7894 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Notice of FTA Transit Program 

Changes, Authorized Funding Levels 

and Implementation of Federal Public 

Transportation Law as Amended by 

the Fixing America’s Surface 

Transportation (FAST) Act and FTA 

Fiscal Year 2016 Apportionments, 

Allocations, Program Information and 

Interim Guidance 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces 

changes in the Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) programs in 

accordance with Federal public 

transportation law by the Fixing 

America’s Surface Transportation 

(FAST) Act, which authorizes surface 

transportation programs of the 

Department of Transportation (DOT) for 

Federal fiscal years (FY) 2016 through 

2020. This notice provides preliminary 

implementation instructions and 

guidance for the new and revised 

programs in FY 2016, announces the 

apportionment for programs authorized 

and funded with FY 2016 contract 

authority, and describes future plans for 

several discretionary programs. The 

notice also includes locations of FY 

2016 apportionment tables and 

unobligated (or carryover) funds 

allocated under the discretionary 

programs from prior years. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general information about this notice 

contact Kimberly Sledge, Director, 

Office of Transit Programs, at (202) 366– 

2053. Please contact the appropriate 

FTA Regional Office for any specific 

requests for information or technical 

assistance. FTA Regional Office contact 

information is available on FTA’s Web 

site: www.fta.dot.gov. 

An FTA headquarters contact for each 

major program area is included in the 

discussion of that program in the text of 

this notice. FTA recommends that 

stakeholders subscribe on FTA’s Web 

site (www.fta.dot.gov) to receive email 

notifications when new information is 

available. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Overview 

II. FY 2016 Funding for FTA Programs 

A. Federal Transit Law as Amended by the 

FAST Act Authorization, and FY 2016 

Appropriations 

B. Oversight Takedown 

C. Previously Authorized Funding 

III. FAST Act and FY 2016 Appropriations: 

Highlights of Changes 

A. Focus Areas 

1. Safety Authority 

2. Transit Award Management System 

(TrAMS) 

3. Between Car Barriers for Rail Systems 

4. Public Transportation Innovation 

5. Innovative Procurement (Section 3019) 

6. Tribal Transportation Self-Governance 

Program (Title 23 Federal-Aid Highways 

Program) 

7. Discretionary Programs 

a. Transit-Oriented Development Planning 

Pilot Program (Section 20005(b) of MAP– 

21) 

b. Passenger Ferry Grant Program (49 

U.S.C. 5307(h)) 

c. Innovative Coordinated Access and 

Mobility Pilot Program (49 U.S.C. 5310 

Section 3006(b)of the FAST Act) 

d. Public Transportation on Indian 

Reservations (49 U.S.C. 5311(j)) 

e. Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities 

Competitive Grants (49 U.S.C. 5339(b)) 

f. Low or No Emission Grants (49 U.S.C. 

5339(c)) 

g. Positive Train Control (Section 3028 of 

the FAST Act) 

B. Definitional Changes and New 

Definitions 

1. Associated Transit Improvement 

2. Capital Project 

3. Value Capture and Value Capture 

Revenue 

C. Repealed and Consolidated Programs in 

FTA’s Authorization 

1. Research, Development, Demonstration 

and Deployment (49 U.S.C. 5312) 

2. Transit Cooperative Research (49 U.S.C. 

5313) 

3. Technical Assistance and Standards 

Development (49 U.S.C. 5314) 

4. Bicycle Facilities (49 U.S.C. 5319) 

5. Human Resources and Training (49 

U.S.C. 5322) 

D. Cross-Cutting Programmatic 

Requirements and Changes 

1. Metropolitan and Statewide Planning 

2. Provision of Non-Fixed Route Paratransit 

Under ADA 

3. Buy America 

4. Leasing 

5. Project Management Oversight 

6. Incremental Cost of Art and NonFunctional Landscaping Prohibited 

7. Use of Geographic Preferences in Hiring 

IV. Program-Specific Information 

A. Metropolitan and Statewide 

Transportation Planning Program (49 

U.S.C. 5303 and 5305(d)) 

B. State Planning and Research Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305(e)) 

C. Urbanized Area Formula Program (49 

U.S.C. 5307) 

D. Fixed Guideway Capital Investment 

Grant Program (49 U.S.C. 5309) 

E. Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals With Disabilities Program 

(49 U.S.C 5310) 

F. Formula Grants for Rural Areas Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5311) 

G. Rural Transportation Assistance 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5311(b)(3)) 

H. Appalachian Development Public 

Transportation Assistance Program (49 

U.S.C. 5311(c)(2) 

I. Formula Grants for Public Transportation 

on Indian Reservations Program (49 

U.S.C. 5311(j)) 

J. Public Transportation Innovation (49 

U.S.C. 5312) 

K. Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development (49 U.S.C. 5314) 

L. Public Transportation Emergency Relief 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5324) 

M. Public Transportation Safety Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5329) 

N. State of Good Repair Program (49 U.S.C. 

5337) 

O. Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5339) 

P. Growing States and High Density States 

Formula Factors (49 U.S.C. 5340) 

Q. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority Grants 

V. FTA Policy and Procedures for FY 2016 

Grants 

A. Automatic Pre-Award Authority To 

Incur Project Costs 

B. Letter of No Prejudice (LONP) Policy 

C. FY 2016 Annual List of Certifications 

and Assurances 

D. Civil Rights Requirements 

E. Consolidated Planning Grants 

F. Grant Application Procedures 

G. Grant Management 

I. Overview 

This document contains important 

information and interim guidance about 

new FTA programs and changes to 

existing FTA program statutes (49 

U.S.C. 5301, et seq.) as amended by the 

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation 

(FAST) Act (Pub. L. 114–94), signed by 

President Obama on December 4, 2015 

and effective on October 1, 2015. 

In addition, this document provides 

full year apportionments for FTA 

formula and discretionary programs that 

are available in FY 2016 pursuant to the 

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 

(Pub. L. 114–113) (FY 2016 

Appropriations Act). It also contains 

information on how FTA plans to 

administer its transit programs in FY 

2016 and how funds appropriated and 

allocated prior to FY 2016 will be 

treated. 

This notice highlights important 

changes to FTA programs, including 

new discretionary programs. It describes 

definitional changes and cross-cutting 

requirements, identifies repealed 

programs and provides specific 

information about FTA’s statutory 

programs as amended by the FAST Act. 

For each FTA program, FTA has 

provided information on the FAST Act 

authorized funding levels for FY 2016, 

the basis for apportionment or 

allocation of funds, requirements 

specific to the program, period of 

availability of funds, and other program 

information. A separate section provides 

information on pre-award authority and 

other requirements and guidance 

applicable to FTA programs and grant 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7895 

1All references to ‘‘section’’ herein refer to 

sections of Chapter 53 of Title 49 of the United 

States Code, unless otherwise specifically stated. 

administration. Finally, the notice 

includes references to tables on FTA’s 

Web site that show amounts 

apportioned under the FAST Act, and 

approximately $1.04 billion in 

unobligated or carryover funding 

available in FY 2016 from prior years 

under certain discretionary programs 

carried out in accordance with prior 

authorization acts. 

Information in this document 

includes references to the existing FTA 

program guidance and circulars. Some 

information may have been superseded 

by new provisions in the FAST Act, but 

these guidance documents and circulars 

remain a resource for program 

management in most areas. FTA intends 

to revise the guidance and circulars, as 

appropriate, with an opportunity for 

public comment where necessary. 

II. FY 2016 Funding for FTA Programs 

A. Federal Transit Law as Amended by 

the FAST Act Authorization and FY 

2016 Appropriations 

The FAST Act is the new five-year 

surface transportation authorization that 

provides FTA an authorization level of 

$11.78 billion in FY 2016 and a total of 

$61.56 billion from FY 2016 through FY 

2020. The FAST Act realigns several 

transit programs, provides significant 

funding increases specifically for bus 

and bus facilities, creates several new 

discretionary programs and changes 

several cross-cutting requirements. The 

law continues and expands FTA 

authority to strengthen the safety of 

public transportation systems 

throughout the United States. 

The FY 2016 Appropriations Act 

makes appropriations at the full-year 

level for FY 2016 through September 30, 

2016. In section 5301 of title 49, United 

States Code, Congress specifies that 

funding is available for the development 

and revitalization of public 

transportation systems. Current funding 

availability for each program is 

identified in section IV of this notice 

and in Table 1 located on FTA’s FY 

2016 Apportionment Web page. 

B. Oversight Takedown 

The FAST Act modifies section 

5338(f) 1 to provide for the following 

oversight takedowns of FTA programs: 

0.5 percent of Metropolitan and 

Statewide Planning funds, 0.75 percent 

of Urbanized Area Formula funds, 1 

percent of Fixed Guideway Capital 

Investment funds, 0.5 percent of 

Formula Grants for the Enhanced 

Mobility of Seniors and Individuals 

with Disabilities, 0.5 percent of Formula 

Grants for Rural Areas, 1 percent of 

State of Good Repair Formula funds, 

0.75 percent for Grants for Buses and 

Bus Facilities, and 1 percent of Capital 

and Preventive Maintenance Projects for 

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority funds. The funds are used to 

provide necessary oversight activities, 

such as oversight of the construction of 

any major capital project receiving 

Federal transit assistance; to conduct 

State Safety Oversight, drug and 

alcohol, civil rights, procurement 

systems, management, planning 

certification, and financial reviews and 

audits, as well as evaluations and 

analyses of grantee-specific problems 

and issues; and to generally provide 

technical assistance and correct 

deficiencies identified in compliance 

reviews and audits. 

C. Previously Authorized Funding 

Funds allocated or apportioned in FY 

2013 through 2015 that remain 

unobligated and for which the program 

has been repealed or its activities have 

been consolidated with other programs 

under Chapter 53 will continue to be 

subject to the program and eligibility 

requirements that existed prior to the 

enactment of FAST and to new crosscutting requirements found in section 

III.D. of this notice. These programs are 

as follows: 

• Section 5312, Research, Development, 

Demonstration and Deployment 

• Section 5313, Transit Cooperative 

Research Program 

• Section 5314, Technical Assistance 

and Standards Development 

• Section 5322, Human Resources and 

Training 

For programs that are continued 

under FAST with amendments, the 

provisions of the FAST Act now apply 

to all unobligated funds from FY 2015 

and prior years, as well as to FY 2016 

funds. These programs are: 

• Section 5305 Planning Programs 

• Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula 

Grants 

• Section 5309 Fixed Guideway Capital 

Investment Grants 

• Section 5310 Formula Grants for the 

Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals with Disabilities 

• Section 5311 Formula Grants for 

Rural Areas 

• Section 5339 Grants for Buses and 

Bus Facilities 

• Section 20005(b) of MAP–21, Pilot 

Program for Transit-Oriented 

Development Planning 

II. FAST Act and FY 2016 

Appropriations: Highlights of Changes 

The FAST Act furthers several 

important goals of the DOT, including 

safety, state of good repair, performance, 

innovation and program efficiency. The 

FAST Act continues FTA’s expanded 

authority to strengthen the safety of 

public transportation systems 

throughout the United States. The Act 

also continues to emphasize restoring 

and replacing the Nation’s aging public 

transportation infrastructure. The level 

of overall funding is increased for 

transit projects by 17 percent over the 

five-year authorization. Most notable is 

the increase to the Bus program where 

funding increased 62.5 percent in FY 

2016 and nearly 90 percent over the 

five-year timeframe. In addition, the Bus 

Discretionary Grant program is 

reinstated and includes a set-aside for 

low or no emission vehicles and 

facilities. 

A. Focus Areas 

1. Safety Authority 

The FAST Act amends 49 U.S.C. 5329 

to provide FTA with expanded 

authority to strengthen the safety of 

public transportation systems 

throughout the United States by 

developing safety standards for the 

public transportation industry and 

granting FTA the authority to 

administer temporary Federal safety 

management and oversight if a State 

Safety Oversight Program is not being 

carried out in accordance with section 

5329, has become inadequate to ensure 

the enforcement of Federal safety 

regulation, or is incapable of providing 

adequate safety oversight consistent 

with the prevention of substantial risk 

of death, or personal injury. If there is 

a failure to develop an adequate State 

Safety Oversight Program, FTA may 

withhold Federal funding from the State 

safety oversight program and from the 

urbanized area or State in which the rail 

transit system overseen by the State 

Safety Oversight Agency is located. 

Additional information on FTA’s safety 

authority and the requirements under 

section 5329 can be found in section 

IV.M. of this notice. 

2. Transit Award Management System 

(TrAMS) 

FTA’s Transportation Electronic 

Award and Management (TEAM) system 

closed for grant making and grant 

management on November 30, 2015. 

TEAM is currently available on a readonly basis and FTA is planning to 

transition to the Transit Award 

Management System (TrAMS) on 

February 16, 2016. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7896 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

When deployed, TrAMS will offer a 

more efficient, user-friendly, and 

flexible tool to award and manage grants 

and cooperative agreements. It will 

provide more useful grant information 

and will strengthen the integrity and 

consistency of the grant award and 

management processes. 

FTA will continue to provide training 

and technical assistance on using 

TrAMS. Training will include live 

webinars as well as training videos and 

guidance and technical assistance 

documents. Information on upcoming 

training will be posted at http://

www.fta.dot.gov/TrAMS. 

Recipient and grant award 

information and attachments as of 

November 30, 2015 will migrate from 

TEAM into TrAMS. Individual user 

account information and TEAM user 

roles (as of November 30, 2015) will also 

migrate into TrAMS. Once TrAMS is 

deployed, recipients will be able to 

manage TEAM awarded grants as well 

as create new applications in TrAMS for 

FY 2016 and prior year funding. 

As reports contain cumulative 

information, FTA waived submission of 

monthly (for certain grantees) and 

quarterly reporting requirements for 

December, January, and February. The 

first monthly milestone progress reports 

(MPR) and Federal Financial Reports 

(FFR) will be due in TrAMS by March 

30, 2016. The MPR and FFR reports for 

quarterly reporters will be due in 

TrAMS by April 30, 2016. 

3. Between Car Barriers for Rail Systems 

All rail systems operating in a levelboarding environment must have 

between car barriers. FTA’s Acting 

Administrator issued a Dear Colleague 

letter related to between car barriers on 

September 15, 2015. See: http://

www.fta.dot.gov/newsroom/12910_

16573.html. 

The Acting Administrator’s letter 

focused on light rail systems, but rapid 

rail, commuter rail, and automated 

guideway systems are also required to 

have between car barriers. Specifically, 

49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 

sections 38.63, 38.85, 38.109, and 

38.173 require between car barriers. 

Generally the requirement is, ‘‘Where 

vehicles operate in a high-platform, 

level-boarding mode, devices or systems 

shall be provided to prevent, deter or 

warn individuals from inadvertently 

stepping off the platform between cars.’’ 

The regulations do not prescribe a 

particular type of between car barrier. 

Rather, they state that suitable devices 

include pantograph gates, chains, and 

motion detectors. The purpose of this 

provision is to stop an individual from 

mistaking the gap between cars for an 

open vehicle door and then stepping off 

the platform. It should be noted the 

regulations do not define what 

constitutes a ‘‘high platform,’’ but the 

regulatory text links ‘‘high-platform’’ to 

‘‘level-boarding mode’’ and must be 

considered in conjunction with other 

key parts of the regulations, which 

clearly point to the relationship between 

platform height and entrance to the 

vehicle floor. In a level-boarding/

platform environment without betweencar barriers, the hazard of falling to the 

track bed exists whenever a rail system 

operates trains of more than one car. 

This represents a physical risk to the 

traveling public as well as a financial 

risk to a transit agency. 

4. Public Transportation Innovation 

The FAST Act continues to 

emphasize innovation and renames 

FTA’s research program at 49 U.S.C. 

5312 to ‘‘Public Transportation 

Innovation’’. Innovation has been a 

focus area for both the DOT and FTA for 

a number of years. Most recently, FTA 

launched the XPEDITE Innovation 

initiative, which was an online dialogue 

that sought industry input on a number 

of innovation areas from technology 

advances to financing and project 

delivery. FTA’s research program will 

continue to build on this effort, along 

with major departmental initiatives 

such a Beyond Traffic and Ladders of 

Opportunity with a significant emphasis 

on technology trends that increase 

public transportation efficiency, 

effectiveness and enhance the quality of 

customer travel. FTA research goals are 

to promote innovation through projects 

of national significance that improve 

our nation’s public transportation 

operations, infrastructure, and the 

travelers’ experience in three focus 

areas: Safety, asset innovation/

management, and mobility. Under 49 

U.S.C. 5312, as amended by the FAST 

Act, three categories of projects are 

authorized: Research; innovation and 

development; and demonstration, 

deployment and evaluation. FTA 

research projects achieve public 

transportation innovation goals by 

utilizing one or more of the following 

strategic directions: 

• Enhancing equitable and accessible 

mobility for everyone 

• Extending public private partnerships 

• Ensuring public transportation 

efficiency, safety and reliability 

• Enabling seamless, effective 

integration across transportation 

modes and applications, and; 

• Expanding customer satisfaction and 

value. 

FTA’s research and innovation 

activities harness thought leadership 

and promising practices as directed in 

49 U.S.C. 5312 through contracts and 

cooperative agreements across states, 

academic institutions, transportation 

providers, and private and nonprofit 

organizations. 

5. Innovative Procurement (Section 

3019) 

Section 3019 of the FAST Act clarifies 

and emphasizes the ability of FTA 

recipients to enter into cooperative 

procurements and creates a pilot 

program. FTA will issue guidance in the 

near future related to cooperative 

procurement schedules, the Pilot 

Program for Nonprofit Cooperative 

Procurements, and the Joint 

Procurement Clearinghouse. 

Additionally, Section 3019 modifies 

and clarifies FTA’s leasing requirements 

and eligibility. See changes for lease 

requirements in the cross-cutting 

section III.D.4 of this Notice. 

6. Tribal Transportation SelfGovernance Program (Title 23 FederalAid Highways Program) 

Section 1121 of the FAST Act 

establishes a Tribal Transportation SelfGovernance Program (Self Governance) 

at 23 U.S.C. 207. The Self-Governance 

Program establishes specific criteria for 

determining eligibility for a tribe to 

participate in the program. DOT will 

implement this program in consultation 

with tribal representatives and other 

interested stakeholders. More 

information about this program will be 

provided at a later date. 

7. Discretionary Programs 

The FAST Act continues several 

discretionary programs that were 

authorized under MAP–21 and creates 

new ones. FTA is in the process of 

developing criteria and program 

guidance for the discretionary programs, 

which will be published in Notices of 

Funding Availability (NOFA). These 

include: 

a. Transit-Oriented Development 

Planning Pilot Program (Section 

20005(b) of MAP–21) 

This discretionary pilot program for 

transit-oriented development (TOD) 

planning grants continues with no 

changes from what was included under 

MAP–21 and is authorized for $10 

million for FY 2016. Eligible activities 

include comprehensive planning in 

corridors with proposed New Starts, 

Small Starts, or Core Capacity projects. 

The comprehensive plans should 

enhance economic development, 

ridership, and other goals; facilitate 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7897 

multimodal connectivity and 

accessibility; increase access to transit 

hubs for pedestrian and bicycle traffic; 

enable mixed-use development; identify 

infrastructure needs associated with the 

project; and include private sector 

participation. A NOFA will be 

published announcing the amount of 

funding available, application 

procedures, project and applicant 

eligibility, and relevant selection 

criteria. For more information or 

questions on this program, please 

contact Ben Owen at 202–366–5602 or 

Benjamin.Owen@dot.gov. 

b. Passenger Ferry Grant Program (49 

U.S.C. 5307) 

Of the amount authorized for Section 

5307 each year, $30 million is set aside 

for the competitive discretionary 

Passenger Ferry Grant Program. Eligible 

projects are capital projects including 

ferries, terminals, and related 

infrastructure. FTA will allocate FY2016 

funds for the discretionary passenger 

ferry competition to specific projects 

submitted in response to a NOFA 

published August 3, 2015. A Notice of 

Award will be published in the Federal 

Register announcing project selections. 

Awards will also be posted to FTA’s 

Web site. For more information about 

this program, please contact Vanessa 

Williams at 202–366–4818 or 

Vanessa.Williams@dot.gov. 

c. Innovative Coordinated Access and 

Mobility Pilot Program (49 U.S.C. 5310) 

Section 3006(b) of the FAST Act 

created a new discretionary pilot 

program for innovative coordinated 

access and mobility. The $2 million 

program is open to Section 5310 

recipients and subrecipients to assist in 

financing innovative projects for the 

transportation disadvantaged that 

improve the coordination of 

transportation services and nonemergency medical transportation 

(NEMT) services. Examples of eligible 

projects include the deployment of 

coordination technology, and projects 

that create or increase access to 

community One-Call/One-Click Centers. 

A NOFA will be published announcing 

the amount of FY 2016 funding 

available, application procedures, 

project and applicant eligibility, and 

relevant selection criteria. A report is 

required by December 31 of each year 

on the pilot program. The report will 

include a detailed description of the 

activities carried out under the pilot 

program, and an evaluation of the 

program, including an evaluation of the 

performance measures. For more 

information about this program, please 

contact Danielle Nelson at 202–366– 

2160 or Danielle.nelson@dot.gov. 

d. Public Transportation on Indian 

Reservations (49 U.S.C. 5311(j)) 

The Tribal Transit program continues 

to be a set-aside from the Rural Areas 

Formula program and includes a $5 

million competitive discretionary grant 

program. Eligible projects are planning, 

capital and operating. FTA will publish 

a NOFA announcing FY 2016 funding, 

application procedures, project and 

applicant eligibility, and relevant 

selection criteria. For more information 

or questions on this program, please 

contact Elan Flippin at (202) 366–3800 

or elan.flippin@dot.gov. 

e. Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive 

Grants (49 U.S.C. 5339(b)) 

The FAST Act authorizes a 

discretionary bus and bus facilities 

program in 49 U.S.C. 5339. In FY 2016 

a total of $213 million is available to 

carry out the 5339(b) Bus and Bus 

Facilities Competitive Grant Program. 

Eligible capital projects include projects 

to replace, rehabilitate, lease, and 

purchase buses and related equipment 

and projects to purchase, rehabilitate, 

construct or lease bus-related facilities. 

FTA will publish a NOFA announcing 

the amount of FY 2016 funding 

available, application procedures, 

project and applicant eligibility, and 

relevant selection criteria. For more 

information about the Bus and Bus 

Facilities competitive grants 

discretionary program, contact Sam 

Snead, Office of Transit Programs, at 

(202) 366–1089 or Samuel.Snead@

dot.gov. 

f. Low or No Emission Grants (49 U.S.C. 

5339(c)) 

The FAST Act authorizes a total of 

$55 million for the 5339(c) Low or No 

Emissions Program (Low-No Program). 

Eligible projects or program of projects 

include the acquisition and leasing of 

low or no emission vehicles, 

constructing and leasing facilities and 

rehabilitating or improving existing 

facilities to accommodate low or no 

emission vehicles. FTA will publish a 

NOFA announcing the amount of FY 

2016 funding available, application 

procedures, project and applicant 

eligibility, and relevant selection 

criteria. For more information about the 

Low or No Emission discretionary 

program, contact Sam Snead, Office of 

Transit Programs, at (202) 366–1089 or 

Samuel.Snead@dot.gov. 

