2016-29020. Fiscal Year 2016 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Project Selections

AGENCY:

Federal Transit Administration (FTA), (DOT).

ACTION:

Tribal Transit Program Announcement of Project Selections.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of 35 projects for funding with Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations for the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Tribal Transit Program (TTP), as authorized by (49 U.S.C. 5311(c)(1)(a)(j)), as amended by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Public Law 114-94 (December 4, 2015). A total of $5 million is available under this program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Successful applicants should contact the appropriate FTA Regional office for information regarding applying for the funds or program-specific information. A list of Regional offices, along with a list of tribal liaisons can be found at www.transit.dot.gov. Unsuccessful applicants may contact Élan Flippin, Office of Program Management at [phone], email: [e-mail], to arrange a proposal debriefing within 30 days of this announcement. In the event the contact information provided by your tribe in the application has changed, please contact your regional tribal liaison with the current information in order to expedite the grant award process. A TDD is available at 1-800-877-8339 (TDD/FIRS).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On March 14, 2016, FTA published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) through a Federal Register Notice (81 FR 13444) announcing the availability of Federal funding for the TTP program. The FAST Act authorizes $5 million annually for federally recognized Indian Tribes or Alaska Native villages, groups, or communities as identified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the U.S. Department of the Interior for public transportation. The TTP supports many types of projects including: Operating costs to enable tribes to start or continue transit services; capital to enable tribal investment in new or replacement equipment; and funding for tribal transit planning activities for public transportation services in Indian Country. TTP services link tribal citizens to employment, food, healthcare, school, social services, recreation/leisure, and other key community connections. FTA funds may only be used for eligible purposes defined under 49 U.S.C. 5311 and described in the FTA Circular 9040.1G, and consistent with the specific eligibility and priorities established in the March 2016 NOFO.

A total of 44 applications were received from 39 tribes in 13 states requesting $8.3 million, indicated that there is significant demand for funds for public transportation projects. Project proposals were evaluated based on each applicant's responsiveness to the program evaluation criteria outlined in FTA's March 2016 NOFO. The FTA also took into consideration the current status of previously funded applicants. This included examining available prior year competitive and formula balances; and geographic balance and diversity, including regional balance based on tribal population. As a result, FTA is funding a total of 35 projects for 34 tribes in 12 states. The projects selected in Table 1 provide funding for transit planning studies, capital and operating requests for existing, start-up, expansion and replacement projects. Funds must be used only for the specific purposes identified in Table 1. Allocations may be less than what the applicant requested and were capped at $329,843 to provide funding to all highly recommended, recommended, and planning proposals that received a “pass” rating; planning projects were capped at $25,000. Tribes selected for competitive funding should work with their FTA regional office to finalize the grant application in FTA's Transit Award Management System (TrAMs) for the projects identified in the attached table, so that funds are expeditiously obligated. In cases where the allocation amount is less than the proposer's requested amount, tribes should work with the regional office to ensure the funds are obligated for eligible aspects of the projects, and for specific purpose intended as reflected in Table 1. A competitive project identification number has been assigned to each project for tracking purposes, and must be used in the TrAMs application. For more information about TrAMs, please visit: http://www.transit.dot.gov/​16260_​15769.html. The post award reporting requirements include submission of the Federal Financial Report (FFR), Milestone Report in TrAMs, and National Transit Database (NTD) reporting, as appropriate (see FTA Circular 9040.1G).

Tribes must continue to report to the NTD to be eligible for formula apportionment funds. To be considered in the FY 2017 formula apportionments, tribes should have submitted their reports to the NTD no later than June 30, 2016; voluntary reporting to the NTD is also encouraged. For tribes who have not reported before, please contact the NTD Operations Center in advance to get a reporting account for the NTD on-line data collection system. The Operation Center can be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. (ET), by email [e-mail] or by phone [phone].

