Clean School Bus (CSB) Rebates Program - FY 2024
| Agency: | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
|---|---|
| Federal FON: | EPA-420-B-24-044 |
| Office: | Office of Transportation and Air Quality Transportation and Climate Division |
| Multipart Grant: | No |
| Next Due: | 01/09/2025 (Application) |
|---|---|
| Solicitation Date: | Unknown |
| Match Required: | No |
| Actual Funds: | Unspecified |
| Range: | $965,000,000 (Max) |
Summary:
The purpose of this program is to subsidize the replacement of existing school buses with cleaner buses that result in better air quality on the bus, in bus loading areas, and throughout the communities in which they operate. This program will provide rebate payments that will subsidize the purchase of zero-emission (ZE) or clean school buses, eligible infrastructure, and other costs, including workforce training.
For the purposes of this program, a school bus is defined as a passenger motor vehicle designed to carry a driver and more than ten passengers that the Secretary of Transportation decides is likely to be used significantly to transport pre-primary, primary, and secondary school students to or from school or an event related to school. Existing school buses to be replaced must meet the following criteria:
- Be vehicle model year 2010 or older diesel-powered school buses that will be scrapped, unless the fleet meets the criteria detailed on page 13 of the NOFA file
- Have a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 10,001 pounds or more
- Be operational at the time of application submission
- Have provided bus service to the public school district for at least three days per week on average during the 2023/2024 school year at the time of application, excluding emergency-related school closures
New replacement buses must meet the following criteria:
- Have a battery-electric, compressed natural gas (CNG), or propane drivetrain
- Be a new vehicle
- Be model year 2023 or newer
- Have a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more
- Be certified to conform with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)
- Be maintained, operated, insured, registered, and charged/fueled according to manufacturer recommendations and state requirements
- Be equipped with an engine certified by the funding agency if powered by propane or CNG
- Serve the school district for at least five years from the date of delivery, unless the award is to an eligible contractor and the contract with the school district ends before the end of the five-year period
- Upon request, be made available for inspection by the funding agency or its authorized representatives for five years from the date of delivery to verify the buses are serving their intended purpose
Refer to page 15 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding eligible types of replacement buses according to existing bus fuel type.
For applicants applying for ZE battery-electric buses, funding may also support EV-related infrastructure installation and equipment from the electrical meter to the charging port of the bus, including charging equipment, design and engineering costs, installation costs, related intelligent equipment and software, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) as well as renewable on-site power generation systems.
Funding may also support the following additional costs:
- Infrastructure labor costs
- Workforce training costs
- Consulting costs
- Delivery costs
- Warranty and service level agreement costs
Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.
This program is related to the funding agency's Clean School Bus Grants Program, known in eCivis Grants Network as US17724.
Last Updated: December 18, 2024
Eligibility Notes:
Eligible applicants are:
- Public school districts, including:
- Local or state governmental entities responsible for providing school bus service to one or more public school systems, or the purchase, lease, license, or contract for service of school buses
- Public charter school districts responsible for the purchase, lease, license, or contract for service of school buses for that charter school
- Regional education service agencies (RESAs) or joint transportation agencies (JTAs) with a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) ID specific to either the RESA or JTA
- Tribal entities responsible for providing school bus service to one or more Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)-funded schools, or the purchase, lease, license, or contract for service of school buses, including:
- Indian tribes
- Tribal organizations
- Tribally controlled schools
- Third parties, including:
- Nonprofit school transportation associations
- For-profit and nonprofit contractors, which generally include school bus dealers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), school bus service providers, and electrification as a service (EaaS) providers
School districts are eligible to apply directly, even if they contract out bus service to a private fleet. For third parties applying on behalf of a school district, the third party will be considered the applicant and will receive funding on behalf of the school district.
