18624 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 64 / Monday, April 4, 2011 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Research, Technical Assistance and 

Training Programs: Notice of Final 

Circular 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of final 

circular. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) is issuing Circular 

6100.1D to provide comprehensive 

assistance to grantees on guidance on 

application procedures and project 

management responsibilities for FTA’s 

National Research Programs. 

DATES: The effective date of this circular 

is May 1, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: A copy of the circular and 

comments and material received from 

the public, as well as any documents 

indicated in the preamble as being 

available in the docket, are part of 

docket FTA–2010–0034 and are 

available for inspection or copying at 

the Docket Management Facility, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave., SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

You may also review the circular, 

comments, and supporting documents 

online through the Federal Document 

Management System (FDMS) at Web 

site: http://regulations.gov. Enter the 

docket number FTA–2010–0034 in the 

search field. The FDMS is available 24 

hours each day, 365 days each year. 

Electronic submission and retrieval help 

and guidelines are available under the 

help section of the Web site. 

This notice does not include the final 

circular. Electronic versions of the final 

circular will be posted on 

http://regulations.gov as well as on the 

FTA Web site http://www.fta.dot.gov. 

Paper copies of the final circular may be 

obtained by contacting FTA’s 

Administrative Services Help Desk, at 

202–366–4865. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bruce Robinson, Office of Research, 

Demonstration and Innovation, Federal 

Transit Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Ave., SE., East Building, Fourth 

Floor, Washington, DC 20590, phone: 

(202) 366–4052, or e-mail, 

bruce.robinson@dot.gov; or Linda 

Sorkin, Office of Chief Counsel, Federal 

Transit Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Ave., SE., East Building, Fifth 

Floor, Washington, DC 20590, phone: 

(202) 366–0959, or e-mail, 

linda.sorkin@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Overview 

II. Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis 

A. Chapter I—Introduction and 

Background 

B. Chapter II—Program Overview 

C. Chapter III—Application Instructions 

D. Chapter IV—Project Administration 

E. Chapter V—Financial Management 

F. Chapter VI—FTA Oversight 

G. Appendices 

I. Overview 

This notice provides a summary of 

changes to FTA Circular 6100.1D, 

Research and Technical Assistance 

Training Program: Application 

Instructions and Program Management 

Guidelines addresses comments 

received in response to FTA’s 

September 30, 2010 Federal Register 

publication announcing the availability 

of the proposed circular (75 FR 60494). 

The final Circular 6100.1D supersedes 

FTA Circular 6100.1C. Readers familiar 

with the former FTA Circular 6100.1C 

will notice that FTA is proposing a 

complete reorganization to make this 

circular consistent with the style of 

other circulars FTA has updated. 

Substantive changes in content are 

discussed in the chapter-by-chapter 

analysis. 

One commenter responded to the 

notice of availability, asking for several 

changes. 

The commenter requested that FTA 

allow the public to review and comment 

on any changes or updates that will be 

made to the circular. FTA declined this 

request, as FTA specified in the 

Amendments to Circular ‘‘FTA reserves 

the right to update the circular without 

further notice and comment. The intent 

of this paragraph that if the revision is 

a result of other guidance and 

regulations that have gone through 

notice and comments we do not need to 

solicit comments again. Another request 

was to revise the ‘‘Key Person’’ 

definition to state that the grantee 

should provide FTA with prior notice of 

impending staff changes, rather than 

requiring FTA’s prior approval. FTA 

declined this request as this provision is 

required by 49 CFR 19.25(c). ‘‘For 

nonconstruction awards, recipients 

shall request prior approvals from 

Federal awarding agencies for (2) 

changes in a key person specified in the 

application or award document.’’ 

FTA also declined the request to 

change the ‘‘Reporting Requirements’’ 

section as the requested modifications 

to the TEAM system fall outside the 

scope of this circular. The commenter 

had requested that FTA modify the 

TEAM system so that it is not necessary 

for the Milestone Progress Report to be 

submitted prior to the Federal Financial 

Report in order for TEAM to generate a 

single pdf document including both 

reports. 

Three requests that were suggested by 

the commenter that were approved in 

part by FTA included changes to Project 

Identification, the Final Report and the 

Disclaimers sections. For the Project 

Identification section, the commenter 

suggested that FTA forgo the 

requirement for a sign on all hardware 

data, equipment, etc. The language for 

Project Identification was modified to 

further refine which equipment the 

requirement applied to as follows: ‘‘The 

recipient understands and agrees that 

each tangible product resulting from 

national research program projects shall 

contain or include an appropriate sign, 

designation or notification stating that 

the project has been financed with 

Federal assistance provided by the 

DOT/FTA. Unless determined otherwise 

in writing from the FTA, this 

requirement applies to all equipment, 

prototypes, construction, reports, data, 

software, Internet pages, or any similar 

items produced in the course of the 

Grant Agreement or Cooperative 

Agreement for the project that are part 

of the project’s deliverables visible to 

the public, or are made available to 

other research organizations or public 

transportation providers. Reports must 

also include the disclaimer described in 

Chapter IV, subsection 4.g.’’ 

