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Yes. An SS4A grant recipient may establish an arrangement with a State DOT or another State or local governmental entity to administer an SS4A grant so long as that arrangement complies with State and local law. Under 2 CFR § 200.331, the recipient must determine whether such arrangement is contractual, such as an interagency agreement, or a subgrant. As provided at 2 CFR § 200.300(b), the recipient is responsible for compliance with all Federal requirements applicable to the award. States will not have direct funding relationships with USDOT.
No. Implementation Grant applications can include a funding request to complete necessary analyses for NEPA and other environmental laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, NHPA, as part of an Implementation Grant under eligible activity (B) project and strategy-specific planning, design, and development activities. The NEPA and NHPA processes must be complete prior to funds being released for construction.
Being “in progress” means that an SS4A grant recipient's jurisdiction has already started the process of completing the various Action Plan components found in Table 1 of the FY25 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) linked below (e.g., gathering and analyzing safety data, performing public outreach, etc.). Action Plan Grant award recipients who intend to establish grant agreements would have plans that qualify as “being in progress,” as well as communities that are developing Action Plans that meet the SS4A components but are being created without SS4A funding. Given that eligible demonstration activities and supplemental planning efforts must ultimately inform an Action Plan, FHWA will consider funding requests for demonstration or supplemental planning activities only from applicants who already have an existing plan or are working to develop a safety Action Plan.
A local match of no less than 20 percent of the total project cost is required for all SS4A grant funds. Local match may include both cash as well as in-kind contributions. Details on cost-sharing and match can be found in 2 CFR § 200.306. Further guidance, illustrative examples, and guidance about how to calculate match can be found in the SS4A Match and Cost Share Examples Fact Sheet.
Potential applicants can visit the U.S. Department of Transportation website for additional information related to pre-award activities, including information about eligibility.
SS4A grant recipients should reach out to their designated SS4A POC and let them know of any changes. If you don’t know who your POC is, please send an email with your award year, recipient entity name and/or grant title to the SS4A team at SS4A.FHWA@dot.gov.
SS4A grant recipients are assigned a primary SS4A point of contact (POC) throughout the SS4A grant program and can reach out to them at any time. If a recipient doesn't know who their POC is, please send an email with recipient entity name and/or grant title to the SS4A team at SS4A.FHWA@dot.gov. If an SS4A grant recipient is interested in being added to the Community of Practice (CoP) mailing list, please contact SS4A.FHWA@dot.gov. Finally, if an SS4A grant recipient doesn't know where to start, please reach out to SS4A.FHWA@dot.gov for help.
Welcome! Use the Grant Recipient Roadmap to find key information and resources for each grant step. This Roadmap provides a high-level overview of the four SS4A program steps: Onboarding, grant agreement execution, grant administration and reporting, and project closeout. Specifically, the overview includes the timing, activities, requirements, and outcomes of each step.
Infrastructure projects and demonstration activities are subject to the Build America, Buy America Act (Pub. L. No 117–58, div. G §§ 70901–70927) as clarified in OMB Memorandum M-22-11.31. Additional information on construction materials requirements can be found at the FHWA Construction Program Guide webpage. The Department does not expect to provide waivers related to domestic preference requirements for demonstration activities focused on piloting technologies.
SS4A grant recipients are subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental laws. Project sponsors must conduct the applicable environmental studies to identify the project impacts along with any required mitigation. NEPA and environmental resource subject-matter experts should develop materials that identify and evaluate impacts to human and natural resources including the following: Low income/minority communities, Historic properties, Park and recreation lands, Wildlife and waterfowl refuges, Wetlands, and Threatened and endangered species and their habitats. Project sponsors should also assess the need to obtain new rights-of-way and evaluate those impacts. If the project sponsor lacks staff with the specific skills, knowledge, and experience to conduct environmental studies, they are obliged to engage staff expertise at their State Departments of Transportation or fund consultants/contractors. Hiring consultants/contractors to directly support the execution of the grant award and its activities is considered an eligible cost under the grant. For demonstration activities that involve feasibility studies using quick-build strategies, the Department expects most quick-build activities to receive a Categorical Exclusion designation. FHWA’s Overview of NEPA as Applied to Transportation Projects - Environment - Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies provides training materials and resources that will help applicants better understand the requirements of NEPA and other federal laws and requirements for projects administered by FHWA.