Office of the Secretary of Transportation November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DOT is announcing the availability of guidance implementing Section 1319 of MAP-21, on Accelerated Decisionmaking in Environmental Reviews. This section of MAP-21 provides for the use of errata sheets on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, in lieu of a Final EIS (FEIS), when the EIS has limited or factual changes. It also states that the lead agency under NEPA shall issue a combined FEIS and ROD unless circumstances exist to make it impracticable. This eliminates the 30-day wait period between the release of the FEIS and ROD. This guidance builds on the interim guidance that was released by FHWA and FTA in January 2013, but applies to the entire Department. The FHWA and FTA interim guidance is retained as a supplemental appendix specific to those agencies. The guidance is available at https://www.dot.gov/office- policy/transportation-policy/guidance-accelerated-decision-ma king- environmental-reviews.

The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) announces the opportunity for: (1) Business centered community- based organizations; (2) transportation-related trade associations; (3) colleges and universities; (4) community colleges or; (5) chambers of commerce, registered with the Internal Revenue Service as 501 C(6) or 501 C(3) tax-exempt organizations, to compete for participation in OSDBU's Small Business Transportation Resource Center (SBTRC) program in the Capital Region (District of Columbia, Stafford County (VA), Fauquier County (VA), Prince William County (VA), Manassas County (VA), Loudoun County (VA), Fairfax County (VA), Charles County (MD), Prince Georges County (MD) and Montgomery County (MD)). OSDBU will enter into Cooperative Agreements with these organizations to provide outreach to the small business community in their designated region and provide financial and technical assistance, business training programs, business assessment, management training, counseling, marketing and outreach, and the dissemination of information, to encourage and assist small businesses to become better prepared to compete for, obtain, and manage DOT funded transportation- related contracts and subcontracts at the federal, state and local levels. Throughout this notice, the term ``small business'' will refer to: 8(a), small disadvantaged businesses (SDB), disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE), women owned small businesses (WOSB), HubZone, service disabled veteran owned businesses (SDVOB), and veteran owned small businesses (VOSB). Throughout this notice, ``transportation- related'' is defined as the maintenance, rehabilitation, restructuring, improvement, or revitalization of any of the nation's modes of transportation. Funding Opportunity Number: USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRC-2014-16 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 20.910 Assistance to small and disadvantaged businesses. Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Grant. Award Ceiling: $150,000. Award Floor: $135,000. Program Authority: DOT is authorized under 49 U.S.C. 332 (b) (4), (5) & (7) to design and carry out programs to assist small disadvantaged businesses in getting transportation-related contracts and subcontracts; develop support mechanisms, including management and technical services, that will enable small disadvantaged businesses to take advantage of those business opportunities; and to make arrangements to carry out the above purposes.