fta-2012-003-tpm-clnf-synopsis-and-instructions.doc

FTA-2012-003-TPM-CLNF

PROGRAM APPLICATION INSTRUCTION/OPPORTUNITY SYNOPSIS

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

Section 5308 Clean Fuels Grant Program, Augmented with Discretionary Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities Program Funds

ACTION: Notice of Funding Availability for FTA Environmental Sustainability Initiatives, Clean Fuels Grant Program: Solicitation of Project Proposals

FTA will announce final allocations on the FTA website and to subscribers of Section 5308 program update emails at http://www.fta.dot.gov/cleanfuels. Applications must be submitted electronically through the GRANTS.GOV “APPLY” function.

DATES:

Complete proposals for the Clean Fuels Grant program must be submitted by 11:59 pm EDT on April 5, 2012. All proposals must be submitted electronically through the GRANTS.GOV APPLY function. Any agency intending to apply should initiate the process of registering on the GRANTS.GOV site immediately to ensure completion of registration before the submission deadline. Instructions for applying can be found on FTA’s website at http://fta.dot.gov/cleanfuels and in the “FIND” module of GRANTS.GOV.

Award Information:

FTA will make available approximately $51.5 million to fund projects from non-attainment or maintenance areas in achieving or maintaining the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and carbon monoxide (CO). Additionally, FTA is expanding the eligible applicant pool and may fund projects that meet the Clean Fuels Grant Program objectives in attainment areas using a portion of discretionary Bus and Bus Facilities Program resources that are available.

Eligible Applicants:

Designated recipients in maintenance or non-attainment areas for ozone or CO under section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7407(d)), that are entities designated to receive Federal urbanized formula funds under 49 U.S.C. 5307. Tribes, States and Designated Recipients may submit consolidated proposals for projects in non-urbanized areas. FTA will also accept applications from direct recipients, Tribes, and State Departments of Transportation in attainment areas for projects that meet eligibility criteria under the Bus and Bus Facilities Program.

Eligible Projects:

(1) Purchasing or leasing clean fuel buses, including buses that employ a lightweight composite primary structure and vans for use in revenue service;

(2) Constructing or leasing clean fuel bus facilities or electrical recharging facilities and related equipment for such buses; or

(3) Projects relating to clean fuel, biodiesel, hybrid electric, or zero emissions technology buses that exhibit equivalent or superior emissions reductions to existing clean fuel or hybrid electric technologies.

Funds made available under this program cannot be used to fund operating expenses or preventive maintenance; to purchase or lease of non-revenue vehicles; or to reimburse projects that have incurred prior eligible expenses without a Letter of No Prejudice (LONP) issued by FTA for the project before the costs are incurred.

Instructions:

Project proposals must consist of two files: (1) the SF 424 Mandatory form (downloaded from GRANTS.GOV) and (2) the supplemental form. Proposer must use the correct supplemental form and attach it to their submission in GRANTS.GOV to successfully complete the application process. A proposal submission may contain additional supporting documentation as attachments. Mail and fax submissions will not be accepted.

Applicants should receive three e-mail messages from GRANTS.GOV: (1) confirmation of successful transmission to GRANTS.GOV, (2) confirmation of successful validation by GRANTS.GOV and (3) confirmation of successful validation by FTA. If confirmations of successful validation are not received and a notice of failed validation or incomplete materials is received, the applicant must address the reason for the failed validation, as described in the notice, and resubmit before the submission deadline. If making a resubmission for any reason, include all original attachments regardless of which attachments were updated and check the box on the supplemental form indicating this is a resubmission.

Applicants are instructed to initiate the process of registering on Grants.gov immediately to ensure completion of registration prior to the deadline for submission. Please note that the registration process can take a minimum of three to five business days, or as long as four weeks if all steps are not completed in a timely manner.

The instructions below specify how to respond to the fields on the mandatory supplemental form, which can be found on Grants.gov under this announcement.