Applicants requesting funds for replacement school buses that will serve a school district that meets one or more of the following prioritization criteria will receive preference in the selection process:
- High-need school districts and low-income areas, including:
- School districts listed in the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) School District Estimates for 2022 as having 20 percent or more students living in poverty, as listed online at www.census.gov/data
- Title I-funded school districts and charter school districts not listed in the SAIPE dataset
- Title I-funded large public school districts with more than 35,000 students and/or 45 public schools that do not meet the 20 percent poverty threshold and self-certify their low-income status
- School districts located in the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Rural school districts identified with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) locale code 43-Rural: Remote
- BIA-funded school districts
- School districts that receive basic support payments under Title 20, Section 7703(b)(1) of the U.S. Code for children who reside on Indian land
Refer to the PrioritizedSchoolDistricts file for a list of school districts that qualify under one or more of the prioritization criteria listed above.
Applicants on a previous rebate waitlist must reapply for this program, as applications from previous rounds will not be carried over.
School districts applying directly for funds may only submit one application to replace up to 50 buses. School districts that contract with multiple private fleets may list more than one private fleet in the application. Other eligible applicants may submit multiple applications; however, each application must be for buses serving a different school district. No more than one application may be submitted per NCES ID.
Previous award recipients include:
- Toledo Public Schools (OH)
- Houston Independent School District (TX)
- Mohave Valley Elementary School District 16 (AZ)
- Thomas Built Buses, Inc. (CA)
- Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education (GA)
A database of previous award recipients can be found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.
Eligible Applicants:
Local GovernmentConsortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Private Sector
Schools/School Districts
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:
Applications must be received by 4:00 p.m. ET on January 9, 2025.
Applications must be submitted online at app.epa.gov/csb.
Applications must include:
- Applicant type
- School district information
- Information on the existing buses to be replaced
- Information on the new replacement buses
- Primary and alternate business contact information for the applicant organization
- Supplemental forms:
- School board awareness certification
- School district approval certification (if applicable)
- Utility partnership agreement (if applicable)
The following are required in order to submit an application:
- Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
- SAM (System for Award Management) registration
Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.
Optional webinars will be held for this program as follows:
2024 CSB Program Rebate Program Overview Session:
October 1, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usepa.zoomgov.com
Electric School Bus Familiarization: High Voltage Safety Considerations:
October 1, 2024
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: driveelectric.gov
Joint Office Technical Assistance Webinar Series: Fleet Planning and Route Analysis:
October 8, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usepa.zoomgov.com
Joint Office Technical Assistance Webinar Series: Technical Assistance Overview and Utility Planning:
October 16, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usepa.zoomgov.com
Panel Discussion with CSB Rebate Program Selectees and Electric Utility Providers:
November 7, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usepa.zoomgov.com
2024 CSB Rebate Program Frequently Asked Questions Overview with Live Q&A:
November 18, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usepa.zoomgov.com
Recordings of the October 1, 2024, webinars held for this program can be found online at www.epa.gov.
All eligible applications will be placed in a single ordered list using a random number generator lottery process. The funding agency will select applicants for funding from that list in the following order, working from the highest rank to the lowest rank:
- Clean school bus funding pool
- Clean school bus funding pool: prioritized
- Clean school bus funding pool: non-prioritized
- Zero-emissions funding pool: prioritized
- Zero-emissions funding pool: non-prioritized
Refer to the NOFA file and Application folder for additional application information.
| Match Required: | No |
|---|---|
| Actual Funds: | Unspecified |
| Range: | $965,000,000 (Max) |
Match Notes:
There are no stated matching requirements for this program.
Funding Notes:
Up to $965 million is expected to be available to support rebate awards through this program. The maximum rebate amount will vary according to the bus fuel type, the bus size, and whether the school district to be served by the buses meets one or more of the prioritization criteria for this program, as follows:
- Buses serving school districts that meet one or more prioritization criteria:
- Zero-emission (ZE) Class 7+: awards of up to $325,000
- ZE Class 3-6: awards of up to $245,000
- Compressed natural gas (CNG) Class 7+: awards of up to $45,000
- CNG Class 3-6: awards of up to $30,000
- Propane Class 7+: awards of up to $35,000
- Propane Class 3-6: awards of up to $30,000
- Buses serving school districts that are not prioritized:
- ZE Class 7+: awards of up to $170,000
- ZE Class 3-6: awards of up to $115,000
- CNG Class 7+: awards of up to $30,000
- CNG Class 3-6: awards of up to $20,000
- Propane Class 7+: awards of up to $25,000
- Propane Class 3-6: awards of up to $20,000
The funding agency expects to award approximately 60 percent of the total funding available to prioritized applicants.
