[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 198 (Friday, October 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60399-60405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24113]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program, Formerly Alternative 
Transportation in Parks and Public Lands Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Announcement of project selections.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects to be funded 
under Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 appropriations for the Paul S. Sarbanes 
Transit in Parks program (formally the Alternative Transportation in 
Parks and Public Lands (ATPPL)) program, authorized by Section 3021 of 
the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act--A 
Legacy for Users of 2005 (SAFETEA-LU) and codified in 49 U.S.C. 5320. 
The Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program funds capital and 
planning expenses for alternative transportation systems in parks and 
public lands. Federal land management agencies and State, tribal and 
local governments acting with the consent of a Federal land management 
agency are eligible recipients.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Award recipients who are State, local, 
or tribal entities may contact the appropriate FTA Regional 
Administrator (See Appendix A) for grant-specific issues. Award 
Recipients who are a specific unit of the following Federal land 
management agencies should work with the contact listed below at their 
headquarters office to coordinate the availability of funds to that 
unit.
     Bureau of Land Management: Linda Force, [email protected], 202-557-3567.
     Fish and Wildlife Service: Nathan Caldwell, [email protected], 703-358-2376.
     Forest Service: Ellen LaFayette, [email protected], 
703-605-4509.
     National Park Service: Kevin Percival, [email protected], 303-969-2429.

Any other Federal land management agency, as specified by 49 U.S.C. 
5320(b)(2), should contact Henrika Buchanan-Smith at (202) 366-2053 for 
instructions regarding receiving funds. For general information about 
the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program, please contact Scott 
Faulk, Office of Program Management, Federal Transit Administration, at 
(202) 366-2053.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    A total of $25,000,000 was appropriated for FTA's Paul S. Sarbanes 
Transit in Parks program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, and $807,660 in FY 
2007 funds remain available for allocation. Of this amount, $1,250,000 
has been reserved for oversight, planning, research, and technical 
assistance leaving $24,557,660 available for project awards. A total of 
84 applicants requested $55.2 million in funding under the program, 
which was more than twice the amount available for projects. FTA, 
Department of the

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Interior (DOI), and land management agencies' representatives evaluated 
the project proposals based on the criteria defined in 49 U.S.C. 
5320(g)(2) and detailed in the Notice of Funding Availability published 
on December 13, 2007.
    The 52 projects selected for funding in FY 2008 are shown on Table 
1 and represent a diverse set of capital and planning projects across 
the country, ranging from bus purchases to installation of Intelligent 
Transportation Systems (ITS).

Applying for Funds

    Recipients who are State or local government entities will be 
required to apply for Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program funds 
electronically through FTA's electronic grant award and management 
system, TEAM. The content of these grant applications must reflect the 
approved proposal. (Note: Applications for the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit 
in Parks program do not require Department of Labor Certification.) 
Upon grant award, payments to grantees will be made by electronic 
transfer to the grantee's financial institution through the Electronic 
Clearing House Operation (ECHO) system. Staff in FTA's Regional offices 
is available to assist applicants.
    Recipients who are Federal land management agencies will be 
required to enter into an interagency agreement with FTA. FTA will 
administer one interagency agreement with each Federal land management 
agency receiving funding through the program for all of that agency's 
projects. Individual units of Federal land management agencies should 
work with the contact at their headquarters office listed above to 
coordinate the availability of funds to that unit.

Program Requirements

    Section 5320 requires funding recipients to meet certain 
requirements. Requirements that reflect existing statutory and 
regulatory provisions can be found in the document ``Alternative 
Transportation in Parks and Public Lands Program: Requirements for 
Recipients'' available at http://www.fta.dot.gov/atppl. These 
requirements are incorporated into the grant agreements and inter-
agency agreements used to fund the selected projects.

Pre-Award Authority

    Pre-award authority allows an agency that will receive a grant or 
interagency agreement to incur certain project costs prior to receipt 
of the grant or interagency agreement and retain eligibility of the 
costs for subsequent reimbursement after the grant or agreement is 
approved. The recipient assumes all risk and is responsible for 
ensuring that all conditions are met to retain eligibility, including 
compliance with federal requirements such as the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), SAFETEA-LU planning requirements, and provisions 
established in the grant contract or Interagency Agreement. This 
automatic pre-award spending authority, when triggered, permits a 
grantee to incur costs on an eligible transit capital or planning 
project without prejudice to possible future Federal participation in 
the cost of the project or projects. Under the authority provided in 49 
U.S.C. 5320(h), FTA is extending pre-award authority for FY 2008 ATTPL 
projects effective as of October 10, 2008 when the projects were 
publicly announced.
    The conditions under which pre-award authority may be utilized are 
specified below:
    a. Pre-award authority is not a legal or implied commitment that 
the project(s) will be approved for FTA assistance or that FTA will 
obligate Federal funds. Furthermore, it is not a legal or implied 
commitment that all items undertaken by the applicant will be eligible 
for inclusion in the project(s).
    b. All FTA statutory, procedural, and contractual requirements must 
be met.
    c. No action will be taken by the grantee that prejudices the legal 
and administrative findings that the Federal Transit Administrator must 
make in order to approve a project.
    d. Local funds expended pursuant to this pre-award authority will 
be eligible for reimbursement if FTA later makes a grant or interagency 
agreement for the project(s). Local funds expended by the grantee prior 
to October 10, 2008 will not be eligible for credit toward local match 
or reimbursement. Furthermore, the expenditure of local funds on 
activities such as land acquisition, demolition, or construction, prior 
to the completion of the NEPA process, would compromise FTA's ability 
to comply with Federal environmental laws and may render the project 
ineligible for FTA funding.
    e. When a grant for the project is subsequently awarded, the 
Financial Status Report, in TEAM-Web, must indicate the use of pre-
award authority, and the pre-award item in the project information 
section of TEAM should be marked ``yes.''

