Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
JULY 19, 2017
Subject
SUBJECT: FUNDING AWARD RECOMMENDATION FOR
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION (FTA)
SECTION 5310, SECTION 5316 AND SECTION 5317
GRANT PROGRAM FUNDS
Action
ACTION: APPROVE FUNDING AWARD RECOMMENDATIONS AND RELATED ACTIONS
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
CONSIDER:
A. APPROVING the recommended federal Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program funding awards totaling up to $7,374,066 for Traditional Capital Projects and up to $1,818,271 for Other Capital and Operating Projects, as shown in Attachments A and B, respectively;
B. APPROVING the recommended federal Section 5316 Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) Program funding awards totaling up to $6,278,036 as shown in Attachment C;
C. APPROVING the recommended federal Section 5317 New Freedom funding awards totaling up to $3,254,352, as shown in Attachment D;
D. AMENDING the FY 2018 Budget to add $2,953,505 for the recommended Section 5310 funded projects and $3,000,000 for the recommended Section 5316 JARC Program, once the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awards the grant funds;
E. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or his designee to negotiate and execute pass-through agreements with agencies as sub-recipients approved for funding by FTA;
F. DELEGATING to the CEO or his designee the authority to administratively approve minor changes to the scope of work of previously-approved Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 funding awards;
G. CERTIFYING that the Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 funds are fairly and equitably allocated to eligible sub-recipients and, where feasible, projects are coordinated with transportation services assisted by other federal agencies; and
H. CERTIFYING that all projects recommended for Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 funding are included in the locally-developed 2016-2019 Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan for Los Angeles County (“Coordinated Plan”) that was developed and approved through a process that included participation by seniors and individuals with disabilities, as well as by representatives of public, private, and nonprofit transportation and human service providers and other members of the public.
Issue
ISSUE
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is the Designated Recipient of FTA Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 Program funds in urbanized areas of Los Angeles County. As such, Metro is responsible for fund planning, programming, distribution, management and sub-recipient oversight. In January 2017, the Board approved the competitive FY 2017 solicitation process. Applications were due on April 28, 2017. This report presents the resulting funding recommendations for Board review and approval and summarizes the evaluation process in response to this solicitation.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Program Description
Three funding categories were available to eligible agencies through competitive solicitation. The federal Section 5310 Program provides funds for “traditional” capital or “other” capital and/or operating projects that support the transportation needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities. The competitive grant process also included repurposed federal Section 5316 JARC and Section 5317 New Freedom funds previously-approved for agencies that later indicated they would not implement their projects or did not need their full grant award. The Section 5316 JARC Program seeks to improve access to transportation services to employment and employment-related activities by welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals. The Section 5317 New Freedom Program seeks to reduce barriers to transportation services and expand the mobility options available to people with disabilities, including transportation to and from employment and employment services.
Funding Availability
A total of $9,692,287 in Section 5310 funds were made available through the solicitation process, with specific amounts allocated to the Los Angeles-Long Beach, Santa Clarita and Lancaster-Palmdale Urbanized Areas. The Board also approved a total of $8,013,181 in Section 5316 JARC and $665,305 in Section 5317 New Freedom repurposed funds for the solicitation. However, subsequent to the solicitation’s release, staff was notified that a sub-recipient agency would be returning additional Section 5317 grant funds. Therefore the recommendation proposes to award an additional $2,589,046 in repurposed Section 5317 funds for a total of $3,254,352 in grant awards for that funding category. It is important to note that under MAP-21, the Section 5316 and Section 5317 Programs were repealed, thus no new funding apportionments will be made under these programs. Due to the age of these funds, added eligibility restrictions apply and special conditions may be required for some sub-recipients receiving these grant funds.
Application Process
On February 3, 2017, a notice of funding availability with a link to the Board-approved application package was sent out to over 4,000 potential applicants. Staff also coordinated with the stakeholder group assisting staff on the Board approved Action Plan to address the transportation needs of older adults and people with disabilities to ensure strong awareness of the funding opportunity within the community. The solicitation information was also posted on the Metro website. Metro hosted three informational workshops attended by more than 75 agencies to review program requirements, the Application Package, project evaluation and the selection process. Staff participated in one-on-one meeting requests and fielded over 300 technical inquiries in support of application development. Forty-nine responsive applications requesting over $23 million in federal grants were received by the April 28, 2017 deadline.
