If your agency is an American Indian tribal transportation provider, then you are a Tier II provider. TAM requirements for Tier II providers, including tribes, are the same. However, tribes face different circumstances and community needs that will affect how they meet the basic requirements of the TAM rule.

Given the large variation among tribes in resources, operating environments, and preparedness, below are essential resources for tribal providers to assist in complying with the TAM rule requirements.

Getting Started

Tribal agencies must comply with TAM Plan elements 1-4:

1. Asset inventory. A register of capital assets and information about those assets
2. Condition assessment. A rating of the assets' physical state, to be completed for assets an agency has direct capital responsibility for, should be at a level of detail sufficient to monitor and predict performance of inventoried assets
3. Description of decision support tool. An analytic process or tool that (1) assists in capital asset investment prioritization and/or (2) estimates capital needs over time
4. Prioritized list of investments. A prioritized list of projects or programs to manage or improve the state of good repair (SGR) of capital assets.

Group Plan Participation

Tribal agencies may develop their own TAM plans or participate in their state Department of Transportation (DOT)’s group TAM plan. If the tribe only receives 5311(c) funds directly through FTA, then the state DOT is not required to solicit the tribe’s participation in its group plan. However, if the tribe requests to participate, then the state DOT must accept the tribe into its group plan.

In addition, a tribe can choose to develop its own plan, or serve as the sponsor of a tribal group plan that includes other tribal agencies of similar interests and experiences. Unlike traditional group plan sponsors, a tribe can both sponsor and participate in the group plan. The group plan sponsor will submit TAM data, including targets, for group plan participants. Tribes completing their own group plan will report their TAM data and targets on their own.

A tribe’s accountable executive may be the tribal councilman, CEO equivalent, or another senior staff member. This accountable executive approves the TAM plan.

The Group Plan Sponsor Workbook provides further detail on identifying participants and developing group TAM plans.

FAQs

• How do transit providers comply with the TAM rule?
• My agency is the public transportation provider for a tribal government. What are we responsible for under the TAM Rule?
• Who must be a sponsor of a group TAM plan?
• Who is allowed to participate in a group TAM plan?
• Targets
  • What does a high or low performance target value mean?
  • Who needs to approve the TAM Performance Measure targets before we submit them to the MPO?
  • What is the difference between assets in my TAM plan and NTD inventory and targets?

Annual Reporting Requirements

Annual performance targets. You must set targets annually for the performance of your assets and submit those targets to the NTD as part of your annual data submission. Each asset category has its own performance measure by which to set targets:

• Rolling stock:   % of revenue vehicles exceeding ULB
• Equipment:      % of nonrevenue service vehicles exceeding ULB
• Facilities:         % of facilities rated under 3.0 on the TERM scale

NTD asset inventory module (AIM) report. You must develop an inventory of your assets, and you or your group plan sponsor must report the data and other information required to the NTD asset inventory module report annually. Additional data required by NTD includes information used to calculate the TAM metrics.

Narrative report. You or your group plan sponsor must submit an annual narrative report to the National Transit Database that provides a description of any change in the condition of the provider’s transit system from the previous year and describes the progress made during the year to meet the performance targets set in the previous reporting year.

Please see FTA’s 2017 Tribal Transportation Presentation for more information.

Available Resources

Below are some resources that are relevant to small transit systems like many tribal providers. Visit the TAM Resource Table for a full list of available TAM resources, and select the "Tribal" tag to filter. 

Peer Resources

• Alaska DOT:
  • Asset Inventory and Condition Rating Tool
• SARTA (Stark Area Regional Transit Authority, Stark County OH):
  • ODOT Condition Instructions/Sarta Vehicle Assessments
• Union County Public Transit (OR):
  • Inventory from Asset Management Plan

TAM Resources

• TAMPLATE - February 2020
  This tool is designed to assist Tier I and Tier II transit providers and Group Plan Sponsors in developing their TAM Plans.
• TAM Plan Template for Small Providers, V2.2 - February 2020
  This template accompanies FTA 0092 and serves as a guide that small providers may use to model their TAM Plans.
  Kayak Public Transit Asset Management/Maintenance Plan - January 2019
  This case study describes the creation of a plan for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) in Oregon.
• Tribal Reporting Tool [BETA] - September 2018
  This workbook provides tribes with a template for reporting agency information, and completing the required asset inventory, condition assessment, and agency targets.
• Final Rule Small Systems Focus webinar - August 2016
  • Transcript
• Asset Management Guide for Small Providers (FTA 0092) - March 2016 
  This guide is a supplemental resource for small transit service providers that have fewer assets and fewer asset classes to maintain than larger agencies.  

Funding Information

• Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program; Tribal Transit Program
• Tribal Transit Formula Grants - 5311(c)(2)(B)

FTA Tribal Points of Contact

Federal Transit Administration's Regional Tribal Liaisons