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 has conducted Tribal Transit Technical Assistance Workshops, and expects to offer additional workshops in FY2017. FTA has also expanded its technical assistance to tribes receiving funds under this program, with 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. 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 have received exemplary feedback from Tribal Transit Leaders, and provide 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 disseminate information about the reviews through its Regional offices. A list of Tribal Liaisons can be found on FTA's Web site at http://www.transit.dot.gov/​13094_​15845.html.

Funds allocated in this announcement must be obligated in a grant by September 30, 2018. Tribes selected for competitive funding should work with their FTA regional tribal liaison to finalize the grant application in TrAMs.

Carolyn Flowers,

Acting Administrator.

Table I—FY 2016 Tribal Transit Program Awards

State	Recipient	Project ID	Project description	Allocation
AK	McGrath Native Village	D2016-TRTR-001	Start-up/Capital	$63,000
AK	Native Village of Fort Yukon	D2016-TRTR-002	Replacement/Capital	131,655
AK	Native Village of Unalakleet	D2016-TRTR-003	Replacement/Capital	28,340
AK	Nome Eskimo Community	D2016-TRTR-004	Existing/Operating	179,621
AK	Nulato Village	D2016-TRTR-005	Start-up/Planning	25,000
AK	Rampart Village	D2016-TRTR-006	Start-up/Planning	25,000
AZ	Hualapai Indian Tribe	D2016-TRTR-007	Start-up/Capital	140,962
CA	Blue Lake Rancheria, California	D2016-TRTR-008	Replacement/Capital	120,000
CA	North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California	D2016-TRTR-009	Expansion, Replacement/Capital	66,994
CA	Susanville Indian Rancheria	D2016-TRTR-010	Replacement/Capital	45,000
CA	Susanville Indian Rancheria	D2016-TRTR-011	Existing/Capital	1,980
CA	Yurok Tribe	D2016-TRTR-012	Expansion, Replacement/Capital	234,000
CT	Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation	D2016-TRTR-013	Start-up/Operating	133,705
ID	Shoshone-Bannock Tribes	D2016-TRTR-014	Expansion/Capital	85,400
KS	Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation	D2016-TRTR-015	Expansion, Replacement/Capital	287,500
MN	Bois Forte Band of Chippewa	D2016-TRTR-016	Expansion/Capital	329,843
MN	Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa	D2016-TRTR-017	Existing/Capital	127,987
MN	White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians	D2016-TRTR-018	Replacement/Capital	116,352
MT	Chippewa Cree Tribe	D2016-TRTR-019	Replacement/Capital	77,875
MT	Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes	D2016-TRTR-020	Expansion/Capital	329,843
MT	Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Res	D2016-TRTR-021	Replacement/Capital	119,340
NM	Jicarilla Apache Nation	D2016-TRTR-022	Start-up/Capital	211,197
OK	Cherokee Nation	D2016-TRTR-023	Replacement/Capital	321,561
OK	Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma	D2016-TRTR-024	Expansion, Replacement/Capital	329,843
OK	Miami Tribe of Oklahoma	D2016-TRTR-025	Expansion, Replacement/Capital	179,100
OK	Muscogee (Creek) Nation	D2016-TRTR-026	Existing/Capital	108,000
OK	Seminole Nation of Oklahoma	D2016-TRTR-027	Replacement/Capital	135,000
OK	Wichita and Affiliated Tribes	D2016-TRTR-028	Start-up/Planning	24,998
WA	Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation	D2016-TRTR-029	Expansion/Capital	255,344
WA	Cowlitz Indian Tribe	D2016-TRTR-030	Existing, Replacement/Capital	58,056
WA	Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation	D2016-TRTR-031	Replacement/Capital	51,021
WA	Muckleshoot Indian Tribe	D2016-TRTR-032	Existing/Operating	329,843
WA	Nooksack Indian Tribe	D2016-TRTR-033	Existing/Operating	188,000
WA	Snoqualmie Indian Tribe	D2016-TRTR-034	Existing/Operating	113,640
WI	Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians	D2016-TRTR-035	Existing/Planning	25,000
Total Allocation				5,000,000