Action
Notice of Availability of Final Circular.
Summary
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has placed in the docket and on its Web site final guidance in the form of a circular to address safety and security management in capital projects covered under 49 CFR part 633, "Project Management Oversight." FTA requires a Project Management Plan (PMP) for major capital projects as defined in 49 CFR 633. In the final circular, FTA requires recipients with projects covered under 49 CFR 633 to develop a Safety and Security Management Plan (SSMP), as a chapter or plan within the PMP. In this notice, FTA provides a summary of the final circular and addresses comments received in response to the October 11, 2006 Federal Register Notice (71 FR 43280). As defined in 49 CFR 633.5, the term "major capital project" means a project that "(1) involves the construction of a new fixed guideway or extension of an existing fixed guideway or (2) involves the rehabilitation or modernization of an existing fixed guideway with a total project cost in excess of $100 million." The Administrator may also designate a major capital project in circumstances where he or she determines that FTA's project management oversight (PMO) program "will benefit specifically the agency or the recipient." Typically, this means "a project that: (i) Generally is expected to have a total project cost in excess of $100 million or more to construct; (ii) is not exclusively for the routine acquisition, maintenance, or rehabilitation of vehicles or other rolling stock; (iii) involves new technology; (iv) is of a unique nature for the recipient; or (v) involves a recipient whose past experience indicates to the agency the appropriateness of the extension of this program." Major capital projects typically do not include projects receiving capital investment grants under 49 U.S.C. 5309(e), more commonly referred to as "Small Starts" and "Very Small Starts" projects, unless FTA's Administrator determines that a PMP is necessary.