Fiscal Year 2023 Transit Standards Development Program Notice of Funding

Details: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for up to $3,000,000 of Technical Assistance and Workforce Development Program for an organization to develop voluntary standards and standards-related best practices, guidance, and tools in safety and other areas that improve public transportation by directly engaging and working with transit stakeholders. FTA intends to award one project under this announcement. Synopses and the full announcement are posted on the Grants.gov website as opportunity FTA-2023-004-TRI. Proposals must be submitted electronically through the Grants.gov website by midnight Eastern Time on February 6, 2023.

Summary: The NOFO builds upon a prior FTA program under Technical Assistance and Workforce Development funding that provided gap analyses and recommendations for transit standards development. FTA will provide funding for one competitive award to build on that work by performing an industry assessment and developing transit standards, best practices, guidance, and tools in safety and other areas to address industry needs and demands.

Previous standards projects identified areas where standards were needed and provided support to develop voluntary standards for bus and rail safety, zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure, facility maintenance, training, operator safety, crashworthiness, and other areas. By identifying innovations and emerging technologies, the previous work provides a foundation for the next phase: exploring new standards or modifying existing standards.  The successful applicant will perform an industry standards assessment and develop a priority list of standards that require immediate action. The chosen recipient will develop or modify voluntary standards, best practices, guidance, and tools to help public transit agencies adopt those standards. Standards development must directly engage a broad group of transit stakeholders including federal, state, local, national, public, nonprofit, academic, and private sector representatives.

Eligible standards areas can include, but are not limited to:

• bus and rail safety, 
• mobility, 
• fare collection, 
• intelligent transportation systems, 
• accessibility, 
• equitable service standards, 
• procurement, 
• security, 
• resiliency, 
• asset management to maintain a state of good repair, 
• operations, 
• maintenance, 
• zero-emission vehicles, 
• charging systems, 
• maintenance facilities, 
• bus workstations, 
• traveler information, 
• interoperable data standards, 
• vehicle propulsion, 
• emergency response communications, and 
• vehicle electronics.  

FTA will create an internal FTA Standards Working Group, which will work with the selected applicant, its industry partners, working groups, and standard development organizations in the assessment, review, prioritization, and selection of transit standards to be developed or modified. One applicant will be competitively selected based on the criteria outlined in this NOFO.

Project will be selected based on the criteria outlined in the notice.

FTA’s Technical Assistance and Workforce Development Program (49 U.S.C. § 5314) authorizes the funds to support the development of voluntary and consensus-based standards and best practices by the public transportation industry.

Eligible Applicants: Eligible applicants under this notice include the following:

Providers of public transportation, including public transportation agencies, state or local government DOTs, and federally recognized Indian tribes; 
Private for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, or consultants;

State, city, or local government entities, including multi-jurisdictional partnerships, and organizations such as metropolitan planning organizations; 
Other organizations, including research consortia, not-for-profit industry organizations, and institutions of higher education, including large research universities, particularly those with Minority Serving Institution status; or

Standard Development Organizations.

Match: Maximum federal share of project costs under this program is 100 percent. Applicants have the option to provide a local share.

Link and Instructions for attaching the supplemental form to the SF-424: All applicants must complete the supplemental form specific to the Transit Standards Development (TSD) project and attach it to their submission in Grants.gov. Applicants should refer to section D of the NOFO for further information about the required application contents.

Dates: An applicant must submit a proposal electronically by midnight Eastern Time on February 6, 2023. Any agency intending to apply should initiate the process of registering on the Grants.gov site immediately to ensure the completion of registration before the submission deadline.

FTA hosted a webinar on Thursday, December 15, 2022, on this NOFO. The webinar provided an overview of the program, described eligible applicants and projects, and gave an opportunity for attendees to obtain answers to questions.

• View the presentation
• Read the Q&A

For Further Information Contact: Raj Wagley, FTA Office of Research, Demonstration, and Innovation.