Tiger II
DOT Information Related to the TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program
DOT is authorized to award $600 million in TIGER II Discretionary Grants pursuant to Title I (Department of Transportation) of the FY 2010 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 111-117, Dec. 16, 2009). This appropriation is similar, but not identical to the appropriation for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or “TIGER Discretionary Grant”, program authorized and implemented pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”). Because of the similarity in program structure and objectives, DOT is referring to the grants for National Infrastructure Investments under the FY 2010 Appropriations Act as “TIGER II Discretionary Grants”. As with the TIGER program, funds for the TIGER II program are to be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area or a region. View a copy of the full Final Notice of Funding Availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question 1. What are the objectives of the TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program?
Answer 1. Title I of the FY 2010 Appropriations Act appropriated $600 million, available through September 30, 2012, for National Infrastructure Investments. This appropriation is similar, but not identical to the appropriation for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or “TIGER Discretionary Grant”, program authorized and implemented pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Recovery Act”). Because of the similarity in program structure, DOT is referring to the grants for National Infrastructure Investments under the FY 2010 Appropriations Act as “TIGER II Discretionary Grants”.
As with the TIGER program, funds for the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program are to be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area or a region.
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Question 2. When were the criteria for the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program announced, when are applications due, and when will the TIGER II Discretionary Grants be awarded?
Answer 2. The criteria for the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program were announced in the final notice of funding availability in the Federal Register. The notice requires that pre-applications must be submitted by July 26, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Final applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by August 23, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. EST. The DOT pre-application system opened on June 23, 2010 to allow prospective applicants to submit pre-applications. Access to the pre-application system is made available through the TIGER II website (www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/tigerii). Subsequently, the Grants.gov “Apply” function will open on July 30, 2010, allowing applicants to submit final applications. Pursuant to the FY 2010 Appropriations Act, DOT will evaluate all applications and announce the projects that have been selected to receive TIGER II Discretionary Grants no sooner than September 15, 2010.
Question 3. Is there an opportunity for interested stakeholders to submit comments on the interim notice of funding availability?
Answer 3. Yes. There is a two-week period provided for the submission of comments. Comments must be submitted by May 7, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. EST. All comments submitted must include the agency name (Office of the Secretary of Transportation) and the docket number DOT-OST-2010-0076. To ensure that your comments are not entered into the docket more than once, please submit comments, identified by the docket number DOT-OST-2010-0076, by only one of the following methods:
Website: The U.S. Government electronic docket site is www.regulations.gov. Go to this Website and follow the instructions for submitting comments into docket number DOT-OST-2010-0076;
Fax: Telefax comments to 202-493-2251;
Mail: Mail your comments to U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M-30, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590; or
Hand Delivery: Bring your comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions for submitting comments: You must include the agency name (Office of the Secretary of Transportation) and Docket number DOT-OST-2010-0076 for this notice at the beginning of your comments. You should submit two copies of your comments if you submit them by mail or courier. For confirmation that the Office of the Secretary of Transportation has received your comments, you must include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, and will be available to Internet users. You may review DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published April 11, 2000, (65 FR 19477), or you may visit www.regulations.gov.
For Pre-Applications and Applications: Pre-applications must be submitted electronically to DOT and applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. Only pre-applications received by DOT and applications received through Grants.gov will be deemed properly filed. Instructions for submitting pre-applications to DOT and applications through Grants.gov are included in Section IX of the interim notice of funding availability.
Question 4. Who can receive funds under the National Infrastructure Investments Discretionary Grant?
Answer 4. “Eligible Applicants” for TIGER II Discretionary Grants are 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 groups applying through a single lead applicant (for multi-jurisdictional groups, each member of the group, including the lead applicant, must be an otherwise eligible applicant as described in this paragraph).
Question 5. What types of projects are eligible for TIGER II Discretionary Grant funding?
Answer 5. Projects that are eligible for TIGER II Discretionary Grants under the FY 2010 Appropriations Act include, but are not limited to:
- highway or bridge projects eligible under title 23, United States Code;
- public transportation projects eligible under chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code;
- passenger and freight rail projects; and
- port infrastructure investments.
Federal wage rate requirements included in subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code, apply to all projects receiving funds.
