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[Federal Register: January 25, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 15)]
[Notices]               
[Page 3954-3955]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25ja10-98]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

 
Deadline for Notification of Intent To Use the Airport 
Improvement Program (AIP) Primary, Cargo, and Nonprimary Entitlement 
Funds for Fiscal Year 2010

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces February 
22, 2010, as the deadline for each airport sponsor to notify the FAA 
whether or not it will use its fiscal year 2010 entitlement funds 
available under Public Law No. 111-117 to accomplish Airport 
Improvement Program (AIP)-eligible projects that the sponsor previously 
identified through the Airports Capital Improvement Plan (ACIP) process 
during the preceding year. If a sponsor does not declare their 
intention regarding their fiscal year 2010 entitlement funds by 
February 22, 2010, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to 
award these funds, nor designate these funds as ``protected'' carryover 
funds. In addition, these funds will not be carried over without a 
legislative enactment that provides an additional AIP authorization and 
an extension of the FAA's spending authority from the Airport and 
Airway Trust Fund beyond March 31, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Frank J. San Martin, Manager, 
Airports Financial Assistance Division, APP-500, on (202) 267-3831.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title 49 of the United States Code, section 
47105(f), provides that the sponsor of each airport to which funds are 
apportioned shall notify the Secretary by such time and in a form as 
prescribed by the Secretary, of the sponsor's intent to apply for the 
funds apportioned to it (entitlements). This notice applies only to 
those airports that have had entitlement funds apportioned to them, 
except those nonprimary airports located in designated Block Grant 
States. Sponsors intending to apply for any of their available 
entitlement funds, including those unused from prior years, shall 
submit by February 22, 2010, a written indication to the designated 
Airports District Office (or Regional Office in regions without 
Airports District Offices) that they will submit a grant application 
prior to February 26, 2010, or by a prior date established by the 
designated Airport District or Regional Office.
    This notice is promulgated to expedite and prioritize the grant-
making process. In the past when there has been full-year funding for 
AIP, the FAA has established a deadline of May 1 for an airport sponsor 
to declare whether it will apply for, or defer use of its entitlement 
funding. Considering that Congress has authorized the AIP program only 
until March 31, 2010, i.e. into the middle of a fiscal year, the FAA is 
establishing February 22, 2010, as the deadline for each airport 
sponsor to notify the FAA whether or not it will use its fiscal year 
2010 entitlement funds.
    The AIP grant program is operating under the requirements of Public 
Law No. 111-116, the ``Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act, 
Part II'', enacted on December 16, 2009, which amends 49 U.S.C. 48103, 
to extend AIP

[[Page 3955]]

for a six-month period beginning October 1, 2008 and ending on March 
31, 2010. The FAA's expenditure authority from the Airport and Airway 
Trust Fund will also expire on March 31, 2010, in the absence of an 
additional statutory extension. Therefore, to avoid the risk of not 
being able to carryover funds if an additional extension is not 
enacted, and to allow sufficient time for accounting processing, AIP 
funds should be obligated in FAA's accounting records on or before 
March 3, 2010.
    Sponsors have three options available regarding AIP grants during 
this period. First, sponsors may elect to make an application for a 
grant based on entitlements currently available to them. Sponsors that 
elect to take such a grant must submit grant applications to the FAA no 
later than February 26, 2010, in order to meet the March 3, 2010 
obligation deadline. Second, sponsors may elect to wait until after the 
February 22, 2010 notification date for protection of carryover 
entitlements. However, if a sponsor does not declare their intention 
regarding the use of fiscal year 2010 entitlement funds by the February 
22, 2010 deadline, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to 
designate these as ``protected'' carryover funds. In addition, these 
funds would not be carried over without a legislative enactment that 
provides additional AIP authorization for fiscal year 2010 and extends 
the FAA's spending authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund 
beyond March 31, 2010. Third, sponsors may elect to declare their 
intention to carryover the entitlements by sending written notification 
of such intention by February 22, 2010. Unused carryover entitlements 
that have been deferred will be available in fiscal year 2011 pending 
legislative action to further extend authorization and appropriations.
    If a statutory extension beyond March 31, 2010 of the AIP program 
and the FAA's authority to make expenditures from the Trust Fund is 
enacted, additional entitlement funds may be available to sponsors. In 
that case, airport sponsors who did not previously declare their 
intention to carryover the entitlements must provide a written 
indication by May 1, 2010 to the designated Airports District Office 
(or Regional Office in regions without Airports District Offices) that 
they will either carryover or use their fiscal year 2010 entitlements 
by submitting a grant application by August 1, 2010.

    Issued in Washington, DC on January 6, 2010.
Frank J. San Martin,
Manager, Airports Financial Assistance Division, Office of Airport 
Planning and Programming.
[FR Doc. 2010-1291 Filed 1-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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