The commenter suggested that FTA 

make available a template or sample 

cover page in the Final Report section 

of the circular. FTA modified the 

section as follows: (3) Final Report to 

Report Organization, Elements and 

Style. A technical report documenting 

project performance and results must be 

submitted to the project manager at the 

conclusion of the project or subproject. 

FTA requires all documentation be 

Section 508 compliant and meet a high 

standard of organization and clarity of 

writing. The report must be organized 

consistent with the specific publication 

elements and report style guidelines 

located at http://www.fta.dot.gov/ 

research/program_requirements. 

Contact the FTA project manager for 

further information. 

The commenter also suggested that 

FTA include a source for the Standard 

Form 298 in the Disclaimer section. 

FTA agree and added the following 

information to the section ‘‘SF 298 is 

located at: http://www.fta.dot.gov/ 

documents/SF_298.pdf.’’ 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 64 / Monday, April 4, 2011 / Notices 18625 

A. Chapter I—Introduction and 

Background 

The first four sections of this chapter 

are a general introduction to FTA that 

is proposed to be included in all new 

and revised program circulars for the 

orientation of readers new to FTA 

programs. Section 5 of this chapter sets 

forth definitions of terms appearing in 

the proposed circular to ensure a 

common understanding of terms. 

B. Chapter II—Program Overview 

Sections 1 and 2 describe the 

statutory authority and nature of the 

national research programs and 

activities for which this circular applies. 

Section 3 clarifies the project 

management roles and responsibilities 

of the recipient and FTA. Section 4 

describes civil rights requirements, and 

Section 5 notes that Federal crosscutting requirements will apply to these 

projects. 

C. Chapter III—Application Instructions 

Chapter III describes application 

instructions including the use of the 

Web-based Transportation Electronic 

Award and Management (TEAM 

system), the development of preapplications or white papers, the 

development of formal applications 

including project budgets and 

statements of work, and other 

application requirements. Section 6 

states that FTA may request recipients 

to participate in Peer Review of 

applications. 

D. Chapter IV—Project Administration 

Chapter IV describes project 

administration requirements. Sections 1 

and 2 provide an overview of the post 

award management process, with a brief 

description of the application process. 

Section 3 describes project 

identification requirements on all 

equipment, hardware, construction, 

reports, data or any similar items 

produced in the course of the project. 

Section 4 describes reporting 

requirements, clarifying that all 

recipients must submit quarterly 

Federal Financial Reports (FFR) and 

Milestone Progress Reports (MPR) in 

TEAM and clarifies the development of 

Quarterly Narrative Reports. Section 4 

also updates guidelines on the Final 

Report and other major technical report 

development and clarifies the 

requirements for electronic copies. 

Section 4 also clarifies that all FTAsponsored reports, not just the Final 

Report, must contain an identification 

notice acknowledging FTA sponsorship. 

Section 5 clarifies prior approval 

requirements and procedures for 

obtaining prior approval. It clarifies 

prior approval requirements for 

transfers of financial assistance between 

cost categories and permits prior 

approvals to be requested and granted 

electronically by authorized officials. 

Section 6 describes project 

modifications including budget 

revisions and amendments. Sections 7, 

8, and 9 describe recipient 

responsibilities for equipment, 

intangible property, and supplies. 

Section 10 clarifies the recipient’s third 

party procurement responsibilities. 

Section 11 describes project close-out 

procedures. Sections 12 and 13 describe 

suspension and termination procedures. 

Section 14 describes responsibilities for 

record retention. 

E. Chapter V—Financial Management 

Sections 1–6 describe the proper use 

and management of Federal assistance 

including internal controls, non-Federal 

matching share, the applicable Federal 

cost principles, indirect costs, and 

program income. Section 7 describes the 

annual Single Audit requirements and 

describes when these may be extended 

to for-profit organizations. Section 8 

clarifies payment procedures requiring 

all recipients to make requests using the 

Request of Advance or Reimbursement 

Standard Form 270 (SF–270), as is 

current practice. 

F. Chapter VI—FTA Oversight 

Section 1 is a general description of 

FTA’s oversight program. Section 2 

describes FTA’s Oversight Programs that 

FTA may undertake. Section 3 describes 

the types of reviews that may apply to 

the FTA recipient or its projects. Section 

3 describes the peer review process FTA 

may request recipients to participate in. 

G. Appendices 

Appendix A lists all FTA circulars. 

Appendix B provides an example of a 

Quarterly Narrative Report. 

Appendix C describes requirements 

for developing a Cost Allocation Plan. 

Appendix D provides instructions for 

submitting the Request of Advance or 

Reimbursement (SF–270). 

Appendix E provides FTA regional 

and metropolitan contact information. 

Appendix F is the Subject and 

Location index. 

Therese McMillan, 

Deputy FTA Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2011–7824 Filed 4–1–11; 8:45 am] 

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