The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Office of Public Transit (OPT) is pleased to announce the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2021-2022 Section 5311 call for projects. The total apportionment that will be utilized to maintain Section 5311 rural transit projects in South Carolina is $11.267 million for the Federal Section 5311 and $2.739 million State Mass Transit Funds (SMTF). These funds are allocated to preserve and protect existing general public transportation projects in South Carolina's rural areas. Since OPT's priority is to preserve and maintain ongoing transit projects, OPT will not allocate funding for any expansion of service request unless OPT provided prior approval. The federal amount stated above excludes an amount for state program administration and
Intercity Bus Program
, 5311(f) needs.
The total Federal Section 5311 amounts are made available based on funding authorized under the
Fixing America's Surface Transportation
(FAST) Act and the Further Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-123). The current Federal Section 5311 amounts and full distribution of SMTF (less any scheduled payback) sub-allocated by OPT through the SCDOT Commission's approved formula distribution to existing public transit agencies is provided in Attachment 1 to this document.
In an effort to allow greater flexibility in local budgeting, SCDOT is permitting agencies to program SMTF match in a manner that best benefits agency operations and needs. This does not preclude the need for local match but should assist in improved management of local funding mechanisms. When budgeting available funds, please use the following guidance regarding cost-share:
Administrative: 80% Federal; 20% State/ Local Match
All applications and budget documents
are due to the Office of Public Transit through the
Grant Management System (GMS)
no later than
May 14, 2021.
Budget documents received by the stated due date will be reviewed by SCDOT OPT. The Office of Public Transit will issue contract documents for the project period of performance:
July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022.
OPT will consider formal requests for pre-award authority should subrecipients need to incur eligible expenses or enter into contracts prior to FTA grant award or the execution of the subrecipient agreement.
For further information about this announcement, please contact Ann Solan at
solanam@scdot.org
or Michelle Rayford at
rayfordmd@scdot.org.
Attachment 1:
SCDOT OPT Section 5311 Federal Fund/SMTF Match Sub-Allocation
The following formula sub-allocations represent the maximum amount of federal funds an applicant may apply for under this announcement given available federal and state funds. Sub-allocation amounts were determined as a result of the currently approved SCDOT sub-allocation formula for FTA Section 5311 funds, and are authorized under The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and the Further Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-123).
It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that local matching funds are available to drawdown the suballocated federal and state funds. Entities should not apply for federal funds that they are unable to secure matching funds for during the project period of performance (July 1-June 30).
