Transit-Oriented Development Planning Pilot Program, 22155-22160 [2016-08538]

Agencies

• Federal Transit Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 72 (Thursday, April 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22155-22160]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08538]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Transit-Oriented Development Planning Pilot Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): Solicitation of Project 
Proposals for the Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development 
Planning.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the 
availability of $20.49 million of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, FY 2015 and FY 
2016 funds under the Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development 
(TOD) Planning as authorized under Section 20005(b) of the Moving Ahead 
for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Public Law 112-141, July 
6, 2012,

[[Page 22156]]

with funding provided under 49 U.S.C. 5338(a)(2)(B), as amended by the 
Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The program 
augments FTA's Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program 
by supporting comprehensive planning associated with new fixed guideway 
and core capacity improvement projects.
    This notice solicits proposals to compete for FY 2014, FY 2015 and 
FY 2016 funding under the Pilot Program for TOD Planning and may 
include additional funds made available under future appropriations. It 
outlines the process to apply for funding, identifies FTA's priorities 
for these competitive funds, and establishes the criteria FTA will use 
to identify meritorious projects for funding. This announcement is 
available on the FTA Web site at: https://www.fta.dot.gov. FTA may 
announce final selections on the Web site and in the Federal Register. 
Additionally, a synopsis of this funding opportunity will be posted in 
the FIND module of the government-wide electronic grants (GRANTS.GOV) 
Web site at https://www.grants.gov.

DATES: Complete proposals for Pilot Program for TOD Planning funding 
must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EDT June 13, 2016.

ADDRESSES: All proposals must be submitted electronically through the 
GRANTS.GOV APPLY function. Any agency intending to apply should 
initiate the process of registering on the GRANTS.GOV site immediately 
to ensure completion of registration before the submission deadline. 
Instructions for applying can be found on FTA's Web site at https://www.fta.dot.gov/TODPilot and in the ``FIND'' module of GRANTS.GOV.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program-specific questions, please 
contact Benjamin Owen, Office of Planning and Environment, (202) 366-
5602, email: Benjamin.Owen@dot.gov. A TDD is available at 1-800-877-
8339 (TDD/FIRS).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

A. Program Description
B. Federal Award Information
C. Eligibility Information
D. Application and Submission Information
E. Application Review Information
F. Federal Award Administration Information
G. Federal Awarding Agency Contacts
H. Other Information
Appendix A: Registration in SAM and GRANTS.GOV

