Allocation of Public Transportation Emergency Relief Funds in Response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, 25104-25108 [2018-11538]
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25104
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 105 / Thursday, May 31, 2018 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Allocation of Public Transportation
Emergency Relief Funds in Response
to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
Federal Transit Administration
(FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Allocation of
Emergency Relief funds.
AGENCY:
The Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) announces the
allocation of $277.5 million under the
Public Transportation Emergency Relief
Program (Emergency Relief Program) to
States, Territories, and public
transportation agencies affected by
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
Within the $277.5 million announced in
this notice, FTA is allocating $233.3
million for response, recovery, and
rebuilding projects and $44.2 million for
project elements or stand-alone projects
that increase the resilience of the
affected transit systems to future
disasters. Such resilience investments
shall be subject to specific conditions
cited in this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Contact the appropriate FTA regional
office found at https://
www.transit.dot.gov for applicationspecific information and other
assistance needed in preparing a Transit
Award Management System (TrAMS)
grant application. For program-specific
questions, please contact John Bodnar,
Office of Program Management, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590, phone: (202) 366–9091, or email,
John.Bodnar@dot.gov. For legal
questions, contact Bonnie Graves, Office
of Chief Counsel, 90 Seventh St., Ste
15–300, San Francisco, CA 94103,
phone: (202) 366–0944, or email,
Bonnie.Graves@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Table of Contents
I. Considerations for Recipients of Emergency
Relief Funds
A. Background and Allocation of Funds
B. Allocation Methodology
C. Matching Share
D. Pre-award Authority
E. Resilience Program of Projects
F. Waiver of Remaining Useful Life
Requirement
G. Treatment of Insurance Proceeds
H. Eligible Sources of Local Match
I. Waiver Process
II. Award Administration
A. Grant Application
B. Payment
C. Grant Requirements
D. Reporting Requirements
E. Oversight and Audits
I. Considerations for Recipients of
Emergency Relief Funds
A. Background and Allocation of Funds
Beginning in August 2017, President
Trump issued major disaster
declarations associated with Hurricanes
Harvey, Irma, and Maria for the
following States and Territories: Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, South
Carolina, Texas, and the United States
Virgin Islands. Numerous counties and
parishes in these States and Territories
have been designated as eligible for
assistance under the major disaster
declarations.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018
(Pub. L. 115–123) appropriated $330
million for FTA’s Emergency Relief
Program (49 U.S.C. 5324, Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance #20.527)
for transit systems affected by
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
FTA is allocating funds consistent with
the requirements of the final rule for the
Emergency Relief Program, 49 CFR part
602, published in the Federal Register
on October 7, 2014. FTA’s Emergency
Relief Program provides FTA with
primary responsibility for reimbursing
emergency response and recovery costs
after an emergency or major disaster that
affects public transportation systems. As
such, public transportation agencies,
States, Territories, local governmental
authorities, Indian tribes, and other FTA
grant recipients that provide or fund
public transportation service in the
affected areas are eligible for Emergency
Relief funding under the program. Of
the $330 million appropriated, a total of
$2,475,000 is set aside for
administrative expenses and ongoing
program management oversight
activities as authorized under the
Bipartisan Budget Act.
From the remaining $327,525,000
currently available for allocation, FTA is
allocating $277,525,000 as follows:
1. $232,308,000 for response,
recovery, and rebuilding for States,
Territories, and FTA direct recipients
with estimated FTA Emergency Relief
costs, including costs of subrecipients,
eligible for reimbursement of more than
$25,000
2. $44,217,000 for resilience projects
in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the
United States Virgin Islands
3. $1 million for response, recovery,
and rebuilding for States, FTA direct
recipients, and their subrecipients
without a direct allocation of funds
FTA is reserving $50 million for latent
damages, damages not assessed in
smaller areas, cost increases, and
additional Emergency Relief needs that
exceed the amounts made available in
this notice. FTA may update allocations
without further notice based on revised
validated damage assessments.
Recipients are strongly encouraged to
review FTA’s Emergency Relief Manual,
found at https://www.transit.dot.gov/
funding/grant-programs/emergencyrelief-program/emergency-reliefmanual-reference-manual-states to
assist in the identification of potentially
eligible projects and emergency
expenses.
TABLE A—ALLOCATION SUMMARY
$ 232,308,000
1,000,000
44,217,000
Total Appropriation .......................................................................................................................................................................
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
Direct Allocations for Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding ..............................................................................................................
Allocation for States and Direct Recipients Without a Direct Allocation .............................................................................................
Resilience Allocations ..........................................................................................................................................................................
Unallocated [Reserved for Latent Damages, Damages Not Assessed in Smaller Areas, Cost Increases, and Additional Emergency Relief needs that Exceed the Amounts Made Available in this Notice] ...............................................................................
Reserved for Administrative Expenses and Program Management Oversight ..................................................................................
330,000,000
B. Allocation Methodology
1. Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding
Allocation Methodology
FTA is allocating funding in this
notice for response, recovery, and
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rebuilding based on emergency
operations costs and detailed damage
assessments submitted by affected
agencies and prepared in cooperation
with FTA and the Federal Emergency
Management Administration (FEMA)
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Sfmt 4703
50,000,000
2,475,000
staff. The total estimated cost for
emergency transit operations and
damage to transit agency assets from
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria is
$254.1 million. Emergency operations
costs, including evacuations and other
E:\FR\FM\31MYN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 105 / Thursday, May 31, 2018 / Notices
extraordinary passenger services, total
approximately $36.3 million for all the
transit agencies affected by these three
disasters. The damage assessments
include an estimated overall capital cost
of recovery and rebuilding for the
affected agencies, excluding projects to
improve the resilience of the affected
systems to future disasters. FTA
validated the methodologies affected
agencies used to estimate the costs of
the damage, which total approximately
$217.8 million.
Based on these estimates, FTA is
allocating a total of $232.3 million for
the Federal share (discussed in more
detail below) of response, recovery, and
rebuilding for States, Territories and
FTA direct recipients estimated to have
Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria
related costs (including costs of
subrecipients) eligible for
25105
reimbursement by the FTA Emergency
Relief Program in excess of $25,000.
