Formula Grants for Rural Areas (Rural Transit)

Program overview. CFDA 20.509 — Formula Grants for Rural Areas (Rural Transit) — is a federal assistance listing in the Transportation category, administered by U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The typical award range cataloged on SAM.gov is $200,000 to $10.0 million. The program is currently active in the SAM.gov Assistance Listings database. Eligible applicants include State or Local Government.

Funding opportunities. PlainGrants has indexed 20 Grants.gov opportunity announcements tied to CFDA 20.509. Of those, 0 are currently open for applications and 20 have closed. The largest award ceiling seen across these announcements is $17.0 million. Agencies have projected roughly $148.0 million in total estimated funding across the indexed announcements for this CFDA number. Individual Notice of Funding Opportunity documents on Grants.gov carry the exact deadlines, required forms, and submission instructions.

Next steps. Before applying for CFDA 20.509, confirm your organization has an active SAM.gov registration and a Unique Entity ID (UEI) — these are mandatory for every federal funding instrument. Read the current Notice of Funding Opportunity end-to-end, paying close attention to the cost-share or matching requirement, the evaluation criteria, and the narrative page limits. Many federal grants in this category require audit trails, performance reports, and matching documentation — budget administrative capacity accordingly. For structural help, the guides linked below cover SAM.gov setup, NOFO interpretation, and common rejection reasons.