A. Program Description

    The Pilot Program for TOD Planning helps support FTA's mission of 
improving public transportation for America's communities by providing 
funding to local communities to integrate land use and transportation 
planning with a transit capital investment that is seeking, or has 
recently received, funding through the CIG Program. The Pilot Program 
is not intended to simply support planning that maintains or increases 
development adjacent to transit. Instead, the Pilot Program is intended 
to fund comprehensive planning that supports economic development, 
ridership, multimodal connectivity and accessibility, increased transit 
access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and mixed-use development 
near transit stations. For projects seeking CIG program funding, this 
comprehensive planning work will help them develop the information that 
addresses the CIG Program's evaluation criteria, increasing their 
competitiveness for funding from the CIG program. For projects that 
have received CIG construction grants since July 2012 when MAP-21 and 
this Pilot Program was enacted, this comprehensive planning work will 
help leverage the Federal investment already made and ensure successful 
transit corridors. The program also encourages identification of 
infrastructure needs and engagement with the private sector.
    Through this program, FTA intends to fund comprehensive planning 
work, including for TOD, that would likely otherwise not occur without 
Federal support. FTA is seeking comprehensive planning projects 
covering an entire transit capital project corridor, rather than 
proposals that involve planning for individual station areas or only a 
small section of the corridor. FTA is also prioritizing applications in 
corridors with significant challenges related to TOD planning, low 
levels of existing development, or where the cost of the planning work 
to overcome the challenges exceeds what might be readily available 
locally. Lastly, FTA is seeking planning efforts that include 
strategies to support housing affordability and address residential and 
commercial displacement that can sometimes occur when transit capital 
projects are implemented.
    This program will support priorities of the U.S. Department of 
Transportation. It will assist the Department with creating Ladders of 
Opportunity for all Americans by assisting local project sponsors with 
planning improved access to employment, health care, education, and 
housing, and with planning Transit-Oriented Development to revitalize 
and lift up regions and neighborhoods by attracting new opportunities, 
jobs and housing. The program will also promote public-private 
partnerships by requiring private sector participation.
    Congress enacted the Pilot Program for TOD Planning to leverage the 
significant investments in transit projects FTA is making through its 
CIG Program. Therefore, FTA is requiring that proposed planning 
activities be associated with a capital transit project pursuing CIG 
Program funding, including projects currently in the Project 
Development or Engineering phases of the CIG program, projects that may 
be seeking entry into the CIG program in the future, and projects that 
received construction grants from the CIG program since July 2012 when 
MAP-21 was enacted (see section C, subsection 1 of this notice for more 
detail on this requirement).
    To ensure any proposed planning work reflects the needs and 
aspirations of the local community and results in concrete, specific 
deliverables and outcomes, FTA is requiring that transit project 
sponsors partner with entities with land use planning authority in the 
transit project corridor to conduct the planning work. FTA will assess 
the strength of these partnerships in its evaluation of applications.
    FTA has been considering the strength of local land use plans and 
policies in fostering TOD in its evaluation of capital investment grant 
projects for nearly two decades, over which time the practice of TOD 
planning and implementation in the United States has advanced 
significantly. Most local jurisdictions now develop station-area TOD 
plans in conjunction with the planning for transit capital investments, 
and several regions have funding tools to encourage TOD. With few 
exceptions, these advances in TOD practice have been locally funded and 
FTA's direct involvement has been limited. Thus, the goal of this 
program is to further TOD planning by addressing barriers to its 
implementation and ensuring concrete performance outcomes and measures.

B. Federal Award Information

    The FAST Act authorizes FTA to make grants for eligible projects 
under the Pilot Program for TOD Planning on a competitive basis subject 
to the terms and conditions as authorized under Section 20005(b) of the 
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Public Law 
112-141, July 6, 2012, with funding provided under 49 U.S.C. 
5338(a)(2)(B), as amended by the

[[Page 22157]]

Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The $20.49 million 
available consists of $0.49 million from the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2014, $10 million from the Consolidated and Further 
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, and $10 million from the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. FTA intends to award all three 
years' funding to selected applicants responding to this NOFO and may 
include additional funds made available under future appropriations.
    FTA intends to fund as many meritorious TOD planning efforts as 
possible. Only proposals from eligible recipients for eligible 
activities will be considered for funding. FTA anticipates minimum 
grant awards of $250,000 and maximum grant awards of $2,000,000. The 
maximum period of performance allowed for the work covered by the award 
is 24 months.

C. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Transit Projects

    Any comprehensive planning work proposed for funding under the 
Pilot Program for TOD Planning must be associated with an eligible 
transit capital project. To be eligible, the proposed transit capital 
project must be a New Starts, Core Capacity or fixed-guideway Small 
Starts project as defined under the CIG Program (e.g., in Section 
5309(a) of title 49, United States Code), and be:
    i. Expected to enter New Starts, Small Starts or Core Capacity 
Project Development in the future;
    ii. In the Project Development or Engineering phase of the New 
Starts or Core Capacity process, or in the Project Development phase of 
the Small Starts process by the date the application to the Pilot 
Program for TOD Planning is submitted; or
    iii. A project that received a construction grant through the CIG 
Program since July 2012 when the Pilot Program was enacted in MAP-21.
    Based on this definition of an eligible transit project, the 
following types of transit projects are ineligible:
    i. A proposed fixed guideway transit project that does not intend 
to seek CIG funding in the future, is not currently a CIG project in 
the Project Development or Engineering phase of the program, or that 
received a construction grant award from the CIG program prior to July 
2012;
    ii. Any proposed transit project that was awarded TOD Pilot Program 
funding in 2015; and
    iii. Small Starts corridor-based bus rapid transit projects that do 
not meet the definition of a fixed-guideway project per Section 5309(a) 
of title 49, United States Code.

