DOT Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)

TIGER Grants
(Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery)
Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1.  What are the objectives of the TIGER Discretionary Grants Program?

Answer 1.   The objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”) include preserving and creating jobs and promoting economic recovery, investing in transportation infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits, and assisting those most affected by the current economic downturn.  Title XII of the Recovery Act appropriates $1.5 billion, available through September 30, 2011, for Supplementary Discretionary Grants for a National Surface Transportation System.  These grants are to be awarded on a competitive basis for capital investments in surface transportation projects that will have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area or a region.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) is calling these Supplementary Discretionary Grants for a National Transportation System “TIGER Discretionary Grants” (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery).

Question 2.  When were the criteria for TIGER Discretionary Grants program published, when are applications due, and when will the TIGER Discretionary Grants be awarded?

Answer 2.  The Department considered public comments on the May 18, 2009, interim notice of funding availability and published a revised notice for this program in the Federal Register on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.  The revised notice announces funding availability, project selection criteria, application requirements, and the deadline for submitting applications, which is September 15, 2009.  View the revised Federal Register notice.  The notice requires that applications for TIGER Discretionary Grants be submitted not later than September 15, 2009.  Projects selected for TIGER Discretionary Grants will be announced as soon as possible after September 15, 2009, but not later than February 17, 2010.

Question 3.  Is there an opportunity for interested stakeholders to submit comments on the interim notice of funding availability?

Answer 3.  Because this is a new program, the interim notice of funding availability published in the Federal Register on May 18, 2009, provided two weeks for comments on the proposed selection criteria and guidance for awarding TIGER Discretionary Grants.  The Department took these comments into consideration and published the revised notice of funding availability on June 17, 2009.  The notice is no longer an interim notice, and the Department is no longer considering comments on the proposed selection criteria and guidance for awarding TIGER Discretionary Grants.  The revised notice is the operative notice of funding availability for the TIGER Discretionary Grants program.

Question 4.  Who can receive funds under a TIGER Discretionary Grant?

Answer 4.  Funds under this program will be awarded to State and local governments, including U.S. territories, tribal governments, transit agencies, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), other political subdivisions of State or local governments, and multi-State or multi-jurisdictional applicants.

Question 5.  What type of projects are eligible for TIGER Discretionary Grants?

Answer 5.  The Recovery Act specifies that capital investments in surface transportation projects which are eligible for funding “shall include, but not be limited to”:

• highway or bridge projects eligible under title 23, United States Code, including:

• interstate rehabilitation,
• improvements to the rural collector road system,
• reconstruction of overpasses and interchanges,
• bridge replacements,
• seismic retrofit projects for bridges, and
• road realignments;

• public transportation projects eligible under chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, including investments in projects participating in the New Starts or Small Starts programs that will expedite the completion of those projects and their entry into revenue service;
• passenger and freight rail transportation projects; and
• port infrastructure investments, including projects that connect ports to other modes of transportation and improve the efficiency of freight movement.    

Up to $200 million of the $1.5 billion available for TIGER Discretionary Grants may be used to pay the subsidy and administrative costs of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) credit assistance program if it would further the purposes of the TIGER Discretionary Grants program.  The Department is calling these payments “TIGER TIFIA Payments.”  Given the average subsidy cost of the existing TIFIA portfolio, $200 million in TIGER TIFIA Payments could support approximately $2 billion in Federal credit assistance.  Applicants seeking TIGER TIFIA Payments should apply in accordance with all of the criteria and guidance specified for TIGER Discretionary Grant applicants and will be evaluated concurrently with all other applications.

Question 6.  What criteria will be used to evaluate applications for TIGER Discretionary Grants?

Answer 6.  TIGER Discretionary Grants will be awarded based on the following selection criteria, which incorporate the criteria specified in the Recovery Act:  

(a) Long-Term Outcomes: The Department will give priority to projects that have a significant impact on desirable long-term outcomes for the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region.  The following types of long-term outcomes will be given priority:

(i) State of Good Repair: Improving the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems, with particular emphasis on projects that minimize life-cycle costs.

(ii) Economic Competitiveness: Contributing to the economic competitiveness of the United States over the medium- to long-term.

(iii) Livability: Improving the quality of living and working environments and the experience for people in communities across the United States.

