Questions and Answers (pdf).PDF

Pre-Proposal Conference Q&A

2025 – 2027 FTA 5310

Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(CLICK TO NAVIGATE)

General Contract

Application / Proposal Process

Funding & Awarding

Technical Assistance

Pre-Proposal Conference Q&A | FY25 & FY27 FTA 5310 NOFA | Click here to view table of contents 2 | P a g e

2025 – 2027 FTA 5310 NOFA

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE Q&A

General Contract

Q If we were to use 5310 funds, would we still be able to apply this funding to people who were 55+ or does it have to be 65+?

Section 5310 funding is restricted to individuals that are over 65 years of age or individuals under 65 with a disability.

Q What’s the difference between mobility management and the trip cost?

Mobility Management or Coordination can be described as the administrative costs, including both personnel and necessary technologies, associated with running a transportation program. The primary focus of Mobility Management is to develop a program as a way to enhance the ability of the transit agency to network and connect with community providers, funders and riders to promote a better understanding of the transportation options available.

The trip costs are those necessary to operate, maintain, and manage a public transportation system.

Operating expenses usually include such costs as driver salaries, fuel, and items having a useful life of less than one year.

Q Are there any examples you could provide of other entities who currently receive 5310 funding and some of the type projects they have implemented?

ARC is unable during this open NOFA period to share specific projects of past recipients. ARC has funded software projects, mobility management and trips that expand the service delivery that meet the needs of seniors and bridge the gap of what is available and what is needed.

Application / Proposal Process

Q When the proposal is written, it will be written for one single year not 3, correct?

Yes, each proposal should be based on a one-year funding amount.

Q For companies who will include subcontractors, what information needs to be included in the proposal regarding the subcontractors? Do we only need to list the subcontractors name or company in the proposal and additional information will be required at contracting?

That information is included in the NOFA. As you complete your budget narrative, you can explain your subcontractor structure in the description of your service delivery. Any additional information needed from subcontractors will be requested upon award notification and gathered during the contracting process.

Q If we did vouchers, would we then use column 2 and [5] in the UCM? Do you not want anything with the OAA funding listed in the UCM at all, correct?

Yes, the mobility cost information listed in column one should be paired with the corresponding trip cost information in column four for the same service (in this case, voucher).

Only the costs you are looking to cover with 5310 funds should be included in the UCM. If there are shared costs being funded with other federal dollars, you should omit those costs from the 5310 UCM to avoid duplication.

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Funding & Awarding

Q How many companies will be awarded?

ARC does not have a pre-designated number of organizations it intends to fund. Rather, awards will be subject to the availability of funding and the evaluation of each submitted proposal.

Q Do we expect that the funding will be available for us to use as of October 1st if we receive the grant?

DHS uses the federal fiscal year for their Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors & Individuals with Disabilities contracts which has a start date of October 1st and end date of September 30th. As soon as ARC is in receipt of their contract with DHS for Section 5310 contract, we in turn, will develop awardee contracts with the same start date.

Q What expenses would be considered Capital expenses and what would be considered

Operations expenses for this NOFA? Please provide examples.

All of the funding available is Capital funding. The local match for funding is 20%. The expenses below are considered expenses under Capital Funding:

• mobility manager staff positions and related program costs,

• Trips (Paratransit, Demand-Response, Fixed/Flex Route Shuttles, etc.) regardless of whether they are voucher run programs with subcontractors

• short range transit planning as long as it is a part of mobility management,

• Coordination of individualized travel training and trip planning activities projects and technology such as scheduling software and hardware.

The following expenses MAY be deemed Capital upon submission to DHS for review and approval:

• demonstration projects and technology such as scheduling software and hardware. planning and operation of coordinated systems inclusive of Geographic information Systems (GIS), global Positioning System Technology, coordinated vehicle scheduling, dispatching, and monitoring technologies.

• technologies to track costs and billing in a coordinated system

• single smart customer payment systems.

Q Can any of the Older American Act funds that ARC allocates to the County for

Transportation be used as local match for projects in this NOFA?

Using federal funds to supplement the match requirement for another federal grant is called federal fund braiding. According to the FTA, Federal funds from other agencies may be used as match for the

Section 5310 Program. All the local match must be provided from sources other than Federal DOT funds. However, local match may be derived from other Federal funds that are eligible to be expended for transportation if relevant criteria are met. Examples include Temporary Assistance to Needy

Families, Medicaid, Employment Training programs, Rehabilitation Services, and Older Americans Act.

To be eligible for local match for FTA funds, the other Federal funds must be used for activities included in the total net project costs of the FTA grant. Expenditure of other Federal funds for transportation outside of the scope of the project cannot be applied as a credit for local match in the FTA grant. When using a federal grant to fulfill the match of another (also known as outgoing fund braiding) you are still expected to fulfill any match requirements of the supplemental grant.

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Technical Assistance

Q Is there a technical support line to call if we are having issues with submitting the proposal through the website?

When your proposal is successfully uploaded to the ARC website, the email associated with the upload will receive confirmation that the proposal has been submitted. If any applicant is having difficulty uploading documents, please reach out to ARC staff for assistance via email at

5310@atlantaregional.org. Late submittals will not be accepted, so do not wait until the last minute to upload your response template.

Q Will applicants receive an automated confirmation after submitting a proposal through the online portal?

Yes, you should receive an email confirmation that your submission has gone through the portal. The button to submit proposals will disappear from the site at 5:00p on the deadline date. Try not to wait until the last minute to submit to account for any possible technical challenges. If you have not received an automatic confirmation, you may email 5310@atlantaregional.org to ask if ARC has received your proposal.

mailto:5310@atlantaregional.org mailto:5310@atlantaregional.org