TIGER II TIFIA Payments
Up to $150 million of the $600 million available for TIGER II 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 II Discretionary Grant program. DOT is referring to these payments as “TIGER II TIFIA Payments.” Based on the subsidy amounts required for projects in the TIFIA program’s existing portfolio, DOT estimates that $150 million of TIGER II TIFIA Payments could support approximately $1.5 billion in TIFIA credit assistance. The amount of budget authority required to support TIFIA credit assistance is calculated on a project-by-project basis. Applicants for TIGER II TIFIA Payments should submit an application pursuant to the notice of funding availability and a separate TIFIA letter of interest, as described in Section VI of the notice.
TIGER II Planning Grants
The FY 2010 Appropriations Act permits DOT to use up to $35 million of the amount available for TIGER II Discretionary Grants for TIGER II Planning Grants. TIGER II Planning Grants may be awarded, like TIGER II Discretionary Grants, to Eligible Applicants, and may be used for activities related to the planning, preparation or design of Eligible Projects, including transportation corridors or regional transportation systems. Applications for planning assistance may be made alone or as part of a TIGER II Discretionary Grant application.
Applicants seeking TIGER II Planning Grants should apply in accordance with all of the application requirements specified in the notice of funding availability for TIGER II Discretionary Grants, unless specified otherwise.
Projects in Rural Areas
The FY 2010 Appropriations Act directs that not less than $140 million of the funds provided for TIGER II Discretionary Grants are to be used for projects in rural areas. DOT is generally defining “rural area” as any area not in an Urbanized Area, as such term is defined by the Census Bureau, and will consider a project to be in a rural area if all or a material portion of a project is located in a rural area. For projects located in rural areas the FY 2010 Appropriation Act does not require matching funds (although the statute does direct DOT to give priority to projects, including projects located in rural areas, for which Federal funding is required to complete an overall financing package that includes non-Federal sources of funds) and the minimum grant size is $1 million.
Question 6. What criteria will be used to evaluate applications for TIGER II Discretionary Grants?
Answer 6. TIGER II Discretionary Grants will be awarded based on two categories of selection criteria, “Primary Selection Criteria” and “Secondary Selection Criteria.”
The Primary Selection Criteria include:
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 long-term outcomes will be given priority:
- State of Good Repair: Improving the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems, with particular emphasis on projects that minimize life-cycle costs.
- Economic Competitiveness: Contributing to the economic competitiveness of the United States over the medium- to long-term.
- Livability: Fostering livable communities through place-based policies and investments that increase transportation choices and access to transportation services for people in communities across the United States.
- Environmental Sustainability: Improving energy efficiency, reducing dependence on oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and benefitting the environment.
- Safety: Improving the safety of U.S. transportation facilities and systems.
Job Creation & Economic Stimulus: While the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program is not a Recovery Act program, job creation and economic stimulus remain a top priority of this Administration; therefore, DOT will give priority (as it did for the TIGER Discretionary Grant program) 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.
The Secondary Selection Criteria include:
Innovation: DOT will give priority to projects that use innovative strategies to pursue the long-term outcomes outlined above.
Partnership: DOT 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 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.
Question 7. Is there a maximum and/or minimum grant size for TIGER II Discretionary Grants?
Answer 7. The FY 2010 Appropriations Act specifies that TIGER II Discretionary Grants may be not less than $10 million and not greater than $200 million. Pursuant to the FY 2010 Appropriations Act, no more than 25 percent of the funds made available for TIGER II Discretionary Grants (or $150 million) may be awarded to projects in a single State.
Question 8. Are there any other statutory requirements for the distribution of TIGER II Discretionary Grants?
Answer 8. FY 2010 Appropriations Act specifies the following additional requirements for the distribution of TIGER II Discretionary Grants:
- The FY 2010 Appropriations Act directs that not less than $140 million of the funds provided for TIGER II Discretionary Grants is to be used for projects located in rural areas.
- TIGER II Discretionary Grants may be used for up to 80 percent of the costs of a project, but priority must be given to projects for which Federal funding is required to complete an overall financing package and projects can increase their competitiveness by demonstrating significant non-Federal contributions. DOT may increase the Federal share above 80 percent only for projects located in rural areas, in which case DOT may fund up to 100 percent of the costs of a project. However, the statutory requirement to give priority to projects that use Federal funds to complete an overall financing package applies to project located in rural areas as well, and projects located in rural areas can increase their competitiveness for purposes of the TIGER II program by demonstrating significant non-Federal financial contributions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information concerning the TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program please contact the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program manager via e-mail at TIGERIIGrants@dot.gov, or call Robert Mariner at 202-366-8914. A TDD is available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing at 202-366-3993. In addition, DOT will regularly post answers to questions and requests for clarifications on the TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program website at www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/TIGERII.
TIGER vs. NII
TIGER II Fact Sheet