Each applicant may request up to 50 buses through this program, regardless of prioritization, bus fuel type, or applicant entity.
Regardless of the replacement bus fuel type or prioritization status, applicants may request up to $20,000 per bus in additional funds for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant replacement buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. Additionally, school districts in Alaska and Hawaii or the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, or third-party entities applying on their behalf, may be awarded up to an additional $20,000 per bus for increased shipping costs if selected for funding.
Award recipients may also be eligible for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits applicable to their bus and infrastructure purchases. Refer to pages 22-23 of the NOFA file for additional information.
Award notifications are expected to be made in May 2025.
Between June 2025 and November 2025, award recipients must submit payment request forms with purchase orders demonstrating that eligible replacement buses and eligible charging infrastructure have been ordered. By May 2027, award recipients must have received replacement buses; installed eligible charging infrastructure; scrapped, sold, or donated existing buses; and submitted close-out forms.
Funds may not be used for:
- Buses and associated infrastructure purchased prior to award notification
- Biofuels as a replacement technology
- Buses that have been converted to a battery-electric, propane, or CNG drivetrain after the first retail sale
- Conversion of a bus to a battery-electric, propane, or CNG drivetrain
- Leased or leased-to-own replacement buses
- Replacement buses manufactured or retrofitted with, or that have otherwise installed, a power unit or other technology that creates air pollution within the school bus, such as an unvented diesel passenger heater
- Replacement buses purchased or otherwise subsidized with other federal funds
- Infrastructure costs associated with work in front of the electric meter
- Level 2 chargers without Energy Star certification, including white-labeled products that are sold as a different brand name than the model that is listed on the Energy Star website
- Direct current (DC) fast chargers without Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) certification
- Alternating current (AC) level 2 chargers without NRTL certification
In 2022, a total of $899,129,000 was distributed via 379 awards through this program. A database of previous award recipients can be found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.
Contacts:
Program Staff
cleanschoolbus@epa.gov
Agency Address
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Contact Notes:
Questions should be emailed to the program staff by 4:00 p.m. ET on November 14, 2024, with "2024 CSB Rebate Question" in the subject line. Questions submitted after this date will be addressed by the funding agency as time allows and may not receive a response prior to the application deadline. A list of questions and answers regarding this program can be found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus, which is anticipated to be updated approximately every two to three weeks during the application period.
Applications must be submitted online at app.epa.gov/csb.
The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.
Files:
NOFA File: US15910_NOFA_FY2024.pdf (2.7 Mb)Application File: US15910_Application_FY2024.zip (1.3 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US15910_PrioritizedSchoolDistricts_FY2024.pdf (2.3 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US15910_Webinar_FY2024.pdf (145.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US15910_WebinarPresentation_FY2024.pdf (1.6 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US15910_Q&A_FY2024.pdf (633.2 Kb)
File Notes:
The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Application folder contains required forms for submission. The PrioritizedSchoolDistricts file contains a list of school districts that qualify under one or more of the prioritization criteria for this program. The Webinar file contains information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The WebinarPresentation file contains the presentation slides for the October 1, 2024, webinar held for this program. The Q&A file contains a list of questions and answers regarding this program. A database of previous award recipients can be found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus. Additional program resources can be found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.
December 18, 2024
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
October 30, 2024
A recording of a second webinar held on October 1, 2024, for this program has been released, and a link to the presentations is available in the Application section.
October 10, 2024
A recording of the October 1, 2024, webinar held for this program has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, presentation slides for the webinar have been released and attached as the WebinarPresentation file. The Eligibility and Application sections have been updated accordingly.
Grant Keywords
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EducationTraining & Vocational Services
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Environment/Natural Resources
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