Over-the-Road Bus Program: Solicitation of Project Proposals

Details: 4/30/2012. Solicitation of Project Proposals: Capital & Training Assistance for Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility Program (Text) (PDF) Synopses and full announcement are posted on Grants.gov site as opportunity FTA-2012-009-TPM-OTRB. Proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov website by midnight Eastern Time on Thursday, June 7, 2012.

Summary

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of funds in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 for the Over-the-Road Bus Accessibility (OTRB) Program, initially authorized by Section 3038 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The OTRB program makes funds available to private operators of over-the-road buses to finance the incremental capital and training costs of complying with DOT’s over-the-road bus accessibility regulation. The authorizing legislation calls for national solicitation of proposals, with grantees to be selected on a competitive basis. Program funds are available to intercity fixed-route providers and other OTRB providers at up to 90 percent of the project cost.

The Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-30, continues the authorization of the Federal transit programs of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) through March 31, 2012, and provides contract authority for this program equal to approximately one half of the amounts available in FY 2011. Approximately $8.8 million is expected to be available for the OTRB program discretionary allocation and may include other discretionary program funds that become available. The total amount of funding available will be contingent on Congressional authorization and appropriation prior to the selection of awardees, and based on the timing of such funding becoming available, may also include funding appropriated for Fiscal Year 2013.

Eligible Applicants

Grants will be made directly to operators of over-the-road buses. Intercity, fixed-route OTRB service providers may apply for the funds appropriated for intercity fixed-route providers in FY 2012. Applicants must establish eligibility as intercity fixed-route providers by meeting six factors identified in the application. Other OTRB service providers, including operators of local fixed-route service, commuter service, and charter or tour service may apply for the funds that were appropriated in FY 2012 for these providers. OTRB operators who provide both intercity, fixed-route service and another type of service, such as commuter, charter or tour, may apply for both categories of funds with a single application. Private for-profit operators of over-the-road buses are eligible to be direct applicants for this program. This is a departure from most other FTA programs for which the direct applicant must be a State or local public body. FTA does not award grants to public entities under this program.

Link and Instructions for attaching the supplemental form to the SF-424

All applicants must complete the supplemental form (PDF) and attach it to their submission in Grants.gov to successfully complete the application process.

Instructions for searching and attaching forms in Grants.gov (MS Word)

Dates

An applicant must submit a proposal electronically to https://www.grants.gov/ by midnight Eastern Time on June 7, 2012. Any applicant 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 website on the “FIND” module of Grants.gov.

For Further Information Contact

Elan Flippin, Office of Program Management, (202) 366-2053, email: Elan.Flippin@dot.gov.