2. Eligible Applicants

    Eligible applicants under this program must be FTA grantees (i.e., 
existing direct and designated recipients) as of the publication date 
of this NOFO. An applicant must either be the project sponsor of an 
eligible transit capital project as defined in the previous subsection 
or an entity with land use planning authority in an eligible transit 
capital project corridor. Except in cases where an applicant is both 
the sponsor of an eligible transit project and has land use authority 
in at least a portion of the transit project corridor, the application 
for Pilot Program for TOD Planning funds must include sufficient 
evidence of a partnership between the transit project sponsor and at 
least one entity in the project corridor with land use planning 
authority. Sufficient evidence may include a memorandum of agreement or 
letter of intent signed by all parties that describes the parties' 
roles and responsibilities in the proposed comprehensive planning 
project. Only one application per transit capital project corridor may 
be submitted to FTA. Multiple applications submitted for a single 
transit capital project corridor indicate to FTA that partnerships are 
not in place and FTA will reject all of the applications.

3. Eligible Activities

    Applications for funding under the Pilot Program for TOD Planning 
must describe how the planning work proposed addresses all six aspects 
of the general authority stipulated in Section 20005(b)(2) of MAP-21:
    i. Enhances economic development, ridership, and other goals 
established during the project development and engineering processes;
    ii. facilitates multimodal connectivity and accessibility;
    iii. increases access to transit hubs for pedestrian and bicycle 
traffic;
    iv. enables mixed-use development;
    v. identifies infrastructure needs associated with the eligible 
project; and
    vi. includes private sector participation.
    Applications should describe the anticipated final deliverables 
that will result from the planning work. Examples of final deliverables 
may include, but are not restricted to, the following:
    i. A comprehensive plan report that includes corridor development 
policies and station development plans, a proposed timeline, and 
recommended financing strategies for these plans, which may include use 
of Federal loan programs such as USDOT's Transportation Infrastructure 
Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation 
Improvement and Financing (RRIF) programs;
    ii. A strategic plan report that includes corridor specific 
planning strategies and program recommendations to support 
comprehensive planning;
    iii. Revised TOD-focused zoning codes and/or resolutions;
    iv. A report evaluating and recommending tools to encourage TOD 
implementation such as land banking, value capture, and development 
financing;
    v. An analysis of the effects of gentrification due to transit 
capital project implementation and recommendations to promote inclusive 
communities and reduce residential and commercial displacement;
    vi. An analysis of efforts to connect people to opportunities by 
promoting multimodal access to transit stations and by improving 
connectivity of disadvantaged populations to essential services;
    vii. Policies to encourage TOD; and/or
    viii. Local or regional resolutions to implement TOD plans and/or 
establish TOD funding mechanisms.

4. Ineligible Activities

    Applications should not include the following activities, which 
include activities that are targeted to only a single location rather 
than the comprehensive corridor-focused TOD planning study desired by 
FTA:
    i. TOD planning work in a single transit capital project station 
area;
    ii. Transit project development activities that would be 
reimbursable through the CIG Program under a construction grant 
agreement, such as project planning, the design and engineering of 
stations and other facilities, environmental analyses needed for the 
transit capital project, or costs associated with specific joint 
development activities;
    iii. Capital projects, such as land acquisition, construction, and 
utility relocation; and
    iv. Site- or parcel-specific planning, such as the design of 
individual structures.

5. Cost Sharing or Matching

    The maximum Federal funding share is 80 percent.