FTA’s research office will continue to 

implement and evaluate the MAP–21- 

authorized FY 2013–2015 resources 

available through the Low or No 

Emission Deployment Program (49 

U.S.C. 5312). FTA expects to announce 

the final research deployment grants 

(FY 2015; $22.5M) in the summer of 

2016. For more information about the 

MAP–21-authorized Low or No Emission 

discretionary research program, contact 

Sean Ricketson, Office of Research, 

Demonstration and Innovation, at (202) 

366–6678 or sean.ricketson@dot.gov. 

g. Positive Train Control (Section 3028) 

Section 3028 of the FAST Act 

authorizes grants for positive train 

control. The discretionary program 

authorizes funding for FY 2017, and 

funds will be used for the installation of 

positive train control systems as 

required under 49 U.S.C. 20157, which 

states that Class I railroad carriers and 

each entity providing regularly 

scheduled intercity or commuter rail 

passenger transportation shall submit to 

the Secretary of Transportation a revised 

plan for implementing a positive train 

control system by December 31, 2018. 

The Federal Railroad Administration 

(FRA) will issue the Notice of Funding 

Availability and select the recipients of 

the positive train control grants. FTA 

will administer the grants once the 

allocations to recipients are announced. 

B. Definitional Changes and New 

Definitions 

Section 3002 of the FAST Act 

amended section 5302 to provide new 

definitions and to amend existing 

definitions that clarify eligibility and 

requirements within FTA’s programs. 

Unless otherwise stated, these 

definitions apply across all FTA 

programs, and are effective with all 

funds obligated as of the date of this 

notice even if the funds were 

appropriated in earlier fiscal years. 

Several important definitional changes 

include: 

1. Associated Transit Improvement 

The term associated transit 

improvement means, with respect to 

any project or an area to be served by 

a project, projects that are designed to 

enhance public transportation service or 

use and that are physically or 

functionally related to transit facilities. 

A few minor changes were noted in 

the definition of associated transit 

improvement. The word functional has 

been added as a description to 

landscaping and streetscaping. Also, a 

sentence was restructured to clarify the 

definition of bicycle access in (1)(E) to 

read bicycle access, including bicycle 

storage shelters and parking facilities 

and the installation of equipment for 

transporting bicycles on public 

transportation vehicles. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7898 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

2. Capital Project 

Several sections under the definition 

of capital project have been amended. 

Leasing equipment or a facility for use 

in public transportation no longer is 

subject to regulations that the Secretary 

prescribes or a cost effectiveness test. 

(See changes to leasing in the crosscutting requirements section of this 

Notice). 

The construction of space for 

commercial uses, including the 

outfitting of commercial space is now an 

eligible expense as a part of a joint 

development project. Language was 

removed stating that construction of 

space for commercial uses does not 

include outfitting of commercial space 

(other than intercity bus station or 

terminal) or a part of a public facility 

not related to public transportation. 

A new provision was added for nonfixed route paratransit transportation 

services. It retains the eligibility for 

grant recipients to use up to 10 percent 

of a recipient’s annual formula 

apportionment under sections 5307 and 

5311 for the provision of non-fixed 

route Americans with Disabilities (ADA) 

complementary paratransit services at 

an 80 percent Federal share. 

Additionally, recipients now may use 

up to 20 percent of the amounts 

apportioned under sections 5307 and 

5311 for ADA complementary 

paratransit service at an 80 percent 

Federal share if the recipient 

demonstrates that the recipient meets at 

least two of the following requirements: 

(I) Provides an active fixed route travel 

training program that is available for 

riders with disabilities, (II) provides that 

all fixed route and paratransit operators 

participate in a passenger safety, 

disability awareness, and sensitivity 

training class on at least a biennial 

basis, or (III) has memoranda of 

understanding in place with employers 

and the American Job Center to increase 

access to employment opportunities for 

people with disabilities. 

The definition of a capital project now 

specifically includes associated transit 

improvements and technological 

changes or innovations to modify low or 

no emission vehicles (as defined in 

section 5339)(c)) or facilities. 

3. Value Capture and Value Capture 

Revenue 

The term ‘‘value capture’’ is a new 

term in the FAST Act that has been in 

practice for several years. Value capture 

is a financing strategy for recovering the 

increased property value from property 

located near public transportation 

resulting from investments in public 

transportation. Under section 5323(s), a 

recipient of assistance may use the 

revenue generated from value capture 

financing mechanisms as local matching 

funds for capital projects and operating 

costs eligible under Chapter 53 of title 

49, United States Code. FTA will issue 

subsequent guidance on implementing 

this provision. 

C. Repealed and Consolidated Programs 

in FTA’s Authorization 

The FAST Act focuses on improving 

the efficiency of grant program 

operations by consolidating certain 

programs and repealing other programs. 

For programs that expired on September 

30, 2015, no new funding is authorized 

beyond fiscal year 2015. However, 

unobligated funds appropriated or 

authorized in FY 2015 and prior years 

remain available for obligation (for the 

established period of availability when 

appropriated or allocated) and 

expenditure, and follow programspecific requirements established under 

prior authorizations. In addition, there 

are new cross-cutting requirements 

under the FAST Act found in section 

III.D of this notice that apply to all 

grants obligated in FY 2016. 

1. Research, Development, 

Demonstration and Deployment 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5312) 

Formerly the Research, Development, 

Demonstration, and Deployment 

Program, the FAST Act amends 49 

U.S.C. 5312 and renames this section, 

which authorizes FTA’s research 

program, to ‘‘Public Transportation 

Innovation.’’ While maintaining the 

authority for research, development, 

demonstration, deployment, and 

evaluation activities as previously 

authorized in section 5312, the Low or 

No Emission Vehicle Deployment 

Program (Lo-No Deployment Program) is 

no longer authorized as a discretionary 

research-funded activity; however, FTA 

is currently in the process of evaluating 

eligible proposals submitted in response 

to the NOFA published on September 

24, 2015 (closed on November 23, 2015) 

and anticipates allocating the FY 2015 

appropriations to selected projects in 

the summer of 2016. FTA also continues 

to work with the recipients of the FY 

2013–2014 Lo-No Deployment program 

to implement and evaluate vehicle and 

facilities projects. And, while no longer 

eligible in the research program, 

grantees can compete under the new 

discretionary authority found in the Bus 

and Bus Facilities program (section 

5339) specifically for Low and No 

Emission vehicle and facility projects in 

FY 2016. 

2. Transit Cooperative Research Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5313) 

The FAST Act repeals section 5313 

and moves the authority for the 

cooperative research program to section 

5312 (49 U.S.C. 5312(i)) as described 

above. 

3. Technical Assistance and Standards 

Development (49 U.S.C. 5314) 

Formerly Technical Assistance and 

Standards Development, the FAST Act 

amends 49 U.S.C. 5314 to include new 

authority and renames the section to 

‘‘Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development.’’ In addition to funding 

technical assistance and standards 

development, this section now 

authorizes FTA’s workforce 

development activities and the National 

Transit Institute (NTI), both formerly 

found in section 5322. 

Of particular note, this section now 

authorizes recipients under sections 

5307, 5337, and 5339 to use 0.5 percent 

of their available funds to pay for 

workforce development activities (up to 

an 80 percent Federal share). There is a 

separate eligibility to use 0.5 percent of 

available funds under the sections above 

for training at the National Transit 

Institute. 

4. Bicycle Facilities (49 U.S.C. 5319) 

Section 5319—Bicycle facilities has 

been repealed. This section had 

permitted a higher Federal share of up 

to 95 percent for bicycle access and 

other bicycle capital projects. However, 

capital projects for bicycle access, 

including bicycle storage shelters and 

parking facilities and the installation of 

equipment for transporting bicycles on 

public transportation vehicles remains 

eligible at an 80 percent Federal share. 

5. Human Resources and Training (49 

U.S.C. 5322) 

The FAST Act repeals section 5322 

and moves the authority for human 

resources and training to section 5314, 

as described above. 

D. Cross-Cutting Programmatic 

Requirements and Changes 

The following cross-cutting 

requirements apply to all FTA programs 

as of the date of this notice. 

1. Metropolitan and Statewide Planning 

The planning programs provide 

funding and procedural requirements to 

metropolitan areas and States for 

multimodal transportation planning that 

is cooperative, continuous, and 

comprehensive, resulting in long-range 

plans and short-range programs of 

projects that reflect transportation 

investment priorities. The planning 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7899 

programs are jointly administered by 

FTA and the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), which 

provides additional funding. There are 

six changes noted below. These 

requirements will not go into effect until 

FTA and FHWA complete a rulemaking 

process and issue further guidance. The 

amendments to sections 5305 and 5304: 

• Place new emphasis on intercity 

transportation, including intercity buses 

and intermodal facilities that support 

intercity transportation, and commuter 

vanpool providers; and 

• Clarify the selection and role of the 

transit representation on Metropolitan 

Planning Organization (MPO) policy 

boards in large urbanized areas. MPOs 

in urbanized areas designated as 

transportation management areas must 

include officials of agencies that 

administer or operate major modes of 

transportation, as well as 

representatives of public transit 

operators, on MPO policy boards. The 

representative of public transit shall be 

selected according to the bylaws or 

enabling legislation of the MPO, and the 

representative of public transit may also 

serve as a representative of a local 

municipality on the MPO board. For 

additional information please reference 

the Policy Guidance on Metropolitan 

Planning Organization (MPO) 

Representation Published on July 2, 

2014, at http://www.fta.dot.gov/

documents/Transit_Rep_Fed_

Register.pdf. 

• The scope of the planning process 

should improve the resiliency and 

reliability of the transportation system, 

in addition to the eight pre-existing 

goals established under MAP–21, and 

reduce the vulnerability of the existing 

transportation infrastructure to natural 

disasters. 

• MPOs and State DOTs should 

provide public ports, intercity bus 

operators and employer-based 

commuting programs with a reasonable 

opportunity to comment on 

transportation plans. 

• Place greater emphasis on the 

congestion management process. MPOs 

that serve transportation management 

areas shall develop a congestion 

management plan with input from 

employers, private and public transit 

providers, transportation management 

associations, and organizations that 

provide low-income individuals 

transportation access to jobs and job 

related services. 

• The Statewide transportation plan 

must include a description of the 

performance measures and performance 

targets. State DOTs are also required to 

provide a system performance report 

evaluating the condition and 

performance of the transportation 

system. 

In addition to changes in sections 

5303 and 5304, FTA notes the 

Metropolitan and Statewide planning 

processes continue to emphasize a 

performance-based planning process: 

MPOs and State DOTs must establish 

performance targets that address 

forthcoming U.S. DOT-issued national 

performance measures that are based on 

the goals outlined in the legislation– 

safety, infrastructure condition, 

congestion reduction, system reliability, 

economic vitality, environmental 

sustainability, reduced project delivery 

delays, transit safety, and transit asset 

management. MPOs also must 

coordinate their performance targets, to 

the maximum extent practicable, with 

performance targets set by FTA grantees 

under the new performance measure 

requirements for safety and state of good 

repair. Transportation Improvement 

Programs (TIPs) must include a 

description of the anticipated progress 

toward achieving the performance 

targets resulting from implementation of 

the TIP. By October 1, 2017, the DOT is 

to provide Congress with a report 

evaluating the effectiveness of 

performance-based planning and 

assessing the technical capacity of 

MPOs in smaller areas to undertake 

performance-based planning. 

2. Provision of Non-Fixed Route 

Paratransit Under ADA 

The FAST Act amended the definition 

of capital projects relative to Americans 

with Disabilities Act (ADA) 

complementary paratransit services in 

49 U.S.C. 5302. Specifically, grant 

recipients that are in compliance with 

applicable requirements of the ADA, 

including both fixed route and demand 

responsive service, may continue to 

expend up to 10 percent of the 

recipient’s annual formula 

apportionment under sections 5307 and 

5311 for ADA complementary 

paratransit service at an 80 percent 

Federal share. In addition, grant 

recipients may now expend up to 20 

percent of the recipient’s annual 

formula apportionment under sections 

5307 and 5311 for ADA complementary 

paratransit service, at an 80 percent 

Federal share, if the recipient provides 

evidence to the applicable FTA Regional 

office that it meets at least two of the 

following requirements: 

(1) Provides an active fixed-route 

travel training program that is available 

for riders with disabilities. 

(2) Provides that all fixed route and 

paratransit operators participate in a 

passenger safety, disability awareness, 

and sensitivity training class on at least 

a biennial basis. 

(3) Have memoranda of understanding 

in place with employers and the 

American Job Center to increase access 

to employment opportunities for people 

with disabilities. 

Eligibility for using formula funds at 

an 80 percent Federal share for ADA 

service is contingent on compliance 

with ADA requirements for both fixed 

route and demand responsive service. 

FTA recipients must certify compliance 

with the ADA annually, and are subject 

to compliance review activities 

conducted by FTA to monitor 

compliance and correct deficiencies. 

3. Buy America 

The FAST Act amended the Buy 

America requirements to provide for a 

phased increase in the domestic content 

for rolling stock. For FY16 and FY17, 

the cost of components and 

subcomponents produced in the United 

States must be more than 60 percent of 

the cost of all components. For FY18 

and FY19, the cost of components and 

subcomponents produced in the United 

States must be more than 65 percent of 

the cost of all components. For FY20 

and beyond, the cost of components and 

subcomponents produced in the United 

States must be more than 75 percent of 

the cost of all components. There is no 

change to the requirement that final 

assembly of rolling stock must occur in 

the United States. FTA will be issuing 

guidance on the implementation of the 

phased increase in domestic content in 

the near future. 

4. Leasing 

The FAST Act amends the definition 

of Capital project in section 5302 to 

remove the requirement that leasing 

equipment or a facility for use in public 

transportation is subject to regulations 

limiting those leases to those that are 

more cost effective than purchase or 

construction. FTA will therefore no 

longer enforce 49 CFR part 639 Capital 

Leases. Recipients should therefore refer 

to leasing eligibility under 2 CFR part 

200 Uniform Administrative 

Requirements, Cost Principles, and 

Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, 

specifically part 200.465 Rental costs of 

real property and equipment. 

Although the regulatory requirements 

are eliminated, section 3019 of the 

FAST Act requires all recipients of 

capital leases to submit to FTA, no later 

than 3 years after the date on which the 

lease was entered, a report evaluating 

the overall costs and benefits of leasing 

rolling stock and comparing the 

expected short-term and long-term 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7900 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

maintenance costs of leasing versus 

buying rolling stock. 

Although already eligible under 

FTA’s programs, section 3019 of the 

FAST Act emphasizes that power 

sources separately installed in and 

removed from a zero emission vehicle 

may be acquired through capital lease. 

5. Project Management Oversight 

The FAST Act amended the project 

management oversight statute, 49 U.S.C. 

5327, to specify that FTA conduct a 

review of a grantee’s compliance with 

its approved project management plan 

for a major capital project on a quarterly 

basis, rather than monthly, unless the 

grantee is not in compliance with the 

project management plan and the 

project is at risk of running over budget 

and behind schedule, in which case 

FTA may conduct more frequent 

reviews. Section 5327 also requires a 

grantee for a major capital project to 

submit quarterly updates of the project 

budget and schedule. These changes in 

oversight practice will apply to all major 

capital projects. 

6. Incremental Costs of Art and NonFunctional Landscaping Prohibited 

The FAST Act makes ineligible the 

incremental costs of incorporating art or 

non-functional landscaping into 

facilities, including the costs of an artist 

on a design team. 

7. Use of Geographic Preferences in 

Hiring 

Section 415 of Title IV of the FY2016 

Consolidated Appropriations Act 

continues the provision in Section 418 

of the Consolidated and Further 

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, 

Public Law 113–235 that FTA is 

prohibited from using appropriated 

funds for the year to implement, 

administer or enforce section 18.36(c)(2) 

of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, 

for construction hiring purposes. 

Section 18.36(c)(2) prohibits the use of 

statutorily or administratively imposed 

in-State or local geographical 

preferences in the evaluation bids or 

proposals. The provisions of 49 CFR 

18.36(c)(2) have been recodified in 

substantially similar form at 2 CFR 

200.319(b). Although Congress did not 

address the change in codification in 

Section 415, FTA believes that Congress 

intended to apply section 415 to grants 

subject to 2 CFR 200.319(b). FTA will 

administer Section 415 in accordance 

with this intent. 

Please note, however, that Section 192 

of the FY2016 Consolidated 

Appropriations Act provides that FTA 

may assist a contract under title 49 of 

the United States Code that utilizes a 

geographic, economic, or any other 

hiring preference on a contract or 

construction project with which the 

Department of Transportation is 

assisting, only if the grant recipient 

certifies the following: (1) That except 

with respect to apprentices or trainees, 

a pool of readily available but 

unemployed individuals possessing the 

knowledge, skill, and ability to perform 

the work that the contract requires 

resides in the jurisdiction; (2) that the 

grant recipient will include appropriate 

provisions in its bid document ensuring 

that the contractor does not displace any 

of its existing employees in order to 

satisfy such hiring preference; and (3) 

that any increase in the cost of labor, 

training, or delays resulting from the use 

of such hiring preference does not delay 

or displace any transportation project in 

the applicable Statewide Transportation 

Improvement Program or Transportation 

Improvement Program. FTA will 

provide additional guidance on these 

provisions in the near future. 

II. Program-Specific Information 

A. Metropolitan Planning Program (49 

U.S.C. 5303 and 5305(d)) 

Section 5305(d) authorizes Federal 

funding to support a cooperative, 

continuous, and comprehensive 

planning program for transportation 

investment decision-making at the 

metropolitan area level. The specific 

requirements of metropolitan 

transportation planning are set forth in 

49 U.S.C. 5303 and further explained in 

23 CFR part 450, as incorporated by 

reference in 49 CFR part 613, Statewide 

Transportation Planning; Metropolitan 

Transportation Planning. State 

Departments of Transportation (DOTs) 

are direct recipients of funds allocated 

by FTA, which are then sub-allocated to 

Metropolitan Planning Organizations 

(MPOs), for planning activities that 

support the economic vitality of the 

metropolitan area. 

The metropolitan transportation 

planning process must establish a 

performance-based approach in which 

the MPO will develop specific 

performance targets that address 

transportation system performance 

measures (to be issued by U.S. DOT), 

where applicable, to use in tracking 

progress towards attaining critical 

outcomes. These performance targets 

will be established by MPO’s in 

coordination with States and transit 

providers. MPOs will provide a system 

performance report that evaluates the 

progress of the MPO in meeting the 

performance targets in comparison with 

the system performance identified in 

prior reports. 

This funding must support work 

elements and activities resulting in 

balanced and comprehensive 

intermodal transportation planning for 

the movement of people and goods in 

the metropolitan area. Comprehensive 

transportation planning is not limited to 

transit planning or surface 

transportation planning, but also 

encompasses the relationships among 

land use and all transportation modes, 

without regard to the programmatic 

source of Federal assistance. Eligible 

work elements or activities include, but 

are not limited to studies relating to 

management, mobility management, 

planning, operations, capital 

requirements, and economic feasibility; 

evaluation of previously funded 

projects; peer reviews and exchanges of 

technical data, information, assistance, 

and related activities in support of 

planning and environmental analysis 

among MPOs and other transportation 

planners; work elements and related 

activities preliminary to and in 

preparation for constructing, acquiring, 

or improving the operation of facilities 

and equipment; development of 

coordinated public transit human 

services transportation plans. An 

exhaustive list of eligible work activities 

is provided in FTA Circular 8100.1C, 

Program Guidance for Metropolitan 

Planning and State Planning and 

Research Program Grants, dated 

September 1, 2008. For more about the 

Metropolitan Planning Program, contact 

Victor Austin, Office of Planning and 

Environment at (202) 366–2996 or 

victor.austin@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes $108.14 

million in FY 2016, $110.35 million in 

FY 2017, $112.66 million in FY 2018, 

$115.05 million in FY 2019 and $117.49 

million in FY 2020 to provide financial 

assistance for metropolitan planning 

needs under section 5305. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $108,141,510 $110,347,597 $112,664,897 $115,053,393 $117,492,524 

The table above shows the funding amounts authorized for the Metropolitan Planning Program. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7901 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $108,141,510 is available 

for the period October 1, 2015 through 

September 30, 2016 to the Metropolitan 

Planning Program (section 5305(d)) to 

support metropolitan transportation 

planning activities set forth in section 

5303. The total amount apportioned for 

the Metropolitan Planning Program to 

States for use by MPOs in urbanized 

areas (UZAs) is $107,600,802 as shown 

in the table below, after the deduction 

for oversight (authorized by section 

5338). 

METROPOLITAN PLANNING PROGRAM— 

FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $108,141,510 

Oversight Deductions ........... (540,707) 

Total Apportioned .......... 107,600,803 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

The FAST Act did not change the 

funding formula. Of the amounts 

authorized in section 5305, 82.72 

percent is made available to the 

Metropolitan Planning program. Eighty 

percent of the funds are apportioned on 

a statutory basis to the States based on 

the most recent decennial Census for 

each State’s UZA population. The 

remaining 20 percent is provided to the 

States based on an FTA administrative 

formula to address planning needs in 

larger, more complex UZAs. The 

amount published for each State 

includes the supplemental allocation. 

4. Requirements 

The State allocates Metropolitan 

Planning funds to MPOs in UZAs or 

portions thereof to provide funds for 

planning projects included in a one or 

two-year program of planning work 

activities (the Unified Planning Work 

Program, or UPWP) that includes 

multimodal systems planning activities 

spanning both highway and transit 

planning topics. Each State has either 

reaffirmed or developed, in consultation 

with their MPOs, an allocation formula 

among MPOs within the State, based on 

the 2010 Census. The allocation formula 

among MPOs in each State may be 

changed annually, but any change 

requires approval by the FTA Regional 

Office before grant approval. Program 

guidance for the Metropolitan Planning 

Program is found in FTA Circular 

8100.1C, Program Guidance for 

Metropolitan Planning and State 

Planning and Research Program Grants, 

dated September 1, 2008. 

5. Period of Availability 

The Metropolitan Planning program 

funds apportioned in this notice are 

available for obligation during FY 2016 

plus three additional fiscal years. 

Accordingly, funds apportioned in FY 

2016 must be obligated in grants by 

September 30, 2019. Any FY 2016 

apportioned funds that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2019, will revert to FTA 

for reapportionment under the 

Metropolitan Planning program. 

B. State Planning and Research Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305(e)) 

This program provides financial 

assistance to States for statewide 

transportation planning and other 

technical assistance activities, including 

supplementing the technical assistance 

program provided through the 

Metropolitan Planning program. The 

specific requirements of Statewide 

transportation planning are set forth in 

49 U.S.C. 5304 and further explained in 

23 CFR part 450 as referenced in 49 CFR 

part 613, Statewide Transportation 

Planning; Metropolitan Transportation 

Planning; Final Rule. State DOTs are 

required to reference performance 

measures and performance targets 

within the Statewide Planning process. 

