[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 218 (Thursday, November 10, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79090-79091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27158]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


2016 Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of selections of Fiscal Year 2016 MOD Sandbox Program.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit 
Administration (FTA) announced the selection of 11 projects on October 
13, 2016, (see Table 1) to receive $7,931,080 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 
and 2016 funding in support of FTA's Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox 
Program.
    On May 3, 2016, FTA published a Notice of Funding Opportunity 
(NOFO) (81 FR 26621) announcing the availability of $8 Million for the 
2016 MOD Sandbox Program. The MOD Sandbox Program is a new FTA research 
program to demonstrate and evaluate innovative approaches to 
integrating emerging mobility solutions within a public transportation 
framework. The program seeks to support transit agencies and 
communities as they navigate the dynamic, evolving landscape of 
personal mobility and integrated multimodal transportation networks. 
FTA is interested in conducting research on new service options in 
combination with available technologies that enable a traveler-centric 
approach to transportation, and provide better mobility options for 
everyone. FTA's MOD Sandbox Program provides a platform where 
integrated MOD concepts and solutions--supported through local 
partnerships--can be demonstrated in real-world settings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FTA Office of Research, 
Demonstration and Innovation will contact successful applicants 
regarding the next steps in applying for funds (see Table 1). 
Unsuccessful applicants may contact Christina Gikakis, Office of 
Research, Demonstration and Innovation at email address 
[email protected] to arrange a proposal debriefing within 30 days of 
this announcement.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to the MOD Sandbox NOFO, FTA 
received 78 eligible proposals requesting $57,146,181 in Federal funds. 
Project proposals were evaluated based on each applicant's 
responsiveness to the program evaluation criteria published in the 
NOFO. FTA is funding 11 MOD Sandbox projects, as shown in Table 1, for 
a total of $7,931,080.
    Grantees selected for the MOD Sandbox Program should work with the 
FTA Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation (TRI) to complete 
the cooperative agreement applications in FTA's electronic grants 
management system, Transit Award Management System (TrAMS).
    Cooperative agreements must only include eligible activities 
applied for in the original project application. Project partner 
organizations identified as team members or sub-recipients in the 
original project application must be identified and included in the 
grant application in the capacity as originally proposed. Funds must be 
used consistent with the competitive proposal and for the eligible 
purposes established in the NOFO and described in the FTA Circular 
6100.1E. Grantees are reminded that program requirements such as cost 
sharing or local match can be found in the NOFO and that applicants 
must provide the cost-share and source consistent with the selected 
proposal. A discretionary research project identification number has 
been assigned to each project, as shown in Table 1, for tracking 
purposes and must be used in the TrAMS application.
    Projects are eligible for pre-award authority with an effective 
date no earlier than October 13, 2016. Grantees seeking pre-award 
authority must request and receive approval from the TRI Associate 
Administrator through a Letter of No Prejudice. FTA may grant pre-award 
authority to any project under this program so long as all required 
conditions for pre-award authority have been met and the activities 
undertaken in advance of federal funding are contained in the approved 
project plan or statement of work. Post-award reporting requirements 
include submission of the Federal Financial Report and Milestone 
reports in TrAMS as appropriate (FTA Circular 6100.1E and Circular 
5010.1D). The grantees must comply with all applicable Federal 
statutes, regulations, executive orders, FTA circulars, and other 
Federal requirements detailed in the current Master Agreement in 
carrying out the project supported by the FTA research grant. The 
current Master Agreement can be found in the following FTA Grant 
Agreements Web page: https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grantee-resources/sample-fta-agreements/fta-grant-agreements. In addition, FTA 
will issue special conditions for certain MOD Sandbox projects to 
include specific data collection and reporting requirements related to 
compliance areas such as provision of equivalent service under the 
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
    For non-selected applicants, FTA may contact certain MOD Sandbox 
applicant(s) whose proposals were not selected for Sandbox funding, but 
considered meritorious to advance the transit industry's knowledge on 
MOD. FTA encourages all non-selected Sandbox applicants to notify FTA's 
MOD Program Manager, Christina Gikakis, at email address modsandbox@