In the event an affected recipient
believes there has been a change to their
overall damage assessment, the
recipient should notify the relevant FTA
regional office and provide
documentation supporting the change
for FTA review and validation. If, upon
review, FTA concurs in the change, FTA
may allocate additional funds to that
agency.
TABLE B—DIRECT ALLOCATIONS FOR RESPONSE, RECOVERY, AND REBUILDING
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
State or
territory
Recipient
Discretionary
funding ID
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
FL .................
GA ................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
PR .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
TX .................
VI ..................
Brevard County ....................................................................................................................
Broward County ....................................................................................................................
Charlotte County ..................................................................................................................
Collier County .......................................................................................................................
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority ......................................................................
Jacksonville Transportation Authority ..................................................................................
Key West, City of .................................................................................................................
Lee County ...........................................................................................................................
Lynx/Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority ......................................................
Manatee County Board of County Commissioners .............................................................
Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works ............................................
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority .....................................................................................
Sarasota County ...................................................................................................................
South Florida Regional Transportation Authority .................................................................
StarMetro (Tallahassee) .......................................................................................................
Chatham Area Transit (Savannah) ......................................................................................
Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses ................................................................................
Barceloneta ..........................................................................................................................
´
Bayamon ..............................................................................................................................
Caguas .................................................................................................................................
Camuy ..................................................................................................................................
Carolina ................................................................................................................................
˜
Catano ..................................................................................................................................
Cayey ...................................................................................................................................
Ciales ....................................................................................................................................
Cidra .....................................................................................................................................
Dorado ..................................................................................................................................
Fajardo .................................................................................................................................
Guaynabo .............................................................................................................................
Hatillo ....................................................................................................................................
Hormigueros .........................................................................................................................
Humacao ..............................................................................................................................
Juncos ..................................................................................................................................
´
Manatı ...................................................................................................................................
Ponce ...................................................................................................................................
Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority ...........................................................
San Juan ..............................................................................................................................
San Lorenzo .........................................................................................................................
Toa Baja ...............................................................................................................................
Vega Alta ..............................................................................................................................
Vega Baja .............................................................................................................................
Yauco ...................................................................................................................................
Brazos Transit District ..........................................................................................................
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority ......................................................................
Fort Bend County Public Transportation (Fort Bend Transit) ..............................................
Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission (Victoria Transit) ...................................
Harris County Community Services Department .................................................................
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston METRO) ...................................
Port Arthur, City of ...............................................................................................................
Texas Department of Transportation ...................................................................................
Woodlands Township, The ...................................................................................................
Virgin Islands Department of Public Works .........................................................................
D2018–EMER–001
D2018–EMER–002
D2018–EMER–003
D2018–EMER–004
D2018–EMER–005
D2018–EMER–006
D2018–EMER–007
D2018–EMER–008
D2018–EMER–009
D2018–EMER–010
D2018–EMER–011
D2018–EMER–012
D2018–EMER–013
D2018–EMER–014
D2018–EMER–015
D2018–EMER–016
D2018–EMER–017
D2018–EMER–018
D2018–EMER–019
D2018–EMER–020
D2018–EMER–021
D2018–EMER–022
D2018–EMER–023
D2018–EMER–024
D2018–EMER–025
D2018–EMER–026
D2018–EMER–027
D2018–EMER–028
D2018–EMER–029
D2018–EMER–030
D2018–EMER–031
D2018–EMER–032
D2018–EMER–033
D2018–EMER–034
D2018–EMER–035
D2018–EMER–036
D2018–EMER–037
D2018–EMER–038
D2018–EMER–039
D2018–EMER–040
D2018–EMER–041
D2018–EMER–042
D2018–EMER–043
D2018–EMER–044
D2018–EMER–045
D2018–EMER–046
D2018–EMER–047
D2018–EMER–048
D2018–EMER–049
D2018–EMER–050
D2018–EMER–051
D2018–EMER–052
Total ......
...............................................................................................................................................
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Allocation
$153,000
857,000
57,000
226,000
110,000
734,000
209,000
515,000
432,000
70,000
11,432,000
80,000
111,000
1,136,000
41,000
187,000
13,599,000
901,000
164,000
1,116,000
159,000
414,000
928,000
2,452,000
708,000
193,000
49,000
77,000
482,000
306,000
29,000
1,823,000
311,000
233,000
906,000
169,412,000
2,701,000
258,000
131,000
230,000
148,000
59,000
188,000
64,000
77,000
69,000
129,000
13,545,000
180,000
96,000
2,267,000
1,554,000
232,308,000
31MYN1
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 105 / Thursday, May 31, 2018 / Notices
Eligible State, Territory and FTA
direct recipients not listed in Table B
may apply for funding through the
appropriate FTA regional office by
following the same process as those
entities that have been allocated funds
in this notice. See Table C: FTA
Regional Office Contact Information.
TABLE C—FTA REGIONAL OFFICE CONTACT INFORMATION
States served
Contact information
Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, United States Virgin Islands.
Louisiana, Texas .......................................................................................
FTA Region 4 Office, 230 Peachtree NW, Suite 1400, Atlanta, Georgia
30303, Telephone: (404) 865–5600.
FTA Region 6 Office, Fritz Lantham Federal Building, 819 Taylor
Street, Room 14A02, Fort Worth, Texas 76102, Telephone: (817)
978–0550.
FTA will host a webinar for FTA
recipients interested in applying for
FTA Emergency Relief funds on a date
to be determined. The webinar will be
announced on FTA’s website and
through an email announcement to
those who have signed up at https://
public.govdelivery.com/accounts/
USDOTFTA/subscriber/new to receive
email updates from FTA regarding the
Emergency Relief Program.
2. Resilience Allocation Methodology
FTA is allocating an additional $44.2
million in Emergency Relief Program
funding for projects intended to increase
the resilience of public transportation
systems (resilience projects) in the
major disaster declaration areas of
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria to
States and Territories that sustained at
least $1 million in transit asset damage
across all reporting transit providers
within the State or Territory based on
the validated preliminary damage
assessments. States and Territories that
met the $1 million threshold are
Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the
United States Virgin Islands.