6. Eligible Sources of Match

    The application must describe the cost of the planning effort 
proposed and identify the funding sources necessary to complete the 
work, including the amount of Pilot Program for TOD

[[Page 22158]]

Planning funds being requested. The applicant must describe each source 
of the local match and identify whether the funds from each source are 
committed or planned. For funds identified as committed, the 
application must include documentation of the funding commitments such 
as a letter, resolution, adopted budget, etc.
    Eligible sources of local match include the following: Cash from 
non-Government sources other than revenues from providing public 
transportation services; revenues derived from the sale of advertising 
and concessions; amounts received under a service agreement with a 
State or local social service agency or private social service 
organization; revenues generated from value capture financing 
mechanisms; or funds from an undistributed cash surplus; replacement or 
depreciation cash fund or reserve; or new capital. In-kind 
contributions are permitted. Transportation Development Credits 
(formerly referred to as Toll Revenue Credits) may not be used to 
satisfy the local match requirement.

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Address

    Project proposals must be submitted electronically through https://
www.GRANTS.GOV by 11:59 p.m. June 13, 2016. Mail and fax submissions 
will not be accepted.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

    Proposals should include only a completed SF 424 Mandatory form 
(downloaded from GRANTS.GOV) and the following attachments to the 
completed SF 424:
    i. A completed Applicant and Proposal Profile supplemental form for 
the Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning 
(supplemental form) found on the FTA Web site at https://www.fta.dot.gov/TODPilot. The supplemental form provides a consistent 
format for proposers to respond to the criteria outlined in this NOFO 
and takes the place of a free-form written application. Supplemental 
forms for other FTA funding programs will not be accepted;
    ii. A map of the proposed study area showing the transit project 
alignment and stations, major roadways, major landmarks, and the 
geographic boundaries of the proposed comprehensive planning 
activities;
    iii. Documentation of a partnership between the transit project 
sponsor and an entity in the project corridor with land use planning 
authority to conduct the planning work, if the applicant does not have 
both of these responsibilities; and
    iv. Documentation of any funding commitments for the proposed 
planning work.
    The supplemental form as described above must be completed and 
validated using the ``Validate Form'' button. The supplemental form 
prompts applicants for all required information about the proposed 
planning work (listed below), includes fields for responses and takes 
the place of a free-form written application. In the event of errors, 
FTA recommends saving the form on your computer and ensuring that 
JavaScript is enabled in your PDF reader;
    The supplemental form will prompt applicants to address the 
following items:
    1. Identify the project title and project scope to be funded, 
including anticipated final deliverables.
    2. Identify an eligible transit project that meets the requirements 
of section C, subsection 1 of this notice.
    3. Provide evidence of a partnership between the transit project 
sponsor and at least one agency with land use authority in the transit 
capital project corridor, per section C, subsection 2 of this notice.
    4. Address the six aspects of general authority under MAP-21 
Section 20005(b)(2).
    5. Address each evaluation criterion separately, demonstrating how 
the project responds to each criterion as described in section E.
    6. Provide a line-item budget for the total planning effort, with 
enough detail to indicate the various key components of the project.
    7. Identify the Federal amount requested.
    8. Document the matching funds, including amount and source of the 
match (may include local or private sector financial participation in 
the project). Describe whether the matching funds are committed or 
planned, and include documentation of the commitments.
    9. Address whether other Federal funds have been sought or received 
for the project.
    10. Provide a project time-line, including significant milestones 
such as the dates anticipated to incorporate the planning work effort 
into the region's unified planning work program, and to complete all of 
the proposed planning work within the maximum period of performance.
    11. Describe how the planning work advances goals of the region's 
metropolitan transportation plan.
    12. Propose performance criteria for the implementation of the 
planning work.
    13. Identify possible impediments to the planning work and its 
implementation, and how the work will address them.
    14. For projects expected to enter New Starts, Small Starts or Core 
Capacity Project Development in the future, applications must 
demonstrate the seriousness of the transit capital project by 
indicating whether:
    i. It has been included in a local plan (e.g., a local master plan, 
comprehensive plan, land use plan or transportation plan);
    ii. It has been included in a regional plan (e.g., a regional land 
use plan or transportation plan);
    iii. It has been included in a statewide transportation plan or 
transit plan;
    iv. A feasibility study has been undertaken;
    v. NEPA process is underway;
    vi. The locally preferred alternative has been selected:
    vii. Community and/or stakeholder engagement has started;
    viii. Discussions with the FTA Regional Office have taken place;
    For each of the above indicate yes or no, and attach a link to any 
applicable documents or Web sites. Do not attach the documentation.
    FTA will not consider any additional materials submitted by 
applicants in its evaluation of proposals. The total length of the 
completed supplemental form and documentation of partnerships and 
funding commitments should be no more than 15 pages.
    Within 24-48 hours after submitting an electronic application, the 
applicant should receive three email messages from GRANTS.GOV: (1) 
Confirmation of successful transmission to GRANTS.GOV, (2) confirmation 
of successful validation by GRANTS.GOV and (3) confirmation of 
successful validation by FTA. If confirmations of successful validation 
are not received and a notice of failed validation or incomplete 
materials is received, the applicant must address the reason for the 
failed validation, as described in the email notice, and resubmit 
before the submission deadline. If making a resubmission for any 
reason, include all original attachments regardless of which 
attachments were updated and check the box on the supplemental form 
indicating this is a resubmission.
    Any addenda that FTA releases on the application process will be 
posted at https://www.fta.dot.gov/TODPilot. Important: FTA urges 
proposers to submit their applications at least 72 hours prior to the 
due date to allow time

