The Pre-Award and Post-Delivery Rule requires recipients to certify that pre-award and post-delivery reviews will be conducted when using FTA-appropriated funds to purchase revenue service buses and vans.

This section details the pre-award and post-delivery review requirements for buses.

The Pre-Award Review

The pre-award review is required before a recipient may enter into a formal contract with a supplier. The review period begins after the recipient issues the solicitation and ends before the recipient signs a formal contract with the selected manufacturer.

The review requires the recipient to complete three certifications—the Buy America certification, the purchaser’s requirements certification, and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) certification. All three certifications must be kept in the recipient’s files for future FTA reviews.

For the Buy America certification process, the recipient must:

• Verify that (1) the buses will contain a minimum of 60 percent domestic products, by cost, and (2) final assembly of the buses will take place in the United States

  or

• Obtain, from the FTA, a copy of the waiver letter exempting the buses from the Buy America requirements.

For the purchaser’s requirements certification, the recipient must verify that:

• The manufacturer’s bid specifications are in compliance with the recipient’s solicitation specifications

  and

• The proposed manufacturer is responsible and capable of building the bus to the recipient’s solicitation specifications.

For the FMVSS certification, the recipient must obtain:

either

• A letter from the bus manufacturer stating the information that will be provided on the FMVSS vehicle sticker

  or

• A letter from the bus manufacturer stating that the buses are not subject to FMVSS.

The Post-Delivery Review

A post-delivery review must be completed before a bus title is transferred to the recipient, or before a bus is placed into revenue service, whichever is first. The review period begins when the recipient signs a formal contract with the selected manufacturer and ends before title transfer or use in service.

As with the pre-award review, the recipient must complete three certifications—the Buy America certification, the purchaser’s requirements certification, and the FMVSS certification. Again, all three certifications must be kept in the recipient’s files for future FTA reviews.

The Buy America and FMVSS certification processes are similar to those completed during the pre-award review, with the exception that the review now reflects information based on the actual buses versus the proposed buses. The post-delivery purchaser’s requirements certification process is different from the pre-award purchaser’s requirements certification process.

For the purchaser’s requirements certification, the recipient must:

• Complete visual inspections and road tests to demonstrate that the buses meet the contract specifications

  and (if purchasing more than ten buses or modified vans)

• Send a resident inspector to the manufacturer’s production facility during the final assembly period to (1) monitor the final assembly process and (2) complete a final report describing the construction activities and explaining how the construction and operation of the buses fulfill the contract specifications.

If the recipient is purchasing ten or fewer buses, ten or fewer modified vans, or any number of primary manufacturer standard production unmodified vans, the resident inspector is not required.