This funding must support work 

elements and activities resulting in 

balanced and comprehensive 

intermodal transportation planning for 

the movement of people and goods. 

Comprehensive transportation planning 

is not limited to transit planning or 

surface transportation planning, but also 

encompasses the relationships among 

land use and all transportation modes, 

without regard to the programmatic 

source of Federal assistance. For more 

information, contact Victor Austin, 

Office of Planning and Environment at 

(202) 366–2996 or victor.austin@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

FAST authorizes $22,590,490 in FY 

2016, $23,051,336 in FY 2017, 

$23,535,414 in FY 2018, $24,034,364 in 

FY 2019 and $24,543,893 in FY 2020 to 

provide financial assistance for 

statewide planning and other technical 

assistance activities under section 5305. 

As specified in law, this represents the 

17.28 percent of the amounts authorized 

for section 5305 that are allocated to the 

Statewide Planning and Research 

program, as shown below. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $22,590,490 $23,051,336 $23,535,414 $24,034,364 $24,543,893 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $22,590,490 is available 

for the period October 1, 2015 through 

September 30, 2016 to the State 

Planning and Research Program (section 

5305(e)). The total amount apportioned 

for the State Planning and Research 

Program (SPRP) is $22,477,537 as 

shown in the table below, after the 

deduction for oversight (authorized by 

section 5338). 

STATEWIDE PLANNING PROGRAM—FY 

2016 

Total Appropriation ............. $22,590,490 

Oversight Deductions ......... (112,953 ) 

STATEWIDE PLANNING PROGRAM—FY 

2016—Continued 

Total Apportioned ............ 22,477,537 

States’ apportionments for this program are 

displayed in Table 2. 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

The FAST Act did not change the 

funding formula. Of the amount 

authorized in section 5305, 17.28 

percent is allocated to the State 

Planning and Research program. FTA 

apportions funds to States by a statutory 

formula that is based on the most recent 

decennial Census data available, and the 

State’s UZA population as compared to 

the UZA population of all States. 

4. Requirements 

Funds are provided to States for 

Statewide transportation planning 

programs. These funds may be used for 

a variety of purposes such as planning, 

technical studies and assistance, 

demonstrations, and management 

training. In addition, a State may 

authorize a portion of these funds to be 

used to supplement Metropolitan 

Planning funds allocated by the State to 

its UZAs, as the State deems 

appropriate. Program guidance for the 

State Planning and Research program is 

found in FTA Circular 8100.1C, 

Program Guidance for Metropolitan 

Planning and State Planning and 

Research Program Grants, dated 

September 1, 2008. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7902 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

5. Period of Availability 

The State Planning and Research 

program funds apportioned in this 

notice are available for obligation during 

FY 2016 plus three additional fiscal 

years. Accordingly, funds apportioned 

in FY 2016 must be obligated in grants 

by September 30, 2019. Any FY 2016 

apportioned funds that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2019 will revert to FTA 

for reapportionment under the State 

Planning and Research program. 

C. Urbanized Area Formula Program (49 

U.S.C. 5307) 

Section 5307 authorizes Federal 

assistance for capital, planning, job 

access and reverse commute projects, 

and, in some cases, operating assistance 

for public transportation in urbanized 

areas. An urbanized area (UZA) is an 

area with a population of 50,000 or 

more that has been defined and 

designated as such by the U.S. Census 

Bureau. Program funds are apportioned 

to urbanized areas through a statutory 

formula. In addition, $30 million is 

allocated each year under this program 

to passenger ferry projects through a 

discretionary funding competition. 

For more information about the 

Urbanized Area Formula Program, 

contact Tara Clark, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–2623 or 

tara.clark@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$4,538,905,700 in FY 2016, 

$4,629,683,814 in FY 2017, 

$4,726,907,174 in FY 2018, 

$4,827,117,606 in FY 2019 and 

$4,929,452,499 in FY 2020 to provide 

financial assistance for urbanized areas 

under section 5307. Of the amount 

authorized and appropriated for section 

5307 in each year, $30 million is set 

aside for the competitive discretionary 

Passenger Ferry Grant Program, 0.5 

percent will be apportioned to eligible 

States for State Safety Oversight (SSO) 

Program grants, and 0.75 percent will be 

set aside for program oversight. 

Further information on the Passenger 

Ferry Discretionary Program is provided 

in section III of this notice. Further 

information on the 0.5 percent 

apportionment to States for the State 

Safety Oversight Program is provided in 

section IV.N. of this notice. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $4,538,905,700 $4,629,683,814 $4,726,907,174 $4,827,117,606 $4,929,452,499 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

A total of $4,538,905,700 is available 

for the section 5307 program for FY 

2016. The total amount apportioned to 

urbanized areas is $4,911,077,833 which 

includes the addition of amounts 

apportioned to UZAs pursuant to the 

Section 5340 Growing States and High 

Density States Formula factors. This 

amount excludes the set-aside for the 

Passenger Ferry Discretionary Program, 

apportionments under the State Safety 

Oversight Program, and oversight 

(authorized by section 5338), as shown 

in the table below: 

URBANIZED AREA FORMULA

PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ......... a $4,538,905,700 

Oversight Deduction ....... (34,041,793 ) 

Ferry Discretionary Program ............................ (30,000,000 ) 

State Safety Oversight 

Program ...................... (22,694,529 ) 

Section 5340 High Density States ................... 263,964,457 

Section 5340 Growing 

States .......................... 194,943,998 

Total Apportioned ........ 4,911,077,833 

a Includes 1.5 percent set-aside for Small 

Transit Intensive Cities Formula. 

Table 3 displays the amounts apportioned 

under the Urbanized Area Formula Program. 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

FTA apportions Urbanized Area 

Formula Program funds based on 

statutory formulas. Congress established 

four separate formulas that are used to 

apportion portions of the available 

funding: The section 5307 Urbanized 

Area Formula Program formula, the 

Small Transit Intensive Cities (STIC) 

formula, the Growing States and High 

Density States formula, and a formula 

based on low-income population. 

The FAST Act did not make changes 

to the apportionment formula for FY 

2016 through 2018. Section 5336(h) 

states that 3.07 percent of section 5307 

funds available are for apportionment 

are allocated on the basis of low-income 

persons residing in urbanized areas, 

with 25 percent of these funds allocated 

to areas below 200,000 in population 

and the remaining 75 percent allocated 

to areas 200,000 and over in population. 

The percentage of funds allocated on the 

basis of Small Transit Intensive Cities 

(STIC) factor remains 1.5 percent. 

However, the STIC factor will increase 

to 2.0 percent in FY 2019. Finally, The 

0.5 percent takedown for State Safety 

Oversight grant program still applies. 

Consistent with prior apportionment 

notices, Table 3 shows a total section 

5307 apportionment for each UZA, 

which includes amounts apportioned 

under each of these formulas. Detailed 

information about the formulas is 

provided in Table 4. For technical 

assistance purposes, the UZAs that 

receive STIC funds are listed in Table 6. 

FTA will provide breakouts of the 

funding allocated to each UZA under 

these formulas upon request to the FTA 

Regional Office. 

a. Section 5307—Urbanized Area 

Formula 

For UZAs between 50,000 and 

199,999 in population, the section 5307 

formula is based on population and 

population density. For UZAs with 

populations of 200,000 and more, the 

formula is based on a combination of 

bus revenue vehicle miles, bus 

passenger miles, bus operating costs, 

fixed guideway vehicle revenue miles, 

and fixed guideway route miles, as well 

as population and population density. 

The Urbanized Area Formula is defined 

in 49 U.S.C. 5336. 

To calculate a UZA’s FY 2016 

apportionment, FTA used population 

and population density statistics from 

the 2010 Census and validated mileage 

and transit service data from transit 

providers’ 2014 National Transit 

Database (NTD) Report Year (when 

applicable). Consistent with section 

5336(b), FTA has included 27 percent of 

the fixed guideway directional route 

miles and vehicle revenue miles from 

eligible urbanized area transit systems, 

but which were attributable to rural 

areas outside of the urbanized areas 

from which the system receives funds. 

FTA has calculated dollar unit values 

for the formula factors used in the 

Urbanized Area Formula Program 

apportionment calculations. These 

values represent the amount of money 

each unit of a factor is worth in this 

year’s apportionment. The unit values 

change each year, based on all of the 

data used to calculate the 

apportionments, as well as the amount 

appropriated by Congress for the 

apportionment. The dollar unit values 

for FY 2016 are displayed in Table 5. To 

replicate the basic formula component 

of a UZA’s apportionment, multiply the 

dollar unit value by the appropriate 

formula factor (i.e., the population, 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7903 

population x population density), and 

when applicable, data from the NTD 

(i.e., route miles, vehicle revenue miles, 

passenger miles, and operating cost). 

b. Small Transit Intensive Cities 

Formula 

Under the STIC formula, FTA 

apportions 1.5% of the funds made 

available for section 5307 to UZAs that 

are under 200,000 in population and 

have public transportation service that 

operates at a level equal to or above the 

industry average for UZAs with a 

population of at least 200,000, but not 

more than 999,999. STIC funds are 

apportioned on the basis of one or more 

of six performance categories: Passenger 

miles traveled per vehicle revenue mile, 

passenger miles traveled per vehicle 

revenue hour, vehicle revenue miles per 

capita, vehicle revenue hours per capita, 

passenger miles traveled per capita, and 

passengers per capita. In FY 2019, the 

STIC set aside will increase from 1.5% 

to 2%. 

The data used to determine a UZA’s 

eligibility under the STIC formula and 

to calculate the STIC apportionments 

was obtained from the NTD reports for 

the 2014 reporting year. Because 

performance data change with each 

year’s NTD reports, the UZAs eligible 

for STIC funds and the amount each 

receives may vary each year. UZAs that 

received funding through the STIC 

formula for FY 2016 are listed in Table 

6. 

c. Section 5340—Growing States and 

High Density States Formula 

FTA also apportions funds to 

qualifying UZAs and States according to 

the section 5340 Growing States and 

High Density States formula, as shown 

in Table 3. For fiscal year 2016 FTA 

apportions $194,943,998 to UZAs in 

Growing States and $263,964,457 to 

UZAs in High Density States. More 

information on this program and its 

formula is found in section IV.P. of this 

notice. 

d. Low-Income Population 

The FAST Act does not change the 

formula factor for low-income 

population. Of the amount authorized 

and appropriated for the Urbanized 

Area Formula Program in each year, 

3.07 percent is apportioned on the basis 

of low income population. A total of 

$139,344,405 has been apportioned to 

UZAs based on this formula for FY 

2016, as described below. 

As specified in statute, FTA 

apportions 75 percent of the available 

funds to UZAs with a population of 

200,000 or more. Funds are apportioned 

based on the ratio of the number of low 

income individuals in each UZA to the 

total number of low income individuals 

in all urbanized areas of that size. FTA 

apportions the remainder of the funds 

(25 percent) to UZAs with populations 

of less than 200,000, according to an 

equivalent formula. The low income 

populations used for this calculation 

were based on the American 

Community Survey (ACS) data set for 

2009–2013. This information is updated 

by the Census Bureau annually. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible activities include planning, 

engineering design and evaluation of 

transit projects and other technical 

transportation-related studies; capital 

investments in bus and bus-related 

activities such as replacement of buses, 

overhaul and rebuilding of buses; crime 

prevention and security equipment; 

construction of maintenance and 

passenger facilities; and capital 

investments in new and existing fixed 

guideway systems including rolling 

stock, overhaul and rebuilding of 

vehicles, track, signals, 

communications, and computer 

hardware and software. All preventive 

maintenance and some Americans with 

Disabilities Act complementary 

paratransit service costs are considered 

capital costs. For urbanized areas with 

populations less than 200,000, operating 

assistance is an eligible expense. In 

areas over 200,000 in population, 

operating assistance is an eligible 

expense if the special rule (100 Bus 

Rule) at 49 U.S.C. 5307(a)(2) applies. Job 

Access and Reverse Commute activities 

remain eligible under the program. 

In addition, recipients may now use 

up to one-half of one percent of their 

section 5307 funds to support workforce 

development activities at an 80 percent 

Federal share; the eligible workforce 

development activities are defined in 

section 5314; see Section IV.K. of this 

notice for more information. This 

provision is new in section 5314 and is 

in addition to the one-half of one 

percent that recipients may use for 

training activities with the National 

Transit Institute. 

5. Requirements 

Program guidance for the Urbanized 

Area Formula Program is found in FTA 

Circular 9030.1E, Urbanized Area 

Formula Program: Program Guidance 

and Application Instructions, dated 

January 16, 2014, and is supplemented 

by additional information and changes 

provided in this notice and that may be 

posted to section 5307 Web page. FTA 

is in the process of updating the 

program circular to incorporate changes 

resulting from FAST Act amendments to 

49 U.S.C. 5307. 

Key program requirements and 

changes that apply to all programs are 

addressed in section III.D. of this notice, 

‘‘Cross-Cutting Programmatic 

Requirements and Changes.’’ The 

following subsections outline several 

important program requirements and 

changes that apply specifically to the 

Urbanized Area Formula Program. 

In FY 2016, FTA will apportion funds 

to a new large UZA for which a 

designated recipient has not yet been 

selected. These funds will become 

available for grants once FTA has 

received documentation of the selection 

of a designated recipient (for the Lake 

Tahoe UZA identified in section 5303(r) 

Bi-State Metropolitan Planning 

Organization). 

6. Period of Availability 

Funds made available under Section 

5307 are available for obligation during 

the year of apportionment plus five 

additional years. This is unchanged 

under the FAST Act. Accordingly, funds 

apportioned in FY 2016 must be 

obligated in grants by September 30, 

2021. Any FY 2016 apportioned funds 

that remain unobligated at the close of 

business on September 30, 2021 will 

revert to FTA for reapportionment 

under the Urbanized Area Formula 

Program. 

Funds allocated under the Passenger 

Ferry discretionary program follow the 

same period of availability as section 

5307. Accordingly, funds allocated in 

FY 2016 must be obligated in grants by 

September 30, 2021. Any of the funds 

allocated in FY 2016 that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2021 will revert to FTA 

for reallocation under the Passenger 

Ferry program. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

a. Special Rule for Operating Assistance 

in Large Urbanized Areas 

The FAST Act amended the special 

rule at 49 U.S.C. 5307(a)(2) to add 

demand response service. The special 

rule allows recipients in urbanized areas 

with populations of 200,000 or above 

and those that operate 100 or fewer 

buses in fixed route service or demand 

response, excluding ADA 

complementary paratransit service, 

during peak hours, to receive a grant for 

operating assistance subject to a 

maximum amount per system as 

explained below: 

i. Public transportation systems that 

operate a minimum of 76 buses and a 

maximum of 100 buses in fixed route 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7904 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

service or demand response, excluding 

ADA complementary paratransit 

service, during peak service hours may 

receive operating assistance in an 

amount not to exceed 50 percent of the 

share of the apportionment that is 

attributable to such systems within the 

urbanized area, as measured by vehicle 

revenue hours. 

ii. Public transportation systems that 

operate 75 or fewer buses in fixed route 

service or demand response, excluding 

ADA complementary paratransit 

service, during peak service hours may 

receive operating assistance in an 

amount not to exceed 75 percent of the 

share of the apportionment that is 

attributable to such systems within the 

urbanized area, as measured by vehicle 

revenue hours. 

iii. A list of eligible recipients and 

their maximum operating assistance 

amounts for FY 2016 is shown in Table 

3–A. FTA identified the systems eligible 

to use this provision and their 

maximum amounts for FY 2016 using 

data from the NTD for reporting year 

2014. Operating assistance requires a 50 

percent local match. 

In accordance with section 5307(a)(2), 

FTA has calculated a fixed annual cap 

on operating assistance for each eligible 

agency that provides service in a large 

UZA. The cap is determined by dividing 

the UZA’s apportionment by the total 

number of vehicle revenue hours 

reported from all public transportation 

operators and from all transit modes in 

the UZA, and then by multiplying this 

quotient by the number of bus vehicle 

revenue hours operated in the UZA by 

the eligible system. The result is the 

proportional share of the apportionment 

that is attributable to the qualifying 

system, as measured by vehicle revenue 

hours. This cap is calculated based on 

the FY 2016 apportionment for an 

eligible provider’s UZA. Eligible 

systems operating in more than one 

UZA over 200,000 in population will 

receive separate operating caps from 

each UZA in which the system operates. 

The FY 2016 Apportionment Table 3A 

includes all eligible general public 

demand response operators. 

In determining the amount of 

operating assistance available for 

specific systems in urbanized areas 

under the Special Rule, public 

transportation systems may execute a 

written agreement with one or more 

other public transportation systems 

within the urbanized area to allocate 

funds by a method other than by 

measuring vehicle revenue hours. 

Systems within the urbanized area may 

combine their individual operating 

assistance caps and allocate the 

combined funds using a method that is 

agreed upon by all of the systems. The 

method used should be documented in 

a written agreement, signed by all 

parties, and transmitted to FTA as a part 

of the split letter. 

b. Equipment and Facilities 

Maintenance 

Section 5307(c) is amended to require 

recipients to maintain equipment and 

facilities in accordance with the 

recipient’s transit asset management 

plan. 

c. Associated Transit Improvements 

Designated recipients in UZAs with 

populations of 200,000 or more are no 

longer required to expend not less than 

one percent of the section 5307 funds 

apportioned to the UZA be set aside for 

associated transit improvements. 

Designated recipients must still submit 

an annual report listing projects carried 

out in the preceding year with these 

funds as part of the Federal fiscal year’s 

final quarterly progress report in 

TrAMS. The report should include the 

following elements: (1) Grantee name; 

(2) UZA name and number; (3) FTA 

project number; (4) associated transit 

improvement category; (5) brief 

description of improvement and 

progress towards project 

implementation; (6) activity line item 

code from the approved budget; and (7) 

amount awarded by FTA for the project. 

The list of associated transit 

improvement categories and activity 

line item (ALI) codes may be found in 

the table of Scope and ALI codes in 

TrAMS. 

It is the responsibility of the 

recipients in a UZA to identify 

associated transit improvement projects 

that will receive funding from the 

Urbanized Area Formula Program. 

d. Increased Cap on Spending for ADA 

Paratransit Service 

As under previous authorizations, 

recipients that are in compliance with 

the requirements of the ADA may use 10 

percent of their annual formula 

apportionment for ADA paratransit 

service, funded at an 80 percent Federal 

share. The FAST Act increases the 

spending cap for ADA paratransit 

service to 20 percent of a recipient’s 

annual formula apportionment under 

certain conditions. See sections III.D. 

and V.D for more information on this 

provision. 

e. Eligibility for Safety Certification 

Training 

Effective May 2015, FTA established 

an Interim Safety Certification Training 

Program. Recipients of section 5307 

funds are permitted to use not more 

than 0.5 percent of their formula funds 

under the Urbanized Area Formula 

Program to pay not more than eighty 

percent of the cost of participation for 

an employee who is directly responsible 

for safety oversight to participate in 

public transportation safety certification 

training. The interim program will 

remain in place until the effective date 

of the final rule. FTA published a Notice 

of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for 

this program on December 3, 2015. 

Comments were due on February 1, 

2016. 

D. Fixed Guideway Capital Investment 

Grant Program (49 U.S.C. 5309) 

The Capital Investment Grant (CIG) 

Program includes four types of eligible 

projects—New Starts projects, Small 

Starts projects, Core Capacity 

Improvement projects, and Programs of 

Interrelated Projects. Funding is 

provided for construction of: (1) New 

fixed guideway systems or extensions to 

existing fixed guideway systems such as 

rapid rail (heavy rail), commuter rail, 

light rail, trolleybus (using overhead 

catenary), cable car, passenger ferries, 

and bus rapid transit operating on an 

exclusive transit lane for the majority of 

the corridor length that also includes 

features that emulate the services 

provided by rail fixed guideway 

including defined stations, traffic signal 

priority for public transit vehicles, and 

short headway bi-directional service for 

a substantial part of weekdays and 

weekends; (2) corridor-based bus rapid 

transit service that does not operate on 

an exclusive transit lane but includes 

features that emulate the services 

provided by rail fixed guideway 

including defined stations, traffic signal 

priority for public transit vehicles, and 

short headway bi-directional services 

for a substantial part of weekdays; (3) 

projects that expand the capacity by at 

least 10 percent of an existing fixed 

guideway corridor that is at capacity 

today or will be in five years; and (4) 

programs of two or more projects as 

described above that have logical 

connectivity with one another and will 

all begin construction in a reasonable 

timeframe. 

Projects become candidates for 

funding under the Capital Investment 

Grant program by successfully 

completing steps in the process defined 

in section 5309 and obtaining a 

satisfactory rating under the statutorilydefined criteria. For New Starts and 

Core Capacity Improvement projects, 

the steps in the process include project 

development, engineering, and 

construction. For Small Starts projects 

the steps in the process include project 

development and construction. For 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7905 

Programs of Interrelated Projects, the 

steps in the process depend on the 

combination of project types included. 

New Starts and Core Capacity 

Improvement projects receive 

construction funds from the program 

through a full funding grant agreement 

(FFGA) that defines the scope of the 

project and specifies the total multi-year 

Federal commitment to the project. 

Small Starts projects receive 

construction funds through a single year 

grant or an expedited grant agreement 

that defines the scope of the project and 

specifies the Federal commitment to the 

project. 

For more information about the 

Capital Investment Grant program 

contact Elizabeth Day, Office of Capital 

Project Development, at (202) 366–5159 

or elizabeth.day@dot.gov. For 

information about published allocations 

contact Eric Hu, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–0870 or eric.hu@

dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$2,301,785,760 for FY 2016 through FY 

2020 for the Capital Investment Grant 

program. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $2,301,785,760 $2,301,785,760 $2,301,785,760 $2,301,785,760 $2,301,785,760 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

Although the program is authorized at 

$2,301,785,760 for FY 2016, the 

Appropriations Act makes 

$2,177,000,000 available for the section 

5309 program for FY 2016. After the 

oversight deduction, $2,155,230,000 is 

available for eligible projects under the 

program. 

NAME OF PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ......... $2,177,000,000 

Oversight Deduction ....... (21,770,000 ) 

Total Apportioned ........ 2,155,230,000 

3. Basis for Allocation 

Funds are allocated on a discretionary 

basis and subject to program evaluation. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

See beginning of section D above. 

5. Requirements 

FTA will be completing a rulemaking 

and interim policy guidance documents 

for the Capital Investment Grant 

program to implement the changes 

made in FAST. Project sponsors should 

reference the FTA Web site at 

www.fta.dot.gov for the most current 

Capital Investment Grant program 

policy guidance to learn what is 

required to enter and advance through 

the program. Grant-related guidance is 

found in FTA Circular 9300.1B, Capital 

Investment Grant Program Guidance 

and Application Instructions, November 

1, 2008; and C5200.1A, Full Funding 

Grant Agreement Guidance, December 

5, 2002, which will be updated in the 

future to incorporate the changes made 

by the FAST Act. 

