Clean School Bus Program

Title XI, Section 71101 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA or The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or (BIL)), Public Law 117-58 amended section 741 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16091) to authorize the EPA'S Clean School B

School buses in the United States travel more than 4 billion miles each year, providing the safest transportation to and from school for more than 25 million American children every day. The CSB Program will fund the replacement of existing school buses with cleaner buses that result in better air quality on the bus, in bus loading areas, and throughout the communities in which they operate.

Eligible recipient means 1 or more local or State governmental entities responsible for providing school bus service to 1 or more public school systems or the purchase of school buses; an eligible contractor; a nonprofit school transportation association; or an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.5304)), Tribal organization (as defined in that section), or Tribally controlled school (as defined in section 5212 of the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C.2511)) that is responsible for providing school bus service to 1 or more Bureau-funded schools (as defined in section 1141 of the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2021)) or the purchase of school buses. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

Owners of eligible school buses. Both publicly owned fleets and privately owned fleets may benefit, but private fleets may be limited in their ability to apply directly for funds.

Grants, contracts, and rebates can be made available to eligible recipients to replace existing school buses with either clean school buses or zero-emission school buses. A "clean school bus" is a school bus that reduces emissions and is operated entirely or in part using an alternative fuel or is a zero-emission school bus. A "zero-emission school bus" is a school bus that produces zero exhaust emission of any air pollutant and any greenhouse gas. Half of the total funding available annually is dedicated to zero-emission school buses while the other half is for clean school buses.

Assistance agreements may be incrementally (annually) or fully funded.

Intergovernmental Review will only apply to funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. EPA financial assistance programs and activities subject to intergovernmental review that are subject to review under State single point of contact procedures are identified at https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-financial-assistance-programs-subject-executive-order-12372-and-section-204. Applicants for programs or activities subject to Intergovernmental Review that are not subject to State single point of contact review must provide directly affected State, areawide, regional, and local entities at least 60 days to review their application following notification by EPA that the application has been selected for funding as provided by 40 CFR 29.8(a) and (c). Regarding pre-application assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as "Information Contacts" in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this assistance listing will be described in the competitive announcement.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

Approximately 180 days after the closing date of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Extensions are subject to EPA approval.

Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005). Copies of these procedures may also be found at: https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-competition-dispute-resolution-procedures. Disputes relating to matters other than the competitive selection of recipients will be resolved under 2 CFR 1500 Subpart E, as applicable.