(iv) Sustainability: Improving energy efficiency, reducing dependence on oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and benefitting the environment.

(v) Safety: Improving the safety of U.S. transportation facilities and systems.

(b) Job Creation & Economic Stimulus: Consistent with the purposes of the Recovery Act, the Department will give priority to projects that are expected to quickly create and preserve jobs and stimulate rapid increases in economic activity, particularly jobs and activity that benefit economically distressed areas.

(c) Innovation: The Department will give priority to projects that use innovative strategies to pursue the long-term outcomes outlined above.

(d) Partnership: The Department will give priority to projects that demonstrate strong collaboration among a broad range of participants and/or integration of transportation with other public service efforts.

The Department will use certain program-specific criteria to help differentiate between similar projects (for example, New Starts projects, or bridge replacements).  To the extent two or more similar projects have similar ratings based on the selection criteria the program-specific criteria will be used to assign priority among these projects.

The Department will give more weight to the Long-Term Outcomes and Jobs Creation & Economic Stimulus criteria than to the Innovation and Partnership criteria.  Projects that are unable to demonstrate a likelihood of significant long-term benefits in any of the five long-term outcomes will not proceed in the evaluation process.  For the Jobs Creation & Economic Stimulus criterion, a project that is not ready to proceed quickly is less likely to be successful.

The notice published in the Federal Register provides additional guidance on how the Department will apply the selection criteria. 

Evaluation of Expected Project Costs and Benefits:  The Department believes that benefit cost analysis is an important discipline for surface transportation investment, and applicants are generally required to identify, quantify, and compare the project’s expected benefits and costs, in accordance with the following: 

• This requirement will be waived for applicants seeking waivers of the $20 million minimum grant size requirement. 

• Any applicant seeking a TIGER Discretionary Grant of more than $20 million but less than $100 million must include in its application estimates of the project’s expected benefits in the five long-term outcomes identified above. 

• Any applicant seeking a TIGER Discretionary Grant in excess of $100 million must provide a well-developed analysis of expected benefits and costs, including a calculation of net benefits and a description of input data and methodological standards used for the analysis.  The analysis should indicate the values that were assigned for qualitative measures, in addition to quantitative measures.  Where information on costs and benefits, including consideration of externalities, is of sufficient quality and completeness to allow for a robust assessment of a project’s net benefits and benefit-cost ratio, these analyses should be presented.  The revised notice of funding availability provides additional information about discount rates, the values of time and statistical lives, the social benefits of reducing crash costs, pollutant emissions, and other externalities, and the global benefits of reducing U.S. CO2 emissions.

In all cases, if it is clear to the Department that the total benefits of a project are not reasonably likely to outweigh the project’s costs, the Department will not award a TIGER Discretionary Grant to the project.  Consistent with the broader goals of the Recovery Act and the specific appropriation for the TIGER Discretionary Grants program, the Department can consider some factors that do not readily lend themselves to monetization, including equity, and distributional, geographic and other considerations. 

The Department also encourages applicants with the requisite wherewithal to provide a plan for evaluating the success of the project (or a program of projects) and measuring short- and long-term performance, specifically with respect to the economic recovery measures and long-term outcomes specified in the notice.
  
Question 7.  Is there a maximum and/or minimum grant size for TIGER Discretionary Grants?

Answer 7.  The Recovery Act specifies that TIGER Discretionary Grants may be no less than $20 million and no greater than $300 million.  However, the Department has discretion under the Recovery Act to waive the $20 million minimum grant size requirement for significant projects in smaller cities, regions or States. Applicants for TIGER Discretionary Grants of less than $20 million are encouraged to apply.

Question 8.  Are there any other statutory requirements for the distribution of TIGER Discretionary Grants?

Answer 8.  The Recovery Act specifies the following additional requirements for the distribution of TIGER Discretionary Grants:

• The Secretary shall take measures so as to ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds and an appropriate balance in addressing the needs of urban and rural communities. 
• Not more than 20 percent of the funds available for TIGER Discretionary Grants may be awarded to projects in a single State. 
• The Federal share of the costs for which an expenditure is made may be up to 100 percent, although priority will be given to projects that require a contribution of Federal funds in order to complete an overall financing package.
• Projects receiving funds must comply with Federal wage rate requirements.   

 

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