Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)

The MCSAP is a Federal grant program that provides financial assistance to States to reduce the number and severity of crashes and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved crashes, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant monies in appropriate safety programs increases the likelihood that safety defects, driver deficiencies, and unsafe motor carrier practices are detected and corrected before they become contributing factors to crashes.

The MCSAP also sets forth the conditions for participation by States and local jurisdictions and promotes the adoption and uniform enforcement of safety rules, regulations, and standards compatible with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) and Federal Hazardous Material Regulations (HMRs) for both interstate and intrastate motor carriers and drivers.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets aside MCSAP High Priority (HP) discretionary grant funding for safety initiatives such as State data quality improvement, high visibility Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) and non-CMV traffic enforcement, public information and education, enhancements to State training, HM safety and special research efforts, if not already funded with MCSAP Basic or Incentive funds. Although FMCSA emphasizes the use of funds on innovative State-specific efforts that have a demonstrable potential for nationwide implementation, HP grants are available for local jurisdictions and organizations that represent government agencies.

TACT Proposal
A quality TACT proposal should demonstrate an understanding of the requirements. Although all of the details of how the program will be implemented are not necessarily needed in the initial proposal, the proposal should answer the questions outlined in the Requirements for a TACT Proposal checklist by describing the State's prior experience, available resources and a brief description of how the requirement will be met or if the requirement cannot currently be met.

The Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) Program provides funding to State agencies and Local governments to conduct a demonstration study measuring the effectiveness of a high-visibility enforcement campaign to reduce unsafe driving behavior by drivers of passenger and commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Individuals and business entities are not eligible to apply for funding.

TACT Readiness Grants: TACT Readiness grants are awarded to assist in pre-implementation and planning during the FY prior to program launch. Essentially, these grants are to assist you in conducting the necessary research, consensus building, and evaluation development prior to program launch. Proposals must include plans to implement each of the three program components: Enforcement, Communication, and Evaluation. The recommended TACT Readiness Grant Proposal Outline may be helpful in preparing the proposal.

TACT Implementation Grants: TACT Implementation grants (one for Communications and one for Enforcement/ Evaluation) may be awarded in support of full program launch. A TACT Implementation proposal must address the three program components: Enforcement, Communication, and Evaluation. The recommended TACT Implementation Grant Proposal Outline may be helpful in preparing this type of proposal.

Application and Instructions: Visit Grants.gov for the Fiscal Year 2010 MCSAP High Priority Grant Opportunity page to view or download the TACT program application. Grants.gov is a centralized, online process to find and apply for over 900 grant programs from the 26 federal grant-making agencies. Grants.gov streamlines the process of awarding over $360 billion annually to state and local governments, academia, not-for-profits and other organizations.