2022-05734. Announcement of Fiscal Year 2021 Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program Project Selections

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice; announcement of project selections. Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the allocation of $409,274,220 to projects under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program (Buses and Bus Facilities Program) and provides administrative guidance on project implementation.

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 can be found at www.transit.dot.gov/​. Unsuccessful applicants may contact Tom Wilson, Office of Program Management at [phone], email: [e-mail] within 30 days of this announcement to arrange a proposal debriefing. A TDD is available at 1-800-877-8339 (TDD/FIRS).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Federal public transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5339(b)) authorizes FTA to make competitive grants for buses and bus facilities. Federal public law (49 U.S.C. 5338(a)(2)(M)) authorized $289,044,179 in FY 2021 funds for the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, appropriated an additional $125,000,000 for the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program. After the oversight takedown of $4,455,331, FTA is announcing the availability of $409,588,848 for the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program.

On September 20, 2021, FTA published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (86 FR 52291) announcing the availability of $409,588,848 in competitive funding under the Buses and Bus Facilities Program. These funds will provide financial assistance to states and eligible public agencies to replace, rehabilitate, purchase, or lease buses, vans, and related equipment, and for capital projects to rehabilitate, purchase, construct, or lease bus-related facilities. In response to the NOFO, FTA received 303 eligible project proposals totaling approximately $2.56 billion in Federal funds. Project proposals were evaluated based on each applicant's responsiveness to the program evaluation criteria outlined in the NOFO.

Based on the criteria in the NOFO, FTA is funding 70 projects, as shown in Table 1, for a total of $409,274,220. Recipients selected for competitive funding are required to work with their FTA Regional Office to submit a grant application in FTA's Transit Award Management System (TrAMS) for the projects identified in the attached table to quickly obligate funds. Grant applications must only include eligible activities applied for in the original project application. Funds must be used consistent with the competitive proposal and for the eligible capital purposes described in the NOFO.

In cases where the allocation amount is less than the proposer's total requested amount, recipients are required to fund the scalable project option as described in the application. If the award amount does not correspond to the scalable option, the recipient should work with the Regional Office to reduce scope or scale the project such that a complete phase or project is accomplished. Recipients may also provide additional local funds to complete a proposed project. A discretionary project identification number has been assigned to each project for tracking purposes and must be used in the TrAMS application.

Selected projects are eligible to incur costs under pre-award authority no earlier than the date projects were publicly announced. Pre-award authority does not guarantee that project expenses incurred prior to the award of a grant will be eligible for reimbursement, as eligibility for reimbursement is contingent upon other requirements, such as planning and environmental requirements, having been met. For more about FTA's policy on pre-award authority, please see the current FTA Apportionments, Allocations, and Program Information and Interim Guidance at https://www.transit.dot.gov/​funding/​apportionments. Post-award reporting requirements include submission of Federal Financial Reports and Milestone Progress Reports in TrAMS (see FTA Circular 5010.1E). Recipients 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. FTA emphasizes that recipients must follow all third-party procurement requirements set forth in Federal public transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5325(a)) and described in the FTA Third Party Contracting Guidance Circular (FTA Circular 4220.1). Funds allocated in this announcement must be obligated in a grant by September 30, 2025.

Technical Review and Evaluation Summary: The FTA assessed all project proposals that were submitted under the FY 2021 Buses and Bus Facilities Program competition according to the following evaluation criteria. The specific metrics for each criterion were described in the September 20, 2021, NOFO:

1. Demonstration of Need

2. Demonstration of Benefits

3. Planning/Local Prioritization

4. Local Financial Commitment

5. Project Implementation Strategy

6. Technical, Legal, and Financial Capacity

For each project, a technical review panel assigned a rating of Highly Recommended, Recommended, or Not Recommended for each of the six criteria. The technical review panel then assigned an overall rating of Highly Recommended, Recommended, Not Recommended, or Ineligible to the project proposal.

Projects were assigned a final overall rating of Highly Recommended if they were rated Highly Recommended in at least four categories overall, with no Not Recommended ratings. Projects were assigned a final overall rating of Recommended if the projects had three or more Recommended ratings and no Not Recommended ratings. Projects were assigned a rating of Not Recommended if they received a Not Recommended rating in any criteria. A summary of the final overall ratings for all 303 eligible project proposals is shown in the table below.

