Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program NOFO

Description

New versions of the Notice of Funding Opportunity documents have been published on March 13, 2025 and are available under the "Related Documents" tab.  Note that the application portal opening date has been rescheduled to March 18, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. ET. The purpose of this notice is to solicit applications for Rural and Tribal Assistance (RTA) Pilot Program grants. A total of $27 million is available to award for planning and design phase activities for developing transportation projects in rural or tribal communities. Grants will support hiring staff or expert firms to provide technical, legal, or financial assistance to advance transportation projects that would be reasonably expected to be eligible for select Department of Transportation discretionary grant or credit programs. There is no local match required to participate in this program. Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible applicants with an eligible project who meet the merit criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. The application form to apply for Program funding will be available beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on March 18, 2025 on the Program's webpage: https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/RuralandTribalGrants. This is the only place where applications can be submitted and will be accepted. Do not submit applications through grants.gov. A pdf (one each for Single Project and Multi-Community grants) of the application questions is included in the NOFO package available under the "Related Documents" tab of this grants.gov page and is also available on the Program's webpage link above. Two types of grants will be awarded: Single Project grants and Multi-Community grants, which will fund projects in, at minimum, three separate communities submitted under a single application. Single Project grants: $10 million available to award Min. award amount: $200,000 Max. award amount: $750,000 Multi-Community grants: $17 million available to award Min. award amount: $500,000 Max. award amount: $2.25 million $10 million of Program funding is set aside for tribal governments. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early, given the first-come, first-served award process. The application portal will close at 4:59 p.m. ET on April 17, 2025; however, award funding may be committed before this date. ** Section 21205 of Division B of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58) (Rural and Tribal Infrastructure Advancement) creates a pilot program to provide grants to fund financial, technical, and legal assistance to states and rural and tribal communities.

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