The amount of this allocation has
been determined by first allocating $5
million in Emergency Relief funds for
resilience projects to each of these
States and Territories, plus an
additional $24.2 million allocated
proportionally by ratio of total damage
claimed in the validated preliminary
damage assessments for each State or
Territory to the total damage claimed in
the validated preliminary damage
assessments for all four States and
Territories combined. States and
Territories are responsible for allocating
funds to eligible resilience projects
within the disaster area.
TABLE D—ALLOCATIONS FOR RESILIENCE
State or
territory
Recipient
Discretionary
funding ID
FL .............
PR .............
TX .............
VI ..............
Florida Department of Transportation ......................................................................................
Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority ...............................................................
Texas Department of Transportation .......................................................................................
Virgin Islands Department of Public Works .............................................................................
D2018–EMER–053
D2018–EMER–054
D2018–EMER–055
D2018–EMER–056
Total ..
...................................................................................................................................................
C. Matching Share
FTA Emergency Relief funds are
eligible for Federal share as follows:
• 100 percent Federal share for
emergency operations, emergency
protective measures, and emergency
repair costs incurred for up to 270 days
from the date of the major disaster
declaration;
• 90 percent Federal share for
permanent repairs which include
recovery and rebuilding as well as
emergency operations, emergency
protective measures, and emergency
repair costs incurred after 270 days from
the date of the declared disaster; and
• 80 percent Federal share for
resilience projects.
For recipients in locations for which
major disaster declarations were issued
Allocation
$ 6,619,000
25,721,000
6,713,000
5,164,000
44,217,000
for both Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the
calculation for the day on which 100
percent Federal share expires will be
made from the date of the major disaster
declaration for which the eligible
expense was incurred. Please see Table
E below for calculations of 270 days
from the date of major disaster
declarations.
TABLE E—270 DAYS FROM DECLARATION DATE
Date of major
disaster
declaration
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
State/territory (storm)
Texas (Harvey) ........................................................................................................................................................
U.S. Virgin Islands (Irma) ........................................................................................................................................
Florida (Irma) ...........................................................................................................................................................
Puerto Rico (Irma) ...................................................................................................................................................
Georgia (Irma) .........................................................................................................................................................
U.S. Virgin Islands (Maria) ......................................................................................................................................
Puerto Rico (Maria) .................................................................................................................................................
Louisiana (Harvey) ...................................................................................................................................................
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8/25/2017
9/7/2017
9/10/2017
9/10/2017
9/15/2017
9/20/2017
9/20/2017
10/16/2017
270 days from
declaration
date
5/22/2018
6/4/2018
6/7/2018
6/7/2018
6/12/2018
6/17/2018
6/17/2018
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25107
TABLE E—270 DAYS FROM DECLARATION DATE—Continued
Date of major
disaster
declaration
State/territory (storm)
South Carolina (Irma) ..............................................................................................................................................
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
D. Pre-award Authority
Pre-award authority is described in
the Emergency Relief Program final rule
at 49 CFR 602.11. In considering the use
of pre-award authority, recipients
should be aware of the following:
(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
activities undertaken by the applicant
will be eligible for inclusion in the
project.
(ii) Except as waived pursuant to the
waiver process described in Section I.I
of this notice, all FTA statutory,
procedural, and contractual
requirements must be met.
(iii) The recipient must take no action
that prejudices the legal and
administrative findings that FTA must
make in order to approve a project.
(iv) The Federal amount of any future
FTA assistance awarded to the recipient
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/non-Federal
match ratio at the time the funds are
obligated.
(v) When FTA subsequently awards a
grant for the project, the Federal
Financial Report in TrAMS indicates
the use of pre-award authority.
1. Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding
Pre-award Authority
FTA grants pre-award authority to
affected recipients for response,
recovery, and rebuilding expenses
incurred as a result of Hurricanes
Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Pre-award
authority applies to expenses incurred
in preparation for the arrival of the
storms in response to forecasts specific
to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
Pre-award authority allows affected
recipients to incur certain project costs
before grant approval and retain the
eligibility of those costs for subsequent
reimbursement after grant approval.
If a recipient intends to use pre-award
authority for recovery and rebuilding
expenses, FTA recommends the
recipient work with the appropriate
FTA regional office (see Table C) to
verify that all of the proposed costs are
all eligible under the Emergency Relief
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Program, in advance of incurring any
costs to the extent practicable.
2. Resilience Pre-award Authority
Resilience projects may be granted
pre-award authority after FTA reviews
and approves a State or Territory’s
resilience projects, as discussed later in
this notice.
E. Resilience Program of Projects
Resilience projects funded through
the FTA Emergency Relief Program
resilience allocations to Florida, Puerto
Rico, Texas, and United States Virgin
Islands must be submitted to FTA for
review and approval in either a program
of projects (POP) or individually prior to
grant award. For the purposes of this
notice, a POP is a list of resilience
projects proposed by the State or
Territory to be funded from the
resilience allocations in this notice. If
more than one recipient will apply for
grants for projects in the POP, each
grant application must include the
portion of the POP that identifies the
projects to be funded in the grant. The
POP must include a description of each
project to be funded from the State or
Territory’s allocation, including any
suballocation among public
transportation providers, total project
costs, local share, and Federal share for
each project. Eligibility for resilience
funding also requires the applicable
Metropolitan Planning Organization(s)
(MPO) to list projects in the approved
Transportation Improvement Program
(TIP) and Statewide Transportation
Improvement Program (STIP) for
metropolitan areas or the approved STIP
for nonmetropolitan areas.
F. Waiver of Remaining Useful Life
Requirement
FTA is implementing a blanket waiver
to relieve FTA recipients from its useful
life requirement with respect to assets
that were destroyed as a result of the
storms and taken out of service before
the end of their useful life. Such assets
are presumed to have no remaining
useful life. As a result of this waiver,
recipients may apply for funds to
replace assets at a 90% Federal share
without regard to the Federal interest
remaining in the destroyed asset.
Although FTA has determined that
Federally-funded assets destroyed by
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10/16/2017
270 days from
declaration
date
7/13/2018
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
have no remaining useful life, recipients
may have a financial obligation to FTA
for assets that have a fair market value
(FMV) in excess of $5,000 at the time of
disposition. For disposition
requirements, please see FTA Circular
5010.1E, ‘‘Award Management
Requirements,’’ Chapter IV, subsection
4.
