Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Does publishing the funding source, grant numbers, and percentage of total costs represented by Federal funds, in our solicitation for bids advertisements for federally-funded construction contracts, fulfill the requirement for Contract Award Announcement, or do we need to publish information again once the contract has been awarded? If required to publish the information again, do we include or exclude the name of the contractor to whom the contract was awarded?

A. Section 38 of FTA's Master Agreement provides:

"To the extent required by Federal law, the State agrees that, in administering any Federal assistance Program or Project supported by the underlying Grant Agreement or Cooperative Agreement, any request for proposals, solicitation, grant application, form, notification, press release, or other publication involving the distribution of Federal assistance for the Program or the Project shall indicate that FTA is the Federal agency that is providing the Federal assistance, the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number of the program from which the Federal assistance is authorized, as applicable, and the amount provided."

FTA does not require the announcement to give the name of the contractor but this would be a rather standard procedure if you announce the award. Organizations that do announce their awards usually do so with the names and addresses of the contractors, the IFB number, the project description and the amount of the award. This is done in part to give potential subcontractors an opportunity to contact the winning contractors for subcontracting opportunities. If your protest procedures require that protests be filed within a certain number of days of the announcement of the winning contractor, then there should be a public announcement to this effect, unless you intend to notify the losing offerors directly. (Revised: September 1, 2009)

Q. FTA Circular 4220.1E has some requirements concerning contract award announcements. Have these been removed in 4220.1F?

A. FTA requirements concerning contract award announcements apply only to Federal assistance to States, not other entities. (Posted: December 2009)