Evaluation and Ranking
Three evaluation panels were convened to evaluate applications. The panels were comprised of volunteers representing public transit agencies, the Bus Operations Subcommittee, the Local Transit Systems Subcommittee, the Southern California Association of Governments and private non-profit organizations (Move LA and Communities Actively Living Independent and Free). Metro staff facilitated the panel discussions but did not score applications. The average score of each evaluation panel and corresponding ranking for each project is shown in Attachments A - D. Attachment E contains the Board-approved evaluation criteria applied by panel members in scoring proposals.
Consistent with Board-approved guidelines, funding awards are limited to proposals with a final competitive score of 70-100. Where program funds were undersubscribed and eligibility allowed, Metro applied funds across all grant programs to maximize the number of projects recommended for award. A total of 39 projects are recommended for funding. Nine projects failed to achieve the minimum score required for grant award while one project achieved the minimum score however insufficient funds are available in the grant category. Preliminary funding recommendations were distributed to proposing agencies on May 26, 2017.
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Appeals
On June 7, 2017, TAC heard applicant appeals from three agencies. Two agencies, Logan Marsh Neal Care Foundation and Administrative Services Co-operative, did not score within the competitive range. The third agency, Good Samaritan Hospital, presented to TAC to support their preliminary fund award. After hearing the presentations, TAC approved a motion supporting the preliminary funding recommendation and recommended that the City of Alhambra be offered a partial award with the remaining unallocated Section 5310 balance for the LA-Long Beach UZA.
Administrative Scope Changes
Grant sub-recipients may request to re-scope their project(s) from what was approved by the Board. The proposed recommendation will delegate to the CEO or his designee the authority to administratively approve minor changes to the scope of work. Minor changes include those which meet all the following criteria: 1) The scope change is consistent with the defined project limits as approved by the Board; 2) the scope of work, as modified, continues to meet the original intent of the approved project scope; 3) to the extent that the scope change results in a reduced total project cost, the new total project cost shall be within 15% of the original total project cost; and 4) the parties shall maintain the original grant to grantee funding commitment ratio (for example, if the grantee originally committed 20% of the total project cost and Metro committed 80%, those percentages shall apply to the new total project cost).
Determination_Of_Safety_Impact
DETERMINATION OF SAFETY IMPACT
Approval of the recommendation will have no impact on safety.
Financial_Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The FY18 budget includes a total of $11,442,929 for the federal Sections 5310, 5316 and 5317 Programs in Cost Center 0441, Subsidies to Others, under Projects 500005 (Seniors and Disabilities - S5310), 500003 (JARC Program Capital and Ops) and 500004 (New Freedom Capital and Operating). The proposed action will add $5,953,505 to the FY18 budget, with $2,953,505 for the Federal Section 5310 Program and $3,000,000 for the JARC Program once the FTA awards the grants.
Since these are multi-year projects, the cost center manager and the Chief Planning Officer will be responsible for budgeting project expenses in future years.
Impact to Budget
The sources of funds for these Programs are Federal Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317, which are not eligible for Metro’s bus and rail operating and capital budgets
Alternatives_Considered
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
The Board may choose not to approve all or some of the recommended actions. Staff does not recommend this alternative because, without Board approval, Metro cannot fulfill its responsibilities as the Designated Recipient of Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 Program funds and the projects recommended for funding awards in Attachments A through D would not be implemented. Without Board approval, Metro also could risk losing approximately $7 million in Section 5310 Program funds that will lapse if not obligated through FTA grant approval by September 30, 2018.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
With Board approval, staff will send a notification of final funding award to each project sponsor and will submit Section 5310, Section 5316 and Section 5317 grant applications or grant revisions to FTA on their behalf. Once the FTA awards the grants, staff will develop and execute grant pass-through agreements with those agencies as sub-recipients and amend the FY 2018 Budget as required. As the Designated Recipient for these funds, staff will work to ensure that sub-recipients comply with all federal rules, regulations and requirements. At the conclusion of this programming cycle, there were remaining balances in Section 5316 funds (approx. $1.7 million) and Section 5310 fund apportionments for the Lancaster-Palmdale UZA (approx. $357,000) and Santa Clariata UZA (approx. $129,000). Appropriate steps to further program these balances will be pursued and reported to the Board.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Section 5310 Traditional Capital Project Funding Recommendations
Attachment B - Section 5310 Other Capital and Operating Project Funding Recommendations
Attachment C - Section 5316 Capital and Operating Project Funding Recommendations
Attachment D - Section 5317 Capital and Operating Project Funding Recommendations
Attachment E - FY 2017 Section 5310, 5316, 5317 Solicitation for Proposals Evaluation Criteria
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Jami Carrington, Senior Manager, Transportation Planning, (213) 922-7364
Cosette Stark, Interim EO, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 922-2822
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Therese W. McMillan, Chief Planning Officer, (213) 922-7077