G. Treatment of Insurance Proceeds
As described in the Emergency Relief
Program Manual, and consistent with
the Emergency Relief Program final rule
and FTA’s Circular 5010.1E: Award
Management Requirements, if a
recipient receives or allocates insurance
proceeds to a cost for which FTA either
allocated or awarded Emergency Relief
Program funds, the recipient will be
required to amend the grant to reflect a
reduced Federal amount, and will be
required to reimburse FTA for any FTA
payments (drawdown of funds) in
excess of the new Federal amount. FTA
will deobligate any excess or
unliquidated funds from the grant. FTA
may subsequently reallocate these funds
through the Emergency Relief Program
for other eligible projects.
In the event a recipient receives
insurance proceeds for an asset and
decides not to replace that asset, the
waiver of useful life described in
Section I.F does not apply, and the
recipient must reimburse FTA the
remaining Federal interest in that asset
in accordance with FTA Circular
5010.1E.
H. Eligible Sources of Local Match
The non-Federal share of Emergency
Relief grants may be provided from an
undistributed cash surplus, a
replacement or depreciation cash fund
or reserve, or new capital. In addition,
recipients may utilize the following
provisions for complying with the nonFederal share requirement.
The Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) statute at 42 U.S.C.
5305(a)(9) provides that ‘‘payment of the
non-Federal share required in
connection with a Federal grant-in-aid
program undertaken as part of activities
assisted under [chapter 53 of title 42]’’
is an eligible activity. Since the CDBG
statute specifically is available to fund
the ‘‘non-Federal share’’ of other Federal
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grant programs, if the activity is eligible
under the CDBG program, FTA will
accept CDBG funds as local match.
Recipients may also utilize
Transportation Development Credits
(TDCs), formerly known as Toll
Revenue Credits, in place of the nonFederal share. The use of TDCs must be
approved by the State, which must send
a letter to the FTA regional office
certifying the availability of sufficient
TDCs and approving their use prior to
submitting a grant application.
Recipients are advised that the use of
TDCs means that no local funds will be
required for projects in the grant, and
that the funds allocated by FTA may not
alone be sufficient to fund the entirety
of the proposed Emergency Relief
projects. FTA will not allocate
additional Federal funds to recipients
that use TDCs in place of the nonFederal share, so sufficient alternative
funds may need to be located to fully
finance projects utilizing TDCs. FTA
will not approve a retroactive
application of TDCs. Recipients are
advised to contact the applicable FTA
regional office regarding any questions
about eligible sources of local matching
funds.
I. Waiver Process
Recipients may request waivers of
FTA administrative requirements by
submitting a request to
www.regulations.gov, FTA docket
number FTA–2018–0001, as described
in the Emergency Relief Program final
rule at 49 CFR 602.15, however,
recipients should not proceed with a
project with the expectation that
waivers will be provided.
II. Award Administration
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
A. Grant Application
Once FTA allocates Emergency Relief
funds to a recipient, the recipient will
be required to submit a grant
application electronically via FTA’s
TrAMS system. Prior to submitting a
grant application for response, recovery,
or rebuilding projects, recipients are
encouraged to submit a proposed list of
projects and expenses to FTA’s regional
office for review. This review will
ensure that all proposed projects and
costs are eligible under the Emergency
Relief Program.
States and FTA direct recipients not
reporting Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and
Maria related expenses of $25,000 or
more were not given a direct allocation
of Emergency Relief funds in this notice.
However, such entities may apply for
Emergency Relief funds for response,
recovery, and rebuilding by following
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the same process as those entities that
have been allocated funds in this notice.
Each State or Territory allocated
resilience funds, in consultation with
the public transportation providers in
the Hurricane Harvey, Irma, or Maria
major disaster declaration areas in their
State or Territory, must submit
proposed resilience projects either
individually or as part of a program of
projects to FTA for review and approval
prior to submitting a grant application
or modification in TrAMS. States and
Territories allocated resilience funding
may apply for funding on behalf of
public transportation providers in
Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria
major disaster declaration areas in their
State or Territory. Direct recipients of
FTA funding may also apply directly to
FTA for funding for resilience projects
previously identified by the State or
Territory and approved by FTA.
FTA has assigned distinct project
identification numbers for recovery/
rebuilding projects and for resilience
projects. Recipients should work with
the FTA regional offices to determine
when, if appropriate, multiple grant
applications may be required. While
there is nothing that precludes the
obligation of funding allocated for
resilience projects in the same grant as
recovery and rebuilding projects,
recipients will be required to track these
costs separately and to include a
separate scope for costs associated with
resilience projects. This will allow FTA
to track the obligation of funds for
resilience costs.
Recipients are required to maintain
records, including but not limited to all
invoices, contracts, time sheets, and
other evidence of expenses to assist FTA
in validating the eligibility and
completeness of a recipient’s
reimbursement requests under the
Improper Payment Information Act.
Upon application, the eligible
recipient should provide the
information outlined in 49 CFR 602.17.
For grant applications for
reimbursement for emergency
operations costs, applicants should
include summary information as
described in 49 CFR 602.17(c) (dates,
hours, number of vehicles, and total fare
revenues, if any, received for the
emergency service), as well as cost and
a description of services in sufficient
detail for FTA to identify the costs as
reasonable and eligible under the
Emergency Relief Program. Back-up or
supporting documentation may be
requested upon FTA’s review of the
application or at a later date. Any costs
determined to be ineligible after
PO 00000
Frm 00143
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
disbursement of funds must be refunded
to FTA.
B. Payment
Upon award, payments to recipients
will be made by electronic transfer to
the recipient’s financial institution
through FTA’s Electronic Clearing
House Operation (ECHO) system.
C. Grant Requirements
Emergency Relief funds may only be
used for eligible purposes as defined
under 49 U.S.C. 5324 and as described
in the Emergency Relief Program final
rule (49 CFR part 602) and this notice.
Recipients of section 5324 funds must
comply with all applicable Federal
requirements, including FTA’s Master
Agreement. Each grant for section 5324
funds will include special grant
conditions, including but not limited to,
application of insurance proceeds,
application of any FEMA funds
received, and Federal share. These
special conditions will be incorporated
into the grant agreement for all
Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria
Emergency Relief funds.
