State Planning and Research

The Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration administers the State Planning and Research program (CFDA 20.515), which funds statewide multimodal transportation planning, engineering design, and technical studies to support coordinated Federal Transit projects. The program's most recent grant award was disbursed on September 14, 2007 (19 years ago), and no active solicitations are currently posted.

This program is inactive for practical purposes. The portfolio shows 296 total awards spanning 2000 to 2007, with funding concentrated in the mid-2000s: the program awarded 28 grants in 2003, peaking at 73 in 2004, then declining sharply to 5 by 2007. No awards have been made in the past 19 years. Combined federal dollars obligated across the program totaled $232.1 million, with non-federal cost-share contributions adding $50.5 million to reach $282.6 million in total obligation. The Federal Transit Administration is the sole funding agency.

All 296 awards were structured as Formula Grants, the exclusive assistance type. Recent grant examples from 2005–2007 funded planning and technical studies work spanning states from Alaska to Texas. Representative awards include $4.6 million to Tennessee for fuel cell transit bus development (September 2005), $6.7 million to Texas for Section 5303/5304 work program planning (September 2005), $5.4 million to New York for metropolitan and statewide planning funds (August 2005), and $1.7 million to Nebraska for automated vehicle location implementation on a transit fleet (August 2005). Smaller awards supported intelligent transportation systems, advanced battery consortiums, fare collection systems, and multimodal trip planning. Award magnitudes typically ranged from under $100 thousand to several million dollars.

Business development professionals should not pursue this program. The 19-year funding gap and absence of recent solicitations indicate the program is no longer actively awarding grants. No new opportunities have been posted, and there is no indication the program will reopen.