Frequently Asked Questions
These FAQs do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. These FAQs are intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies. FTA recipients and subrecipients should refer to FTA’s statutes and regulations for applicable requirements.
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Yes. A new form is required for a new User Manager (signed etc…).
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It is advisable that when a transportation program, plan or project threatens the quality of human health, the grantee should consider reaching out to the local governmental health agency in understanding the need for further investigation. For more information on efforts to account for health in transportation, please see DOT’s “Health in Transportation” web page, hosted by FHWA. To identify public health professionals working in a community, consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local Public Health Departments from the National Association of County and City Health Officials for state Public Health Departments.
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If you are an eligible recipient and have eligible response and recovery expenses not yet reimbursed and you did not receive a pro-rated allocation in the March 29th allocation notice, you may be eligible for these funds. Please contact your regional office (either Region 1, 2 or 3) to apply for these Emergency Relief funds. FTA set-aside two percent, or $28,048,497, for affected recipients that suffered damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy and who may have outstanding expenses. If your request is approved, you will be asked to submit an electronic grant application with the regional office.
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It is reasonable to expect that transit agencies used (and continue to use) their own staff for response and recovery work. Agencies may have ongoing recovery work for which they continue to use their own forces, as opposed to contractors. Any hurricane response/recovery work done by your staff prior to January 29 would fall into Category 1, since the grantee is simply seeking reimbursement. However, if you have plans to continue to use your staff for recovery work that has not yet occurred, then those expenses are eligible under Category 3, as long as you can show documentation that the work is budgeted and ongoing. By budgeted, we mean an amendment to your budget that shows a line item for hurricane response, or something that shows you’ve moved staff off of regular tasks to hurricane response (Board meeting minutes, etc.). If you cannot show us that you have budgeted for that work prior to the 29th, then that work will still be eligible for reimbursement using the agency’s prorated allocation.
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FTA only allows a sole source procurement on the basis of “public exigency” or “emergency” during a national or regional emergency or disaster and during the days and weeks immediately following a national or regional emergency or disaster.
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A Community Impact Assessment (CIA) is a stand-alone document that aggregates pieces of information about a community (demographics, economy, environment, equity, health, mobility, etc.) and presents a profile of that community. Planning practitioners and transit agencies can consult the CIA and pull information from it to inform planning and project level analyses. When available, grantees can use a CIA as part of transportation planning process and in the project level NEPA studies, as long as there is a verified source for the CIA. Practitioners are cautioned to review the different data sources during the transportation planning and project development phases to ensure consistency among the many different planning and project development documents.
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Yes and no. The VTCLI Section 5309 capital grants require a 20% local match. The match may be cash or in kind and come from the state, locality or private sources. The Section 5312 research grants do not require a local match.
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Federal procurement regulations neither authorize nor prohibit recipients from approving multiple change orders in a single “blanket approval” action. Although this action is not specifically defined under federal procurement standards, approving multiple change orders in a single “blanket approval” would generally be discouraged, but is not prohibited. There may be situations in which such an action may be reasonable and appropriate. It is important to note that Federal procurement requirements do not explicitly recognize a contractual action termed "Blanket Change Order Approval." If a transit agency’s applicable state and local procurement regulations or policies allow for blanket approvals and the procurement official followed the applicable regulation or policy, then the blanket approval could be a valid procurement method for that particular transit agency. A transit agency using a blanket approval should identify its authority for doing so in the blanket approval and include the document in the project file. Likewise, if a transit agency’s procurement regulations or policies do not allow for or address blanket approvals, then a blanket approval would not be a valid procurement method.
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Agencies with 50–99 transit-related employees who meet the monetary threshold are required to prepare and maintain an abbreviated EEO Program as noted in Circular Section 1.4, but are not required to submit to FTA unless requested. Agencies with between 50–99 transit-related employees that do not meet the monetary threshold are not required to prepare and maintain an abbreviated EEO Program. However, FTA applicants, recipients, subrecipients, and contractors who do not meet the EEO Program threshold are still required to comply with all EEO statutes and regulations.
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The EJ community definitions apply to the residential population, as well as to workers (including seasonal workers), students, patients, and other individuals who are part of the community that would be affected by a given plan, program, policy, or project.