6. Period of Availability 

The FAST Act shortened the period of 

availability for section 5309 capital 

investment grant program funds from 

five years to four years, which is the 

fiscal year in which the amount is made 

available plus three additional years. 

Therefore, funds for a project identified 

in FY 2016 must be obligated for the 

project by September 30, 2019. Section 

5309 funds that remain unobligated 

after four fiscal years to the projects for 

which they were originally designated 

may be made available for other section 

5309 projects. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

a. New Starts and Core Capacity 

The FAST Act amended the Capital 

Investment Grant Program (CIG) by 

changing slightly the eligibility 

parameters for New and Small Starts 

projects as described below, allowing 

joint intercity rail/public transportation 

projects to be eligible, limiting the 

maximum CIG share for New Starts 

projects to 60 percent, and clarifying 

how Programs of Interrelated Projects 

are to be evaluated and rated. 

Under 49 U.S.C. 5309, as amended by 

the FAST Act, New Starts projects are 

defined as projects with a total capital 

cost of $300 million or greater or that 

are seeking $100 million or more in 

section 5309 funding. Previously, these 

thresholds were $250 million and $75 

million respectively. Eligible New Starts 

projects are new fixed-guideway 

systems, such as rapid rail (heavy rail), 

commuter rail, light rail, streetcars, 

trolleybus (using overhead catenary), 

cable car, passenger ferries, and fixed 

guideway bus rapid transit, or an 

extension of any of these systems. Fixed 

guideway bus rapid transit is defined as 

operating on an exclusive transit lane 

for the majority of the corridor length 

and that also includes features that 

emulate the services provided by rail 

fixed guideway including defined 

stations, traffic signal priority for public 

transit vehicles, and short headway bidirectional service for a substantial part 

of weekdays and weekends. 

Small Starts projects are defined as 

projects with a total capital cost less 

than $300 million and that are seeking 

less than $100 million in section 5309 

funding. Previously, these thresholds 

were $250 million and $75 million 

respectively. Eligible Small Starts 

projects are those mentioned for the 

New Starts program, as well as corridorbased bus rapid transit projects that do 

not operate on a separated fixed 

guideway but include features that 

emulate the services provided by rail 

fixed guideway including defined 

stations, traffic signal priority for public 

transit vehicles, and short headway bidirectional services for a substantial part 

of weekdays. The previous 

authorization also required substantial, 

bi-directional service on weekends for 

corridor-based bus rapid transit projects 

but the FAST Act amended 49 U.S.C. 

5309 to remove that requirement. 

Core Capacity Improvement projects 

are defined as substantial, corridorbased investments in existing fixed 

guideway systems that are at capacity 

today or will be in five years. A Core 

Capacity Improvement project must 

increase the capacity of the existing 

fixed guideway system in the corridor 

by at least 10 percent. Core Capacity 

projects cannot include elements 

designed to maintain a state of good 

repair. This was not changed from the 

eligibility under MAP–21. 

Additionally, the FAST Act amends 

section 5309 to define a Program of 

Interrelated Projects as the simultaneous 

development of two or more New Starts 

projects, Small Starts projects, or Core 

Capacity projects or any combination 

thereof. The projects in the Program 

must have logical connectivity to one 

another and construction must begin on 

the projects in the Program in a 

reasonable timeframe. Programs of 

Interrelated Projects may also include 

non-federally funded projects, which 

can count as match toward the overall 

Program. FTA is required to evaluate 

and rate a Program of Interrelated 

Projects as a whole rather than rating 

the individual projects in the Program. 

The FAST Act amended the evaluation 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7906 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

criteria in 49 U.S.C. 5309(i) that FTA 

must use when developing the ratings, 

indicating that if the Program of 

Interrelated Projects includes a 

combination of project types, the New 

Starts criteria should be used. Annually 

FTA must review the Program of 

Interrelated Projects to ensure it is 

adhering to its schedule. 

The number of steps in the process for 

projects has not changed. For New 

Starts and Core Capacity Improvement 

projects, the steps in the process include 

project development, engineering, and 

construction. For Small Starts projects 

the steps in the process include project 

development and construction. FTA 

must evaluate and rate projects seeking 

section 5309 funding according to 

statutorily defined criteria at various 

steps in the process. There is a new 

provision that allows for an optional 

early rating for Small Starts projects 

after the completion of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). FTA 

will implement amendments to 49 

U.S.C. 5309 through rule-making and 

future policy guidance, which will be 

developed through a notice and 

comment process. 

b. Expedited Project Delivery for Capital 

Investment Grants Pilot Program 

The FAST Act repealed the pilot 

program with a similar name authorized 

under MAP–21 and replaced it with this 

new pilot program at section 3005(b) of 

the Fast Act. Eligible projects for the 

pilot program include New Starts, Small 

Starts, or Core Capacity improvement 

projects that have not yet received a full 

funding grant agreement. However the 

definitions of New Starts, Small Starts, 

and Core Capacity differ slightly from 

those used in the Capital Investment 

Grant program. 

A New Starts project under the pilot 

program is defined as a project with a 

total capital cost of $300 million or 

greater or that is seeking $75 million or 

more in funding from the pilot program. 

A Small Starts project under the pilot 

program is defined as a project with a 

total capital cost less than $300 million 

and that is seeking less than $75 million 

in funding from the pilot program. A 

Core Capacity Improvement project 

under the pilot program is defined as a 

substantial, corridor-based investment 

in an existing fixed guideway system 

that is at capacity today or will be in 

five years. The Core Capacity 

Improvement project must increase the 

capacity of the existing fixed guideway 

system in the corridor by at least 10 

percent. It can include elements 

designed to maintain a state of good 

repair. 

The FAST Act allows for up to eight 

projects to be selected for the pilot 

program. Projects must be supported at 

least in part through a public-private 

partnership, but must be operated and 

maintained by employees of an existing 

provider of fixed guideway or bus rapid 

transit services in the area. The 

maximum Federal funding provided to 

projects selected for the pilot program is 

25 percent. 

The FAST Act also requires that FTA 

determine a proposed pilot project is 

justified based on its mobility 

improvements, environmental benefits, 

congestion relief, economic 

development effects, and estimated 

ridership and that it is supported by an 

acceptable degree of local financial 

commitment. FTA will publish 

guidance in a future Federal Register 

notice describing the process for project 

sponsors to apply to FTA for 

consideration as a pilot project. 

E. Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals With Disabilities Program 

(49 U.S.C. 5310) 

The Enhanced Mobility of Seniors 

and Individuals with Disabilities 

Program provides formula funding 

apportioned to direct recipients: States 

for rural (under 50,000) and small urban 

areas (50,000–200,000); and designated 

recipients chosen by the Governor of the 

State for large urban areas (populations 

of 200,000 or more); or a State or local 

governmental entity that operates a 

public transportation service. The 5310 

program provides capital and operating 

assistance for improving the mobility for 

seniors and individuals with disabilities 

by removing barriers to transportation 

service and expanding transportation 

mobility options. This program supports 

transportation services planned, 

designed, and carried out to meet the 

special transportation needs of seniors 

and individuals with disabilities in all 

areas. 

This program provides funds to: (1) 

Serve the special needs of transitdependent populations beyond 

traditional public transportation service, 

where public transportation is 

insufficient, inappropriate, or 

unavailable; (2) projects that exceed the 

requirements of the Americans with 

Disabilities Act (ADA); (3) project that 

improve access to fixed route service 

and decrease reliance on 

complementary paratransit; and (4) 

projects that are alternatives to public 

transportation. For more information 

about the section 5310 program, contact 

Danielle Nelson, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–2160 or 

Danielle.Nelson@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$264,949,400 in FY 2016, $271,208,388 

in FY 2017, $277,090,764 in FY 2018, 

$283,146,188 in FY 2019 and 

$289,074,688 in FY 2020 for the 

Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals with Disabilities formula 

program. These amounts include 

funding for the discretionary pilot 

program as shown below. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

5310 Formula Grants .................................... $262,949,400 $268,208,388 $273,840,764 $279,646,188 $285,574,688 

Discretionary Pilot Program ............................. 2,000,000 3,000,000 3,250,000 3,500,000 3,500,000 

5310 Total .............................................. 264,949,400 271,208,388 277,090,764 283,146,188 289,074,688 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $262,949,400 is available 

for formula funding and $2,000,000 for 

the discretionary pilot program. Total 

available funding for the section 5310 

Program for FY 2016 is $263,634,653 

after the oversight deduction as shown 

in the table below. 

SECTION 5310 FORMULA

PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............. $262,949,400 

Oversight Deductions (oversight 0.5%) ...................... (1,314,747 ) 

Total Apportioned ............... 261,634,653 

Discretionary Pilot Program 2,000,000 

SECTION 5310 FORMULA

PROGRAM—FY 2016—Continued 

Total Apportioned ............ 263,634,653 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

Sixty percent of the funds are 

apportioned among designated 

recipients for urbanized areas with a 

population of 200,000 or more 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7907 

individuals. Twenty percent of the 

funds are apportioned among the States 

for their urbanized areas with a 

population of at least 50,000 but less 

than 200,000. Twenty percent of the 

funds are apportioned among the States 

for their rural areas, areas with a 

population less than 50,000. Census 

Data on Older Adults and People with 

Disabilities is used for the Section 5310 

Enhanced Mobility of Older Adults and 

People with Disabilities 

Apportionments. To view the Section 

5310 table which displays the amounts 

apportioned under the Enhanced 

Mobility of Seniors and Individuals 

with Disabilities Program click here: 

http://www.fta.dot.gov/12853_

13935.html. 

Under the section 5310 formula, 

funds are allocated using Census data 

on seniors (i.e., persons 65 and older) 

and people with disabilities. However, 

beginning in 2010, the Census Bureau 

stopped collecting this demographic 

information on as part of its decennial 

census. Data on seniors and people with 

disabilities is now only available from 

the American Community Survey 

(ACS), which is conducted and 

published on a rolling basis. FTA’s FY 

2016 section 5310 apportionments 

incorporate ACS data published in 

December 2014. Data on seniors comes 

from the ACS 2009–2013 five-year data 

set, Table B01001, ‘‘Sex by Age’’. Data 

on persons with disabilities comes from 

the ACS 2009–2013 five-year data set, 

Table S.1810, ‘‘Disability 

Characteristics.’’ 

4. Eligible Expenses 

At least 55 percent of program funds 

must be used on capital or ‘‘traditional’’ 

5310 project such as buses and vans; 

wheelchair lifts, ramps, and securement 

devices; transit-related information 

technology systems including 

scheduling/routing/one-call systems; 

and mobility management programs. 

The acquisition of transportation 

services under a contract, lease, or other 

arrangement is also eligible. Both capital 

and operating costs associated with 

contracted service are eligible capital 

expenses. User-side subsidies are 

considered one form of eligible 

arrangement. Funds may be requested 

for contracted services covering a time 

period of more than one year. The 

capital eligibility of acquisition of 

services is limited to the section 5310 

program. 

The remaining 45 percent is for 

additional ‘‘traditional’’ and other 

‘‘nontraditional’’ projects. This includes 

projects eligible under the former 5317 

New Freedom program, described as: 

Capital and operating expenses for new 

public transportation services and 

alternatives beyond those required by 

the ADA, designed to assist individuals 

with disabilities and seniors. 

5. Requirements 

a. Eligible Recipients 

Eligible recipients include States for 

rural and small urban areas and 

designated recipients chosen by the 

Governor of the State for large urban 

areas; or a State or local governmental 

entity that operates a public 

transportation service. For urbanized 

areas less than 200,000 in population 

and in the rural areas, the State is the 

designated recipient for section 5310. 

Current section 5310 designations 

remain in effect until changed by the 

Governor of a State by officially 

notifying the appropriate FTA regional 

administrator of re-designation. 

In urbanized areas over 200,000 in 

population, the recipient charged with 

administering the section 5310 Program 

must be officially designated in 

accordance with the planning process, 

by the Governor of a State, responsible 

local officials, and publicly owned 

operators of public transportation prior 

to grant award (See definition of 

designated recipient, 49 U.S.C. 5302(4)). 

Designated recipients are responsible for 

administering the program. 

Responsibilities include: Notifying 

eligible local entities of funding 

availability; developing project selection 

processes; determining project 

eligibility; developing the program of 

projects; and ensuring that all 

subrecipients comply with Federal 

requirements. 

Although FTA will only award grants 

to the eligible recipients for the 

program, there are other entities eligible 

to receive funding as subrecipients. 

These include private nonprofit 

agencies, public bodies approved by the 

state to coordinate services for seniors 

and people with disabilities, or public 

bodies which certify to the Governor 

that no nonprofit organizations or 

associations are readily available in an 

area to provide the service. 

b. Local Match 

The matching requirements for this 

program remain the same; capital 

assistance is provided on an 80 percent 

Federal share, 20 percent local share. 

Operating assistance requires a 50 

percent match. Funds provided under 

other Federal programs (other than 

those of the DOT, with the exception of 

the Federal Lands Transportation 

Program and Tribal Transportation 

Program established by sections 202 and 

203 of title 23 U.S.C.) may be used for 

local match for funds provided under 

section 5310, and revenue from service 

contracts may be used as local match. 

c. Planning and Consultation 

The coordinated planning provision 

requires that all projects be included in 

the local coordinated human servicepublic transportation plan. 

FTA requires the following elements, 

at a minimum, be included in the plans: 

i. An assessment of available services 

that identifies current transportation 

providers (public, private, and 

nonprofit); 

ii. An assessment of transportation 

needs for individuals with disabilities 

and seniors; 

iii. Strategies, activities, and/or 

projects to address the identified gaps 

between current services and needs, as 

well as opportunities to achieve 

efficiencies in service delivery; and, 

iv. Priorities for implementation 

based on resources (from multiple 

program sources), time, and feasibility 

for implementing specific strategies 

and/or activities identified. 

Additionally, the plan must be 

developed and adopted with 

representation from seniors, individuals 

with disabilities, representatives of 

public, private, nonprofit transportation 

and human services providers, and 

other members of the public. Recipients 

must certify that projects were selected 

from this process and must make 

reference to the plan in the program of 

projects, which is described below. 

d. State and Project Management Plans 

FTA will continue to require States, 

designated recipients, and State or local 

governmental entities that operate a 

public transportation service who are 

responsible for implementing the 

section 5310 program to document their 

approach to managing the program. The 

primary purposes of Management Plans 

are to serve as the basis for FTA 

management reviews of the program, 

and to provide public information on 

the administration of the programs. 

e. Program of Projects (POP) 

Designated recipients are required to 

develop a Program of Projects (POP) 

with the grant application and submit it 

to the FTA Regional Office. The POP 

should be developed with respect to the 

coordinated plan, long range plan, and 

the transportation improvement plan. 

For additional guidance in developing 

the required POP, recipients can use 

Chapter IV of the FTA Circular 9070.1G, 

Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals with Disabilities Program 

Guidance and Application Instructions, 

dated July 7, 2014. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7908 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

6. Period of Availability 

For Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and 

Individuals with Disabilities Program 

funds apportioned under this notice, 

FTA has administratively set the period 

of availability to three years, which 

includes the year of apportionment plus 

two additional years. Accordingly, 

funds apportioned in FY 2016 must be 

obligated in grants by September 30, 

2018. Any FY 2016 apportioned funds 

that remain unobligated at the close of 

business on September 30, 2018 will 

revert to FTA for reapportionment 

among the States and urbanized areas. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

Under the FAST Act, 49 U.S.C. 

5310(a) is amended to allow a State or 

local governmental entity that operates 

a public transportation service and is 

eligible to receive direct grants under 

5311 or 5307 to be a direct recipient for 

Section 5310 funds. 

The FAST Act amends Section 5310 

to require FTA to collect best practices 

for dissemination to the public 

transportation industry related to 

innovation, program models, new 

service delivery options, performance 

measure findings, and transit 

cooperative research program reports. 

FTA will undertake these activities 

through the National Aging and 

Disability Transportation Center 

(NADTC). 

Recipients may continue to use a 

competitive selection process to select 

projects, but it is not required. A State 

may transfer apportioned funds between 

small urbanized areas and rural areas if 

it can certify that the needs are being 

met in the area to which the funds were 

originally apportioned. The State can 

transfer the funds (rural and small 

urbanized area) to any area within the 

state if a statewide program for section 

5310 is established. There are no 

administrative or statutory provisions to 

permit transferring section 5310 funds 

to other FTA programs nor is there a 

provision for large urbanized areas to 

transfer their funds to the State. 

Section 5310 program recipients may 

continue to partner with meal delivery 

programs such as the OAA-funded meal 

programs (to find local programs, visit: 

www.Eldercare.gov) and the USDA 

Summer Food Service Program http://

www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/summer-foodservice-program-sfsp. Transit service 

providers receiving 5310 funds may 

coordinate and assist in providing meal 

delivery services on a regular basis as 

long as this does not conflict with the 

provision of transit services. 

Program Guidance is found in FTA 

Circular 9070.1G, Enhanced Mobility of 

Seniors and Individuals with 

Disabilities Program Guidance and 

Application Instructions, dated July 7, 

2014. FTA is in the process of updating 

the program circular to incorporate 

changes resulting from the FAST Act. 

Section 3006(b) of the FAST Act 

creates a new discretionary pilot 

program for innovative coordinated 

access and mobility that is discussed in 

section III of this notice. The Federal 

share is 80% for capital projects and 

50% for operating assistance. Match can 

come from other Federal (non-DOT) 

funds. A report will be made available 

by December 31 of each year on the 

pilot program. The report will include a 

detailed description of the activities 

carried out under the pilot program, and 

an evaluation of the program, including 

an evaluation of the performance 

measures. 

In addition, Section 3006(c) of the 

FAST Act includes Coordinated 

Mobility, which requires that FTA 

implement recommendations made by 

the Interagency Transportation 

Coordination Council on Access and 

Mobility (CCAM) 2005 Report to the 

President relating to the implementation 

of Executive Order No. 13330 (49 U.S.C. 

101) including publishing an updated 

strategic plan and developing a costsharing policy. The cost-sharing policy 

must be developed in compliance with 

applicable Federal laws for use by 

grantees of Federal programs funded by 

members of the CCAM. The cost 

allocation model developed under this 

section will facilitate local coordination 

efforts and include: Eligibility 

requirements; service delivery 

requirements; and reimbursement 

requirements. 

F. Formula Grants for Rural Areas 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5311) 

The Rural Areas program provides 

formula funding to States and Indian 

tribes for the purpose of supporting 

public transportation in areas with a 

population of less than 50,000. Funding 

may be used for capital, operating, 

planning, job access and reverse 

commute projects, and State 

administration expenses. Eligible subrecipients include State and local 

governmental authorities, Indian Tribes, 

private non-profit organizations, and 

private operators of public 

transportation services, including 

intercity bus companies. Indian Tribes 

are also eligible direct recipients under 

section 5311, both for funds 

apportioned to the States and for 

projects apportioned or selected to be 

funded with funds set aside for a 

separate Tribal Transit Program. For 

more information about the Formula 

Grants for Rural Areas program, contact 

Marianne Stock, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–2677 or 

Marianne.stock@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$619,956,600 in FY 2016, $632,355,120 

in FY2017, $645,634,578 in FY2018, 

$659,322,031 in FY2019, and 

$673,299,658 in 2020 to provide 

financial assistance for rural areas under 

section 5311. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $619,956,000 $632,355,120 $645,634,578 $659,322,031 $673,299,658 

In addition to the funds made 

available to States under section 5311, 

approximately 16 percent of the funds 

authorized for the new section 5340 

Growing States and High Density States 

formula factors will be apportioned to 

States for use in rural areas. 

Funding for oversight, the Rural 

Transportation Assistance Program 

(RTAP), Tribal Transit Program, and the 

Appalachian Development Public 

Transportation Assistance Program will 

be deducted before amounts are 

apportioned to the States. 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $619,956,000 is available 

for the section 5311 program for the 

period October 1, 2015 through 

September 30, 2016. 

FORMULA GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS

PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............. $619,956,000 

Oversight Deductions ......... (3,099,780 ) 

RTAP Takedown ................ (12,399,120 ) 

Tribal Takedown ................. (35,000,000 ) 

Appalachian Takedown ...... (20,000,000 ) 

Section 5340 Growing 

States .............................. 77,353,084 

Total Apportioned ............ 626,810,184 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7909 

Table 12 displays the amounts 

apportioned to the States under the 

Formula Grants for Rural Areas 

Program. 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

The FAST Act made no changes to the 

formula for the Rural Areas Program. 

FTA apportions section 5311 funds to 

the states by a statutory formula using 

the latest available U.S. decennial 

census data. The majority of rural 

formula funds (83.15 percent) are 

apportioned based on land area and 

population factors. In this first tier, no 

state may receive more than 5 percent 

of the amount apportioned on the basis 

of land area. The remaining rural 

formula funds (16.85 percent) are 

apportioned based on land area, vehicle 

revenue miles, and low-income 

individuals factors. In this second tier, 

no state may receive more than 5 

percent of the amount apportioned on 

the basis of land area, or more than 5 

percent of the amounts apportioned for 

vehicle revenue miles. In addition to 

funds made available under Section 

5311, FTA adds amounts apportioned 

based on rural population according to 

the growing states formula factors of 49 

U.S.C. 5340 to the amounts apportioned 

to the states under the Section 5311 

formula. Before FTA apportions Section 

5311 funds to the states, FTA subtracts 

funding from the total available 

amounts for the Appalachian 

Development Transportation Assistance 

Program, the Tribal Transit Program, the 

Rural Transportation Assistance 

Program (RTAP), and FTA oversight 

activities. 

Data from the Rural Module of the 

National Transit Database (NTD) 2014 

Report Year was used for this 

apportionment, including data from 

directly-reporting Indian tribes. Data 

from public transportation systems that 

reported to the Annual (Urbanized Area) 

Module, and that was not attributable to 

an urbanized area, was also included. 

The section 5311 program includes 

three takedowns: The Appalachian 

Development Public Transportation 

Assistance Program; the Rural Transit 

Assistance Program (RTAP); and the 

Tribal Transit Program. These separate 

programs are described in the sections 

that follow. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

The section 5311 program provides 

funding for capital, operating, planning, 

job access and reverse commute 

projects, and administration expenses 

for public transit service in rural areas 

under 50,000 in population. The 

planning activities undertaken with 

section 5311 funds are in addition to 

those awarded to the State under section 

5305 and must be used specifically for 

rural areas’ needs. Job access and 

reverse commute projects are also 

eligible under this program. 

a. Intercity Bus Transportation 

Each State must continue to spend no 

less than 15 percent of its annual Rural 

Areas Formula apportionment for the 

development and support of intercity 

bus transportation, unless it can certify, 

after consultation with affected intercity 

bus service providers, that the intercity 

bus service needs of the State are 

adequately being met. FTA continues to 

encourage consultation with other 

stakeholders, such as communities 

affected by loss of intercity service. The 

FAST Act amended the intercity bus 

service match requirement in 49 U.S.C. 

