Details
Notice of Funding Opportunity for Low and No-Emission Component Assessment Program (LoNo-CAP). The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of $3 million of fiscal year (FY) 2016 funding for qualified institutions of higher education to conduct testing, evaluation, and analysis of low or no emission (LoNo) components intended for use in LoNo transit buses used to provide public transportation. FTA is authorized by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to pay 50 percent of the established assessment fees, up to $3 million annually. The FAST Act authorizes a total of $15 million at $3 million per year starting in FY 2016 through FY2020 to carry out the Low and No Emission Component Assessment Program (LoNo-CAP). Funds awarded under the LoNo-CAP program will be used to reimburse the cost of assessing eligible LoNo components. FTA intends to competitively select at least one qualified institution of higher education to evaluate and report on LoNo components. Subject to future appropriations, the selected institution(s) will be eligible for a combined total of up to $3 million of LoNo-CAP funding per year from FY16-FY20, without further competition. Synopses and the full announcement with additional details are posted on Grants.gov as opportunity FTA-2016-008-TRI-LoNoCAP. Proposals must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov by midnight Eastern Time on November 28, 2016.
Summary: Since 2014, FTA has provided over $100 million in competitive funds to support the introduction of low and no emission transit buses into transit system fleets. LoNo-CAP will directly support the mission of FTA’s ongoing LoNo programs by providing unbiased assessments of LoNo components used in transit buses, publishing the assessments online, and summarizing them in an annual report to Congress. LoNo component assessments will document (at a minimum) the maintainability, reliability, performance, structural integrity, efficiency, and noise of the tested components.
LoNo-CAP differs from the Bus Testing Program (Section 5318) in that LoNo-CAP testing is voluntary; it will only test components, and it will not assign passing or failing scores. The LoNo component testing performed under LoNo-CAP complements the Section 5318 Bus Testing Program, under which FTA will continue to test complete buses as a condition of eligibility for FTA grant funding.
For the purpose of LoNo-CAP, the term “low or no emission component” means an item that is separately installed in and removable from a low or no emission transit bus. The components to be tested under LoNo-CAP should enable or significantly support low or zero emissions transit bus operation.
Eligible Applicants: As specified in Section 5312(h), FTA will consider proposals only from “institutions of higher education” as defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). Eligible institution(s) of higher education must have capacity to carry out transportation-related advanced component testing and evaluation, with laboratories capable of testing and evaluation, and direct access to or a partnership with a testing facility capable of emulating real-world circumstances in order to test low or no emission components. FTA may select one institution that is able to test all LoNo components, or it may select a small number of individual institutions, or a consortium of complementary institutions, each specializing in testing different LoNo components. The facility operated and maintained under the Section 5318 FTA Bus Testing Program is not eligible for LoNo-CAP.
Link and Instructions for attaching the supplemental form to the SF-424: All applicants must complete the supplemental form specific to the Low and No-Emission Component Assessment Program (LoNo-CAP) and attach it to their submission in Grants.gov. Applicants should refer to the NOFO for further information about required application contents.
Dates: An applicant must submit a proposal electronically by midnight Eastern Time on November 28, 2016. Any agency intending to apply should initiate the process of registering on Grants.gov immediately to ensure completion of registration before the submission deadline.
For Further Information Contact: Please send any questions on this notice to LoNo-CAP@dot.gov or contact Marcel Belanger, LoNo-CAP Program Manager, Office of Research, Demonstration, and Innovation (TRI), (202) 366-0725.