Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/23/106
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 05:03:35+00:00

Document:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, each State transportation department shall submit to the Secretary for approval such plans, specifications, and estimates for each proposed project as the Secretary may require.
The Secretary shall act on the plans, specifications, and estimates as soon as practicable after the date of their submission and shall enter into a formal project agreement with the State transportation department recipient formalizing the conditions of the project approval.
The execution of the project agreement shall be deemed a contractual obligation of the Federal Government for the payment of the Federal share of the cost of the project.
In taking action under this subsection, the Secretary shall be guided by section 109.
The project agreement shall make provision for State funds required to pay the State’s non-Federal share of the cost of construction of the project (including payments made pursuant to a long-term concession agreement, such as availability payments) and to pay for maintenance of the project after completion of construction.
If a part of the project is to be constructed at the expense of, or in cooperation with, political subdivisions of the State, the Secretary may rely on representations made by the State transportation department with respect to the arrangements or agreements made by the State transportation department and appropriate local officials for ensuring that the non-Federal contribution will be provided under paragraph (1).
For projects under this title that are on the National Highway System, including projects on the Interstate System, the State may assume the responsibilities of the Secretary under this title for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspections with respect to the projects unless the Secretary determines that the assumption is not appropriate.
For projects under this title that are not on the National Highway System, the State shall assume the responsibilities of the Secretary under this title for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of projects, unless the State determines that such assumption is not appropriate.
The Secretary and the State shall enter into an agreement relating to the extent to which the State assumes the responsibilities of the Secretary under this subsection.
The Secretary shall not assign any responsibilities to a State for projects the Secretary determines to be in a high risk category, as defined under subparagraph (B).
The Secretary may define the high risk categories under this subparagraph on a national basis, a State-by-State basis, or a national and State-by-State basis, as determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.
any Federal law other than this title (including section 5333 of title 49).
reducing the time to complete the project.
completely redesigning the project using different technologies, materials, or methods so as to accomplish the original purpose of the project.
any other project the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
The Secretary may require more than 1 analysis described in paragraph (2) for a major project described in subsection (h).
monitors, evaluates, and annually submits to the Secretary a report that describes the results of the value analyses that are conducted and the recommendations implemented for each of the projects described in paragraph (2) that are completed in the State.
using an analysis of lifecycle costs and duration of projectconstruction.
A requirement to provide a value engineering analysis under this subsection shall not apply to a project delivered using the design-build method of construction.
The Secretary shall develop recommendations for the States to conduct life-cycle cost analyses. The recommendations shall be based on the principles contained in section 2 of Executive Order No. 12893 and shall be developed in consultation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The Secretary shall not require a State to conduct a life-cycle cost analysis for any project as a result of the recommendations required under this subsection.
In this subsection, the term “life-cycle cost analysis” means a process for evaluating the total economic worth of a usable project segment by analyzing initial costs and discounted future costs, such as maintenance, user costs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and resurfacing costs, over the life of the project segment.
The Secretary shall establish an oversight program to monitor the effective and efficient use of funds authorized to carry out this title.
At a minimum, the program shall be responsive to all areas relating to financial integrity and project delivery.
The Secretary shall perform annual reviews that address elements of the State transportation departments’ financial management systems that affect projects approved under subsection (a).
The Secretary shall develop minimum standards for estimating project costs and shall periodically evaluate the practices of States for estimating project costs, awarding contracts, and reducing project costs.
The Secretary shall perform annual reviews that address elements of the project delivery system of a State, which elements include one or more activities that are involved in the life cycle of a project from conception to completion of the project.
sufficient accounting controls to properly manage such Federal funds.
The Secretary shall periodically review the monitoring of subrecipients by the States.
Nothing in this section shall affect or discharge any oversight responsibility of the Secretary specifically provided for under this title or other Federal law.
The Secretary shall retain full oversight responsibilities for the design and construction of all Appalachian development highways under section 14501 of title 40.
an annual financial plan, including a phasing plan when applicable.
the role of the agency leadership and management team in the delivery of the project.
shall assess the appropriateness of a public-private partnership to deliver the project.
A recipient of Federal financial assistance for a project under this title with an estimated total cost of $100,000,000 or more that is not covered by subsection (h) shall prepare an annual financial plan. Annual financial plans prepared under this subsection shall be made available to the Secretary for review upon the request of the Secretary.
otherwise expedite project delivery with respect to transportation projects that receive Federal funding.
With respect to transportation projects that receive Federal funding, the Secretary shall encourage the use of advanced modeling technologies during environmental, planning, financial management, design, simulation, and construction processes of the projects.
promote the use of advanced modeling technologies.
The Secretary shall develop and publish on the public website of the Department of Transportation a detailed and comprehensive plan for the implementation of paragraph (2).
Executive Order No. 12893, referred to in subsec. (f)(1), is set out as a note under section 501 of Title 31, Money and Finance.
2015—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 114–94 inserted “(including payments made pursuant to a long-term concession agreement, such as availability payments)” after “construction of the project”.
2012—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(1), inserted “recipient” before “formalizing”.
Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(2)(A)(i), struck out “Non-interstate” before “nhs” in heading. Resulting initial word was editorially changed to “NHS” to conform to style of paragraph headings.
Subsec. (e)(1)(A). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(3)(A)(i), substituted “planning” for “concept” and “multidisciplinary” for “multidisciplined” in introductory provisions.
Subsec. (e)(1)(A)(i). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(3)(A)(ii), added cl. (i) and struck out former cl. (i) which read as follows: “providing the needed functions safely, reliably, and at the lowest overall cost;”.
Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(3)(B)(i), struck out “or other cost-reduction analysis” after “engineering analysis” in introductory provisions.
Subsec. (e)(2)(A). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(3)(B)(ii), substituted “National Highway System receiving Federal assistance” for “Federal-aid system” and “$50,000,000” for “$25,000,000”.
Subsec. (e)(2)(B). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(3)(B)(iii), inserted “on the National Highway System receiving Federal assistance” after “a bridge project” and substituted “$40,000,000” for “$20,000,000”.
Subsec. (h)(1)(B). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(4)(A), inserted “, including a phasing plan when applicable” after “financial plan”.
Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 112–141, § 1503(a)(5), added subsec. (j).
Subsecs. (g) to (i). Pub. L. 109–59, § 1904(a)(2), added subsecs. (g) to (i) and struck out former subsecs. (g) and (h) which related to establishment of a value engineering analysis program for projects with an estimated total cost of $25,000,000 or more and requirement that recipient of assistance for a project with an estimated total cost of $1,000,000,000 or more submit an annual financial plan for the project.
1998—Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(a)(1), substituted “Project approval and oversight” for “Plans, specifications, and estimates” in section catchline.
Subsecs. (a) to (d). Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(a)(3), added subsecs. (a) to (d) and struck out former subsecs. (a) to (d) which related to requirement for State highway departments to submit to Secretary for approval plans, specifications, and estimates for each proposed highway project, special rules relating to resurfacing, restoring, and rehabilitating projects on National Highway System, to low-cost National Highway System projects, and to non-National Highway System proj­ects, limitation on estimates for construction engineering, and provisions relating to value engineering or other cost reduction analysis.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(a)(3), added subsec. (e). Former subsec. (e) redesignated (f).
“(1) Establishment.—The Secretary shall establish a program to require States to conduct an analysis of the life-cycle costs of each usable project segment on the National Highway System with a cost of $25,000,000 or more.
Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(a)(2), redesignated subsec. (e) as (f). Former subsec. (f) redesignated (g).
Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(a)(2), redesignated subsec. (f) as (g).
Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 105–178, § 1305(b), added subsec. (h).
1995—Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 104–59 added subsecs. (e) and (f).
1991—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–240, § 1016(b)(1), inserted “this section and” before “section 117”.
1976—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 94–280 substituted “Federal-aid highway funds” for “Federal-aid primary, secondary, or urban funds” and “such total estimate cost” for “such total estimated cost” and struck out 10 per centum limitation for any project financed with interstate funds.
1970—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–605, § 106(e), inserted reference to the Federal-aid urban system.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 91–605, § 142, added subsec. (d).
1963—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 88–157 substituted “a proj­ect financed with Federal-aid primary, secondary, or urban funds” for “the project” and provided for limitation, on items included in estimates for construction engineering on projects financed with Federal-aid primary, secondary, or urban funds, of 15 percent of total estimated cost of the project where found by the Secretary to be necessary and for 10-percent limitation on projects financed with interstate funds.
The Secretary [of Transportation] shall use the authority under section 106(c) of title 23, United States Code, to the maximum extent practicable, to allow a State to assume the responsibilities of the Secretary for project design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of projects, on both a project-specific and programmatic basis.
a public-private partnership, if both parties are engaged in building the project.
A recipient that receives multiple grant awards from the Department [of Transportation] to support 1 multimodal project may request that the Secretary [of Transportation] designate 1 modal administration in the Department to be the lead administering authority for the overall project.
Any project that includes funds awarded under section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, shall be exempt from consolidation under this section unless the grant recipient requests the Federal Transit Administration to be the lead administering authority.
Not later than 30 days after the date on which a request under paragraph (1) is made, the Secretary shall review the request and approve or deny the designation of a single modal administration as the lead administering authority and point of contact for the Department.
The Secretary shall notify the requestor of the decision of the Secretary under subparagraph (A) in such form and at such time as the Secretary and the requestor agree.
If a request is denied, the Secretary shall provide the requestor with a detailed explanation of the reasoning of the Secretary with the notification under clause (i).
to the extent feasible during the first 30 days of carrying out the multimodal project, identify overlapping or duplicative regulatory requirements that exist for the project and propose a single, streamlined approach to meeting all of the applicable regulatory requirements through the activities described in subsection (d).
The Secretary [of Transportation] shall transfer all amounts that have been awarded for the multimodal project to the modal administration designated as the lead administering authority.
Participation under this section shall be optional for recipients, and no recipient shall be required to participate.
The Secretary is not required to identify every recipient that may be eligible to participate under this section.
The Secretary [of Transportation] and modal administrations with relevant jurisdiction over a multimodal project should cooperate on project review and delivery activities at the earliest practicable time.
to ensure that planning and project development decisions are made in a streamlined manner and consistent with applicable law.
The Secretary shall study the effectiveness and benefits of value engineering review programs applied to Federal-aid highway projects. Such study shall include an analysis of and the results of specialized techniques utilized in all facets of highway construction for the purpose of reduction of costs and improvement of the overall quality of Federal-aid highway projects.
Pub. L. 89–574, § 5(b), Sept. 13, 1966, 80 Stat. 767, as amended by Pub. L. 97–449, § 2(a), Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2439, authorized Secretary to modify project agreements entered into prior to Sept. 13, 1966, pursuant to section 106 of this title for purpose of effectuating amendment made by this section (amending section 109(b) of this title to add a requirement of four lanes of traffic) with respect to as much of National System of Interstate and Defense Highways [now Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways] as may be possible.

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