597,399 in federal pandemic relief grants were used appropriately.

“The federal government provided

trillions of dollars in grants to communities across the country in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.  This office, as well as many others, have identified numerous cases of fraud in the use of these funds,” IG Shapiro said. “I think it is important for the public to know that, in most instances, those funds were used in the way the granting authority intended.  The Office of the Inspector General found that the Cape Cod Gateway Airport’s use of the federal funds met the Federal Aviation Administration’s criteria for how the funds were to be used and the timeframe in which they were to be expended.”

In light of a recent vote to study relocating the airport to Joint Base Cape Cod, IG Shapiro suggested that airport management should determine whether FAA COVID-19 grant rules would require the airport to use local funding sources to reimburse the federal government for grants it received in the event that the airport is relocated.

The Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) mission is to prevent and detect the fraud, waste and abuse of public funds and property. Within the OIG, the Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) was created by the Legislature in 2009 to monitor transportation and transit programs and spending. The ISAU manages a public-facing fraud hotline for Massachusetts residents and employees to report alleged fraudulent acts and performs proactive reviews to promote best practices in protecting public resources and to ensure funds are used as intended.

If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of transportation funds, please contact 855-963-2580 or MassDOTFraudHotline@mass.gov.