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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 31 / Thursday, February 18, 2021 / Notices
not be extended due to scheduled website maintenance.
Applicants are encouraged to begin the process of registration on the GRANTS.GOV site well in advance of the submission deadline. Registration is a multi-step process, which may take several weeks to complete before an application can be submitted. Registered applicants may still be required to take steps to keep their registration up to date before submissions can be made successfully: 1 Registration in SAM is renewed annually, and 2 persons making submissions on behalf of the Authorized Organization Representative AOR must be authorized in GRANTS.GOV by the AOR to make submissions.
5. Funding Restrictions Funds under this NOFO cannot be used to reimburse applicants for otherwise eligible expenses incurred prior to FTA award of a grant agreement until FTA has issued pre-award authority for selected projects. Refer to Section C.3., Eligible Projects, for information on activities that are allowable in this grant program.
Allowable direct and indirect expenses must be consistent with the Governmentwide Uniform Administrative Requirements and Cost Principles 2 CFR part 200 and FTA
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6. Other Submission Requirements Applicants are encouraged to identify scaled funding options in case insufficient funding is available to fund a project at the full requested amount.
If an applicant indicates that a project is scalable, the applicant must provide an appropriate minimum funding amount that will fund an eligible project that achieves the objectives of the program and meets all relevant program requirements. The applicant must provide a clear explanation of how the project budget would be affected by a reduced award. FTA may award a lesser amount regardless of whether a scalable option is provided.
All applications must be submitted via the GRANTS.GOV website. FTA
does not accept applications on paper, by fax machine, email, or other means.
For information on application submission requirements, please see Section D.1., Address to Request Application.
E. Application Review Information 1. Criteria Projects will be evaluated primarily on the responses provided in the supplemental form. Additional
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information may be provided to support the responses; however, any additional documentation must be directly referenced on the supplemental form, including the file name where the additional information can be found.
FTA will evaluate proposals for the Low-No Program based on the criteria described in this notice.
If an applicant is proposing to deploy autonomous vehicles or other innovative motor vehicle technology, the application should demonstrate that all vehicles will comply with applicable safety requirements, including those administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA
and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FMCSA. Specifically, the application should show that vehicles acquired for the proposed project will comply with applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards FMVSS and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations FMCSR. If the vehicles may not comply, the application should either 1 show that the vehicles and their proposed operations are within the scope of an exemption or waiver that has already been granted by NHTSA, FMCSA, or both agencies or 2 directly address whether the project will require exemptions or waivers from the FMVSS, FMCSR, or any other regulation and, if the project will require exemptions or waivers, present a plan for obtaining them.
a. Demonstration of Need Since the purpose of this program is to fund vehicles and facilities, applications will be evaluated based on the quality and extent to which they demonstrate how the proposed project will address an unmet need for capital investment in vehicles and/or supporting facilities. For example, an applicant may demonstrate that it requires additional or improved charging or maintenance facilities for low or no emission vehicles, that it intends to replace existing vehicles that have exceeded their minimum useful life, or that it requires additional vehicles to meet current ridership demands.
FTA will consider an applicants responses to the following criteria when assessing the need for capital investment underlying the proposed project:
i. Consistency with Long-Term Fleet Management Plan: As required by Federal public transportation law 49
U.S.C. 5339c5B, all project proposals must demonstrate that they are part of the intended recipients longterm integrated fleet management plan,
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as demonstrated through an existing transit asset management program, fleet procurement plan, or similarly documented program or policy. These plans must be attached to the application. FTA will evaluate the consistency of the proposed project with the applicants long-term fleet management plan, as well as the applicants previous experience with the relevant low or no emissions vehicle technologies.
ii. For low or no emission bus projects replacement and/or or expansion:
Applicants must provide information on the age, condition, and performance of the vehicles to be replaced by the proposed project. Vehicles to be replaced must have met their minimum useful life at the time of project completion. For service expansion requests, applicants must provide information on the proposed service expansion and the benefits for transit riders and the community from the new service. For all vehicle projects, the proposal must address whether the project conforms to FTAs spare ratio guidelines. Low or no emission vehicles funded under this program are not exempted from FTAs standard spare ratio requirements, which apply to and are calculated on the agencys entire fleet.
iii. For bus facility and equipment projects replacement, rehabilitation, and/or expansion: Applicants must provide information on the age and condition of the asset to be rehabilitated or replaced relative to its minimum useful life.
b. Demonstration of Benefits Applicants must demonstrate how the proposed project will support the statutory requirements of the Low-No Program See 49 U.S.C. 5339c5A.
In particular, FTA will consider the quality and extent to which applications demonstrate how the proposed project will: 1 Reduce Energy Consumption;
2 Reduce Harmful Emissions; and 3
Reduce Direct Carbon Emissions.
i. Reduce Energy Consumption:
Applicants must describe how the proposed project will reduce energy consumption. FTA will evaluate applications based on the degree to which the proposed technology reduces energy consumption as compared to more common vehicle propulsion technologies.
ii. Reduce Harmful Emissions:
Applicants must demonstrate how the proposed vehicles or facility will reduce the emission of particulates that create local air pollution, which leads to local environmental health concerns, smog, and unhealthy ozone concentrations.

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