Reporting Requirements

    All recipients must submit quarterly reports to FTA containing the 
following information:
    (1) Narrative description of project(s); and,
    (2) discussion of all budget and schedule changes.

The headquarters office for each federal land management agency should 
collect a quarterly report for each of the projects delineated in the 
interagency agreement and then send these reports (preferably by e-
mail) to Scott Faulk, FTA, [email protected]; 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 
Washington, DC 20590. Examples can be found on the program Web site at 
http://www.fta.dot.gov/atppl. State and local governments will send 
this information to FTA for projects that are funded through grants to 
State and local governments rather than through the interagency 
agreement. The quarterly reports are due to FTA on the dates noted 
below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Quarter                   Covering             Due date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Quarter Report.............  October 1-December  January 31
                                  31.
2nd Quarter Report.............  January 1-March 31  April 30.
3rd Quarter Report.............  April 1-June 30...  July 31.
4th Quarter Report.............  July 1-September    October 31.
                                  31.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to allow FTA to compute aggregate program performance 
measures as required by the President's Management Agenda, FTA requests 
that all recipients of funding for capital projects under the Paul S. 
Sarbanes Transit in Parks program submit the following information 
annually:
     Annual visitation to the land unit;
     Annual number of persons who use the alternative 
transportation system (ridership/usage);
     An estimate of the number of vehicle trips mitigated based 
on alternative transportation system usage and the typical number of 
passengers per vehicle;
     Cost per passenger; and,

[[Page 60401]]

     A note of any special services offered for those systems 
with higher costs per passenger but more amenities.
    State and local government entities should submit this information 
as part of their fourth quarter report through FTA's TEAM grants 
management system. Federal land management agencies should also send 
this information as part of their fourth quarter report. Examples can 
be found on the program Web site at http://www.fta.dot.gov/atppl.

Oversight

    Recipients of FY 2008 Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program 
funds will be required to certify that they will comply with all 
applicable Federal and FTA programmatic requirements. FTA direct 
grantees will complete this certification as part of the annual 
Certification and Assurances package, and Federal Land Management 
Agency recipients will complete the certification by signing the 
interagency agreement. This certification is the basis for oversight 
reviews conducted by FTA.
    The Secretary of Transportation and FTA have elected not to apply 
the triennial review requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5307(h)(2) to Paul S. 
Sarbanes Transit in Parks program recipients that are other Federal 
agencies. Instead, working with the existing oversight systems at the 
Federal Land Management Agencies, FTA will perform periodic reviews of 
specific projects funded by the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks 
program. These reviews will ensure that projects meet the basic 
statutory, administrative, and regulatory requirements as stipulated by 
this notice and the certification. To the extent possible, these 
reviews will be coordinated with other reviews of the project. FTA 
direct grantees of Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program funds 
(State, local and tribal government entities) will be subject to all 
applicable triennial, State management, civil rights, and other 
reviews.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 6th day of October, 2008.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.

Appendix A--FTA Regional Offices

Region I

    Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and 
Vermont. Richard Doyle, FTA Regional Administrator, Kendall Square, 55 
Broadway, Suite 920, Cambridge, MA 02142-1093, (617) 494-2055.

Region II

    New Jersey, and New York. Brigid Hynes-Cherin, FTA Regional 
Administrator, One Bowling Green, Room 429, New York, NY 10004-1415, 
(212) 668-2170.

Region III

    Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
and West Virginia. Letitia Thompson, FTA Regional Administrator, 1760 
Market Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 19103-4124, (215) 656-7100.

Region IV

    Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, 
Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virgin Islands. Yvette 
Taylor, FTA Regional Administrator, 230 Peachtree St., NW., Suite 800, 
Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 865-5600.

Region V

    Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 
Marisol Simon, FTA Regional Administrator, 200 West Adams Street, Suite 
320, Chicago, IL 60606-5232, (312) 353-2789.

Region VI

    Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Robert 
Patrick, FTA Regional Administrator, 819 Taylor Street, Room 8A36, Ft. 
Worth, TX 76102, (817) 978-0550.

Region VII

    Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Mokhtee Ahmad, FTA Regional 
Administrator, 901 Locust Street, Suite 404, Kansas City, MO 64106, 
(816) 329-3920.

Region VIII

    Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. 
Terry Rosapep, FTA Regional Administrator, 12300 West Dakota, Suite 
310, Lakewood, CO 80228-2583, (720) 963-3300.

Region IX

    American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, and the 
Northern Mariana Islands. Leslie Rogers, FTA Regional Administrator, 
201 Mission Street, Room 1650, San Francisco, CA 94105-1839, (415) 744-
3133.

Region X

    Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Richard F. Krochalis, FTA 
Regional Administrator, Jackson Federal Building, 915 Second Avenue, 
Suite 3142, Seattle, WA 98174-1002, (206) 220-7954.
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 [FR Doc. E8-24113 Filed 10-9-08; 8:45 am]
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