CAGTC Members,
As I informed you Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced their awards for the BUILD (formerly TIGER) grant program. A list of recipients and a description of the projects can be found here and attached to this email. A press release, issued by the Department, can be read here.
CAGTC staff went through the awards and analyzed freight’s success: of the $1.5 billion available this round, a record 66 percent of funds went to freight projects or projects with a freight component. This surpasses the previous percentage high of freight awards set by TIGER IX earlier this year, which was 56%. Altogether, freight projects & projects with a strong freight component received approximately $977 million, with $301 million of that going to non-highway focused projects (i.e., freight rail and port projects). This round followed through on USDOT’s stated commitment to make investments in rural infrastructure – around 70 percent of funds went to projects classified as “rural.” Secretary Chao noted that roughly 60% of applications received for this round of BUILD were submitted for projects in rural communities, an increase of 136% over FY17 rural submissions for TIGER IX funds.
During a press event at USDOT on Tuesday, Secretary Chao noted the number of applications doubled in comparison to last year’s TIGER IX; funding for this round of BUILD was tripled over last year’s $500m in available funds for the program, then known as TIGER. This was the largest amount of available funding since TIGER’s first round in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As a reminder, the funding was increased by Congress through a 2-year budget agreement that boosted non-defense appropriations in FY18 & FY19. Despite the increased funding, the BUILD program continues to be oversubscribed: USDOT reports there were 851 applications totaling $10.9 billion. Compared to the 91 projects selected for the $1.5 billion in available funds, that means there were around $7.26 in requests for every $1 available.
As the news cycle has been reporting, Congress and the Administration have been sparring over the FY19 federal funding package, which is required to keep the Federal Government open. Included in that funding package is language for the FY19 BUILD/ TIGER program, which contains far more guidance than what we’ve seen issued by the Congress in relation to the program before – to balance these awards among rural, urban, and non-highway infrastructure needs. The Senate’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill passed on August 1 as part of a minibus package that also contained three other spending bills and included $1 billion for the BUILD program. The Senate’s THUD bill requires that not less than 30 percent of funds go to projects in rural areas while mandating that USDOT use the selection criteria put forth by the Obama Administration in the 2016 TIGER notice of funding opportunity. Additionally, the Senate’s bill would prohibit USDOT from using the non-Federal share of a the project or an applicant’s ability to generate non-Federal revenue as a selection criterion. The House has yet to pass their THUD bill but the legislation, officially introduced in June, includes $750 million for the BUILD program. The House’s bill calls for a balanced distribution of funding between rural and urban areas (mandating $250 million for each) and reserves $250 million for projects within a seaport and for projects on the intermodal connectors serving those seaports. The House’s bill would also prohibit USDOT from using Federal share as a selection criterion.
During Tuesday’s press event at USDOT, the Chairmen and Ranking Members of both the Senate and House THUD appropriations subcommittees spoke about their willingness to work in a bipartisan and bicameral fashion to pass a FY19 THUD funding bill this year, emphasizing their continued support for the BUILD program. However, due to political considerations outside of the THUD bill, there is a possibility that the Federal government will shut down come the expiration of the current continuing resolution on December 21. This throws FY19 funding for USDOT into question. There is speculation that the unfunded Federal departments, including USDOT, could operate under a year-long continuing resolution instead of seeing a FY19 appropriations package.
CAGTC issued a press release noting freight’s success under this round of BUILD and highlighting CAGTC members who successfully received or partnered on projects that received awards. Please find the press release online here.
Thank you and please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions,
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org
(202) 828-9100