D. Reporting Requirements
Post-award reporting requirements
include submission of the Federal
Financial Report and Milestone Progress
Reports in TrAMS consistent with
FTA’s grants management Circular
5010.1E.
E. Oversight and Audits
FTA will provide oversight of grants
funded through the Emergency Relief
Program using its standard oversight
programs, including Triennial Reviews
and State Management Reviews. FTA
may assign program level reviews such
as Procurement System Reviews or
Financial Management Oversight
reviews. FTA will monitor the use of
insurance proceeds to ensure they meet
program requirements. FTA may
undertake other reviews of projects,
such as Technical Capacity and
Capability Assessments; Risk
Assessments; Cost, Schedule, and Scope
Reviews; and other reviews FTA
determines are necessary.
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 23,
2018.
K. Jane Williams,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2018–11538 Filed 5–30–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
E:\FR\FM\31MYN1.SGM
31MYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 105 (Thursday, May 31, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25104-25108]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11538]
[[Page 25104]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Allocation of Public Transportation Emergency Relief Funds in
Response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Allocation of Emergency Relief funds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the
allocation of $277.5 million under the Public Transportation Emergency
Relief Program (Emergency Relief Program) to States, Territories, and
public transportation agencies affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and
Maria. Within the $277.5 million announced in this notice, FTA is
allocating $233.3 million for response, recovery, and rebuilding
projects and $44.2 million for project elements or stand-alone projects
that increase the resilience of the affected transit systems to future
disasters. Such resilience investments shall be subject to specific
conditions cited in this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the appropriate FTA regional
office found at https://www.transit.dot.gov for application-specific
information and other assistance needed in preparing a Transit Award
Management System (TrAMS) grant application. For program-specific
questions, please contact John Bodnar, Office of Program Management,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590, phone: (202) 366-9091,
or email, [email protected]. For legal questions, contact Bonnie
Graves, Office of Chief Counsel, 90 Seventh St., Ste 15-300, San
Francisco, CA 94103, phone: (202) 366-0944, or email,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Considerations for Recipients of Emergency Relief Funds
A. Background and Allocation of Funds
B. Allocation Methodology
C. Matching Share
D. Pre-award Authority
E. Resilience Program of Projects
F. Waiver of Remaining Useful Life Requirement
G. Treatment of Insurance Proceeds
H. Eligible Sources of Local Match
I. Waiver Process
II. Award Administration
A. Grant Application
B. Payment
C. Grant Requirements
D. Reporting Requirements
E. Oversight and Audits
I. Considerations for Recipients of Emergency Relief Funds
A. Background and Allocation of Funds
Beginning in August 2017, President Trump issued major disaster
declarations associated with Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria for the
following States and Territories: Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Puerto
Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and the United States Virgin Islands.
Numerous counties and parishes in these States and Territories have
been designated as eligible for assistance under the major disaster
declarations.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-123) appropriated
$330 million for FTA's Emergency Relief Program (49 U.S.C. 5324,
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance #20.527) for transit systems
affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. FTA is allocating funds
consistent with the requirements of the final rule for the Emergency
Relief Program, 49 CFR part 602, published in the Federal Register on
October 7, 2014. FTA's Emergency Relief Program provides FTA with
primary responsibility for reimbursing emergency response and recovery
costs after an emergency or major disaster that affects public
transportation systems. As such, public transportation agencies,
States, Territories, local governmental authorities, Indian tribes, and
other FTA grant recipients that provide or fund public transportation
service in the affected areas are eligible for Emergency Relief funding
under the program. Of the $330 million appropriated, a total of
$2,475,000 is set aside for administrative expenses and ongoing program
management oversight activities as authorized under the Bipartisan
Budget Act.
From the remaining $327,525,000 currently available for allocation,
FTA is allocating $277,525,000 as follows:
1. $232,308,000 for response, recovery, and rebuilding for States,
Territories, and FTA direct recipients with estimated FTA Emergency
Relief costs, including costs of subrecipients, eligible for
reimbursement of more than $25,000
2. $44,217,000 for resilience projects in Florida, Puerto Rico,
Texas, and the United States Virgin Islands
3. $1 million for response, recovery, and rebuilding for States,
FTA direct recipients, and their subrecipients without a direct
allocation of funds
FTA is reserving $50 million for latent damages, damages not
assessed in smaller areas, cost increases, and additional Emergency
Relief needs that exceed the amounts made available in this notice. FTA
may update allocations without further notice based on revised
validated damage assessments.
Recipients are strongly encouraged to review FTA's Emergency Relief
Manual, found at https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/emergency-relief-program/emergency-relief-manual-reference-manual-states to assist in the identification of potentially eligible projects
and emergency expenses.
Table A--Allocation Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Direct Allocations for Response, Recovery, and $ 232,308,000
Rebuilding.............................................
Allocation for States and Direct Recipients Without a 1,000,000
Direct Allocation......................................
Resilience Allocations.................................. 44,217,000
Unallocated [Reserved for Latent Damages, Damages Not 50,000,000
Assessed in Smaller Areas, Cost Increases, and
Additional Emergency Relief needs that Exceed the
Amounts Made Available in this Notice].................
Reserved for Administrative Expenses and Program 2,475,000
Management Oversight...................................
---------------
Total Appropriation................................. 330,000,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Allocation Methodology
1. Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding Allocation Methodology
FTA is allocating funding in this notice for response, recovery,
and rebuilding based on emergency operations costs and detailed damage
assessments submitted by affected agencies and prepared in cooperation
with FTA and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)
staff. The total estimated cost for emergency transit operations and
damage to transit agency assets from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
is $254.1 million. Emergency operations costs, including evacuations
and other
[[Page 25105]]
extraordinary passenger services, total approximately $36.3 million for
all the transit agencies affected by these three disasters. The damage
assessments include an estimated overall capital cost of recovery and
rebuilding for the affected agencies, excluding projects to improve the
resilience of the affected systems to future disasters. FTA validated
the methodologies affected agencies used to estimate the costs of the
damage, which total approximately $217.8 million.
