Office of the Secretary of Transportation March 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Transportation is soliciting proposals from communities or consortia of communities interested in receiving grants under the Small Community Air Service Development Program. The full text of the Department's order, including Appendices, is included in this Notice. As noted in the order, an application for a grant under this program must include a Grant Proposal of no more than 20 pages (one-sided only), a completed Application for Federal Domestic Assistance (SF424), a Summary Information Schedule, and any letters from the applicant community showing support.

Pursuant to the recently enacted Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (the FAST Act), the DOT announces the availability of funding authorized in the amount of $1.435 billion ($275 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 funds, $275 million in FY 2017 funds, $285 million in FY 2018 funds, $300 million in FY 2019 funds, and $300 million in FY 2020 funds (and any funds that may be available from prior fiscal years)) to provide TIFIA credit assistance for eligible projects. The FY 2016-2020 authorized funds are subject to an annual obligation limitation that may be established in appropriations law. The amount of TIFIA funding authority available in a given year may be less than the amount authorized for that fiscal year. Under TIFIA, the DOT provides secured (direct) loans, lines of credit, and loan guarantees to public and private applicants for eligible surface transportation projects. Projects must meet statutorily specified eligibility criteria to receive credit assistance. This notice outlines the process that project sponsors must follow in seeking TIFIA credit assistance. The DOT is publishing this notice to give project sponsors an opportunity to submit Letters of Interest for the newly authorized funding as soon as possible. However, in addition to authorizing funding for TIFIA credit assistance, the FAST Act made a number of changes to the TIFIA program's structure, including the terms and conditions pursuant to which the DOT can provide TIFIA credit assistance. This notice outlines certain changes made by the FAST Act and invites interested parties to submit comments about the DOT's implementation of the FAST Act and the DOT's guidance for awarding TIFIA credit assistance. Unless otherwise noted, statutory section references in this notice are to sections of title 23 of the U.S. Code, as amended by the FAST Act, which took effect as of October 1, 2015. Letter of Interest Submission: All project sponsors wishing to apply for TIFIA credit assistance must first submit a Letter of Interest, as more fully described in this notice of funding availability. Only after a project sponsor has submitted a Letter of Interest and demonstrated the satisfaction of all statutory eligibility requirements will the project sponsor be invited to submit an application. Letters of Interest will be received on a rolling basis using the form on the TIFIA Web site: https://www.transportation.gov/ tifia/applications.