[[Page 22159]]

to receive the validation messages and to correct any problems that may 
have caused a rejection notification. FTA will not accept submissions 
after the stated submission deadline. GRANTS.GOV scheduled maintenance 
and outage times are announced on the GRANTS.GOV Web site at https://
www.GRANTS.GOV. Deadlines will not be extended due to scheduled 
maintenance or outages.
    Proposers are encouraged to begin registration process on the 
GRANTS.GOV site well in advance of the submission deadline. 
Registration is a multi-step process, which may take several weeks to 
complete before an application can be submitted. Registered proposers 
may still be required to take steps to keep their registration up to 
date before submissions can be made successfully: (1) Registration in 
the System for Award Management (SAM) is renewed annually and (2) 
persons making submissions on behalf of the Authorized Organization 
Representative (AOR) must be authorized in GRANTS.GOV by the AOR to 
make submissions. Instructions on the GRANTS.GOV registration process 
are listed in Appendix A.
    Information such as proposer name, Federal amount requested, local 
match amount, description of areas served, etc. may be requested in 
varying degrees of detail on both the SF 424 form and supplemental 
form. Proposers must fill in all fields unless stated otherwise on the 
forms. Proposers should use both the ``Check Package for Errors'' and 
the ``Validate Form'' validation buttons on both forms to check all 
required fields on the forms, and ensure that the federal and local 
amounts specified are consistent. The information listed in sections D 
of this NOFO MUST be included on the SF 424 and supplemental forms for 
all requests for Pilot Program for TOD Planning funding.

3. Applicant Information

    i. Name of the lead applicant and, if applicable, the specific co-
sponsors submitting the application.
    ii. Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) 
number.
    iii. Contact information including: Contact name, title, address, 
congressional district, fax and phone number, and email address if 
available.
    iv. Name of person(s) authorized to apply on behalf of the system 
(attach a signed transmittal letter) must accompany the proposal.

