Low or No Emission and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Programs FY2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity

Grant Program:
Low or No Emission Grant Program
Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program

Details: 2/8/2024. Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): Solicitation of Project Proposals for the 5339(c) Low or No Emission Grant Program and 5339(b) Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $1,103,963,762 in competitive grants under the Low or No Emission Grant Program (Low-No Program) and $390,045,823 under the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program (Buses and Bus Facilities Program). FTA is joining these two grant opportunities in one NOFO, and applicants are welcome to apply to either program or both (see instructions below). Synopses and full announcement are posted on Grants.Gov as opportunity FTA-2024-003-TPM-LWNO for Low-No applications and FTA-2024-004-TPM-BUS for Buses and Bus Facilities applications. Proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.Gov website by 11:59 PM Eastern Time 04/25/2024.

Summary: The purpose of the Low-No Program is to support the transition of the nation’s transit fleet to the lowest polluting and most energy efficient transit vehicles. The Low-No Program provides funding to state and local governmental authorities for the purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, including acquisition, construction, and leasing of required supporting facilities.

The purpose of the Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program is to assist in the financing of buses and bus facilities capital projects, including replacing, rehabilitating, purchasing or leasing buses or related equipment, and rehabilitating, purchasing, constructing or leasing bus-related facilities.

Additionally, recipients are permitted to use up to 0.5 percent of their requested grant award for workforce development activities eligible under federal public transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5314(b)) and an additional 0.5 percent for costs associated with training at the National Transit Institute. For applicants proposing projects related to zero-emission vehicles for either program, 5 percent of the requested federal award must be used for workforce development activities.

The funding opportunity will advance FTA’s priorities of strengthening U.S. bus manufacturing, containing vehicle costs, and accelerating the delivery of new vehicles.

• Progress and advance payments - The NOFO encourages potential grantees to commit to using contract terms that provide vehicle manufacturers funding earlier through progress payments or advance payments.  This will help improve the health of the bus manufacturing sector.
• Standard Vehicles - The NOFO also encourages potential grantees to consider strategies, such as reducing the level of customization in buses, to alleviate tightening market conditions in the bus manufacturing sector. By using more standard bus models, transit agencies can lessen manufacturing timelines, reduce costs, and procure new fleets quicker.
  • Partnering - Agencies that partner with a bus manufacturer on their applications and commit to using a standard vehicle model without customizations will receive priority consideration. The application must include a letter from the bus manufacturer certifying the applicant will procure their standard model bus.

This funding opportunity also introduces streamlined application requirements for tribes requesting less than $1 million, making it easier for tribes with relatively small requests to apply for Federal funds to purchase or lease buses and construct bus facilities.

Eligible Applicants: The Low-No Program provides funds to designated recipients of FTA grants, including states, local governmental authorities, and Indian Tribes.

The Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program provides funds to designated recipients that allocate funds to fixed-route bus operators, states, or local governmental authorities that operate fixed- route bus service, and Indian tribes.

Link and Instructions for attaching the supplemental form to the SF-424: All applicants must complete the supplemental form and attach it to their submission in Grants.Gov.

An applicant may submit a low or no emissions project to both the Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program and the Low-No Program or submit the project only to the Low-No Program or only to the Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program. Please note if submitting to both programs, a separate application package must be submitted to each opportunity ID for the respective program listed on Grants.Gov.

Dates: Applicants must submit proposals electronically by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 4/25/2024. Any agency intending to apply should initiate the process of registering on the Grants.Gov site immediately to ensure completion of registration before the submission deadline.

FTA hosted two webinars to provide an overview of the programs, eligibility, evaluation criteria, selection considerations, and the submission process. View the presentation or watch one of the recordings below.

• February 22, 2024 general webinar for all applicants (Passcode: t0fTrr@+)
• March 5, 2024 webinar including Q&A session focused on rural and tribal applicants (Passcode: G@7x85vL)

For Further Information Contact: For further information concerning this notice, please contact the Low-No/Bus grant program staff via e-mail at ftalownobusnofo@dot.gov or call Kirsten Wiard-Bauer, Office of Program Management, 202-366-7052.