SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Grant Program: Approximately $30 million was made available by FTA for the VTCLI II grant opportunity, with $26.6 million in Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities funds and $2.9 million in Section 5312 National Research funds allocated to selected projects. In total, 80 eligible applications requested $40 million. Project proposals were evaluated based on the criteria detailed in the February 7, 2012 Notice of Funding Availability. The projects selected and shown in Table 1 will provide mobility choices to veterans, military families and other community members, increasing their awareness of and access to existing community transportation options and enabling them remain active in their communities. Funds must be used for eligible purposes defined under 49 U.S.C. 5309(b)(3), 5302(a)(1), and 5312(a), and be consistent with the competitive announcement of availability of funds as well as the applicant's proposal. In selecting projects for this program, FTA ensured that an equitable share of the available funds is allocated to projects that are not in urbanized areas.

Project Implementation: So that funds can be obligated expeditiously, grantees selected for competitive discretionary funding should work with their FTA Regional Office to finalize the grant application in FTA's Transportation Electronic Award Management system (TEAM) for the projects identified in the attached table. In cases where the allocation amount is less than the proposer's requested amount, grantees should work with the Regional Office to appropriately reduce the scope in the event specific activities were excluded upon funding selection, or scale the project such that a complete phase or project is accomplished. A discretionary project identification number has been assigned to each project for tracking purposes and must be used in the TEAM application. Section 5309 and Section 5312 funds must be obligated in separate grants and thus have been assigned discrete discretionary project identification numbers for organizations receiving both types of funds. Section 5309-funded awards are identified by a “D2012-BUSP” project identification number, while Section 5312-funded awards have been assigned “D2011-NATR” numbers. Selected projects have not been extended blanket pre-award authority, however, grantees may request pre-award authority and, on a case-by-case basis, FTA Regional Offices may grant it through a Letter of No Prejudice.

FTA Section 5309 funds may only be used for eligible purposes defined under 49 U.S.C. 5309(b)(3) and 5302(a)(1), as described in FTA Circular 9030.1C, and further limited by the February 7, 2012 Federal Register Notice of Funding Availability. Announcement of selection in this notice does not guarantee award of funds to the selected organization until all applicable grant requirements, including presence of eligible local match, are met. Sources of any in-kind match proposed should be discussed with the FTA Regional Office to ensure eligibility. For any VTCLI II projects that include lease of space, please refer to FTA's guidance on Capital Leases found at www.fta.dot.gov/​grants/​12865.html and in Chapter IV, subparagraph 3.j(2) of FTA Circular 5010.1D. For any projects which proposed to use applicant labor to accomplish capital design and engineering tasks, please refer to FTA's guidance on Force Account labor found in Chapter IV, paragraph 4.d of FTA Circular 5010.1D. All capital procurements undertaken with VTCLI II funds must comply with FTA's Third Party Procurement Guidelines found at www.fta.dot.gov/​legislation_​law/​12349_​8641.html. Any further questions on procurement guidelines should be discussed with the FTA Regional Office. Section 5312 Research funds must adhere to the requirements of the Section 5312 National Research Program, and may be used only for eligible purposes defined under 49 U.S.C. 5312(a) and FTA Circular 6100.1D and further limited by the February 7, 2012 Notice of Funding Availability. Post-award reporting requirements include submission of the Financial Federal Report and Milestone reports in TEAM as appropriate (see FTA Circular 5010.1D) and may include additional reporting specific to the VTCLI II. Recipients also may be expected to participate in events or peer networks related to VTCLI II. Grants which include Section 5312 Research funds may be required to develop a final report or provide data for a consolidated report on the program.

Under the Section 5312 funds available, FTA also is awarding a $500,000 cooperative agreement to the VTCLI Technical Assistance Consortium to carry out general and targeted technical assistance to VTCLI grantees, in order to ensure successful, coordinated outcomes. Each awardee will be assigned a technical assistance facilitator who will help identify areas of need for the project and help carry out the coordinated planning, needs assessment and performance measurement requirements set out in the February 7, 2012 Notice of Funding Availability. Several states and regions have received multiple VTCLI awards. As stated in the Notice, VTCLI II applicants were required to commit to update the appropriate state, regional and/or local coordinated human service transportation plan to address mobility needs of the veteran and military communities. As appropriate, this update should consider opportunities to coordinate between any VTCLI grants (both FY 2011 and FY 2012) within a region or state. The Technical Assistance Consortium will provide assistance in these efforts.

FTA will hold an informational webinar for grantees on Thursday, July 26 2012, to discuss the goals and expectations of the VTCLI and address technical aspects of applying for funds. Further details about the webinar will be posted at www.fta.dot.gov/​veterans.

The grantee must comply with all applicable Federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, FTA circulars, and other Federal administrative requirements in carrying out the project supported by the FTA grant. By statute, the Section 5309 funds allocated in this announcement must be obligated in a grant by September 30, 2014, but since project readiness was a factor in selection, applicants are expected to apply promptly in order to begin implementing the project within twelve months.

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Appendix

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77 FR 43646