[[Page 79091]]

dot.gov regarding their intent to proceed without FTA MOD Sandbox 
program funding. FTA may enter into agreements or other arrangements or 
relationships with these non-selected Sandbox applicants to collaborate 
in the format of technical assistance, such as data collection and 
analysis. Such agreements will assist FTA's effort in building a MOD 
Community of Practice (CoP) to maximize learning and opportunities for 
collaboration for all.
    In addition, FTA intends to continue the dialogue with industry 
stakeholders on how FTA can continue to support innovative practices 
and shared-ride, on-demand mobility services. This may be done through 
an upcoming online dialogue to seek public comment on the overall MOD 
Program as it relates to advancing public transportation through the 
provision of flexible mobility choices and innovative business models. 
FTA also intends to issue Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), to further 
explain the eligibility of such services under current transit law and 
FTA's core programs, such as the Urbanized Area and Rural formula 
programs. FTA encourages your comments and questions, which can be 
submitted to [email protected].

Carolyn Flowers,
Acting Administrator.

                              Table 1--2016 MOD Sandbox Program Project Selections
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             State                  Recipient           Discretionary ID         Project title    FTA Allocation
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AZ............................  Regional           D2017-MODD-001              Adaptive Mobility        $669,158
                                 Transportation                                 with Reliability
                                 Authority of                                   and Efficiency
                                 Pima County.                                   (AMORE)--Rita
                                                                                Ranch Area Pilot
                                                                                in Tucson.
AZ............................  Valley Metro       D2017-MODD-002              Mobility Platform       1,001,000
                                 Rail, Inc..
CA............................  City of Palo Alto  D2017-MODD-003; D2017-MODD- Bay Area Fair           1,085,000
                                                    004                         Value Commuting
                                                                                Demonstration.
CA............................  Los Angeles        D2017-MODD-005              Los Angeles             1,350,000
                                 County                                         County and Puget
                                 Metropolitan                                   Sound MOD
                                 Transportation                                 Partnership.
                                 Authority
                                 (Metro).
CA............................  San Francisco Bay  D2017-MODD-006              Integrated                358,000
                                 Area Rapid                                     Carpool to
                                 Transit District                               Transit Access
                                 (BART).                                        Program.
FL............................  Pinellas Suncoast  D2017-MODD-007              Public-Private-           500,000
                                 Transit                                        Partnership for
                                 Authority.                                     Paratransit
                                                                                Mobility on
                                                                                Demand
                                                                                Demonstration
                                                                                (P4-MOD).
IL............................  Chicago Transit    D2017-MODD-008              Integrated Fare           400,000
                                 Authority (CTA).                               Systems--From
                                                                                Transit Fare to
                                                                                Bike Share.
OR............................  Tri-County         D2017-MODD-009              Open Trip Planner         678,000
                                 Metropolitan                                   Share Use
                                 Transportation                                 Mobility (OTP
                                 District of                                    SUM): Open Trip
                                 Oregon.                                        Planner
                                                                                Integration of
                                                                                Transit with
                                                                                Shared-Use
                                                                                Mobility Real-
                                                                                Time and Data
                                                                                Enhancements.
TX............................  Dallas Area Rapid  D2017-MODD-010              MOD Sandbox--The        1,204,000
                                 Transit.                                       First and Last
                                                                                Mile Solution.
VT............................  Vermont Agency of  D2017-MODD-011              Vermont Statewide         480,000
                                 Transportation.                                Transit Trip
                                                                                Planner--Fixed
                                                                                and Flex.
WA............................  Pierce County      D2017-MODD-012              Limited Access            205,922
                                 Public                                         Connections.
                                 Transportation
                                 Benefit Area
                                 Corporation.
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[FR Doc. 2016-27158 Filed 11-9-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-57-P