Based on these estimates, FTA is allocating a total of $232.3
million for the Federal share (discussed in more detail below) of
response, recovery, and rebuilding for States, Territories and FTA
direct recipients estimated to have Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria
related costs (including costs of subrecipients) eligible for
reimbursement by the FTA Emergency Relief Program in excess of $25,000.
In the event an affected recipient believes there has been a change
to their overall damage assessment, the recipient should notify the
relevant FTA regional office and provide documentation supporting the
change for FTA review and validation. If, upon review, FTA concurs in
the change, FTA may allocate additional funds to that agency.
Table B--Direct Allocations for Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State or territory Recipient Discretionary funding ID Allocation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL...................... Brevard County....................... D2018-EMER-001 $153,000
FL...................... Broward County....................... D2018-EMER-002 857,000
FL...................... Charlotte County..................... D2018-EMER-003 57,000
FL...................... Collier County....................... D2018-EMER-004 226,000
FL...................... Hillsborough Area Regional Transit D2018-EMER-005 110,000
Authority.
FL...................... Jacksonville Transportation Authority D2018-EMER-006 734,000
FL...................... Key West, City of.................... D2018-EMER-007 209,000
FL...................... Lee County........................... D2018-EMER-008 515,000
FL...................... Lynx/Central Florida Regional D2018-EMER-009 432,000
Transportation Authority.
FL...................... Manatee County Board of County D2018-EMER-010 70,000
Commissioners.
FL...................... Miami-Dade Department of D2018-EMER-011 11,432,000
Transportation and Public Works.
FL...................... Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.. D2018-EMER-012 80,000
FL...................... Sarasota County...................... D2018-EMER-013 111,000
FL...................... South Florida Regional Transportation D2018-EMER-014 1,136,000
Authority.
FL...................... StarMetro (Tallahassee).............. D2018-EMER-015 41,000
GA...................... Chatham Area Transit (Savannah)...... D2018-EMER-016 187,000
PR...................... Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses. D2018-EMER-017 13,599,000
PR...................... Barceloneta.......................... D2018-EMER-018 901,000
PR...................... Bayam[oacute]n....................... D2018-EMER-019 164,000
PR...................... Caguas............................... D2018-EMER-020 1,116,000
PR...................... Camuy................................ D2018-EMER-021 159,000
PR...................... Carolina............................. D2018-EMER-022 414,000
PR...................... Cata[ntilde]o........................ D2018-EMER-023 928,000
PR...................... Cayey................................ D2018-EMER-024 2,452,000
PR...................... Ciales............................... D2018-EMER-025 708,000
PR...................... Cidra................................ D2018-EMER-026 193,000
PR...................... Dorado............................... D2018-EMER-027 49,000
PR...................... Fajardo.............................. D2018-EMER-028 77,000
PR...................... Guaynabo............................. D2018-EMER-029 482,000
PR...................... Hatillo.............................. D2018-EMER-030 306,000
PR...................... Hormigueros.......................... D2018-EMER-031 29,000
PR...................... Humacao.............................. D2018-EMER-032 1,823,000
PR...................... Juncos............................... D2018-EMER-033 311,000
PR...................... Manat[iacute]........................ D2018-EMER-034 233,000
PR...................... Ponce................................ D2018-EMER-035 906,000
PR...................... Puerto Rico Highways and D2018-EMER-036 169,412,000
Transportation Authority.
PR...................... San Juan............................. D2018-EMER-037 2,701,000
PR...................... San Lorenzo.......................... D2018-EMER-038 258,000
PR...................... Toa Baja............................. D2018-EMER-039 131,000
PR...................... Vega Alta............................ D2018-EMER-040 230,000
PR...................... Vega Baja............................ D2018-EMER-041 148,000
PR...................... Yauco................................ D2018-EMER-042 59,000
TX...................... Brazos Transit District.............. D2018-EMER-043 188,000
TX...................... Capital Metropolitan Transportation D2018-EMER-044 64,000
Authority.
TX...................... Fort Bend County Public D2018-EMER-045 77,000
Transportation (Fort Bend Transit).
TX...................... Golden Crescent Regional Planning D2018-EMER-046 69,000
Commission (Victoria Transit).
TX...................... Harris County Community Services D2018-EMER-047 129,000
Department.
TX...................... Metropolitan Transit Authority of D2018-EMER-048 13,545,000
Harris County (Houston METRO).
TX...................... Port Arthur, City of................. D2018-EMER-049 180,000
TX...................... Texas Department of Transportation... D2018-EMER-050 96,000
TX...................... Woodlands Township, The.............. D2018-EMER-051 2,267,000
VI...................... Virgin Islands Department of Public D2018-EMER-052 1,554,000
Works.
---------------
Total............... ..................................... ............................... 232,308,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 25106]]
Eligible State, Territory and FTA direct recipients not listed in
Table B may apply for funding through the appropriate FTA regional
office by following the same process as those entities that have been
allocated funds in this notice. See Table C: FTA Regional Office
Contact Information.
Table C--FTA Regional Office Contact Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
States served Contact information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, FTA Region 4 Office, 230 Peachtree
South Carolina, United States NW, Suite 1400, Atlanta, Georgia
Virgin Islands. 30303, Telephone: (404) 865-5600.
Louisiana, Texas................... FTA Region 6 Office, Fritz Lantham
Federal Building, 819 Taylor
Street, Room 14A02, Fort Worth,
Texas 76102, Telephone: (817) 978-
0550.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FTA will host a webinar for FTA recipients interested in applying
for FTA Emergency Relief funds on a date to be determined. The webinar
will be announced on FTA's website and through an email announcement to
those who have signed up at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOTFTA/subscriber/new to receive email updates from FTA regarding the
Emergency Relief Program.
2. Resilience Allocation Methodology
FTA is allocating an additional $44.2 million in Emergency Relief
Program funding for projects intended to increase the resilience of
public transportation systems (resilience projects) in the major
disaster declaration areas of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria to
States and Territories that sustained at least $1 million in transit
asset damage across all reporting transit providers within the State or
Territory based on the validated preliminary damage assessments. States
and Territories that met the $1 million threshold are Florida, Puerto
Rico, Texas, and the United States Virgin Islands.
