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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 17, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 102248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29616]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA-2021-0010]

Notice of Availability of Final Policy Guidance for the Capital 
Investment Grants Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of availability of final policy guidance for the Capital 
Investment Grants program.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is making available 
the agency's final policy guidance for the Capital Investment Grants 
(CIG) program. This version amends FTA's Initial CIG Policy Guidance 
published in January 2023, and incorporates feedback FTA received from 
the public comment on its proposed Policy Guidance published in the 
Federal Register in April 2024. The final guidance has been placed in 
the docket and posted on the FTA website. The policy guidance 
complements FTA's regulations that govern the CIG program.

DATES: This final policy guidance is effective January 16, 2025. 
Companion documents to the CIG Policy Guidance such as reporting 
instructions, CIG reporting templates, and standard cost category 
worksheets will be updated on the FTA website prior to the effective 
date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Day, FTA Office of Planning 
and Environment, telephone (202) 366-5159 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final policy guidance document contains 
binding obligations, which 49 U.S.C. 5334(k) defines as ``a substantive 
policy statement, rule, or guidance document issued by the Federal 
Transit Administration that grants rights, imposes obligations, 
produces significant effects on private interests, or effects a 
significant change in existing policy.'' Under 49 U.S.C. 5334(k), FTA 
may issue binding obligations if it follows notice and comment 
rulemaking procedures under 5 U.S.C. 553. Prior to making the 
amendments announced today, FTA followed such procedures. The policy 
guidance that FTA periodically issues for the CIG program complements 
the FTA regulations that govern the CIG program, codified at 49 CFR 
part 611. The regulations set forth the process that grant applicants 
must follow to be considered for discretionary funding under the CIG 
program, and the procedures and criteria FTA uses to rate and evaluate 
projects to determine their eligibility for discretionary CIG program 
funding. The policy guidance provides a greater level of detail about 
the methods FTA uses and the sequential steps a sponsor must follow in 
developing a project.
    Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5309(g)(5), FTA is required to publish policy 
guidance on the CIG program each time the agency makes significant 
changes to the review and evaluation process and criteria, but not less 
frequently than once every two years. In April 2024, FTA published a 
notice in the Federal Register (89 FR 24086), seeking comment on 
proposed changes to FTA's Initial CIG Policy Guidance issued in January 
2023 (88 FR 2166), which were informed by feedback FTA received in 
response to its Request for Information published in the Federal 
Register in July 2021 (86 FR 37402). The amended Final CIG program 
policy guidance is being made available today on the agency's public 
website at https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/capital-investments/capital-investment-grants-program-regulations-guidance, and 
in the docket at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FTA-2021-0010/. 
Additionally, FTA's response to the comments received on the proposed 
changes are available in the docket.
    FTA is exempting certain projects from following the new amended 
Final CIG Policy Guidance. Specifically, projects already in the 
Project Development or Engineering phases of the CIG program as of the 
date of publication of this notice that have been evaluated and rated 
at least once by FTA under the January 2023 CIG Policy Guidance and 
that meet the requirements for receipt of a CIG construction grant 
award by the end of calendar year 2025 are exempt from following the 
new amended Final CIG Policy Guidance. These projects may continue to 
follow the January 2023 Initial CIG Policy Guidance. To demonstrate a 
project has met the requirements for receipt of a construction grant 
award by the end of calendar year 2025, the project sponsor must submit 
a complete construction grant application to FTA no later than 
September 1, 2025. If a project sponsor desires to have an exempt 
project evaluated and rated under the new amended Final CIG Policy 
Guidance rather than the prior January 2023 Initial CIG Policy 
Guidance, the sponsor may notify FTA of this desire.

Veronica Vanterpool,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2024-29616 Filed 12-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P
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