[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 71 (Friday, April 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22026-22031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08653]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program Announcement of FY 
2012 Project Selections.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects for the Paul 
S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program, as 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. 
Projects were selected from proposals submitted in response to a Notice 
of Funding Availability (NOFA) published in the Federal Register on 
August 28, 2012. These projects are funded with Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 
appropriations and previously unallocated prior year funds. The Paul S. 
Sarbanes Transit in Parks program provides funds for capital and 
planning expenses for alternative transportation systems in national 
parks and other federal recreation lands. Federal land management 
agencies and State, tribal and local governments acting with the 
consent of a federal land management agency are eligible recipients. 
This program was not re-authorized for FY 2013 under the Moving Ahead 
for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), and FTA does not 
anticipate publishing future NOFAs for this program. If additional 
funds become available during FY 2013 from previous project awards, FTA 
may allocate these funds to project proposals previously submitted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Project sponsors who are State, local, 
or tribal entities may contact the appropriate FTA Regional Office 
(http://www.fta.dot.gov/offices) for grant-specific issues. Project 
sponsors who are part of a federal land management agency should work 
with the contact listed below at their headquarters office to 
coordinate the availability of funds to that unit.
     National Park Service: Mark H Hartsoe, [email protected]; tel: 202-513-7025, fax: 202-371-6675, mail: 1849 C 
Street NW., (MS2420); Washington, DC 20240-0001.
     Fish and Wildlife Service: Nathan Caldwell, [email protected], tel: 703-358-2205, fax: 703-358-2517, mail: 4401 N. 
Fairfax Drive, Room 634; Arlington, VA 22203.
     Forest Service: Rosana Barkawi, [email protected], 
tel: 703-605-4509, mail: 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20250-1101.
     Bureau of Land Management: Victor F. Montoya, [email protected], tel: 202-912-7041, mail: 1620 L Street, WO-854, 
Washington, DC 20036.

For general information about the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks 
Program, please contact Adam Schildge, Office of Program Management, 
Federal Transit Administration, at [email protected], 202-366-0778.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FTA announces the selection of projects for 
the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program for Fiscal Year (FY) 
2012. Congress appropriated $26,900,000 for FTA's Paul S. Sarbanes 
Transit in Parks program for FY 2012. Of this amount, $13,382,750 was 
allocated to projects in January 2012 in response to a NOFA published 
in the Federal Register on March 10, 2011. Of the remaining amount, 
$1,750,000 has been allocated to continue the operation of the Transit 
in Parks Technical Assistance Center for

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an additional year, $500,000 will be administered cooperatively with 
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in order to support the 
coordination of Federal land management agency transportation 
investments with public transportation systems that operate in the 
vicinity of Federal lands, and $134,500 is reserved for program 
oversight activities. In addition to the remaining $11,132,750 from FY 
2012, $1,365,171 is available for project awards from unallocated prior 
year funds. As a result, the total amount available for project awards 
in response to the August 28, 2012 NOFA is $12,497,921.
    A total of 89 applicants submitted eligible proposals for a 
combined total of $62.8 million. A joint review committee of the U.S. 
Department of Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest 
Service and DOT evaluated the project proposals based on the criteria 
defined in 49 U.S.C. 5320(g)(2). Final selections were made through a 
collaborative process.
    The goals of the program are to conserve natural, historical, and 
cultural resources; reduce congestion and pollution; improve visitor 
mobility and accessibility; enhance visitor experience; and ensure 
access to all, including persons with disabilities, through alternative 
transportation projects. A total of 29 projects located in 20 States 
and affiliated with five Federal land management agencies were selected 
to receive a combined total of $12,497,921. The projects selected to 
use FY 2012 funding represent a diverse set of capital and planning 
projects across the country, ranging from shuttle bus purchases to the 
construction of ferry dock infrastructure, and are listed in Table 1.

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. These entities are assigned discretionary project IDs as 
shown in Table I of this notice. 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 FTA's Electronic Clearing House Operation (ECHO) 
system. FTA's Regional Offices are available to assist applicants.
    Recipients who are federal land management agencies will be 
required to enter into an interagency agreement (IAA) with FTA. 
Agencies may also flex funding for trail projects to the FHWA Federal 
Lands Highway Program. Consistent with section 9.5.2(a) of the 
``Department of Transportation Financial Management Policies Manual'' 
(October 24, 2006), funds awarded to Federal land management agencies 
through interagency agreements remain available for a period of five 
years from execution of the agreement. 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 www.fta.dot.gov/transitinparks. 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), planning requirements, and provisions established in 
the grant contract or Interagency Agreement. Under the authority 
provided in 49 U.S.C. 5320(h), FTA is extends pre-award authority for 
FY 2012 Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks projects announced in this 
notice effective February 18, 2013 when the projects were publicly 
announced, and the basis the below conditions have been met.
    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 for the project. 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 the February 18, 2013 public announcement will not be eligible for 
credit toward local match or reimbursement. Furthermore, the 
expenditure of local funds on activities such as, 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 email) 
to Adam Schildge, FTA, mailto: [email protected]; 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, Washington, DC 20590. Examples can be found on the program Web 
site at http://www.fta.dot.gov/transitinparks. State, local and tribal 
governments will provide this information to FTA via the TEAM-Web 
system for projects that are funded through FTA grants.
    The quarterly reports are due to FTA on the dates noted below:

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------------------------------------------------------------------------
           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 31.  October 31.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to allow FTA to compute aggregate program performance 
measures FTA requires that all recipients of funding for capital 
projects under the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program submit the 
following information as a part of their fourth quarter report:
    [dec222] Annual visitation to the relevant land unit;
    [dec222] annual number of persons who use the alternative 
transportation system (ridership/usage);
    [dec222] an estimate of the number of vehicle trips mitigated based 
on alternative transportation system usage and the typical number of 
passengers per vehicle;
    [dec222] cost per passenger; and,
    [dec222] a note of any special services offered for those systems 
with higher costs per passenger but more amenities.

Oversight

    Recipients of FY 2012 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 8th day of April 2013.
Peter Rogoff,
Administrator.
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[FR Doc. 2013-08653 Filed 4-11-13; 8:45 am]
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