Overall Project Ratings

[Eligible submissions]

Highly Recommended	166
Recommended	95
Not Recommended	42
Total	303

As outlined in the NOFO, FTA made the final selections based on the technical ratings as well as geographic diversity, diversity in the size of transit systems receiving funding, Administration priorities including climate change, and/or receipt of other recent competitive awards.

As further outlined in the NOFO, in some cases, due to funding limitations, proposers that were selected for funding received less than the amount originally requested.

Nuria I. Fernandez,

Administrator.

Table 1—FY 2021 Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Project Selections

State	Recipient	Project ID	Project description	Allocation
AK	City and Borough of Juneau, Capital Transit	D2022-BUSC-001	On-route electric bus charging infrastructure	$1,446,827
AL	City of Mobile	D2022-BUSC-002	Bus replacement	4,850,535
AR	City of Jonesboro	D2022-BUSC-003	Bus stop technology upgrades	752,000
AZ	Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-004	Electric buses and charging equipment procurement; bus storage facility construction	1,292,118
CA	Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-005	Zero-emission bus infrastructure	3,998,543
CA	Sacramento Regional Transit District	D2022-BUSC-006	Bus replacement	5,250,000
CA	City of Torrance Transit Department	D2022-BUSC-007	Transit fleet modernization	6,280,000
CA	Napa Valley Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-008	Zero-emission bus electrification	8,455,856
CA	Riverside Transit Agency	D2022-BUSC-009	Construction of hydrogen fueling stations and workforce training	8,787,846
CA	San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-010	Zero-emission bus replacement	8,799,979
CA	SunLine Transit Agency	D2022-BUSC-011	Zero-emission bus procurement and bus refurbishment for the Coachella Valley	8,409,070
CA	City of Norwalk: Norwalk Transit System	D2022-BUSC-012	Zero-emission battery electric bus replacement	3,530,822
CA	City of Santa Rosa	D2022-BUSC-013	Replacing diesel buses with battery electric and supporting infrastructure	4,288,300
CA	North County Transit District (NCTD)	D2022-BUSC-014	Hydrogen electric bus replacement	4,800,000
CA	City of Cerritos	D2022-BUSC-015	Electric bus procurement and fleet replacement	4,378,140
CA	Foothill Transit	D2022-BUSC-016	Zero-emission double deck bus procurement	7,942,200
CA	California DOT on behalf of the City of Arvin	D2022-BUSC-017	Rural battery electric bus replacement	2,922,550
CA	California DOT on behalf of Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS)	D2022-BUSC-018	Improving bus system inter-modal connectivity to Yosemite National Park	4,600,625
CO	State of Colorado, Department of Transportation (CDOT)	D2022-BUSC-019	Snowmass Multimodal Transit Station	13,500,000
CO	State of Colorado, Department of Transportation (CDOT)	D2022-BUSC-020	Rural regional transit center renovations and expansion	9,350,000
CT	Connecticut Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-021	Zero-emission bus procurement	11,446,538
DE	Delaware Transit Corporation	D2022-BUSC-022	Rehoboth Transit Center modernization	5,400,000
FL	City of Gainesville Dept of Transportation & Mobility, Regional Transit System	D2022-BUSC-023	Bus replacement and East Gainesville transfer station construction	10,660,817
FL	Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-024	Electric bus and charging expansion	18,399,000
GA	Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)	D2022-BUSC-025	Clayton County Multipurpose Operations and Maintenance Facility	15,000,000
HI	Honolulu, City and County of	D2022-BUSC-026	Battery electric bus acquisition and service expansion	4,711,900
IA	Ames Transit Agency, d/b/a CyRide	D2022-BUSC-027	Articulated electric bus procurement	3,185,374
ID	Valley Regional Transit	D2022-BUSC-028	Transit vehicle replacement and electrification	1,920,000
IL	Madison County Mass Transit District	D2022-BUSC-029	Bus replacement	2,700,000
IN	South Bend Public Transportation Corporation	D2022-BUSC-030	Bus replacement	4,327,304
IN	Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation	D2022-BUSC-031	Enhanced bus stops	2,346,658
