Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations
Policy, Legislation, and Regulations

Talking Freight Seminar
June 1, 2010
TIGER II Discretionary Grants (Infrastructure Grants) and
TIGER II TIFIA Payments
Presentation

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TIGER II Discretionary Grants

June 1, 2010

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U.S. Department of Transportation

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Outline of Presentation


  1. Program Overview
  2. Federal Register Notice
  3. Eligibility
  4. Award Amounts
  5. Selection Criteria
  6. Benefit Cost Analysis
  7. Pre Application and Application Contents
  8. TIFIA
  9. Evaluation Process
  10. Administration and Reporting
  11. Qualities and Strategies of Competitive Applications
  12. Timeline
Collage of transportation images.

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Program Overview


  • $600 million of grant funds for state or local governments to be awarded through a competitive process to projects that have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region.
  • Applicants may apply for capital grants, TIFIA financing or planning grants
  • Applicants for capital grants may be offered TIFIA financing or a planning grant if it is determined that is the most appropriate award
  • USDOT must take measures to ensure (i) equitable geographic distribution, (ii) balance in addressing rural and urban needs, and (iii) investment in a variety of transportation modes
Collage of transportation images

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Federal Register Notice

  • On Monday, April 26, 2010 the Department published an interim notice of funding availability soliciting applications for TIGER II Discretionary Grants
  • The solicitation announces the project selection criteria, application requirements and the deadline for submitting pre-applications (July 16, 2010) and applications (August 23, 2010)
  • Because this is a new program, the solicitation also provided two weeks for public comments – comments were due by May 7, 2010
  • The Department published a final notice on May 28, 2010 incorporating comments

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2010-0076]

Interim Notice of Funding Availability for the Department of Transportation's National Infrastructure Investments Under the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2010; and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary of Transportation, DOT.

ACTION: Interim notice of funding availability, request for comments.

SUMMARY: This interim notice announces the availability of funding and requests proposals for the Department of Transportation's National Infrastructure Investments. In addition, this interim notice announces selection criteria and pre-application and application requirements for the National Infrastructure Investments. On December 16, 2009, the President signed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2010 (Div. A of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111- 117, Dec. 16, 2009)) ("FY 2010 Appropriations Act"). The FY 2010 Appropriations Act appropriated $600 million to be awarded by the Department of Transportation ("DOT") for National Infrastructure Investments.


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Eligibility Requirements


  • Eligible Applicants: Funds will be awarded to State and local governments, including U.S. territories, tribal governments, transit agencies, port authorities, MPOs, other political subdivisions of State or local governments, and multi-State or multi-jurisdictional applicants.
  • Eligible Projects: Capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure that are eligible for TIGER II Discretionary Grants include, but are not limited to: (1) highway or bridge projects; (2) public transportation projects; (3) passenger and freight rail transportation projects; and (4) port infrastructure investments.
Photos of a train and a clover leaf.

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Award Amounts


  • Individual awards can be $10-200 million
  • TIGER II can fund up to 80% of project costs
  • $140 million is reserved for projects in rural areas, where 100% of project costs are eligible for funding and project awards can be as low as $1 million
  • No one state can receive more than 25% of program funds ($150m)
  • Up to $150 million is available to support TIFIA financing
  • Up to $35 million is available for transportation planning grants
Photos of a bridge and a port facility.

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Primary Selection Criteria


  • Long-Term Outcomes: The Department will give priority to projects that have a significant impact on five desirable long-term outcomes:
    1. State of Good Repair: Improving the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems
    2. Economic Competitiveness: Contributing to the medium- to long-term economic competitiveness of the United States
    3. Livability: Fostering livable communities through place-based policies and investments that increase transportation choices and access to transportation services for people
    4. Environmental Sustainability: Improving energy efficiency, reducing dependence on oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
    5. Safety: Improving the safety of U.S. transportation facilities
Photos of an airport flight status board and a gas station sign.

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Primary Selection Criteria


  • Job Creation & Economic Stimulus: The Department will give priority to projects that are expected to quickly create and preserve jobs and stimulate rapid increases in economic activity, particularly jobs and activity that benefit economically distressed areas.
Photo of a cement truck.