E. Application Review Information

1. Criteria

    FTA will evaluate proposals that include all components identified 
in section D of this notice according to the following three criteria:
a. Demonstrated Need
    FTA will evaluate each project to determine the need for funding 
based on the following factors:
    i. Barriers to TOD in the corridor and how the proposed work will 
overcome them;
    ii. How the proposed work will advance TOD implementation in the 
corridor and region;
    iii. Justification as to why Federal funds are needed for the 
proposed work; and
    iv. Extent to which the transit project corridor could benefit from 
TOD planning.
b. Strength of the Work Plan, Schedule and Process
    FTA will evaluate the strength of the work plan, schedule and 
process included in an application based on the following factors:
    i. Extent to which the schedule contains sufficient detail, 
identifies all steps needed to implement to work proposed, and is 
achievable;
    ii. The proportion of the project corridor covered by the work 
plan;
    iii. Extent of partnerships, including with non-public sector 
entities;
    iv. The partnerships' technical capability to develop, adopt and 
implement the plans, based on FTA's assessment of the applicant's 
description of the policy formation, implementation, and financial 
roles of the partners, and the roles and responsibilities of proposed 
staff;
    v. Whether the performance measures identified in the application 
relate to the goals of the planning work;
    vi. The extent to which the application demonstrates efforts to 
address gentrification and displacement;
    vii. The extent to which the application demonstrates a commitment 
to connecting communities, particularly connecting disadvantaged 
populations to essential services, and to revitalizing economically 
distressed areas;
    viii. Whether the proposed work will examine innovative financial 
tools such as value capture; and
    ix. Whether the application demonstrates leveraging other Federal 
grants that would support the proposed work plan.
c. Funding Commitments
    FTA will assess the status of local matching funds for the planning 
work. Applications demonstrating that matching funds for the proposed 
planning work are committed will receive higher ratings from FTA on 
this factor. Proposed planning projects for which matching funding 
sources have been identified, but are not yet committed, will be given 
lower ratings under this factor by FTA, as will proposed projects for 
which in-kind contributions constitute the primary or sole source of 
matching funds.

2. Review and Selection Process

    A technical evaluation committee consisting of FTA staff will 
perform a primarily qualitative evaluation according to the criteria 
described above. FTA will assign greatest emphasis to the Demonstrated 
Need and Strength of the Work Plan, Schedule and Process criteria. Each 
complete, eligible application will receive a rating of Highly 
Recommended, Recommended or Not Recommended depending on its 
performance against the criteria. Applications that are complete but 
not eligible will not be rated. FTA may seek clarification from any 
applicant about any statement in its application that FTA finds 
ambiguous, and/or to request additional documentation to be considered 
during the evaluation process to clarify information contained within 
the application.
    After a thorough evaluation of all eligible proposals, the 
technical evaluation committee will provide selection recommendations 
to the FTA Administrator. The FTA Administrator will determine the 
final list of project selections, and the amount of funding for each 
project. Geographic diversity, diversity of community size, and the 
applicant's receipt of other FTA competitive funding may be considered 
in FTA's award decisions. FTA expects to announce the selected projects 
and notify successful proposers during fall 2016.

F. Federal Award Administration Information

1. Federal Award Notices

    Funds under this NOFO cannot be used to reimburse applicants for 
otherwise eligible expenses incurred prior to FTA award of a grant 
until FTA has issued pre-award authority for selected projects through 
a notification in the Federal Register, or unless FTA has issued a 
``Letter of No Prejudice'' for the project before the expenses are 
incurred.
    Local funds must be committed and grants awarded within eight 
months of funding announcements.

