Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council Environmental Review Improvement Fund (ERIF) Funding Program

Providing financial assistance to Tribal governments to facilitate timely and efficient environmental reviews and authorizations of FAST-41 projects.

Federal permitting has historically suffered from inefficiencies and a lack of coordination and collaboration between Federal agencies. In 2015 Congress Enacted Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act and (FAST-41), which created the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council), to help address these infrastructure permitting challenges. Among other things, our agency is charged with bringing agencies across the Federal government together to coordinate and make public and transparent their environmental reviews and permitting activities for certain infrastructure projects, to discuss and resolve permitting challenges, and to establish and share best practices. When a developer intends to build a large infrastructure project, such as an interstate transmission line or large-scale renewable energy project, it frequently must obtain a host of permits and authorizations from Federal, Tribal, state, and local governments, many of which themselves require extensive environmental impact reviews. Many of these permits also require public input to be collected and considered. The Permitting Council works to ensure that Federal environmental review and permitting of certain infrastructure projects is transparent, predictable, and accountable. To that end, the Permitting Council administers the provisions of FAST-41 to ensure that the Federal family of agencies coordinates the entire project review process and provides a publicly-posted, real-time project permitting timetable that reflects the roadmap for and status of the environmental review and authorization process for each FAST-41 covered project. FAST-41 coverage is voluntary, meaning a project sponsor must apply for coverage for its project. The projects that become FAST-41 covered projects are included on the Federal Permitting Dashboard as FAST-41 covered projects. FAST-41 authorizes the Permitting Council Executive Director to transfer funding from the FAST-41 Environmental Review Improvement Fund to state, local, and tribal governments "to facilitate timely and efficient environmental reviews and authorizations" for FAST-41 projects. Accordingly, funded activities must be linked to more timely or efficient environmental review and authorizations of FAST-41 projects.

Requirements will be identified within each funding opportunity.

The authority for assistance is provided in the FAST-41 statute, and limits the purpose of funding transfer to activities that facilitate timely and efficient environmental review and authorization of FAST-41 projects. Specific information on how the assistance may be used can be found in each funding opportunity.

Generally 1-3 years; The terms of assistance will be determined at the time of award.

For information on Tribal assistance provided in collaboration with the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, contact ERIF@fpisc.gov and/or please see the following webpage: https://www.permits.performance.gov/fpisc-content/erif-tribal-assistance-program

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

For competitive awards, the Permitting Council OED will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the competitive announcement. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with OED policies for competing assistance agreements. For non-competitive awards made under this assistance listing, the Permitting Council OED will conduct an evaluation to determine the adequacy of the application in relation to application and program requirements. The Permitting Council OED will then advise the applicant if funding is being considered. A final work plan will then be negotiated with the applicant.

For competitive awards, approximately two to four months after the deadline for application submission. For non-competitive awards made under this assistance listing, approximately one month after submission after the deadline for application submission (if applicable).

Renewals will not be provided under this program. A new application should be prepared and submitted for any current applicable funding opportunities, which will be reviewed as stated in the funding opportunity. Extensions: Project period of performance extensions may be requested and should be requested 6 months prior to the end of the project period of performance. Incremental Funding: Some types of assistance may be incrementally funded. Approval of subsequent funding increments is dependent on satisfactory project progress, continued relevance of the project to the Permitting Council OED priorities, and availability of funds.