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It depends on the source and use of funding. Federal public transportation law does not define bike sharing as a form of public transportation; however, the cost of installing bike sharing stations and infrastructure are eligible expenses when functionally related to public transportation. The FTA considers bicycle facilities and improvements to be functionally related to transit when they are located within a three-mile radius of a transit station or bus stop. However, the purchase of bikes for a bike sharing network is not an eligible expense. See FTA’s bicycles and transit webpage for information on how bicycles and transit are a win-win proposition.
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It depends on the source and use of funding. Federal public transportation law does not define car sharing as a form of public transportation and funds cannot be used to operate those services. However facilities functionally related to transit may be eligible. For example, parking spaces dedicated for the use of car-sharing at local transit stops.
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No. Section 5333(b) aka 13(c) does not apply to the FTA’s Emergency Relief program or funds allocated under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013
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For locally funded projects which do not require a NEPA analysis, a project-level EJ analysis is not performed. However, It is imperative that any recipient of FTA funding consult FTA Circular 4702.1B to ensure that the undertaken project complies with the necessary Title VI guidance, as the project may trigger specific Title VI requirements. In general, FTA encourages an inclusive and thorough planning and project development process to yield the best outcomes for all interested and affected parties. FTA urges caution in electing to implement projects outside of the broader transportation planning process for this reason and because failure to include a project in the transportation planning process precludes it from utilizing future federal funding.
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Yes, FTA plans to provide further training on EJ. Please register for GovDelivery via the FTA Environmental Justice web page to receive notifications when such training becomes available.
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Yes. As permitted by statute (49 U.S.C. 5324(d)(1)), FTA will determine the terms and conditions that apply to grants awarded under the ER Program. Accordingly, FTA requires utilization of integrity monitors for Sandy projects for recipients receiving over $100 million in funding in addition to the standard oversight program. Integrity monitoring is a project administration expense.
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Yes. FTA encourages grantees to reach out both to individuals that are part of an EJ population as well as to organizations that represent the community.
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The NOFA specifically provides for the use of consultants in the design and implementation of one-call centers—but such expenses are considered eligible for reimbursement only if incurred after the applicant is selected to receive a grant award. Otherwise, if an applicant wishes to use a consultant to help prepare the proposal, FTA will not pay for those services under this grant, since there is no "pre-award authority" in this discretionary program as there is with other FTA formula transit capital grants.
Eligible applicants developing grant proposals may, on the other hand, ask vendors of hardware, software, and services to voluntarily provide technical information on products and their costs as a basis for the independent cost estimates required by FTA. Note that these documents may not be used to develop specifications that arbitrarily exclude other vendors from responding to a competitive procurement for products or services that may be funded by the grant. Nor can this assistance be construed as a quid pro quo for assisting in the preparation of the grant application. Refer to FTA Circular 4220.1F, "Third Party Contracting Guidance" for details.
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Yes, but not always. FTA encourages grantees and their partners who work with multiple federal agencies to design data collection, analysis, and public involvement opportunities to leverage co-benefits across inter-related activities. For example, if a transit provider is drafting a ridership survey that is funded through the MPO’s Unified Planning Work Program, information about improving spatial connections to essential services via the transportation network can be useful in informing needs assessment, planning, projects, and reports required by HUD recipients. At the same time, satisfying the specific requirements for one program, rule, or regulation does not necessarily satisfy the full spirit of promoting Environmental Justice in planning and project development, or vice versa. For more information on the relationship between Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice in particular, please consult Chapter 1 of FTA Circular 4703.1.
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No. In fact, SSO Formula Grant Program funds cannot be used to cover expenses incurred by the SSO agency prior to the effective date of their apportionment, which, in this case, is March 10, 2014.
Also, SSO Formula Grant Program funds must be used to develop and carry out a MAP-21 compliant program, not to implement minimum 49 CFR Part 659 requirements.
Further, due to the requirement for legal and financial independence, among other things, specified in 49 U.S.C. 5329(e)(3) and (4), FTA's SSO grant funds cannot be used for the direct benefit of a RTA, and an SSO agency cannot participate in FTA's SSO Formula Grant Program while receiving money from a RTA in its jurisdiction.