Submitting an Application in Grants.gov

In the following screenshots, the asterisk and arrow are your visual indicators of where to click based on the instructions above the screenshot.

On the Grants.gov home page, click the Find Grant Opportunities link on the left hand navigation menu

The Find Grants Opportunity screen is displayed. You can search for grant opportunities by clicking on the Basic Search link (arrow) or the Browse by Agency link (asterisk).

If doing a Basic Search enter a keyword(s), a Funding Opportunity number or a CFDA number then click Search. In this situation, we recommend using “FTA-2012” as the Search term

The Search Results page is displayed. All the available opportunities are displayed. Note: You may see more funding opportunities as they become available. Using other search terms may result in opportunity announcements that do not belong to FTA.

To view an opportunity synopsis, click on the name link from the Opportunity Title column shown above.

The “Synopsis” page displays details about the opportunity. To apply for this opportunity applicants are encouraged to first download and complete the Applicant and Proposal Profile form. To download the application package, click the Application link at the top right corner of the Synopsis page to download the Grants.gov mandatory form.

The Selected Grant Applications for Download screen is opened in a new window browser. In the table at the end of the page (shown below), click the download link located in the Instructions and Application column.

The Download Opportunity Instructions and Application screen is displayed. To download the SF424 application click link number 2. Download Application Package.

The Grants.gov Application package downloads an SF-424 which opens as a PDF file.

In the two blue boxes below the Application Filing Name, you must move the SF424 Mandatory Form and the Attachments from the Mandatory Documents to the Mandatory Documents for Submission. Simply highlight each of the forms, then click the Move Form to Complete button (see the arrows).

The Attachments Form you just moved over to the Mandatory Documents for Submission box is located at the end of the SF424. You MUST attach the corresponding Supplemental Form (a.k.a. applicant profile) or your proposal will not be accepted by FTA. For example, if you are applying for a Grant Opportunity for Clean Fuels Program, you must attach the Clean Fuels Program Supplemental form in the Attachments Form section of the SF424. If you do not attach the correct Supplemental form, FTA will mark your submission as invalid and your proposal will not be reviewed by FTA.

In most instances applicants will be submitting two forms: the SF424 Mandatory form required by Grants.gov and attaching the FTA Applicant and Proposal Profile (a.k.a. supplemental form) that will be attached to the SF424 Mandatory form as shown above.

If the supplemental form is not attached or a wrong form is attached your application may be rejected.

Please save all completed documents to a local drive before attempting to upload or submit the application in Grants.gov. If the “Save & Submit” button is not available, first save the completed SF 424 Mandatory form. Once saved, then you may attach the Applicant and Proposal Profile form.

Click the “Check Package for Errors” button to check for required fields that are still blank. The FTA Applicant and Proposal Profile has a similar validation button at the top.

Important tips about Supplemental Forms

· Only attach one supplemental form to the SF424. Submitting more than one supplemental form to an SF424 will only accept the first supplemental form in FTA’s evaluation system (Discretionary Grants System).

· Do not print and attach a scanned version of the supplemental form or your submission will come back as invalid. The Discretionary Grants System (DGS) tool is unable to read the data unless it is saved as a PDF file.

· When attaching files to the SF424 form, file names are allowed a maximum of 50 characters in Grants.gov. Special characters are not allowed.

· All fields on a supplemental form must be filled out, unless instructed otherwise. Leaving fields blank will mark your submission as invalid.

· Use the Validate Form button located at the top right hand corner of the supplemental form to make sure no required fields were left blank.

Download the Applicable Supplemental Form

· Please ensure you download and use appropriate Supplemental Form for the opportunity you are applying for. Forms can be downloaded from Grants.gov and from the FTA website. The following table provides links to supplemental forms and program information on the FTA Public Website:

Bus & Bus Facilities: http://www.fta.dot.gov/grants/13094_3557.html