5311(g)(3) and now allows the cost of an 

unsubsidized portion of privately 

provided intercity bus service that 

connects feeder service, including all 

operating and capital costs of such 

service whether or not offset by revenue 

from such service to be used as in-kind 

local match for the intercity bus 

projects. FTA will update the Section 

5311program circular to include this 

change. 

b. State Administration 

The FAST Act did not change the 

amount available to States for 

administration, planning, and technical 

assistance. States may elect to use up to 

10 percent of their apportionment at 100 

percent Federal share to administer the 

section 5311 program and provide 

technical assistance to subrecipients. 

Technical assistance includes project 

planning, program and management 

development, public transportation 

coordination activities, and research the 

State considers appropriate to promote 

effective delivery of public 

transportation to rural areas. 

c. Eligibility for Safety Certification 

Training 

Recipients of section 5311 funds are 

permitted to use not more than 0.5 

percent of their formula funds under the 

Rural Areas program to pay not more 

than eighty percent of the cost of 

participation for an employee who is 

directly responsible for safety oversight 

to participate in public transportation 

safety certification training. Safety 

certification training program 

requirements are established in 

accordance with section 5329. 

5. Requirements 

The program requirements under this 

section are generally unchanged, with 

the exception of the cross-cutting 

requirements mentioned in section III.D. 

of this notice and specific subsections 

outlined below. 

The Federal share for capital 

assistance is 80 percent and for 

operating assistance is 50 percent, 

except that States eligible for the sliding 

scale match under FHWA programs may 

use that match ratio for section 5311 

capital projects and 62.5 percent of the 

sliding scale capital match ratio for 

operating projects. This is not changed 

under the current authorization. 

Each State prepares an annual 

program of projects, which must 

provide for fair and equitable 

distribution of funds within the States, 

including Indian reservations, and must 

provide for maximum feasible 

coordination with transportation 

services assisted by other Federal 

sources. 

Additional program guidance for the 

Rural Areas Program is found in FTA 

Circular 9040.1G, Formula Grants for 

Rural Areas: Program Guidance and 

Application Instructions, dated October 

24, 2014, and is supplemented by 

additional information and changes 

provided in this notice and that may be 

posted to FTA’s section 5311 Web page. 

FTA is in the process of updating the 

program circular to incorporate changes 

resulting from FAST Act amendments to 

49 U.S.C. 5311. 

The following subsections outline 

several important program requirements 

and changes that apply specifically to 

the section 5311 program. 

6. Period of Availability 

Section 5311 funds remain available 

to states for obligation for three Federal 

fiscal years, beginning with the year of 

apportionment plus two additional 

years. The Rural Areas program funds 

apportioned in this notice are available 

for obligation during FY 2016 plus two 

additional years. Any FY 2016 

apportioned funds that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2018 will revert to FTA 

for reapportionment under the Rural 

Areas program. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

Revenue from the sale of advertising 

and concessions may be used as local 

match. The capital and operating costs, 

with no revenue offset, of an 

unsubsidized portion of privately 

provided intercity bus service that 

connects feeder service can be used as 

in-kind local match for the intercity bus 

projects. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7910 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

G. Rural Transportation Assistance 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5311(b)(3)) 

This program is not changed in the 

FAST Act and continues to provide 

funding to assist in the design and 

implementation of training and 

technical assistance projects, research, 

and other support services tailored to 

meet the needs of transit operators in 

rural areas. For more information about 

Rural Transportation Assistance 

Program (RTAP) contact Marianne 

Stock, Office of Transit Programs, at 

(202) 366–2677 or marianne.stock@

dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The Fast Act authorizes a two percent 

takedown from the funds appropriated 

for section 5311 for RTAP. Of this 

amount, 15 percent is reserved for the 

National RTAP program. The remainder 

is available for allocation to the States. 

The Fast Act authorizes the following 

amounts to carry out this program for 

fiscal years 2016–2020. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ................................................................. $12,399,120 $12,647,102 $12,912,692 $13,186,441 $134,659,93 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $12,399,120 is available 

for the section 5311 RTAP program. 

After the reservation for the National 

RTAP program, a total of $10,539,252 is 

available for allocation to the States, as 

shown in the table below. 

RURAL TRANSPORTATION ASSISTANCE

PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $12,399,120 

National RTAP ...................... ¥1,859,868 

Total Apportioned .............. 10,539,252 

Table 12 shows the FY 2016 RTAP 

allocations to the States. 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

FTA will continue to allocate funds to 

the States by an administrative formula. 

First, FTA allocates $65,000 to each 

State ($10,000 to territories), and then 

allocates the balance based on rural 

population in the 2010 census. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible expenses include the design 

and implementation of training and 

technical assistance projects, research, 

and other support services tailored to 

meet the needs of transit operators in 

rural areas. 

5. Requirements 

States may use the funds to undertake 

research, training, technical assistance, 

and other support services to meet the 

needs of transit operators in rural areas. 

These funds are to be used in 

conjunction with a State’s 

administration of the Rural Areas 

Formula Program, but also may support 

the rural components of the section 

5310 program. 

6. Period of Availability 

The section 5311 RTAP funds 

apportioned in this notice are available 

for obligation in FY 2016 plus two 

additional years, consistent with that 

established for the section 5311 

program. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

The National RTAP project is 

administered by cooperative agreement 

and re-competed at five-year intervals. 

In July of 2014, FTA awarded a 

cooperative agreement to Neponset 

Valley Transportation Management 

Association to administer the National 

RTAP Program. The National RTAP 

projects are guided by a project review 

board that consists of managers of rural 

transit systems and State DOT RTAP 

programs. National RTAP resources also 

support the biennial TRB National 

Conference on Rural Public and 

Intercity Bus Transportation and other 

research and technical assistance 

projects of a national scope. 

H. Appalachian Development Public 

Transportation Assistance Program (49 

U.S.C. 5311(c)(2)) 

This program continues as a takedown under the section 5311 program to 

provide additional funding to support 

public transportation in the 

Appalachian region. There are sixteen 

eligible States that receive an allocation 

under this provision. The States and 

their allocation are shown in the Rural 

Areas Formula program table posted on 

FTA’s Web site under the FY 2013 

Apportionments page. For more 

information about the Appalachian 

Development Public Transportation 

Assistance Program, contact Marianne 

Stock, Office of Transit Programs, at 

(202) 366–2677 or marianne.stock@

dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes $20 million 

in each of FY 2016 through FY 2020 as 

a take-down under the section 5311 

program to support public 

transportation in the Appalachian 

region. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2010 

Funds Authorized ................................................................. $20,000,000 $20,000,000 $20,000,000 $20,000,000 $20,000,000 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

A total of $20,000,000 is available for 

the Appalachian Development program 

for FY 2016, as shown below. 

APPALACHIAN DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC

TRANSPORTATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $20,000,000 

Total Apportioned ................. 20,000,000 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

FTA apportions the funds using 

percentages established under section 

9.5(b) of the Appalachian Regional 

Commission Code (subtitle IV of title 

40). Allocations are based in general on 

each State’s remaining estimated need 

to complete eligible sections of the 

Appalachian Development Highway 

System as determined from the latest 

percentages of available cost estimates 

for completion of the System. Such cost 

estimates are produced at approximate 

five year intervals. Allocations contain 

upper and lower limits in amounts 

determined by the Commission and are 

made in accordance with legislative 

instructions. 

4. Requirements 

Funds apportioned under this 

program can be used for purposes 

consistent with section 5311 to support 

public transportation in the 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7911 

Appalachian region. Funds can be 

applied for in the State’s annual section 

5311 grant. 

Appalachian program funds that 

cannot be used for operating may be 

used for a highway project under certain 

circumstances. States should contact 

their regional office if they intend to 

request a transfer. Additional 

information about the requirements for 

this section can be found in Chapter VII 

of FTA Circular 9040.1G, Formula 

Grants for Rural Areas: Program 

Guidance and Application Instructions, 

dated October 24, 2014. 

5. Period of Availability 

Section 5311 Appalachian program 

funds are available for three years, 

which includes the year of 

apportionment plus two additional 

years, consistent with that established 

for the section 5311 program. 

I. Formula Grants for Public 

Transportation on Indian Reservations 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5311(j)) 

The Public Transportation on Indian 

Reservations Program or Tribal Transit 

Program (TTP) totals $35 million, of 

which $30 million is for a formula 

program and $5 million is for a 

discretionary grant program. It is funded 

as a takedown from funds made 

available for the section 5311 program. 

Formula factors include vehicle revenue 

miles and the number of low-income 

individuals residing on tribal lands 

(American Indian Areas, Alaska Native 

Areas, and Hawaiian Home Lands). 

More information on the Discretionary 

program can be found in section III.6 of 

this notice. Eligible direct recipients are 

Federally recognized Indian tribes and 

Alaskan Native Villages providing 

public transportation in rural areas. The 

TTP funds are to be allocated for grants 

to eligible recipients for any purpose 

eligible under section 5311, which 

includes capital, operating, planning, 

job access and reverse commute 

projects. For more information about the 

Tribal Transit Program contact Elan 

Flippin, Office of Transit Programs at 

(202) 366–3800 or elan.flippin@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Funding 

Under the FAST Act, $35 million is 

authorized in in each of FY 2016–FY 

2020. Five million will be allocated on 

a competitive basis and $30 million will 

be allocated by formula. 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $30,000,000 is made 

available by formula as shown in the 

table below. 

FORMULA GRANTS FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $30,000,000 

Total Apportioned ................. 30,000,000 

3. Basis for Allocation 

Funding is allocated by formula and 

distributed to eligible Indian tribes 

providing public transportation on tribal 

lands. The formula apportionment 

shown in Table 9 is based on a statutory 

formula which includes three tiers. 

Tiers 1 and 2 are based on data reported 

to NTD by Indian tribes; Tier 3 is based 

on 2009–2013 American Community 

Survey data. The three tiers for the 

formula are: Tier 1—50 percent based 

on vehicle revenue miles reported to the 

NTD; Tier 2—25 percent provided in 

equal shares to Indian tribes reporting at 

least 200,000 vehicle revenue miles to 

the NTD; Tier 3—25 percent based on 

Indian tribes providing public 

transportation on tribal lands (American 

Indian Areas, Alaska Native Areas, and 

Hawaiian Home Lands) on which more 

than 1,000 low income individuals 

reside. If more than one tribe provides 

public transportation services on tribal 

lands in a single Tribal Statistical area, 

and the tribes cannot determine how to 

allocate Tier 3 funds, FTA will allocate 

the funds based on the relative portion 

of transit (as defined by unlinked 

passenger trips) operated by each tribe, 

as reported to the National Transit 

Database. 

4. Requirements 

Formula funds apportioned under this 

program can be used for purposes 

consistent with section 5311 to support 

public transportation on Indian 

Reservations in rural areas. Funds 

allocated under the discretionary 

program must be used consistent with 

the tribe’s proposal and the allocation 

notice published in the Federal 

Register, which is used to announce the 

selected projects. Eligible recipients 

under both the discretionary and 

formula program include federallyrecognized Indian tribes or Alaska 

native villages, groups, or communities 

as identified by the U.S. Department of 

the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs 

(BIA). A tribe must have the legal, 

financial and technical capabilities to 

receive and administer Federal funds. 

Section 5335 requires NTD reporting 

for all direct recipients of section 5311 

funds. This reporting requirement has 

and continues to apply to the Tribal 

Transit Program. Tribes that provide 

public transportation in rural areas are 

reminded to report annually so they are 

included in the TTP formula 

apportionments. To be considered in the 

FY 2016 formula apportionments, tribes 

should have submitted their reports to 

the NTD no later than April 30, 2015; 

voluntary reporting to the NTD is also 

encouraged. Additionally, to be 

considered for the FY 2017 formula 

apportionment funds, tribes need to 

submit their reports to the NTD no later 

than April 30, 2016. Tribes needing 

assistance with reporting to the NTD 

should contact the NTD Helpline at 1– 

888–252–0936 or NTDHelp@dot.gov. 

5. Period of Availability 

Funding for the TTP is available for 

three years, which includes the year of 

apportionment or allocation plus two 

additional years, consistent with that 

established for the section 5311 

program. Any FY 2016 formula funds 

that remain unobligated at the close of 

business on September 30, 2018 will 

revert to FTA for reapportionment 

under the TTP. 

6. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

The FAST Act establishes a Tribal 

Transportation Self Governance 

Program (Self Governance). The Self 

Governance Program establishes specific 

criteria for determining eligibility for a 

tribe to participate in the program. DOT 

will develop rulemaking and the 

implementation of this program in 

consultation with tribal representatives 

and other interested stakeholders. See 

section III. 6 of this notice for more 

information. 

The funds set aside for the TTP are 

not meant to replace or reduce funds 

that Indian tribes receive from States 

through the section 5311 program but 

are to be used to enhance public 

transportation on Indian reservations 

and transit serving tribal communities. 

Funds allocated to Indian tribes by the 

States may be included in the State’s 

section 5311 application or awarded by 

FTA in a grant directly to the Indian 

tribe. FTA encourages Indian tribes 

intending to apply to FTA as direct 

recipients to contact the appropriate 

FTA Regional Office at the earliest 

opportunity. 

TTP grantees must comply with all 

applicable Federal statutes, regulations, 

executive orders, FTA circulars, and 

other Federal requirements in carrying 

out the project supported by the FTA 

grant. To assist tribes with 

understanding these requirements, FTA 

regularly conducts Tribal Transit 

Technical Assistance Workshops, and 

expects to offer several workshops in 

FY2016. FTA has also expanded its 

technical assistance to tribes receiving 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7912 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

funds under this program. In FY15, FTA 

implemented the Tribal Transit 

Technical Assistance Assessments 

initiative. Through these assessments, 

FTA collaborates with tribal transit 

leaders to review processes and identify 

areas in need of improvement and then 

assist with solutions to address these 

needs—all in a supportive and mutually 

beneficial manner. FTA completed 

fifteen assessments in FY15, and 

expects to do a similar number in FY 

2016. These assessments include 

discussions of compliance areas 

pursuant to the Master Agreement, a site 

visit, promising practices reviews, and 

technical assistance from FTA and its 

contractors. These workshops and 

assessments received exemplary 

feedback from Tribal Transit Leaders, 

and provided FTA with invaluable 

opportunities to learn more about tribal 

transit leaders’ perspectives, and honor 

the sovereignty of tribal nations. FTA 

will post information about upcoming 

workshops to its Web site and will 

disseminate information about the 

reviews through its Regional offices. 

FTA has regional tribal transit liaisons 

in each of the FTA Regional Offices that 

are available to assist tribes with 

applying for and managing FTA grants. 

A list of regional tribal transit liaisons 

can be found on FTA’s Web site at 

http://www.fta.dot.gov/13094_

15845.html. Tribes are encouraged to 

work directly with their regional tribal 

transit liaison. For more information 

about the Tribal Transit Program, please 

contact E ́ lan Flippin at elan.flippin@

dot.gov or 202–366–3800. 

J. Public Transportation Innovation (49 

U.S.C. 5312) 

Section 5312 is FTA’s research 

program. Within this section, the FAST 

Act authorizes several different 

activities that comprise three distinct 

programs: (a) A Research, Development, 

Demonstration, Deployment, & 

Evaluation program (49 U.S.C. 5312(b– 

e)); (b) a Low or No Emission Vehicle 

Component Assessment (Lo-No 

Component Testing program) (49 U.S.C. 

5312(h)); and (c) a Transit Cooperative 

Research Program (49 U.S.C. 5312(i)). 

For more information about the Public 

Transportation Innovation program, 

contact Mary Leary, Office of Research, 

Demonstration and Innovation at (202) 

366–4052 or mary.leary@dot.gov 

1. Authorized Funding 

The FAST Act authorizes $48 million 

for FY 2016 through FY 2020 for the 

Public Transportation Innovation 

program as shown in the table below, 

$28 million from the Mass Transit 

Account of the Highway Trust Fund and 

$20 million from General Fund 

appropriations. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Public Transportation Innovation ......................................... $48,000,000 $48,000,000 $48,000,000 $48,000,000 $48,000,000 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $28,000,000 is available 

for the Public Transportation Innovation 

program as shown in the table below. 

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

INNOVATION—FY 2016 

Research, Development, 

Demonstration, Deployment, & Evaluation ............ $20,000,000 

Low or No Emission Vehicle 

Component Testing ........... 3,000,000 

Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) ... 5,000,000 

Total Apportioned .............. 28,000,000 

3. Basis for Allocation of Funds 

Section 5312 funds are allocated 

according to the authorized purposes 

and amounts described above, and then 

remaining amounts are subject to 

discretionary allocations where not 

specifically authorized. For FY 2016, 

FTA intends to fund projects and 

activities in support of three major 

areas: Asset Innovation and 

Management, Mobility, and Safety. 

Projects may be selected through 

Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) 

or Requests for Proposals (RFPs). 

Potential recipients can register to 

receive notification of funding 

availability under this program on 

Grants.gov. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible expenses include activities 

involving (a) Research, Innovation, 

Development, Demonstration, 

Deployment, Evaluation; (b) Low or No 

Emission Vehicle Component Testing; 

and (c) Transit Cooperative Research. 

5. Requirements 

The Government share of the cost of 

a project carried out under FTA’s 

Research, Development, Deployment, 

and Demonstration program shall not 

exceed 80 percent; the remaining 20 

percent of the costs can be met with inkind resources. In some cases, FTA may 

require a higher non-Federal share if 

FTA determines a recipient would 

obtain a clear and direct financial 

benefit from the project, or if the nonFederal share is an evaluation factor 

under a competitive selection process. 

However, for the Lo-No Component 

Testing Program, the Government share 

is 50 percent; the remaining 50 percent 

of the costs will be paid by amounts 

recovered through the fees established 

by the testing facilities. There is no 

match requirement for the TCRP. 

Application instructions and program 

management guidelines are set forth in 

FTA Circular C 6100.1E, Technology 

Development and Deployment, 

‘‘Research, Technical Assistance and 

Training Program: Application 

Instructions and Program Management 

Guidelines’’ dated April 10, 2015. All 

research recipients are required to work 

with FTA to develop approved 

Statements of Work. FTA will be 

updating the Circular for the Research 

program during FY 2016. 

6. Period of Availability 

FTA establishes the period in which 

the funds must be obligated to the 

project. If the funds are not obligated 

within that period of time, they revert 

to FTA for reallocation under the 

program. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

The FAST Act amends 49 U.S.C. 5312 

to create a new voluntary Lo-No 

Component Testing Program, which is 

separate and apart from the Bus Testing 

Program (Section 5318) and is 

authorized at $3 million annually. 

The annual Research Report on 

projects, evaluations, and benefits will 

be posted to FTA’s Web site rather than 

submitted to the Congress. 

Section 6019(b) of the FAST Act 

establishes new requirements for annual 

modal research plans in 49 U.S.C. 6501. 

This section requires FTA to submit its 

comprehensive annual modal research 

plan to the Assistant Secretary for 

Research and Technology for review 

and approval prior to expending funds. 

Pursuant to the Small Business 

Innovation Development Act, a portion 

of the 5312 funds must be set aside for 

the Department’s SBIR program to 

address high priority research that will 

demonstrate innovative, economic, 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7913 

accurate, and durable technologies, 

devices, applications, or solutions to 

significantly improve current transitrelated service including transit vehicle 

operation, safety, infrastructure and 

environmental sustainability, mobility, 

rider experience, or broadband 

communication. 

K. Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development (49 U.S.C. 5314) 

The Technical Assistance and 

Workforce Development program, 49 

U.S.C. 5314, provides assistance to: (1) 

Carry out technical assistance activities 

that enable more effective and efficient 

delivery of transportation services, 

foster compliance with Federal laws, 

and improve public transportation 

service; (2) develop standards and best 

practices for the transit industry; and (3) 

address public transportation workforce 

needs through research, outreach, 

training and the implementation of a 

frontline workforce grant program, and 

conduct training and educational 

programs in support of the public 

transportation industry. 

Section 5314 is funded from the 

Highway Trust Fund and is authorized 

at $9 million a year for all five years, 

with $5 million of that amount 

specifically set-aside for a National 

Transit Institute. FAST authorizes an 

additional $5 million from the General 

Fund that is subject to annual 

appropriations; for FY 2016, there are 

no additional appropriations from the 

General Fund leaving a balance of $4 

million to fund all technical assistance, 

standards development, and workforce 

development activities. 

For more information about the 

Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development program, contact Betty 

Jackson, Office of Research, 

Demonstration and Innovation at (202) 

366–4052 or Betty.Jackson@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes $14 million 

for each of FY 2016 through FY 2020 for 

the Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development program as shown in the 

table below. $9 million is authorized 

from the trust fund. Of this amount $5 

million is for the National Transit 

Institute (NTI). An additional $5 million 

is authorized to be appropriated from 

the General Fund of the Treasury. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Technical Assistance and Workforce Development ............ $14,000,000 $14,000,000 $14,000,000 $14,000,000 $14,000,000 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $9,000,000 is available for 

Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development as shown in the table 

below. 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT—FY 2016 

Technical Assistance, Standards Development & 

Human Resource Training $4,000,000 

National Transit Institute ....... 5,000,000 

Total Appropriated ............ $9,000,000 

3. Basis for Allocation of Funds 

Under section 5314, $5 million is 

available for the NTI. The remaining $4 

million will be allocated in support for 

both FTA and USDOT strategic goals for 

technical assistance, standards 

development, and workforce 

development. Projects may be selected 

through Notices of Funding Availability 

(NOFA) or Requests for Proposals 

(RFPs). Potential recipients can register 

to receive notification of funding 

availability under this program on 

Grants.gov. Once selected, FTA enters 

into cooperative agreements, contracts, 

or other agreements to award funds and 

manage the projects carried out under 

this section. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible expenses include activities 

involving (a) Technical Assistance; (b) 

Standards Development; and (c) Human 

Resources and Training, to include 

Workforce Development programs and 

activities. 

Eligible Technical Assistance 

activities may include activities to 

support: (a) Compliance with the ADA; 

(b) compliance with coordinating 

planning and human services 

transportation; (c) meeting the 

transportation needs of elderly 

individuals; (d) increasing transit 

ridership in coordination with MPOs 

and other entities, particularly around 

transit-oriented development; (e) 

addressing transportation equity with 

regard to the effect that transportation 

planning, investment, and operations 

have for low-income and minority 

individuals; (f) facilitating best practices 

to promote bus driver safety; (g): 

Compliance with Buy America and preand post-award audits; (h) assisting with 

the development and deployment of low 

and no emission vehicles or 

components for vehicles; (i) and other 

technical assistance activities that are 

necessary to advance the interests of 

public transportation. 

Eligible Standards activities include 

the development of voluntary and 

consensus-based standards and best 

practices by the industry to include 

those needed for safety, fare collection, 

intelligent transportation systems, 

accessibility, procurement, security, 

asset management, operations, 

maintenance, vehicle propulsion, 

communications, and vehicle 

electronics. 

Eligible Human Resources and 

Training activities include (a) 

employment training programs; (b) 

outreach programs to increase 

employment for veterans, females, 

individuals with disabilities, minorities 

in public transportation activities; (c) 

research on public transportation 

personnel and training needs; (d) 

training and assistance for veteran and 

minority business opportunities; and (e) 

consensus-based national training 

standards and certifications in 

partnership with industry stakeholders. 

