How should a transit agency track and submit increased estimates of eligible Emergency Relief costs?

Documentation for increased emergency operations costs should be consistent with the requirements described in 83 FR 25104 section II.A and 49 CFR 602.17. Such documentation should include:

• Type and description of emergency operations service, including the storm name and number of people transported (if applicable)
• Dates and hours of emergency service
• Number and type of vehicles utilized
• Total fare revenues collected (if any) during emergency operations
• Payroll summaries for staff during emergency operations period
• Applicable contracts for purchased transportation or other services and materials

Documentation for increased costs for capital projects should include a detailed description of the increased costs, specifying what has changed since the last cost estimate. The description of the increased cost should include the information required by the Emergency Relief Rule at 49 CFR 602.17 and the FTA Emergency Relief Manual section 4.1.2 (Preliminary Field Survey and Damage Assessment Report sub-sections). Any engineering costs required to provide a cost estimate are an eligible ER expense if the costs are allocable to a project that is determined to be eligible under the ER program.

If the increase in cost will not result in a request for funding greater than the amounts allocated, the documentation described above may be included in the grant application.

If the total amount of funding to be requested will exceed the amounts published in Federal Register notice 83 FR 25104, the documentation noted above must be sent to FTA in writing prior to including those costs in a grant application.

Approval of additional allocations may be dependent on availability of funding and other factors to be determined. FTA does not currently have a timeline for the allocation of the remaining emergency relief funding currently held in reserve. FTA will continue to monitor the pace of obligations and disbursements of ER funding allocated to date, as well as any changes to the estimated cost of recovery projects.