KS	Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation	D2022-BUSC-032	Rural accessible van procurement	52,972
KY	Transit Authority of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government	D2022-BUSC-033	Bus replacement	4,107,642
LA	City of Shreveport	D2022-BUSC-034	City-wide bus shelter improvements	1,948,000
MA	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-035	Maintenance facility replacement and electrification	5,000,000
MD	MDOT—MTA on Behalf of Harford County	D2022-BUSC-036	Bus replacement	1,498,000
ME	Greater Portland Transit District	D2022-BUSC-037	Bus replacement	1,887,000
MI	Michigan Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-038	Bus replacement and fleet expansion in the State of Michigan	6,199,631
MI	Michigan Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-039	Bus facility replacement, expansion, and rehabilitation for four rural transit systems	7,391,200
MN	Minnesota Valley Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-040	Burnsville bus garage modernization	4,960,000
MN	City of Rochester	D2022-BUSC-041	Bus Stop improvement and 75th St. Park and Ride construction	4,339,344
MO	Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District	D2022-BUSC-042	Battery electric bus deployment in DeBaliviere	4,098,410
MT	City of Billings, MET Transit Division	D2022-BUSC-043	Bus replacement and facility refurbishment	3,028,000
NC	City of Greensboro	D2022-BUSC-044	Replacing diesel buses with zero-emission buses and infrastructure in the City of Greensboro	3,008,800
NC	City of Concord	D2022-BUSC-045	Bus replacement	3,966,318
NC	City of Durham	D2022-BUSC-046	Durham Station renovation	10,800,000
NM	City of Albuquerque	D2022-BUSC-047	Bus wash system	1,161,100
NV	Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada	D2022-BUSC-048	Hydrogen fuel cell bus procurement and solar lighting for bus stops	4,870,000
NY	Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-049	Battery electric bus deployment	4,844,000
NY	Metropolitan Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-050	Bus depot renovation	12,337,280
OH	Laketran	D2022-BUSC-051 & D2022-BUSC-052	Bus facility renovation and expansion	7,233,149 & 7,448,832
OH	Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-053	Bus replacement	1,514,888
OH	Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-054	Bus facility renovation and safety improvements	2,307,200
OH	Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA)	D2022-BUSC-055	Bus replacement with new green diesel and electric buses	10,134,960
OH	Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA)	D2022-BUSC-056	Bus facility roofing improvement	4,000,000
OK	Oklahoma Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-057	Rural bus facility rehabilitation	914,725
OR	Rogue Valley Transportation District	D2022-BUSC-058	Bus facility expansion	12,552,523
OR	Lane Transit District	D2022-BUSC-059	Zero-emission bus replacement	4,891,676
OR	Oregon Department of Transportation, Public Transportation Division	D2022-BUSC-060	Bus fleet expansion	244,800
PA	Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-061	South Philadelphia Transportation Center	9,800,000
SC	City of Rock Hill	D2022-BUSC-062	Transit fleet and facilities expansion	2,832,848
TX	Galveston, City of	D2022-BUSC-063	Low-emission fleet replacement	1,060,000
TX	Fort Worth Transportation Authority	D2022-BUSC-064	Bus facility improvements	6,484,320
TX	Texas Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-065	Rural transit asset replacement & modernization	22,850,000
UT	Utah Department of Transportation	D2022-BUSC-066	Rural bus transit expansion project	2,389,699
VA	Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission	D2022-BUSC-067	Bus transit hub rehabilitation	916,500
WA	Clark County Public Transportation Benefit Area	D2022-BUSC-068	Bus replacement	2,742,600
WA	Kitsap Transit	D2022-BUSC-069	Battery-electric buses and charging infrastructure procurement	10,400,000
WA	Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority	D2022-BUSC-070	Bus procurement and station construction for I-405 Bus Rapid Transit Service	12,924,801
WI	City of Madison	D2022-BUSC-071	Bus maintenance and administrative facility improvements	6,400,000
Total				409,274,220