The amount of this allocation has been determined by first
allocating $5 million in Emergency Relief funds for resilience projects
to each of these States and Territories, plus an additional $24.2
million allocated proportionally by ratio of total damage claimed in
the validated preliminary damage assessments for each State or
Territory to the total damage claimed in the validated preliminary
damage assessments for all four States and Territories combined. States
and Territories are responsible for allocating funds to eligible
resilience projects within the disaster area.
Table D--Allocations for Resilience
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State or territory Recipient Discretionary funding ID Allocation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FL.................... Florida Department of Transportation.. D2018-EMER-053 $ 6,619,000
PR.................... Puerto Rico Highways and D2018-EMER-054 25,721,000
Transportation Authority.
TX.................... Texas Department of Transportation.... D2018-EMER-055 6,713,000
VI.................... Virgin Islands Department of Public D2018-EMER-056 5,164,000
Works.
---------------
Total............. ...................................... ................................ 44,217,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Matching Share
FTA Emergency Relief funds are eligible for Federal share as
follows:
100 percent Federal share for emergency operations,
emergency protective measures, and emergency repair costs incurred for
up to 270 days from the date of the major disaster declaration;
90 percent Federal share for permanent repairs which
include recovery and rebuilding as well as emergency operations,
emergency protective measures, and emergency repair costs incurred
after 270 days from the date of the declared disaster; and
80 percent Federal share for resilience projects.
For recipients in locations for which major disaster declarations were
issued for both Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the calculation for the day
on which 100 percent Federal share expires will be made from the date
of the major disaster declaration for which the eligible expense was
incurred. Please see Table E below for calculations of 270 days from
the date of major disaster declarations.
Table E--270 Days From Declaration Date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date of major 270 days from
State/territory (storm) disaster declaration
declaration date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas (Harvey).......................... 8/25/2017 5/22/2018
U.S. Virgin Islands (Irma).............. 9/7/2017 6/4/2018
Florida (Irma).......................... 9/10/2017 6/7/2018
Puerto Rico (Irma)...................... 9/10/2017 6/7/2018
Georgia (Irma).......................... 9/15/2017 6/12/2018
U.S. Virgin Islands (Maria)............. 9/20/2017 6/17/2018
Puerto Rico (Maria)..................... 9/20/2017 6/17/2018
Louisiana (Harvey)...................... 10/16/2017 7/13/2018
[[Page 25107]]
South Carolina (Irma)................... 10/16/2017 7/13/2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Pre-award Authority
Pre-award authority is described in the Emergency Relief Program
final rule at 49 CFR 602.11. In considering the use of pre-award
authority, recipients should be aware of the following:
(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 activities undertaken by the applicant will be
eligible for inclusion in the project.
(ii) Except as waived pursuant to the waiver process described in
Section I.I of this notice, all FTA statutory, procedural, and
contractual requirements must be met.
(iii) The recipient must take no action that prejudices the legal
and administrative findings that FTA must make in order to approve a
project.
(iv) The Federal amount of any future FTA assistance awarded to the
recipient 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/non-Federal match ratio at the time the
funds are obligated.
(v) When FTA subsequently awards a grant for the project, the
Federal Financial Report in TrAMS indicates the use of pre-award
authority.
1. Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding Pre-award Authority
FTA grants pre-award authority to affected recipients for response,
recovery, and rebuilding expenses incurred as a result of Hurricanes
Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Pre-award authority applies to expenses
incurred in preparation for the arrival of the storms in response to
forecasts specific to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Pre-award
authority allows affected recipients to incur certain project costs
before grant approval and retain the eligibility of those costs for
subsequent reimbursement after grant approval.
If a recipient intends to use pre-award authority for recovery and
rebuilding expenses, FTA recommends the recipient work with the
appropriate FTA regional office (see Table C) to verify that all of the
proposed costs are all eligible under the Emergency Relief Program, in
advance of incurring any costs to the extent practicable.
2. Resilience Pre-award Authority
Resilience projects may be granted pre-award authority after FTA
reviews and approves a State or Territory's resilience projects, as
discussed later in this notice.
E. Resilience Program of Projects
Resilience projects funded through the FTA Emergency Relief Program
resilience allocations to Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and United
States Virgin Islands must be submitted to FTA for review and approval
in either a program of projects (POP) or individually prior to grant
award. For the purposes of this notice, a POP is a list of resilience
projects proposed by the State or Territory to be funded from the
resilience allocations in this notice. If more than one recipient will
apply for grants for projects in the POP, each grant application must
include the portion of the POP that identifies the projects to be
funded in the grant. The POP must include a description of each project
to be funded from the State or Territory's allocation, including any
suballocation among public transportation providers, total project
costs, local share, and Federal share for each project. Eligibility for
resilience funding also requires the applicable Metropolitan Planning
Organization(s) (MPO) to list projects in the approved Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP) and Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program (STIP) for metropolitan areas or the approved STIP for
nonmetropolitan areas.
F. Waiver of Remaining Useful Life Requirement
FTA is implementing a blanket waiver to relieve FTA recipients from
its useful life requirement with respect to assets that were destroyed
as a result of the storms and taken out of service before the end of
their useful life. Such assets are presumed to have no remaining useful
life. As a result of this waiver, recipients may apply for funds to
replace assets at a 90% Federal share without regard to the Federal
interest remaining in the destroyed asset.
Although FTA has determined that Federally-funded assets destroyed
by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria have no remaining useful life,
recipients may have a financial obligation to FTA for assets that have
a fair market value (FMV) in excess of $5,000 at the time of
disposition. For disposition requirements, please see FTA Circular
5010.1E, ``Award Management Requirements,'' Chapter IV, subsection 4.
G. Treatment of Insurance Proceeds
As described in the Emergency Relief Program Manual, and consistent
with the Emergency Relief Program final rule and FTA's Circular
5010.1E: Award Management Requirements, if a recipient receives or
allocates insurance proceeds to a cost for which FTA either allocated
or awarded Emergency Relief Program funds, the recipient will be
required to amend the grant to reflect a reduced Federal amount, and
will be required to reimburse FTA for any FTA payments (drawdown of
funds) in excess of the new Federal amount. FTA will deobligate any
excess or unliquidated funds from the grant. FTA may subsequently
reallocate these funds through the Emergency Relief Program for other
eligible projects.