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Secondary Selection Criteria


  • Innovation: The Department will give priority to projects that use innovative strategies to pursue the long-term outcomes highlighted in the solicitation
  • Partnership: The Department will give priority to projects that demonstrate strong collaboration among a broad range of participants and/or integration of transportation with other public service efforts
Photos of commuter trains and vehicles traveling through a tunnel.

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Benefit – Cost Analysis


  • Ratings
  • Benefit Cost Analysis vs. Economic Impact Analysis
  • Baselines and Alternatives
  • Discounting
  • Forecasting
  • Types of Benefits
  • Costs
  • Transparency and Reproducibility of Calculations
Photos of a transit station's entry gates and a mathematical computation.

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Pre-Application


  • Qualifies applicant to submit TIGER II application
  • Submitted electronically to USDOT by July 16, 2010
  • Includes the following:
    • Applicant Information
    • Project Information and Description
    • Funding Information and Assurances
    • NEPA Assurance
  • USDOT will inform project sponsors if Eligibility, NEPA and Funding Assurances are not adequate and must be adjusted as part of the application
Photos of traffic on an interstate at night and a port facility.

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Application Content


  • Must be submitted through Grants.gov by August 23, 2010
  • Narrative portion no more than 25 pages
  • Project description including transportation challenges to be addressed by project
  • Evidence of alignment with selection criteria
  • Project readiness to proceed rapidly upon award of TIGER II Discretionary Grant
    • Approvals/Actions
    • Status and outcome of NEPA
  • Use of publicly available, verifiable data/protection of Confidential Business Information
Photos of a commuter train in motion and an aerial photo of traffic at an urban intersection.

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TIGER II TIFIA Payments


  • TIFIA program provides Federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects
  • USDOT may use up to $150 million of TIGER II funds for TIGER II TIFIA Payments
  • TIFIA Payments will fund the subsidy costs of providing the TIFIA credit assistance to a project
  • USDOT may offer Grant applicants a TIFIA Payment even if they did not apply for TIFIA Payments
  • TIGER II TIFIA applicants must submit a TIGER II Discretionary Grants application
  • A TIFIA letter of interest must be submitted concurrently with the TIGER II TIFIA Payment Application
  • If selected the applicant must comply with all of TIFIA program's standard application and approval requirements (including $50,000 application fee)
  • Applicants may apply for both Grant and TIFIA payment for the same project


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Evaluation Process


  • Evaluations by Multimodal Team lead by the Office of the Secretary
  • Ratings of "highly recommended," "recommended," "not recommended," or "negative" will be assigned to projects for each of the selection criteria.
  • If necessary USDOT will use a similar rating process to re-assess the projects that were highly rated and identify those that should be most highly rated.


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Project Administration and Reporting


  • Each TIGER II Discretionary Grant will be administered by one of USDOT's Modal Administrations
  • Grant agreements will be required between the TIGER II Discretionary Grant recipient and the Modal Administration
  • USDOT may revoke any award of TIGER II Discretionary Grant funds and fund another project if funds are not being expended in a timely manner and/or construction does not begin in accordance with the project schedule (all funds must be obligated by September 30, 2012)
  • USDOT will request that recipients of TIGER II Discretionary Grants cooperate in Departmental efforts to collect and report on information related to the benefits produced by the projects that receive TIGER II Discretionary Grants
Photos of an underground metrorail station and a highway at night.

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Strategies for Competitive Applications


  • Eligibility
  • Address criteria and outcomes
  • Clarity of Application and Project Description
  • Size of Grant Request
  • Leverages Investment
  • Project Segmentation
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis
  • Project Readiness/NEPA
  • Projects that Stand Out


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Timeline for Award of Funds


Timeline for award of funds is as follows: criteria published on April 26, 2010; pre-applications submitted by July 16, 2010; applications submitted by August 23, 2010; and announce selected projects no earlier than September 15, 2010.

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Questions, Comments, and Discussion

Additional Information and FAQs for this program can be found at:

www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/tigerii/index.html

Office of Operations