Action
Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) of FTA Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities Program and Section 5312 National Research Program Funds: Solicitation of Project Proposals for Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative II Grants.
Summary
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of discretionary funds from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Section 5309(b)(3) Bus and Bus Facilities Program and the FY 2011 Section 5312 National Research Program for continuing support of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility's (Coordinating Council or CCAM) Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI). The Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011 (Temporary Authorization, 2012) 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 these programs equal to approximately one half of the amounts available in FY 2011. Under this funding opportunity, subject to funding availability by Congress, FTA will provide approximately $25 million in unallocated discretionary FY 2012 Bus and Bus Facilities Program funds, supplemented by approximately $5 million in unallocated FY 2011 National Research Program funds. This grant opportunity, referred to as "VTCLI II" in this notice, makes funds available to state and local governmental agencies for the capital costs of creating, expanding, or increasing access to local One-Call/One-Click Transportation Resource Centers (One-Call/One-Click Centers), as well as some research costs to demonstrate successful implementation of these capital projects. The One-Call/One-Click Centers simplify access to transportation for the public by providing one place to connect veterans, service members, military families, persons with disabilities and other transportation-disadvantaged populations, such as older adults, low-income families or disadvantaged youth, to rides and transportation options provided in their locality by a variety of transportation providers and programs. This notice describes the transportation service coordination and simplified customer access priorities established by the Coordinating Council's partnership, the criteria the interagency review panel will use to identify meritorious projects for funding, and how to apply. This announcement is available on the FTA's Web site, on the Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Web page at: http:// www.fta.dot.gov/veterans. FTA will announce final selections on the FTA Web site and may announce selections in the Federal Register. A synopsis of this announcement will be posted in the FIND module of the government-wide electronic grants Web site at http://www.grants.gov.