In the event a recipient receives insurance proceeds for an asset
and decides not to replace that asset, the waiver of useful life
described in Section I.F does not apply, and the recipient must
reimburse FTA the remaining Federal interest in that asset in
accordance with FTA Circular 5010.1E.
H. Eligible Sources of Local Match
The non-Federal share of Emergency Relief grants may be provided
from an undistributed cash surplus, a replacement or depreciation cash
fund or reserve, or new capital. In addition, recipients may utilize
the following provisions for complying with the non-Federal share
requirement.
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) statute at 42 U.S.C.
5305(a)(9) provides that ``payment of the non-Federal share required in
connection with a Federal grant-in-aid program undertaken as part of
activities assisted under [chapter 53 of title 42]'' is an eligible
activity. Since the CDBG statute specifically is available to fund the
``non-Federal share'' of other Federal
[[Page 25108]]
grant programs, if the activity is eligible under the CDBG program, FTA
will accept CDBG funds as local match.
Recipients may also utilize Transportation Development Credits
(TDCs), formerly known as Toll Revenue Credits, in place of the non-
Federal share. The use of TDCs must be approved by the State, which
must send a letter to the FTA regional office certifying the
availability of sufficient TDCs and approving their use prior to
submitting a grant application. Recipients are advised that the use of
TDCs means that no local funds will be required for projects in the
grant, and that the funds allocated by FTA may not alone be sufficient
to fund the entirety of the proposed Emergency Relief projects. FTA
will not allocate additional Federal funds to recipients that use TDCs
in place of the non-Federal share, so sufficient alternative funds may
need to be located to fully finance projects utilizing TDCs. FTA will
not approve a retroactive application of TDCs. Recipients are advised
to contact the applicable FTA regional office regarding any questions
about eligible sources of local matching funds.
I. Waiver Process
Recipients may request waivers of FTA administrative requirements
by submitting a request to www.regulations.gov, FTA docket number FTA-
2018-0001, as described in the Emergency Relief Program final rule at
49 CFR 602.15, however, recipients should not proceed with a project
with the expectation that waivers will be provided.
II. Award Administration
A. Grant Application
Once FTA allocates Emergency Relief funds to a recipient, the
recipient will be required to submit a grant application electronically
via FTA's TrAMS system. Prior to submitting a grant application for
response, recovery, or rebuilding projects, recipients are encouraged
to submit a proposed list of projects and expenses to FTA's regional
office for review. This review will ensure that all proposed projects
and costs are eligible under the Emergency Relief Program.
States and FTA direct recipients not reporting Hurricane Harvey,
Irma, and Maria related expenses of $25,000 or more were not given a
direct allocation of Emergency Relief funds in this notice. However,
such entities may apply for Emergency Relief funds for response,
recovery, and rebuilding by following the same process as those
entities that have been allocated funds in this notice.
Each State or Territory allocated resilience funds, in consultation
with the public transportation providers in the Hurricane Harvey, Irma,
or Maria major disaster declaration areas in their State or Territory,
must submit proposed resilience projects either individually or as part
of a program of projects to FTA for review and approval prior to
submitting a grant application or modification in TrAMS. States and
Territories allocated resilience funding may apply for funding on
behalf of public transportation providers in Hurricane Harvey, Irma,
and Maria major disaster declaration areas in their State or Territory.
Direct recipients of FTA funding may also apply directly to FTA for
funding for resilience projects previously identified by the State or
Territory and approved by FTA.
FTA has assigned distinct project identification numbers for
recovery/rebuilding projects and for resilience projects. Recipients
should work with the FTA regional offices to determine when, if
appropriate, multiple grant applications may be required. While there
is nothing that precludes the obligation of funding allocated for
resilience projects in the same grant as recovery and rebuilding
projects, recipients will be required to track these costs separately
and to include a separate scope for costs associated with resilience
projects. This will allow FTA to track the obligation of funds for
resilience costs.
Recipients are required to maintain records, including but not
limited to all invoices, contracts, time sheets, and other evidence of
expenses to assist FTA in validating the eligibility and completeness
of a recipient's reimbursement requests under the Improper Payment
Information Act.
Upon application, the eligible recipient should provide the
information outlined in 49 CFR 602.17. For grant applications for
reimbursement for emergency operations costs, applicants should include
summary information as described in 49 CFR 602.17(c) (dates, hours,
number of vehicles, and total fare revenues, if any, received for the
emergency service), as well as cost and a description of services in
sufficient detail for FTA to identify the costs as reasonable and
eligible under the Emergency Relief Program. Back-up or supporting
documentation may be requested upon FTA's review of the application or
at a later date. Any costs determined to be ineligible after
disbursement of funds must be refunded to FTA.
B. Payment
Upon award, payments to recipients will be made by electronic
transfer to the recipient's financial institution through FTA's
Electronic Clearing House Operation (ECHO) system.
C. Grant Requirements
Emergency Relief funds may only be used for eligible purposes as
defined under 49 U.S.C. 5324 and as described in the Emergency Relief
Program final rule (49 CFR part 602) and this notice.
Recipients of section 5324 funds must comply with all applicable
Federal requirements, including FTA's Master Agreement. Each grant for
section 5324 funds will include special grant conditions, including but
not limited to, application of insurance proceeds, application of any
FEMA funds received, and Federal share. These special conditions will
be incorporated into the grant agreement for all Hurricane Harvey,
Irma, and Maria Emergency Relief funds.
D. Reporting Requirements
Post-award reporting requirements include submission of the Federal
Financial Report and Milestone Progress Reports in TrAMS consistent
with FTA's grants management Circular 5010.1E.
E. Oversight and Audits
FTA will provide oversight of grants funded through the Emergency
Relief Program using its standard oversight programs, including
Triennial Reviews and State Management Reviews. FTA may assign program
level reviews such as Procurement System Reviews or Financial
Management Oversight reviews. FTA will monitor the use of insurance
proceeds to ensure they meet program requirements. FTA may undertake
other reviews of projects, such as Technical Capacity and Capability
Assessments; Risk Assessments; Cost, Schedule, and Scope Reviews; and
other reviews FTA determines are necessary.
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2018.
K. Jane Williams,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2018-11538 Filed 5-30-18; 8:45 am]
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