[[Page 22160]]

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

i. Grant Requirements
    If selected, awardees will apply for a grant through FTA's 
electronic grants management system and adhere to the customary FTA 
grant requirements of the Section 5303 Metropolitan Planning program, 
including those of FTA Circular 8100.1C and Circular 5010.1D. All 
competitive grants, regardless of award amount, will be subject to the 
Congressional Notification and release process. Technical assistance 
regarding these requirements is available from each FTA regional 
office.
ii. Planning
    FTA encourages proposers to notify the appropriate metropolitan 
planning organizations in areas likely to be served by the funds made 
available under this program. Selected projects must be incorporated 
into the unified planning work programs of metropolitan areas before 
they are eligible for FTA funding.
iii. Standard Assurances
    The applicant assures that it will comply with all applicable 
Federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, FTA circulars, and 
other Federal administrative requirements in carrying out any project 
supported by the FTA grant. The applicant acknowledges that it is under 
a continuing obligation to comply with the terms and conditions of the 
grant agreement issued for its project with FTA. The applicant 
understands that Federal laws, regulations, policies, and 
administrative practices might be modified from time to time and may 
affect the implementation of the project. The applicant agrees that the 
most recent Federal requirements will apply to the project, unless FTA 
issues a written determination otherwise. The applicant must submit the 
Certifications and Assurances before receiving a grant if it does not 
have current certifications on file.

3. Reporting

    Post-award reporting requirements include submission of Federal 
Financial Reports and Milestone Progress Reports in FTA's electronic 
grants management system on a quarterly basis. Awardees must also 
submit copies of the deliverables identified in the work plan to the 
FTA regional office at the corresponding milestones.

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact

    For program-specific questions, please contact Benjamin Owen, 
Office of Planning and Environment, (202) 366-5602, email: 
Benjamin.Owen@dot.gov. A TDD is available at 1-800-877-8339 (TDD/FIRS).

H. Other Information

    This program is not subject to Executive Order 12372, 
``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.'' FTA will consider 
applications for funding only from eligible recipients for eligible 
projects listed in Section C.
    Complete applications must be submitted through GRANTS.GOV by 11:59 
p.m. EDT June 13, 2016. Contact information for FTA's regional offices 
can be found on FTA's Web site at www.fta.dot.gov.
    As a result of amendments in the FAST Act, transit-oriented 
development projects may receive loans through the USDOT Transportation 
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. Further 
information about this program was published in the Federal Register on 
March 11, 2016 and is available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-03-11/pdf/2016-05640.pdf.

Matthew J. Welbes,
Executive Director.

Appendix A

Registration in SAM and Grants.Gov

Registration in Brief

    Registration takes approximately 3-5 business days, but allow 4 
weeks for completion of all steps.

STEP 1: Obtain DUNS Number

    Same day. If requested by phone (1-866-705-5711) DUNS is 
provided immediately. If your organization does not have one, you 
will need to go to the Dun & Bradstreet Web site at https://fedgov.dnb.com/webform [EXIT Disclaimer] to obtain the number. 
*Information for Foreign Registrants.*Webform requests take 1-2 
business days.

STEP 2: Register with SAM

    Three to five business days or up to two weeks. If you already 
have a TIN, your SAM registration will take 3-5 business days to 
process. If you are applying for an EIN please allow up to 2 weeks. 
Ensure that your organization is registered with the System for 
Award Management (SAM) at System for Award Management (SAM). If your 
organization is not, an authorizing official of your organization 
must register.

STEP 3: Username & Password

    Same day. Complete your AOR (Authorized Organization 
Representative) profile on Grants.gov and create your username and 
password. You will need to use your organization's DUNS Number to 
complete this step. https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/OrcRegister.

STEP 4: AOR Authorization

    *Same day. The E-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC) at your 
organization must login to Grants.gov to confirm you as an 
Authorized Organization Representative (AOR). Please note that there 
can be more than one AOR for your organization. In some cases the E-
Biz POC is also the AOR for an organization. *Time depends on 
responsiveness of your E-Biz POC.

STEP 5: TRACK AOR STATUS

    At any time, you can track your AOR status by logging in with 
your username and password. Login as an Applicant (enter your 
username & password you obtained in Step 3) using the following 
link: applicant_profile.jsp.

[FR Doc. 2016-08538 Filed 4-13-16; 8:45 am]
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