FTA funding directly allocated for these 

eligible purposes must be done through 

a discretionary frontline workforce 

development program as required in the 

authorization. Should FTA allocate 

funds for these purposes, it will 

advertise the available funding in a 

Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) 

on Grants.gov and on its Web site. FTA 

will be issuing additional guidance in 

the coming months on how grantees can 

utilize their formula funds in support of 

these eligible activities. 

5. Requirements 

a. Federal Share 

The Government’s share of the cost of 

a project carried out using a grant under 

this section shall not exceed 80 percent. 

However, for the Human Resources and 

Training, including the Innovative 

Public Transportation Frontline 

Workforce Development Program, the 

Government’s share cannot exceed 50 

percent. The Federal share for other 

types of awards will be stated in the 

agreement. In some cases, FTA may 

require a higher non-Federal share if 

FTA determines a recipient would 

obtain a clear and direct financial 

benefit from the project, or if the nonFederal share is an evaluation factor 

under a competitive selection process. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7914 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

There is no match requirement for the 

National Transit Institute. 

b. Non-Government Share 

The non-Government share of the cost 

of a project carried out under these 

sections (Technical Assistance and 

Standards and Technical Assistance and 

Training) may be derived from in-kind 

contributions as defined in the most 

current version of FTA Circular 5010, 

‘‘Grants Management Guidelines’’ found 

on FTA’s Circular Web page at (http:// 

www.fta.dot.gov/circulars). Application 

instructions and program management 

guidelines are set forth in FTA Circular 

6100.1E, ‘‘Research, Technical 

Assistance and Training Program: 

Application Instructions and Program 

Management Guidelines’’ dated April 

10, 2015. All research recipients are 

required to work with FTA to develop 

approved Statements of Work. 

5. Period of Availability 

FTA establishes the period in which 

the funds must be obligated to the 

project. If the funds are not obligated 

within that period of time, they revert 

to FTA for reallocation under the 

program. 

6. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

Under 49 U.S.C. 5314(b)(4), recipients 

may use no more than one-half of one 

percent (0.5%) of their section 5307, 

5337 and 5339 funds to support 

workforce development activities. In 

addition, 49 U.S.C. 5314(c)(4) allows 

recipients to use no more than one-half 

of one percent (0.5%) of their 5307, 

5337, and 5339 funds to attend NTI 

training. Both provisions allow 

recipients to use these funds to pay up 

to 80 percent of the cost of training. This 

amounts to approximately $36 million 

in formula funds that grantees can use 

to support workforce development 

activities and another $36 million that 

can be used to support NTI training 

activities. For more information about 

the NTI, contact Faith Hall, Office of 

Research, Demonstration and 

Innovation at (202) 366–9055 or 

Faith.Hall@dot.gov. 

FTA is required to publish an annual 

report to Congress on the technical 

assistance and standards activities that 

receive assistance under this section. 

Additionally, FTA must report annually 

on the Frontline Workforce 

Development Program. 

L. Public Transportation Emergency 

Relief Program (49 U.S.C. 5324) 

FTA’s Emergency Relief (ER) Program 

is authorized to provide funding for 

public transportation expenses incurred 

as a result of an emergency or major 

disaster. No funding was provided in 

the FY 2016 Appropriations Act for this 

program. 

In the event of a publicly declared 

emergency or disaster, eligible expenses 

will include emergency operating 

expenses, such as evacuations, rescue 

operations, and expenses incurred to 

protect assets in advance of a disaster, 

as well as capital projects to protect, 

repair, reconstruct, or replace 

equipment and facilities of a public 

transportation system in the United 

States or on an Indian reservation that 

the Secretary determines is in danger of 

suffering serious damage or has suffered 

serious damage as a result of an 

emergency. Additional information on 

eligible expenses and the process for 

applying for ER Program funding can be 

found in FTA’s Emergency Relief 

Manual: A Reference Manual for States 

& Transit Agencies on Response and 

Recovery from Declared Disasters and 

FTA’s Emergency Relief Program (49 

U.S.C. 5324), which was published on 

October 5, 2015. 

While Congress did not provide 

funding for this program in FY 2016, 

recipients of FTA funding affected by a 

declared emergency or disaster are 

authorized to use funds apportioned 

under sections 5307 and 5311 for 

emergency purposes. Recipients are 

advised that formula funds used for 

emergency purposes will not be 

replaced or restored in the event that 

funding is subsequently made available 

through FTA under the ER Program or 

by Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA). 

In the event of a disaster affecting a 

public transportation system, the 

affected recipient should contact their 

FTA Regional Office as soon as 

practicable to determine whether 

Emergency Relief funds are available, 

and to notify FTA that it plans to seek 

reimbursement for emergency 

operations and/or repairs that have 

already taken place or are in process. If 

Emergency Relief funds are unavailable 

the recipient may seek reimbursement 

from FEMA. Properly documented costs 

for which the grantee has not received 

reimbursement from FEMA may later be 

reimbursed by grants made either from 

section 5324 funding (if appropriated) 

or sections 5307 and 5311 program 

funding, once the eligible recipient 

formally applies to FTA for 

reimbursement and FTA determines 

that the expenses are eligible for 

emergency relief. Additional 

information about the Emergency Relief 

program and FTA’s response to 

Hurricane Sandy is available on the 

FTA Web site at www.fta.dot.gov/

emergencyrelief. For more information, 

contact Adam Schildge, Office of 

Program Management, at 202–366–0778 

or adam.schildge@dot.gov. 

M. Public Transportation Safety 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5329) 

Section 5329(e)(6) of 49 U.S.C. 

provides funding to support States with 

rail fixed guideway public 

transportation systems (rail transit 

systems) to develop and carry out State 

Safety Oversight (SSO) Programs 

consistent with the requirements of 49 

U.S.C. 5329. For more information, 

contact Maria Wright, Office of Safety 

Review at (202) 366–5922 or 

maria1.wright@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2010 

Funds Authorized ................................................................. $22,694,529 $23,148,419 23,634,536 24,135,588 24,647,262 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $22,694,529 is available 

for the State Safety Oversight (SSO) 

program. The total amount allocated for 

the SSO program is as shown in the 

table below. 

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SAFETY

PROGRAM—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $22,694,529 

Total Apportioned ................. $22,694,529 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

FTA will continue to allocate funds to 

the States by an administrative formula, 

which is detailed in the Federal 

Register notice which apportioned SSO 

Formula Grant Program FY13 and FY14 

funds (Vol. 79, No. 46/Monday, March 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7915 

10, 2014). Grant funds for the SSO 

program are apportioned to eligible 

States using a three-tier formula based 

on statutory requirements, which 

apportion sixty percent (60%) of 

available funds based rail transit system 

vehicle passenger miles (PMT), vehicle 

revenue miles (VRM), and directional 

route miles (DRM), twenty percent 

(20%) of available funds equally to each 

eligible State, and twenty percent (20%) 

based on the number of rail transit 

systems. 

4. Requirements 

FTA requires each applicant to 

demonstrate in its grant application that 

its proposed grant activities will 

develop, lead to, or carry out an State 

Safety Oversight program that meets the 

requirements under 49 U.S.C. 5329(e). 

Grant funds may be used for program 

operational and administrative 

expenses, including employee training 

activities. Please see the Federal 

Register notice which apportioned SSO 

Formula Grant Program FY13 and FY14 

funds (Vol. 79, No. 46/Monday, March 

10, 2014) for more information. 

5. Period of Availability 

SSO Formula Grant Program funds are 

available for the year of apportionment 

plus two additional years. Any FY 2016 

funds that remain unobligated at the 

close of business on September 30, 2018 

will revert to FTA for reapportionment 

under the SSO Formula Grant Program. 

6. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

Under the FAST Act, section 5329 

provides for a temporary Federal 

assumption of rail transit safety 

oversight, under certain circumstances. 

This section also authorizes FTA to 

issue restrictions and prohibitions to 

address unsafe conditions or practices, 

and to withhold funds for noncompliance with safety requirements. 

N. State of Good Repair Program (49 

U.S.C. 5337) 

The State of Good Repair program 

(SGR) provides capital assistance for 

maintenance, replacement, and 

rehabilitation projects of existing high 

intensity fixed guideway and high 

intensity motorbus systems to maintain 

a state of good repair. Additionally, SGR 

grants are eligible for developing and 

implementing Transit Asset 

Management plans. Estimates from the 

2010 National State of Good Repair 

Assessment identified an $86 billion 

backlog in deferred maintenance and 

replacement needs, a backlog that 

continues to grow. This program 

provides funding for the following fixed 

guideway transit modes: Rapid rail 

(heavy rail), commuter rail, light rail, 

hybrid rail, monorail, automated 

guideway, trolleybus (using overhead 

catenary), aerial tramway, cable car, 

inclined plane (funicular), passenger 

ferries, and bus rapid transit. Fixedroute bus capital projects for services 

operating on high-occupancy-vehicle 

(HOV) facilities are also funded through 

High Intensity Motorbus tier of this 

program. 

FTA published the State of Good 

Repair program guidance, FTA Circular 

5300.1, State of Good Repair Grants 

Program: Guidance and Application 

Instructions, on January 28, 2015. The 

circular can be accessed at 

www.fta.dot.gov/circulars. For more 

information about the SGR program, 

contact Eric Hu, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–0870 or eric.hu@

dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$2,507,000,000 for FY 2016, 

$2,549,670,000 for FY 2017, 

$2,593,703,558 for FY 2018, 

$2,638,366,859 for FY 2019, and 

$2,683,798,369 for FY 2020 for the State 

of Good Repair program. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Funds Authorized ............................................. $2,507,000,000 $2,549,670,000 $2,593,703,558 $2,638,366,859 $2,683,798,369 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $2,507,000,000 is 

available for the State of Good Repair 

program. After a one percent oversight 

takedown, the total amount allocated for 

the State of Good Repair program is 

$2,481,930,000 as shown in the table 

below. 

STATE OF GOOD REPAIR PROGRAM— 

FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ........... a $2,507,000,000 

Oversight Deductions ....... ¥25,070,000 

Total Apportioned .......... 2,481,930,000 

aTotal appropriation includes 

$2,435,550,500 for the High Intensity Fixed 

Guideway Formula and $71,449,500 for the 

High Intensity Motorbus Formula. 

Table 15 shows the FY 2016 State of 

Good Repair Program formula 

apportionments to eligible urbanized 

areas. 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

FTA allocates State of Good Repair 

program funds according to a statutory 

formula. Funds are apportioned to 

urbanized areas with high intensity 

fixed guideway and high intensity 

motorbus systems that have been in 

operation for at least seven years. This 

means that only segments of high 

intensity fixed guideway and motorbus 

systems that entered into revenue 

service on or before September 30, 2008 

are included in the formula, as 

identified in the NTD. 

The law requires that 97.15 percent of 

the total amount authorized for the State 

of Good Repair program be apportioned 

to urbanized areas with ‘‘High Intensity 

Fixed Guideway’’ systems. The 

apportionments to urbanized areas with 

‘‘High Intensity Fixed Guideway’’ 

systems are determined by two equal 

elements: (1) The proportion of the 

amount an urbanized area would have 

received in FY 2011 to the total amount 

apportioned to all urbanized areas in FY 

2011 using new fixed guideway 

definition; (2) the proportion of vehicle 

revenue miles of an urbanized area to 

the total vehicle revenue miles of all 

urbanized areas and the proportion of 

directional route miles of an urbanized 

area to the total directional route miles 

of all urbanized areas. High Intensity 

Motorbus systems will receive the 

remaining 2.85 percent of the total 

amount authorized for the State of Good 

Repair program, and the apportionments 

to urbanized areas are based on vehicle 

revenue miles and directional route 

miles. 

Vehicle revenue miles and directional 

route miles attributable to an urbanized 

area must be placed in revenue service 

at least 7 years before the first day of the 

fiscal year. A threshold level of more 

than one mile of high intensity fixed 

guideway is required in order to receive 

State of Good Repair funds. Therefore, 

urbanized areas reporting one mile or 

less of fixed guideway mileage under 

the NTD are not included. FTA will 

apportion funds to designated recipients 

in the UZAs (see section IV. C. of this 

notice for more information about 

designated recipients; FTA will 

apportion section 5337 funds to the 

section 5307 designated recipient for the 

UZA) with high intensity fixed 

guideway systems operating at least 7 

years. The designated recipients will 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7916 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

then allocate funds as appropriate to 

recipients that are public entities in the 

urbanized areas and provide split letters 

to the FTA. FTA can make grants to 

direct recipients after sub-allocation of 

funds. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible activities include projects that 

maintain, rehabilitate, and replace 

transit assets, as well as projects that 

implement Transit Asset Management 

plan. Additionally, training and 

workforce activities authorized under 49 

U.S.C. 5314(b) and (c) are eligible for the 

State of Good Repair funds, and the 

funds are limited to 1 percent of the 

total amount that apportioned to the 

recipient (0.5 percent for each of the 

authorized activities). 

5. Requirements 

In addition to the program guidance 

found in the circular, all recipients will 

need to certify that they will comply 

with the forthcoming rule issued under 

section 5326 for the Transit Asset 

Management plan, and SGR projects 

will need to be included in recipients’ 

Transit Asset Management plans. This 

requirement is subject to FTA 

rulemaking and will become effective 

only after the rule is issued. 

6. Period of Availability 

The State of Good Repair Program 

funds apportioned in this notice are 

available for obligation during FY 2016 

plus three additional years. 

Accordingly, funds apportioned in FY 

2016 must be obligated in grants by 

September 30, 2019. Any FY 2016 

apportioned funds that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2019 will revert to FTA 

for reapportionment under the State of 

Good Repair Program. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

High intensity motorbus funds may be 

used for any project eligible under 

section 5337(b)(1). Therefore, these 

funds may be used to maintain rail fixed 

guideways as well as to maintain high 

intensity motorbus equipment and 

facilities 

Recipients may now use up to onehalf of one percent of their section 5307 

funds to support workforce 

development activities at an 80 percent 

Federal share; the eligible workforce 

development activities are defined in 

Section 5314; see Section IV. K. of this 

notice for more information. This 

provision is new in section 5314 and is 

in addition to the one-half of one 

percent that recipients may use for 

training activities with the National 

Transit Institute. 

O. Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities 

Program (49 U.S.C. 5339) 

The section 5339 program provides 

funding to replace, rehabilitate, and 

purchase buses and related equipment 

as well as construct bus-related 

facilities. 

Additional guidance on the section 

5339(a) formula program can be found 

in FTA Circular 5100.1, which was 

published on May 18, 2015. This 

circular will be updated to reflect the 

amendments to section 5339 by the 

FAST Act. Information on the 5339(b) 

Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive 

Grant Program and the Section 5339(c) 

Low or No Emission Bus Competitive 

Grant Program will be published in a 

forthcoming Notice of Funding 

Availability. For more information 

about the Bus and Bus Facilities 

program, contact Sam Snead, Office of 

Transit Programs, at (202) 366–1089 or 

samuel.snead@dot.gov. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes a total of 

$695,800,000 for FY 2016, $719,960,000 

for FY 2017, $747,030,000 for FY 2018, 

$777,020,000 for FY 2019 and 

$808,650,000 for FY 2020 for the section 

5339 Program, as shown below. 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

5339(a) Formula Program ................................................... $427,800,000 $436,360,000 $445,519,476 $454,964,489 $464,609,736 

5339(b) Bus Discretionary ................................................... 213,000,000 228,600,000 246,514,000 267,059,980 289,044,179 

5339(c) Low or No Emission Discretionary ......................... 55,000,000 55,000,000 55,000,000 55,000,000 55,000,000 

Section 5339 Total ........................................................ 695,800,000 719,960,000 747,033,476 777,024,469 808,653,915 

2. Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $427,800,000 is available 

for the section 5339(a) Bus and Bus 

Facilities formula program. After the 

0.75 percent take-down for oversight, 

$424,591,500 is available to be 

apportioned to States and urbanized 

areas. 

GRANTS FOR BUSES AND BUS

FACILITIES—FY 2015 

Total Appropriation (Formula) ............................... $427,800,000 

Oversight Deduction ........... (3,208,500 ) 

Total Apportioned (Formula) ............................ 424,591,500 

Total Appropriation (Discretionary) ............................ 268,000,000 

Oversight Deduction ........... (2,010,000 ) 

GRANTS FOR BUSES AND BUS

FACILITIES—FY 2015—Continued 

Total to be Allocated 

(Discretionary) ............. 265,990,000 

Table 17 shows the FY 2015 Bus and 

Bus Facilities formula apportionments 

to States, Territories, and urbanized 

areas. 

3. Basis for Allocation 

Section 5339(a) Bus and Bus Facility 

formula program funds are apportioned 

to States, territories, and designated 

recipients based on a statutory formula. 

Under the National Distribution, each 

State is allocated $1.75 million and each 

territory is allocated $500,000 for use 

anywhere in the State or territory. The 

remainder of the available funding is 

then apportioned for UZAs based on 

population, vehicle revenue miles and 

passenger miles using the same 

apportionment formula and allocation 

process as section 5307. Funds for UZAs 

under 200,000 in population are 

apportioned to the State through a 

section 5339(a) Governor’s 

Apportionment for allocation to eligible 

recipients within such areas of the State 

at the Governor’s discretion. Funds for 

UZAs with populations of 200,000 or 

more are apportioned directly to one or 

more designated recipient(s) within 

each UZA for allocation to eligible 

projects and recipients within the UZA. 

4. Eligible Expenses 

Eligible capital projects continue to 

include projects to replace, rehabilitate, 

and purchase buses and related 

equipment, and projects to construct 

bus-related facilities. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7917 

Recipients may now use up to onehalf of one percent of their section 5307 

funds to support workforce 

development activities at an 80 percent 

Federal share; the eligible workforce 

development activities are defined in 

Section 5314; see Section IV. K. of this 

notice for more information. This 

provision is new in section 5314 and is 

in addition to the one-half of one 

percent that recipients may use for 

training activities with the National 

Transit Institute. 

5. Requirements 

The FAST Act modifies the definition 

of eligible recipients under Section 

5339(a) to now include local 

governmental entities that operate fixed 

route bus service. Accordingly eligible 

recipients now include (1) designated 

recipients that allocate funds to fixed 

route bus operators, (2) States, and (3) 

local governmental entities that operate 

fixed route bus service and are direct 

recipients of Section 5307 funding. 

Eligible subrecipients continue to 

include public agencies or private 

nonprofit organizations engaged in 

public transportation, including those 

providing services open to a segment of 

the general public, as defined by age, 

disability, or low income. Consistent 

with the application of other changes 

under the FAST Act, this change to the 

definition of eligible recipients applies 

to funding apportioned in previous 

fiscal years that remains available for 

obligation. 

The requirements of section 5307 

apply to recipients of section 5339 

funds within an urbanized area. The 

requirements of Section 5311 apply to 

recipients of section 5339 funds within 

rural areas. For additional program 

requirements, refer to FTA Circular 

5100.1. 

6. Period of Availability 

The Bus and Bus Facilities Formula 

Program funds apportioned in this 

notice are available for obligation during 

FY 2016 plus three additional years. 

Accordingly, funds apportioned in FY 

2016 must be obligated in grants by 

September 30, 2019. Any FY 2016 

apportioned funds that remain 

unobligated at the close of business on 

September 30, 2019 will revert to FTA 

for reapportionment under the Bus and 

Bus Facilities Formula Program. 

Discretionary program funds 

authorized under section 5339(b) and (c) 

(Bus and LoNo) follow the same period 

of availability: Year of allocation plus 

three additional years. 

7. What’s New and Other Program 

Highlights 

a. Cost Effective Capital Investment 

Pilot Program (49 U.S.C. 5339(a)(9) 

Although it does not provide 

additional funding, as authorized under 

section 5339(a)(9), FTA is establishing a 

pilot program to allow designated 

recipients in urbanized areas between 

200,000 and 1 million in population to 

elect to pool their section 5339(a) 

formula allocations with other 

designated recipients within their 

respective states. The purpose of this 

provision is to allow for the transfer of 

formula funding within a State in a 

manner that supports the transit asset 

management plans of the participating 

designated recipients. 

A State that intends to participate in 

this pilot program beginning in FY 2016 

must submit a request to establish a 

State Pool to the FTA section 5339 

Program Manager, Samuel Snead, 

(samuel.snead@dot.gov) by March 31, 

2016. The request must identify the 

urbanized areas that will participate in 

the pool for FY 2016, and must include 

a letter from each participating 

designated recipient, and from any 

affected eligible recipients of 5339(a) 

funds within the urbanized area, 

indicating their intention to participate 

in this pooling provision for FY 2016. 

An urbanized area that participates in a 

State Pool must contribute its entire 

section 5339(a) apportionment for the 

fiscal years in which it participates in 

the pool. A designated recipient for a 

multistate area may participate in only 

one State Pool. A State that does not 

establish a State Pool in FY 2016 may 

choose to begin participating in this 

provision in a future fiscal year, but 

should be aware that the benefits of 

pooling program funds will be 

diminished over a shorter duration. 

For FY 2016, the request must specify 

the proposed distribution of the pooled 

funding and must provide a detailed 

explanation of how this distribution 

will support the transit asset 

management plans of each participating 

designated recipient, including any 

eligible recipients to which the 

designated recipient will allocate 

funding. Upon approval, FTA will make 

the requested amounts of program 

funding available to the urbanized areas 

as directed in the request. 

A State that elects to participate in 

this pilot program will be required to 

develop an allocation plan for the 

period of fiscal years 2016 through 2020 

that ensures that a designated recipient 

participating in the State’s pool receives 

under the program an amount of funds 

that equals the amount of funds that 

would have otherwise been available to 

the designated recipient for that period 

pursuant to the formulas provided. The 

amounts in the State Pool will be 

apportioned separately from funds 

apportioned to the State under the 

Governor’s Apportionment for 

urbanized areas under 200,000 in 

population, and will be made available 

directly by FTA to the participating 

urbanized areas, as directed in the 

approved allocation plan. An allocation 

plan may be revised for future fiscal 

years, provided that it remains 

compliant with the requirement to 

ensure equity over the period the pool 

is in effect. 

Approved requests to establish a State 

Pool for the specified UZAs will remain 

in effect until cancelled at the request of 

the State or one or more designated 

recipients. If a State or designated 

recipient elects to end its participation 

in this pooling provision in any future 

fiscal year, FTA will adjust the formula 

allocations so that the total amount that 

each affected urbanized area has 

received over the fiscal years in which 

it participated, plus the following 

apportionment, equals the amount it 

would have received over this period 

had it not participated in the State pool. 

Adjustments will be made using the 

formula apportionment factors used for 

each of the affected fiscal years. 

After the pools are determined, FTA 

will publish a supplementary table 

showing the participating UZAs, the 

State total, and the amounts for each 

UZA for FY 2016. In future years, the 

States must provide the amounts 

determined by August 31 (in an updated 

allocation plan), so that FTA can 

publish the breakdowns and make the 

funds available in the Apportionment 

Notice. 

b. Program Management Plans 

As a result of the changes to the 

definition of eligible recipients under 

the FAST Act, designated recipients are 

no longer required to obligate grants on 

behalf of entities that are eligible direct 

recipients of Section 5307 funds. 

Accordingly, FTA no longer requires 

designated recipients to maintain 

program management plans (PMPs) if 

they do not manage any sub-awards of 

section 5339 funds. 

P. Growing States and High Density 

States Formula Factors (49 U.S.C. 5340) 

The FAST Act continues the use of 

formula factors to distribute additional 

funds to the section 5307 and section 

5311 programs for Growing States and 

High Density States. FTA will continue 

to publish single urbanized and rural 

apportionments that show the total 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7918 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

amount for 5307 and 5311 programs that 

includes section 5340 apportionments 

for these programs. 

1. Authorized Amounts 

The FAST Act authorizes 

$536,261,539 for FY 2016, $544,433,788 

for FY 2017, $552,783,547 for FY 2018, 

$561,315,120 for FY 2019 and 

$570,032,917 for FY 2020 for the 

Growing States and High Density States 

Formula factors, as shown below: 

Fiscal year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 

Growing States .................................................................... $272,297,082 $279,129,509 $286,132,747 $293,311,066 $300,668,843 

High Density States ............................................................. 263,964,457 265,304,279 266,650,800 268,004,054 269,364,074 

Total Funds Authorized ................................................ 536,261,539 544,433,788 552,783,547 561,315,120 570,032,917 

2. FY 2016 Funding Availability 

In FY 2016, $536,261,539 is available 

for apportionment in accordance with 

the formula factors prescribed for 

Growing States and High Density States 

set forth in section 5340 for FY 2016. 

The FAST Act did not change the 

funding formula. 

GROWING STATES AND HIGH DENSITY

STATES FORMULA FACTORS—FY 2016 

Total Appropriation ............... $536,261,539 

Total Apportioned ................. 536,261,539 

3. Basis for Formula Apportionment 

Under the Growing States portion of 

the section 5340 formula, FTA projects 

each State’s 2025 population by 

comparing each State’s apportionment 

year population (as determined by the 

Census Bureau) to the State’s 2010 

Census population and extrapolating to 

2025 based on each State’s rate of 

population growth between 2010 and 

the apportionment year. Each State 

receives a share of Growing States funds 

on the basis of its projected 2025 

population relative to the nationwide 

projected 2025 population. 

Once each State’s share is calculated, 

funds attributable to that State are 

divided into an urbanized area 

allocation and a non-urbanized area 

allocation on the basis of the percentage 

of each State’s 2010 Census population 

that resides in urbanized and nonurbanized areas. Urbanized areas 

receive portions of their State’s 

urbanized area allocation on the basis of 

the 2010 Census population in that 

urbanized area relative to the total 2010 

Census population in all urbanized 

areas in the State. These amounts are 

added to the Urbanized Area’s section 

5307 apportionment. 

The States’ rural area allocation is 

added to the allocation that each State 

receives under the section 5311 Formula 

Grants for Rural Areas program. 

The High Density States portion of the 

section 5340 formula are allocated to 

urbanized areas in States with a 

population density equal to or greater 

than 370 persons per square mile. Based 

on this threshold and 2010 Census data, 

the States that qualify are Maryland, 

Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey 

(these are the same States that qualified 

under SAFETEA–LU and based on 2000 

Census data). The amount of funds 

provided to each of these seven States 

is allocated on the basis of the 

population density of the individual 

State relative to the population density 

of all seven States. Once funds are 

allocated to each State, funds are then 

allocated to urbanized areas within the 

States on the basis of an individual 

urbanized area’s population relative to 

the population of all urbanized areas in 

that State. 

Q. Washington Metropolitan Area 

Transit Authority Grants 

Under the FY 2016 Appropriations 

Act, $150 million is available for the 

period October 1, 2015 through 

September 30, 2016 for grants to the 

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority (WMATA). After the one 

percent oversight takedown, $148.5 

million is available for obligation. Such 

funding is authorized under section 601 

of the Passenger Rail Investment and 

Improvement Act of 2008. See Public 

Law 110–432, Division B, Title VI. 

WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA

TRANSIT AUTHORITY GRANTS—FY 

2016 

Total Appropriation ............. $150,000,000 

Oversight Deduction ........... (1,500,000 ) 

Total Apportioned ............ 148,500,000 

Grants may be provided for capital 

and preventive maintenance 

expenditures for WMATA after it has 

been determined that WMATA has 

placed the highest priority on 

investments that will improve the safety 

of the system, including but not limited 

to fixing the track signal system, 

replacing 1000 series railcars, installing 

guarded turnouts, buying equipment for 

wayside worker protection, and 

installing rollback protection on cars 

that are not equipped with the safety 

feature. FTA will communicate further 

program requirements directly to 

WMATA. 

V. FTA Policy and Procedures for FY 

2016 Grants 

A. Automatic Pre-Award Authority To 

Incur Project Costs 

1. Caution to New Grantees 

While FTA provides pre-award 

authority to incur expenses before grant 

award for formula programs, it 

recommends that first-time grant 

recipients NOT utilize this automatic 

pre-award authority without verifying 

with the appropriate FTA Regional 

Office that all pre-requisite 

requirements have been met. As a new 

grantee, it is easy to misunderstand preaward authority conditions and be 

unaware of all of the applicable FTA 

requirements that must be met in order 

to be reimbursed for project 

expenditures incurred in advance of 

grant award. FTA programs have 

specific statutory requirements that are 

often different from those for other 

Federal grant programs with which new 

grantees may be familiar. If funds are 

expended for an ineligible project or 

activity, or for an eligible activity but at 

an inappropriate time (e.g., prior to 

NEPA completion), FTA will be unable 

to reimburse the project sponsor and, in 

certain cases, the entire project may be 

rendered ineligible for FTA assistance. 

2. Policy 

FTA provides pre-award authority to 

incur expenses before grant award for 

certain program areas described below. 

This pre-award authority allows 

grantees to incur certain project costs 

before grant approval and retain the 

eligibility of those costs for subsequent 

reimbursement after grant approval. The 

grantee assumes all risk and is 

responsible for ensuring that all 

conditions are met to retain eligibility. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7919 

This pre-award spending authority 

permits an eligible grantee to incur costs 

on an eligible transit capital, operating, 

planning, or administrative project 

without prejudice to possible future 

Federal participation in the cost of the 

project. In this notice, FTA provides 

pre-award authority through the 

authorization period of the FAST Act 

(October 1, 2015 through September 30, 

2020) for capital assistance under all 

formula programs, so long as the 

conditions described below are met. 

FTA provides pre-award authority for 

planning and operating assistance under 

the formula programs without regard to 

the period of the authorization. All preaward authority is subject to conditions 

and triggers stated below: 

a. Operating, Planning, or 

Administrative Assistance 

FTA does not impose additional 

conditions on pre-award authority for 

operating, planning, or administrative 

assistance under the formula grant 

programs. Grantees may be reimbursed 

for expenses incurred before grant 

award so long as funds have been 

expended in accordance with all 

Federal requirements, and the grantee is 

otherwise eligible to receive the 

funding. In addition to cross-cutting 

Federal grant requirements, program 

specific requirements must be met. For 

example, a planning project must have 

been included in a Unified Planning 

Work Program (UPWP); a section 5310 

project must have been included in a 

coordinated public transit-human 

services transportation plan 

(coordinated plan) and selected by the 

designated recipient before incurring 

expenses; expenditures on State 

Administration expenses under State 

Administered programs must be 

consistent with the State Management 

Plan (as defined in FTA Circular 

9040.1G, Chapter 6). Designated 

recipients for section 5310 have preaward authority for the ten percent of 

the apportionment they may use for 

program administration. 

b. Transit Capital Projects 

For transit capital projects, the date 

that costs may be incurred is: (1) For 

design and environmental review, the 

date of the authorization of formula 

funds or the date of the announcement 

of the discretionary allocation of funds 

for the project; and (2) for property 

acquisition, demolition, construction, 

and acquisition of vehicles, equipment, 

or construction materials for projects 

that qualify for a categorical exclusion 

pursuant to 23 CFR 771.118(c), the date 

of the authorization of formula funds or 

the date of the announcement of the 

discretionary allocation of funds for the 

project; and (3) for property acquisition, 

demolition, construction, and 

acquisition of vehicles, equipment, or 

construction materials for projects that 

require a categorical exclusion pursuant 

to 23 CFR 771.118(d), an environmental 

assessment, or an environmental impact 

statement, the date that FTA completes 

the environmental review process 

required by NEPA and its implementing 

regulations by its issuance of a Section 

771.118(d) categorical exclusion 

determination, a Finding of No 

Significant Impact (FONSI), or a Record 

of Decision (ROD). For projects that 

qualify for a categorical exclusion 

pursuant to 23 CFR 771.118(c), if a 

project is subsequently found not to 

qualify for this CE, it will be ineligible 

for FTA assistance. FTA recommends 

that a grant applicant contact FTA’s 

Regional Office for assistance in 

determining the appropriate 

environmental review process and level 

of documentation necessary before 

incurring costs for property acquisition, 

demolition, construction, and 

acquisition of vehicles, equipment, or 

construction materials. In particular, 

FTA encourages grant applicants to 

contact FTA’s Regional Office before 

exercising pre-award authority for 

projects to which it believes a CE at 23 

CFR 771.118(c)(8), (c)(9), (c)(10), (c)(12), 

or (c)(13) applies. Before an applicant 

may incur costs when pre-award 

authority has not been granted, it must 

first obtain a written Letter of No 

Prejudice (LONP) from FTA. To obtain 

an LONP, a grantee must submit a 

written request accompanied by 

adequate information and justification 

to the appropriate FTA regional office, 

as described in section 4 below. 

c. Public Transportation Innovation, 

Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development 

Unless provided for in an 

announcement of project selections, preaward authority does not apply to 

section 5312 Public Transportation 

Innovation projects or section 5314 

Technical Assistance and Workforce 

Development. Before an applicant may 

incur costs for activities under these 

programs, it must first obtain a written 

Letter of No Prejudice (LONP) from 

FTA. To obtain an LONP, a grantee must 

submit a written request accompanied 

by adequate information and 

justification to the appropriate FTA 

headquarters office. Information about 

LONP procedures may be obtained from 

the appropriate headquarters office. 

3. Conditions 

The conditions under which preaward authority may be utilized are 

specified below: 

i. Pre-award authority is not a legal or 

implied commitment that the subject 

project will be approved for FTA 

assistance or that FTA will obligate 

Federal funds. Furthermore, it is not a 

legal or implied commitment that all 

items undertaken by the applicant will 

be eligible for inclusion in the project. 

ii. All FTA statutory, procedural, and 

contractual requirements must be met. 

iii. No action will be taken by the 

grantee that prejudices the legal and 

administrative findings that the Federal 

Transit Administration must make in 

order to approve a project. 

iv. Local funds expended by the 

grantee after the date of the pre-award 

authority will be eligible for credit 

toward local match or reimbursement if 

FTA later makes a grant or grant 

amendment for the project. Local funds 

expended by the grantee before the date 

of the pre-award authority will not be 

eligible for credit toward local match or 

reimbursement. Furthermore, the 

expenditure of local funds or the 

undertaking of certain activities that 

would compromise FTA’s ability to 

comply with Federal environmental 

laws (e.g., project implementation 

activities such as land acquisition, 

demolition, or construction before the 

date of pre-award authority) may render 

the project ineligible for FTA funding. 

v. The Federal amount of any future 

FTA assistance awarded to the grantee 

for the project will be determined on the 

basis of the overall scope of activities 

and the prevailing statutory provisions 

with respect to the Federal/local match 

ratio at the time the funds are obligated. 

vi. For funds to which the pre-award 

authority applies, the authority expires 

with the lapsing of the fiscal year funds. 

vii. When a grant for the project is 

subsequently awarded, the grant and the 

Federal Financial Report in TrAMS 

must indicate the use of pre-award 

authority. 

viii. Planning, Environmental, and 

Other Federal requirements. 

All Federal grant requirements must 

be met at the appropriate time for the 

project to remain eligible for Federal 

funding. The growth of the Federal 

transit program has resulted in a 

growing number of inexperienced 

grantees who find compliance with 

Federal planning and environmental 

laws increasingly challenging. 

FTA has modified its approach to preaward authority, and the date that costs 

may be incurred is as follows. For 

design and environmental review, costs 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7920 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

may be incurred as of the date of the 

authorization of formula funds or the 

date of the announcement of the 

discretionary allocation of funds for the 

project. For property acquisition, 

demolition, construction, and 

acquisition of vehicles, equipment, or 

construction materials for projects that 

require a categorical exclusion pursuant 

to 23 CFR 771.118(d), an environmental 

assessment, or an environmental impact 

statement, costs may be incurred as of 

the date that FTA completes the 

environmental review process required 

by NEPA and its implementing 

regulations (i.e., through issuance of a 

Section 771.118(d) categorical exclusion 

determination, a Finding of No 

Significant Impact (FONSI), or a Record 

of Decision (ROD)). For pre-award 

authority triggered by the completion of 

the NEPA process, the completion of 

planning and air quality requirements is 

a prerequisite, as those activities are 

completed prior to conclusion of the 

environmental review process. 

Formula funds must be authorized or 

appropriated and earmarked project 

allocations published or announced 

before pre-award authority can be 

considered. 

The requirement that a project be 

included in a locally-adopted 

Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the 

metropolitan transportation 

improvement program and federallyapproved statewide transportation 

improvement program (23 CFR part 450) 

must be satisfied before the grantee may 

advance the project beyond planning 

and preliminary design with non-federal 

funds under pre-award authority. If the 

project is located within an EPAdesignated non-attainment or 

maintenance area for air quality, the 

conformity requirements of the Clean 

Air Act, 40 CFR part 93, must also be 

met before the project may be advanced 

into implementation-related activities 

under pre-award authority triggered by 

the completion of the NEPA process. 

For projects that qualify for a categorical 

exclusion pursuant to 23 CFR 

771.118(c), if a project is subsequently 

found not to qualify for this CE, it will 

be ineligible for FTA assistance. For all 

other projects, compliance with NEPA 

and other environmental laws and 

executive orders (e.g., protection of 

parklands, wetlands, and historic 

properties) must be completed before 

State or local funds are spent on 

implementation activities, such as site 

preparation, construction, and 

acquisition, for a project that is expected 

to be subsequently funded with FTA 

funds. 

For a planning project to have preaward authority, the planning project 

must be included in a MPO-approved 

Unified Planning Work Program 

(UPWP) that has been coordinated with 

the State. 

ix. Federal procurement procedures, 

as well as the whole range of applicable 

Federal requirements (e.g., Buy 

America, Davis-Bacon Act, and 

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) 

must be followed for projects in which 

Federal funding will be sought in the 

future. Failure to follow any such 

requirements could make the project 

ineligible for Federal funding. In short, 

this increased administrative flexibility 

requires a grantee to make certain that 

no Federal requirements are 

circumvented through the use of preaward authority. 

x. All program specific requirements 

must be met. For example, projects 

under section 5310 must comply with 

specific program requirements, 

including coordinated planning. 

Before incurring costs, grantees are 

strongly encouraged to consult with the 

appropriate FTA Regional office 

regarding the eligibility of the project for 

future FTA funds and for questions on 

environmental requirements, or any 

other Federal requirements that must be 

met. 

4. Pre-Award Authority for the Fixed 

Guideway Capital Investment Grant 

Program (New and Small Starts Projects 

and Core Capacity Projects) 

Projects proposed for section 5309 

Capital Investment Grant (CIG) program 

funds are required to follow a multistep, multi-year process defined in law. 

For New Starts and Core Capacity 

projects, this process includes three 

phases—project development (PD), 

engineering, and construction. For 

Small Starts projects, this process 

includes two phases—PD and 

construction. After receiving a letter 

from the project sponsor requesting 

entry into the PD phase, FTA must 

respond in writing within 45 days 

whether the information was sufficient 

for entry. If FTA’s correspondence 

indicates the information was sufficient 

and the New Starts, Small Starts or Core 

Capacity project enters PD, FTA extends 

pre-award authority to the project 

sponsor to incur costs for PD activities. 

PD activities include the work necessary 

to complete the environmental review 

process and as much engineering and 

design activities as the project sponsor 

believes are necessary to support the 

environmental review process. Upon 

completion of the environmental review 

process with a ROD, FONSI, or CE 

determination by FTA for a New Starts, 

Small Starts, or Core Capacity 

Improvement project, FTA extends preaward authority to project sponsors to 

incur costs for as much engineering and 

design as needed to develop a 

reasonable cost estimate and financial 

plan for the project, utility relocation, 

and real property acquisition and 

associated relocations for any property 

acquisitions not already accomplished 

as a separate project for hardship or 

protective purposes or right-of-way 

under 49 U.S.C. 5323(q). For Small 

Starts projects, upon completion of the 

environmental review process and 

confirmation from FTA that the overall 

project rating is at least a Medium, FTA 

extends pre-award authority for vehicle 

purchases. Upon receipt of a letter 

notifying a New Starts or Core Capacity 

project sponsor of the project’s approval 

into the engineering phase, FTA extends 

pre-award authority for vehicle 

purchases as well as any remaining 

engineering and design, demolition, and 

procurement of long lead items for 

which market conditions play a 

significant role in the acquisition price. 

The long lead items include, but are not 

limited to, procurement of rails, ties, 

and other specialized equipment, and 

commodities. Please contact the FTA 

Regional Office for a determination of 

activities not listed here, but which 

meet the intent described above. FTA 

provides this pre-award authority in 

recognition of the long-lead time and 

complexity involved with purchasing 

vehicles as well as their relationship to 

the ‘‘critical path’’ project schedule. 

FTA cautions grantees that do not 

currently operate the type of vehicle 

proposed in the project about exercising 

this pre-award authority. FTA 

encourages these sponsors to wait until 

later in the process when project plans 

are more fully developed. FTA reminds 

project sponsors that the procurement of 

vehicles must comply with all Federal 

requirements including, but not limited 

to, competitive procurement practices, 

the Americans with Disabilities Act, and 

Buy America. FTA encourages project 

sponsors to discuss the procurement of 

vehicles with FTA in regards to Federal 

requirements before exercising preaward authority. Because there is not a 

formal engineering phase for Small 

Starts projects, FTA does not extend 

pre-award authority for demolition and 

procurement of long lead items. Instead, 

this work must await receipt of a 

construction grant award or an 

expedited grant agreement. 

a. Real Property Acquisition 

As noticed above, FTA extends preaward authority for the acquisition of 

real property and real property rights for 

fixed Guideway Capital Investment 

Grant projects (New or Small Starts or 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7921 

Core Capacity) upon completion of the 

environmental review process for that 

project. The environmental review 

process is completed when FTA signs 

an environmental Record of Decision 

(ROD) or Finding of No Significant 

Impact (FONSI), or makes a Categorical 

Exclusion (CE) determination. With the 

limitations and caveats described below, 

real estate acquisition may commence, 

at the project sponsor’s risk. For FTAassisted projects, any acquisition of real 

property or real property rights must be 

conducted in accordance with the 

requirements of the Uniform Relocation 

Assistance and Real Property 

Acquisition Policies Act (URA) and its 

implementing regulations, 49 CFR part 

24. This pre-award authority is strictly 

limited to costs incurred: (i) To acquire 

real property and real property rights in 

accordance with the URA regulation, 

and (ii) to provide relocation assistance 

in accordance with the URA regulation. 

This pre-award authority is limited to 

the acquisition of real property and real 

property rights that are explicitly 

identified in the final environmental 

impact statement (FEIS), environmental 

assessment (EA), or CE document, as 

needed for the selected alternative that 

is the subject of the FTA-signed ROD or 

FONSI, or CE determination. This preaward authority regarding property 

acquisition that is granted at the 

completion of the environmental review 

process does not cover site preparation, 

demolition, or any other activity that is 

not strictly necessary to comply with 

the URA, with one exception. That 

exception is when a building that has 

been acquired, has been emptied of its 

occupants, and awaits demolition poses 

a potential fire safety hazard or other 

hazard to the community in which it is 

located, or is susceptible to 

reoccupation by vagrants. Demolition of 

the building is also covered by this preaward authority upon FTA’s written 

agreement that the adverse condition 

exists. Pre-award authority for property 

acquisition is also provided when FTA 

makes a CE determination for a 

protective buy or hardship acquisition 

in accordance with 23 CFR 

771.117(d)(12). Pre-award authority for 

property acquisition is also provided 

when FTA completes the environmental 

review process for the acquisition of 

right-of-way as a separate project in 

accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5323(q). 

When a tiered environmental review in 

accordance with 23 CFR 771.111(g) is 

used, pre-award authority is NOT 

provided upon completion of the first 

tier environmental document except 

when the Tier-1 ROD or FONSI signed 

by FTA explicitly provides such preaward authority for a particular 

identified acquisition. Project sponsors 

should use pre-award authority for real 

property acquisition relocation 

assistance with a clear understanding 

that it does not constitute a funding 

commitment by FTA. FTA provides preaward authority upon completion of the 

environmental review process for real 

property acquisition and relocation 

assistance to maximize the time 

available to project sponsors to move 

people out of their homes and places of 

business, in accordance with the 

requirements of the URA, but also with 

maximum sensitivity to the 

circumstances of the people so affected. 

b. Reimbursement of Costs Incurred 

Under Pre-Award Authority 

Although FTA provides pre-award 

authority for property acquisition, long 

lead items, and vehicle purchases upon 

completion of the environmental review 

process, FTA will not make a grant to 

reimburse the sponsor for real estate 

activities, vehicle purchases or 

purchases of long lead items conducted 

under pre-award authority until the 

project receives its construction grant. 

This is to ensure that Federal funds are 

not risked on a project whose 

advancement into construction is still 

not yet assured. 

c. National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) Activities 

NEPA requires that major projects 

proposed for FTA funding assistance be 

subjected to a public and interagency 

review of the need for the project, its 

environmental and community impacts, 

and alternatives to avoid and reduce 

adverse impacts. Projects of more 

limited scope also need a level of 

environmental review, either to support 

an FTA finding of no significant impact 

(FONSI) or to demonstrate that the 

action is categorically excluded (i.e., CE) 

from the more rigorous level of NEPA 

review. FTA’s regulation titled 

‘‘Environmental Impact and Related 

Procedures,’’ at 23 CFR part 771 states 

that the costs incurred by a grant 

applicant for the preparation of 

environmental documents requested by 

FTA are eligible for FTA financial 

assistance (23 CFR 771.105(e)). 

Accordingly, FTA extends pre-award 

authority for costs incurred to comply 

with NEPA regulations and to conduct 

NEPA-related activities, effective as of 

the earlier of the following two dates: (1) 

The date of the Federal approval of the 

relevant STIP or STIP amendment that 

includes the project or any phase of the 

project, or that includes a project 

grouping under 23 CFR 450.216(j) that 

includes the project; or (2) the date that 

FTA approves the project into the 

project development phase of the CIG 

program. The grant applicant must 

notify the FTA Regional Office upon 

initiation of the Federal environmental 

review process in accordance with the 

‘‘Dear Colleague’’ letter from the FTA 

Administrator dated February 24, 2011. 

NEPA-related activities include, but are 

not limited to, public involvement 

activities, historic preservation reviews, 

section 4(f) evaluations, wetlands 

evaluations, endangered species 

consultations, and biological 

assessments. This pre-award authority is 

strictly limited to costs incurred to 

conduct the NEPA process and 

associated engineering, and to prepare 

environmental, historic preservation 

and related documents. When a New 

Starts, Small Starts, or Core Capacity 

project is granted pre-award authority 

for the environmental review process, 

the reimbursement for NEPA activities 

conducted under pre-award authority 

may be sought at any time through 

section 5307 (Urbanized Area Formula 

Program) or the flexible highway 

programs (STP and CMAQ). 

Reimbursement from the section 5309 

CIG program for NEPA activities 

conducted under pre-award authority is 

provided only for expenses incurred 

after entry into the project development 

phase and only once a construction 

grant agreement is signed. As with any 

pre-award authority, FTA 

reimbursement for costs incurred is not 

guaranteed. 

d. Other New and Small Starts and Core 

Capacity Project Activities Requiring 

Letter of No Prejudice (LONP) 

Except as discussed in paragraphs i 

through iii above, a CIG project sponsor 

must obtain a written LONP from FTA 

before incurring costs for any activity 

not covered by pre-award authority. To 

obtain an LONP, an applicant must 

submit a written request accompanied 

by adequate information and 

justification to the appropriate FTA 

Regional Office, as described in B 

below. 

B. Letter of No Prejudice (LONP) Policy 

1. Policy 

LONP authority allows an applicant 

to incur costs on a project utilizing nonFederal resources, with the 

understanding that the costs incurred 

subsequent to the issuance of the LONP 

may be reimbursable as eligible 

expenses or eligible for credit toward 

the local match should FTA approve the 

project at a later date. LONPs are 

applicable to projects and project 

activities not covered by automatic premstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7922 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

award authority. The majority of LONPs 

will be for section 5309 Capital 

Investment Grant program projects (New 

or Small Starts or Core Capacity) 

undertaking activities not covered under 

automatic pre-award authority. LONPs 

may be issued for formula and 

discretionary funds beyond the life of 

the current authorization or FTA’s 

extension of automatic pre-award 

authority; however, the LONP is limited 

to a five-year period, unless otherwise 

authorized in the LONP. Receipt of 

Federal funding under any program is 

not implied or guaranteed by an LONP. 

2. Conditions and Federal Requirements 

The conditions and requirements for 

pre-award authority specified in section 

V.4.ii and V.4.iii above apply to all 

LONPs. Because project implementation 

activities may not be initiated before 

completion of the environmental review 

process, FTA will not issue an LONP for 

such activities until the environmental 

review process has been completed with 

a ROD, FONSI, or CE determination. 

3. Request for LONP 

Before incurring costs for project 

activities not covered by automatic preaward authority, the project sponsor 

must first submit a written request for 

an LONP, accompanied by adequate 

information and justification, to the 

appropriate regional office and obtain 

written approval from FTA. FTA 

approval of an LONP is determined on 

a case-by-case basis. 

C. FY 2016 Annual List of Certifications 

and Assurances 

The FY 2016 Certifications and 

Assurances and Master Agreement must 

be used for all grants and cooperative 

agreements awarded in FY 2016, once 

available. All recipients with active 

projects will be required to sign the FY 

2016 Certifications and Assurances 

within 90 days of the FY 2016 

Certifications and Assurances being 

made available in TrAMS. 

D. Civil Rights Requirements 

1. Disadvantaged Business Enterprise 

(DBE) 

The DOT Disadvantaged Business 

Enterprise (DBE) program is an 

affirmative action program designed to 

combat discrimination and its 

continuing effects by providing 

contracting opportunities on federallyfunded highway, transit, and airport 

projects for small businesses owned and 

controlled by socially and economically 

disadvantaged individuals. Recipients 

are required to report to FTA their 

transit vehicle manufacturer awards. 

Recipients must do this within thirty 

(30) days of making the award and must 

submit: (1) The name of the successful 

bidder; and (2) the total dollar value of 

the contract. Recipients must report this 

information at the time the purchase is 

finalized. In other words, report the 

award when the recipient knows who 

the vehicle manufacturer will be and the 

exact amount of the contract award. 

Please remember that only certified 

transit vehicle manufacturers (TVM) can 

bid and receive FTA-funded vehicle 

procurements. Recipients may check the 

list of certified TVMs by visiting the 

FTA TVM Web page at http://

www.fta.dot.gov/12326_5626.html or 

checking with a regional civil rights 

officer. In addition, for joint and 

cooperative procurements, each FTA 

recipient must separately report the 

information when they or a subrecipient 

execute a purchase order for the specific 

number of vehicles being purchased. 

This required information must be 

submitted to FTA on agency letterhead 

to the regional civil rights officer. FTA 

will work to develop an electronic 

process for tracking transit vehicle 

purchases in FY 2016. 

2. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 

1964 

The U.S. DOT’s Title VI implementing 

regulations are found in 49 CFR part 21. 

FTA’s Title VI Circular (4702.1B) 

provides guidance on carrying out the 

regulatory requirements. For recipients 

in urbanized areas of 200,000 or more in 

population and with 50 or more fixedroute vehicles in peak service, the 

recipient must conduct a service equity 

analysis for all service changes that 

meet the recipient’s definition of ‘‘major 

service change’’ prior to implementing 

the service change. Recipients also must 

conduct a fare equity analysis for all fare 

increases or decreases prior to 

implementing a fare change. 

Furthermore, an environmental justice 

analysis is not a substitute for a Title VI 

service equity analysis triggered by a 

major service change or fare change. As 

recipients prepare their budgets, it is 

vitally important that an appropriate 

major service change or fare change 

analysis is completed prior to taking the 

proposed action. Should you have any 

questions, please refer to 4702.1B, 

utilize the webinars posted on FTA’s 

Title VI Web page, and contact your 

Regional Civil Rights Officer. 

3. Americans with Disabilities Act 

(ADA) 

Effective July 13, 2015, DOT revised 

it rules under the ADA and section 504 

of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as 

amended, specifically to provide that 

transportation entities are required to 

make reasonable modifications to 

policies, practices, and procedures to 

avoid discrimination and ensure that 

their programs are accessible to 

individuals with disabilities. Recipients 

must have a process in place for making 

decisions and providing reasonable 

modifications under the ADA to their 

policies and practices, as set forth in 49 

CFR 37.169. Recipients are reminded 

that this rulemaking also revised the 

longstanding local complaint process 

requirements in 49 CFR 27.13, adding 

additional elements that must be part of 

the local process. For example, 

recipients must now sufficiently 

advertise to the public the process for 

filing a disability-related complaint 

(such as on their Web sites) and 

communicate their response to the 

complainant. On November 4, 2015, 

FTA issued ADA Circular 4710.1, which 

provides guidance to recipients on 

carrying out the existing provisions of 

the ADA and section 504, including 

those involving reasonable modification 

and local complaint processing. 

4. Equal Employment Opportunity 

FTA’s nondiscrimination statute 

found at 49 U.S.C. 5332 prohibits 

discrimination on the basis of sex. Other 

Federal statutes such as Title VI and 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

have been interpreted to prohibit 

discrimination on the basis of gender 

identity, including transgender status 

and nonconformity with gender 

stereotypes. Therefore, FTA interprets 

section 5332 to also include genderidentity discrimination. 

E. Consolidated Planning Grants (CPG) 

FTA and FHWA planning funds 

under both the Metropolitan Planning 

and State Planning and Research 

Programs can be consolidated into a 

single consolidated planning grant, 

awarded by either FTA or FHWA. The 

CPG eliminates the need to monitor 

individual fund sources, if several have 

been used, and ensures that the oldest 

funds will always be used first. Under 

the CPG, States can report metropolitan 

planning program expenditures (to 

comply with the Single Audit Act) for 

both FTA and FHWA under the 

Catalogue of Federal Domestic 

Assistance number for FTA’s 

Metropolitan Planning Program 

(20.505). Additionally, for States with 

an FHWA Metropolitan Planning (PL) 

fund-matching ratio greater than 80 

percent, the State can waive the 20 

percent local share requirement, with 

FTA’s concurrence, to allow FTA funds 

used for metropolitan planning in a CPG 

to be granted at the higher FHWA rate. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7923 

For some States, this Federal match rate 

can exceed 90 percent. 

States interested in transferring 

planning funds between FTA and 

FHWA should contact the FTA Regional 

Office or FHWA Division Office for 

more detailed procedures. Current 

guidelines are included in Federal 

Highway Administration Memorandum 

dated July 12, 2007, ‘‘Information: Final 

Transfers to Other Agencies that 

Administer Title 23 Programs.’’ 

For further information on CPGs, 

contact Ann Souvandara, Office of 

Budget and Policy, FTA, at (202)366– 

0649. 

1. Grant Application Procedures 

All applications for FTA funds should 

be submitted to the appropriate FTA 

Regional Office. All applications are 

filed electronically. As noted in Section 

III of this notice, beginning on February 

16, 2016, FTA will use the TrAMS 

system as a replacement for TEAM. FTA 

regional staff is responsible for working 

with grantees to review and process 

grant applications. In order for an 

application to be considered complete 

and for FTA to assign a Federal Award 

Identification Number (FAIN), enabling 

submission in TrAMS, and submission 

to the Department of Labor (when 

applicable), the following requirements 

must be met: 

i. Recipient has registered in the 

System for Award Management (SAM) 

and its registration is current. If your 

agency is not registered or needs to 

ensure it is current, visit the SAM Web 

site at (https://www.sam.gov). 

ii. Recipient’s contact information, 

including Dun and Bradstreet Data 

Universal Numbering System (DUNS), is 

correct and up-to-date. If requested by 

phone (1–866–705–5711), DUNS is 

provided immediately. If your 

organization does not have an DUNS, 

you will need to go to the Dun & 

Bradstreet Web site at http://

fedgov.dnb.com/webform to obtain the 

number. 

iii. Recipient has properly submitted 

its annual certifications and assurances. 

iv. Recipient’s Civil Rights 

submissions are current and approved. 

v. Documentation is on file to support 

recipient’s status as either a designated 

recipient (for the program and area) or 

a direct recipient. 

vi. Funding is available, including 

any flexible funds included in the 

budget, and split letters or suballocation 

letters on file (where applicable) to 

support amount being applied for in 

grant application. 

vii. The project is listed in a currently 

approved Transportation Improvement 

Program (TIP); Statewide Transportation 

Improvement Program (STIP), or 

Unified Planning Work Program 

(UPWP). 

viii. All eligibility issues are resolved. 

ix. Required environmental findings 

are made. 

x. The application contains a welldefined scope of work including at least 

one project with accompanying project 

narratives, budget scope and activity 

line item information, Federal and nonFederal funding amounts, and 

milestones. 

xi. Major Capital Projects as defined 

by 49 CFR 633 Project Management 

oversight must document FTA has 

reviewed the project management plan 

and provided approval. 

xii. Milestone information is 

complete, or FTA determines that 

milestone information can be finalized 

before the grant is ready for award. FTA 

will also review status of other open 

grants’ reports to confirm financial and 

milestone information is current on 

other open grants and projects. 

Before FTA can award grants for 

discretionary projects and activities, 

notification must be provided to the 

House and Senate authorizing and 

appropriations committees. Other 

important issues that impact FTA grant 

processing activities are discussed 

below. 

a. System for Award Management 

(SAM) Registration and Dun and 

Bradstreet Universal Numbering System 

(DUNS) Number 

Each applicant or recipient of Federal 

Funds is required to: (1) Be registered in 

SAM before submitting its application; 

(2) provide a valid DUNS number in its 

application; and (3) continue to 

maintain an active SAM registration 

with current information at all times 

during which it has an active award or 

an application or plan under 

consideration by the Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA). FTA will not 

make an award to an applicant until the 

applicant has complied with all 

applicable DUNS and SAM 

requirements and, if an applicant has 

not fully complied with the 

requirements by the time the FTA is 

ready to make a Federal award, FTA 

may determine that the applicant is not 

qualified to receive a Federal award and 

use that determination as a basis for 

making a Federal award to another 

applicant. 

The System for Award Management 

(SAM) https://www.sam.gov/portal/

SAM/ is the Official U.S. Government 

system that consolidated the capabilities 

of many systems, including the CCR, 

ORCA, and EPLS. There is no fee to 

register or use this site. Entities may 

register and update their information at 

no cost directly from the above site. 

SAM registration (formerly CCR 

registration) needs to be renewed at 

least annually. 

b. Award Budgets—Scope Codes and 

Activity Line Items (ALI) Codes; 

Financial Purpose Codes 

FTA uses the Scope and Activity Line 

Item (ALI) Codes in the award budgets 

to track program trends, to report to 

Congress, and to respond to requests 

from the Inspector General and the 

Government Accountability Office 

(GAO), as well as to manage grants. The 

accuracy of the data is dependent on the 

careful and correct use of codes. 

c. Designated and Direct Recipients 

Documentation 

For its formula programs, FTA 

primarily apportions funds to the 

Designated recipient in the large UZAs 

(areas over 200,000), or for areas under 

200,000 (small UZAs and rural areas), it 

apportions the funds to the Governor, or 

its designee (e.g., State DOT). 

Depending on the program and as 

described in the individual program 

sections found in Section IV of this 

notice, further suballocation of funds 

may be permitted to eligible recipients 

who can then apply directly to FTA for 

the funding (direct recipients), so long 

as the required documentation is on file. 

For the programs in which FTA can 

make grants to eligible direct recipients, 

other than the designated recipient(s), 

recipients are reminded that 

documentation must be on file to 

support the (1) status of the recipient 

either as a designated recipient or direct 

recipient; and (2) the allocation of funds 

to the direct recipient. 

Documentation to support existing 

designated recipients for the UZA must 

also be on file at the time of the first 

application in FY 2016. Further, split 

letters and/or suballocation letters 

(Governor’s Apportionment letters), 

must also be on file to support grant 

applications from direct recipients. If 

this information has been uploaded to a 

recipient’s profile in TEAM, it will be 

migrated into TrAMS. Once 

suballocation letters for FY 2016 

funding are finalized they should also 

be uploaded into TrAMS. 

2. Payments 

Once a grant has been awarded and 

executed, requests for payment can be 

processed. To process payments FTA 

uses ECHO-Web, an Internet accessible 

system that provides grantees the 

capability to submit payment requests 

on-line, as well as receive user-IDs and 

passwords via email. New applicants 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

7924 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 

should contact the appropriate FTA 

Regional Office to obtain and submit the 

registration package necessary for set-up 

under ECHO-Web. 

3. Oversight 

FTA is responsible for conducting 

oversight activities to help ensure that 

grants recipients use FTA Federal 

financial assistance in a manner 

consistent with their intended purpose 

and in compliance with regulatory and 

statutory requirements. FTA conducts 

periodic oversight reviews to assess 

grantee compliance with applicable 

Federal requirements. Each Urbanized 

Area Formula Program recipient is 

reviewed every three years, (also known 

as FTA’s Triennial Review); and States 

and state-wide public transportation 

agencies are reviewed periodically to 

assess the management practices and 

program implementation of FTA statewide programs (e.g., Planning, Rural 

Areas, Enhanced Mobility of Seniors 

and Individuals with Disabilities 

Programs). Other more detailed reviews 

are scheduled based on an annual 

grantee oversight assessment. Important 

objectives of FTA’s oversight program 

include, but are not limited to: 

Determining grantee compliance with 

Federal requirements; identifying 

technical assistance needs, and 

delivering technical assistance to meet 

those needs; spotting emerging issues 

with grantees in a forward-looking 

fashion; recognizing when there is a 

need for more in-depth reviews in the 

areas of procurement, financial 

management, and civil rights; and 

identifying grantees with recurring or 

systemic issues. 

4. Technical Assistance 

As noted throughout the notice, FTA 

continues to rely on several of the 

existing program circulars for general 

program guidance. FTA is continuing to 

update the program circulars, with an 

opportunity for notice and comment 

(where warranted), to reflect 

amendments to chapter 53 of title 49, 

U.S.C. made by the FAST Act. In the 

meantime, if you have any questions, 

please do not hesitate to contact FTA. 

FTA headquarters and regional staff will 

be pleased to answer your questions and 

provide any technical assistance you 

may need to apply for FTA program 

funds and manage the grants you 

receive. At its discretion, FTA may also 

use program oversight consultants to 

provide technical assistance to grantees 

on a case by case basis. This notice and 

the program guidance circulars 

previously identified in this document 

may be accessed via the FTA Web site 

at www.fta.dot.gov. 

G. Grant Management 

1. Formula Apportionment Data and 

Methodology 

FTA is publishing apportionment 

tables on its Web site for each program 

that reflects the full year appropriations 

less oversight take-downs, as applicable. 

Tables displaying the funds available to 

eligible states, tribes, and urbanized 

areas have been posted to http://

www.fta.dot.gov/apportionments. This 

Web site contains a page listing the 

apportionment and allocation tables for 

FY 2016 as well as links to prior year 

formula apportionment notices and 

tables and the NTD and Census data 

used to calculate the FY 2016 

apportionments. 

2. National Transit Database and Census 

Data Used in the FY 2016 

Apportionments 

Consistent with past practices, the 

calculations for sections 5307, 5311, 

including 5311(j) (Tribal Transit), 5329, 

5337, and 5339 programs rely on the 

most-recent transit service data reported 

to the National Transit Database (NTD), 

which in this case is the 2014 report 

year. In some cases where an 

apportionment is based on the age of the 

system, the age is calculated as of 

September 30, 2015, which was the last 

day before FY 2016 began. Any 

recipient or beneficiary of either the 

section 5307 or section 5311 program 

funds is required to report to the NTD. 

Additionally, a number of transit 

operators report to the NTD on a 

voluntary basis. For the 2014 report 

year, the NTD includes data from 864 

reporters in urbanized areas, 825 of 

which reported operating transit service. 

The NTD also includes data from 1,420 

providers of rural transit service, which 

includes 130 Indian Tribes providing 

transit service. 

2010 Census data is used to determine 

population and population density for 

sections 5303, 5305, 5307 and 5339 as 

well as rural population and rural land 

area for Section 5311. The formulas for 

sections 5307, 5311, and 5311(j) include 

tiers where funding is allocated on the 

basis of the number of persons living in 

poverty, and the section 5310 formula 

program allocates funding on the basis 

of the population of older adults and 

people with disabilities. The Census 

Bureau no longer publishes decennial 

census data on persons living in poverty 

and persons with disabilities. As a 

result, since FY 13, FTA has been using 

the data for these populations available 

via the Census’ American Community 

Survey (ACS). The NTD and census data 

that FTA used to calculate the 

apportionments associated with this 

notice can be found on FTA’s Web site: 

www.fta.dot.gov/apportionments. 

The FY 2016 apportionments use data 

on low-income persons, persons with 

disabilities, and older adults from the 

2009–2013 ACS five-year data set, 

which was published in December 2014. 

This data represent the most recent fiveyear ACS estimates that are available as 

of October 1st for the year being 

apportioned. As was the case in prior 

years, data on low-income persons 

comes from ACS Table B17024, ‘‘Age by 

Ratio of Income to Poverty in the Last 

Twelve Months,’’ and data on people 

with disabilities under 65 years old 

comes from ACS Table S1810, 

‘‘Disability Characteristics.’’ For the FY 

2016 apportionments, FTA is using data 

on older adults (over 65 years old) from 

ACS Table B01001, ‘‘Sex by Age’’ after 

determining that the ACS table used in 

prior fiscal years (ACS Table S.0103, 

‘‘People over 65 in the United States’’) 

did not include data for all urbanized 

areas. 

3. Grant Reporting 

Recipients of FTA funds are reminded 

that all FTA grantees are required to 

report on their grants and that it is 

critical to ensure reports demonstrate 

that reasonable progress is being made 

on the project. At a minimum, all 

awards require a Federal Financial 

Report (FFR) and a Milestone Progress 

Report (MPR) on an annual basis, with 

some reports required quarterly or 

monthly depending on the recipient and 

the type of projects funded under the 

grant. The requirements for these 

reports and other reporting 

requirements can be found in FTA 

Circular 5010.1D, Grant Management 

Requirements, dated August 27, 2012. 

FTA staff, auditors, and contractors rely 

on the information provided in the FFR 

and MPR to review and report on the 

status of both financial and project-level 

activities contained in the grant. It is 

critical that recipients provide accurate 

and complete information in these 

reports and submit them by the required 

due date. Failure to report and/or 

demonstrate reasonable progress on 

projects can result in suspension or 

premature close-out of a grant. 

4. Inactive Grants and Grant Closeout 

In FY 2016, FTA will continue to 

focus on inactive grants and grants that 

do not comply with reporting 

requirements. If appropriate, FTA will 

take action to close out and deobligate 

funds from these grants if reasonable 

progress is not being made. The efficient 

use of funds will further FTA’s 

fulfillment of its mission to provide 

efficient and effective public 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2

Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 16, 2016 / Notices 7925 

transportation systems for the nation. As 

inactive grants continue to be an audit 

finding within the DOT, FTA must take 

action to ensure its grants do not impact 

the DOT from receiving a ‘‘clean audit’’ 

opinion on its annual financial 

statement. 

In October of 2015, FTA identified a 

list of grants that were awarded on or 

prior to September 30, 2012 and have 

had no funds disbursed since September 

30, 2014 or have never had a 

disbursement. FTA Regional Offices 

will be contacting grant recipients with 

grants that meet this criteria to notify 

them that FTA intends to close the grant 

and deobligate any remaining funds 

unless the grantee can provide 

information that demonstrates that the 

projects funded by the grant remain 

active and the grantee has a realistic 

schedule to expedite completion of the 

projects funded in the grant. 

5. American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act (ARRA) Transportation Investments 

Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 

Grants 

Recipients of open ARRA TIGER 

grants should be aware that, as a matter 

of law, all remaining ARRA funds 

MUST be disbursed from grants by the 

end of the 5th FY after funds were 

obligated. (See 31 U.S.C. 1552.) For FTA 

ARRA TIGER projects, that requirement 

takes effect at the end of FY 2016. 

Accordingly, once ECHO closes for 

disbursements in late September 2016, 

all remaining funds within FTA ARRA 

TIGER funded grants will no longer be 

available to the grantee. These 

undisbursed funds will be deobligated 

from the grant. Even if a grantee has 

incurred costs or disbursed funds prior 

to the close of ECHO, if the grantee has 

not actually drawn down the funds by 

the time ECHO closes, FTA will be 

unable to reimburse the grantee. 

Therefore, grantees with open ARRA 

TIGER grants must ensure project 

activities are completed and all funds 

are drawn down before ECHO closes by 

late September 2016. This deadline does 

not apply to TIGER grants that are not 

funded by ARRA. 

Therese W. McMillan, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2016–02821 Filed 2–12–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES2