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Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program (Part A): Planning Grants - FY 2024-2026

Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation
CFDA: 20.205
Federal FON: 693JJ325NF00008
Office: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Multipart Grant: Yes
Next Due: 02/24/2025 (Multiple)
Solicitation Date: 10/25/2024
   
Match Required: No
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $86,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $100,000 (Min)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to plan for and strengthen surface transportation to be more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, heat waves, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters. Funding will support projects that address the climate crisis by improving the resilience of the surface transportation system, including highways, public transportation, ports, and intercity passenger rail. By funding projects that improve resilience to natural hazards and climate change impacts, this program is intended to reduce damage and disruption to the transportation system, improve the safety of the traveling public, and improve equity by addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities that are often the most vulnerable to hazards.

Projects selected under this program should be grounded in the best available scientific understanding of climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities, and should support the continued operation or rapid recovery of crucial local, regional, or national surface transportation facilities. In addition, selected projects should utilize innovative and collaborative approaches to risk reduction, including the use of natural infrastructure or the construction or modification of storm surge, flood protection, or aquatic ecosystem restoration elements functionally connected to a transportation improvement, such as:

  • Increasing marsh health and total area adjacent to a highway right-of-way to promote additional flood storage
  • Upgrades to and installation of culverts designed to withstand 100-year flood events
  • Upgrades to and installation of tide gates to protect highways
  • Upgrades to and installation of flood gates to protect tunnel entrances

Funds may be awarded only for the following facilities:

  • Highways
  • Public transportation facilities
  • Facilities or services for intercity rail passenger transportation
  • Port facilities, including facilities that connect a port to other modes of transportation, improve the efficiency of evacuations and disaster relief, or aid transportation

Transportation infrastructure should not be built in floodplain areas if it can be avoided. If it cannot be avoided, then the transportation infrastructure should be built to minimize impacts to floodplain functions as well as built to protect transportation safety.

Funding will be provided for the following program components:

  • (Part A): Planning Grants
  • (Part B): Resilience Improvement Grants
  • (Part C): Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants
  • (Part D): At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants

The purpose of the Planning Grants component is to support the development of resilience improvement plans for states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs); resilience planning, predesign, design, or the development of data tools to stimulate transportation disruption scenarios, including vulnerability assessments; technical capacity building to facilitate the ability of the eligible entity to asses the vulnerabilities of its surface transportation assets and community response strategies under current conditions and a range of potential future conditions; and evaluation planning and preparation.

Eligible project costs include development phase activities, including planning, feasibility analysis, revenue forecasting, environmental review, preliminary engineering and design work, other preconstruction activities, and other activities consistent with carrying out an eligible planning project.

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.

Last Updated: December 05, 2024

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • States, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, or political subdivisions of a state
  • Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)
  • Units of local government
  • Special purpose districts or public authorities with a transportation function, including port authorities
  • Indian tribes
  • Federal land management agencies that apply jointly with a state or group of states

Multistate or multijurisdictional groups of eligible applicants may submit a joint application; however, one applicant must be identified as the lead applicant and primary point of contact.

Applicants may submit multiple applications to this program. If their projects meet the eligibility criteria for multiple components of this program, applicants may also use one application to submit the same project for multiple components; however, the funding agency reserves the discretion to determine from which component to make an award for a project, including a component for which the applicant did not apply.

Applicants to the FY 2022/2023 application period of this program, including those that were awarded funds, may apply for funding in the FY 2024/2025 and/or FY 2026 application periods; however, applications from the FY 2022/2023 application period will not be carried over. Similarly, applications from the FY 2024/2025 application period will not be carried over to the FY 2026 application period.

Applications for projects that previously received funding through this program may seek additional funding for the projects, and applications that receive an award under the FY 2024/2025 application period may seek additional funding under the FY 2026 application period; however, additional funding will not be provided for the same scope of work that was previously funded. Applications for projects that previously received funding will need to clearly identify the phase and deliverables of the project for which it is seeking additional funding.

Previous award recipients include:

  • Harris County (TX)
  • Skagit Council of Governments (WA)
  • California Department of Transportation (CA)
  • County of Orange (FL)
  • Atlanta Regional Commission (GA)

Refer to the Award file for additional information on previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Other
State Government
Application Notes:

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on the following deadlines:

  • FY 2024/2025: February 24, 2025
  • FY 2026: applications will be accepted beginning on October 27, 2025, and must be submitted by February 24, 2026

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424A or SF 424C (as applicable)
  • SF 424B or SF 424D (as applicable)
  • Grants.gov lobbying form
  • SF LLL
  • Project narrative (25 pages max)
  • Appendices to the project narrative (if applicable)

The funding agency recommends that the project narrative be prepared with standard formatting preferences, such as single-spaced pages with one-inch margins using a standard 12-point font such as Times New Roman. If possible, website links to supporting documentation should be provided rather than copies of these supporting materials.

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:

How to Apply:
November 7, 2024
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usdot.zoomgov.com

How to Apply (Tribal Applicants):
November 12, 2024
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usdot.zoomgov.com

Benefit/Cost Analysis:
November 18, 2024
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
Registration: usdot.zoomgov.com

How to Apply:
November 19, 2024
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
Registration: usdot.zoomgov.com

The content presented in all three "How to Apply" webinars will be the same, and applicants are encouraged to choose only one to attend.

Recordings of this webinars held for this program are available online at www.fhwa.dot.gov.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Program alignment
  • Planning activity approach
  • Schedule and budget
  • Public engagement, partnerships, and collaboration
  • Innovation

Refer to the NOFA file and AppTemplate folder for additional application information.

Match Required: No
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $86,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $100,000 (Min)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this component.

Funding Notes:

Up to $876 million is available for this program overall, with up to $86 million available to support awards of at least $100,000 through this component. There is no maximum award size, and the funding agency reserves the discretion to consider award sizes below the requested minimum. Applicants seeking an award amount that is less than $100,000 should include a justification for the requested amount.

For the FY 2024/2025 application period, up to $576 million, including up to $16 million in unawarded FY 2023 funds, is available for this program overall, with up to approximately $56 million available to support awards through this component. For the FY 2026 application period, up to $300 million is available for this program overall, with up to approximately $30 million available to support awards through this component.

Of the total funding available for this program overall:

  • No less than 25 percent will be awarded to projects located in areas that are outside an urban area with a population over 200,000
  • No less than 2 percent will be awarded to Indian tribes
  • No more than 25 percent will be awarded for a facility or service for intercity rail passenger transportation

Funds will be provided on a reimbursement basis.

If the successful applicant is a state department of transportation (DOT) or a state DOT will serve as a pass-through entity to a non-state DOT entity, funds will be awarded upon the execution of a project agreement, which is a type of award agreement for administration of funds to a state DOT in the Fiscal Management Information System (FMIS). The period of performance will begin on the date the project agreement is approved in FMIS and end on the project end date in FMIS.

If the successful applicant is a non-state DOT, funds will be awarded upon the execution of an award agreement. The period of performance will begin on the date the award agreement is executed by the funding agency and end according to the period of performance listed in the award agreement.

The funding agency intends to announce award recipients for the FY 2024/2025 application period prior to the beginning of the application period for FY 2026 funds.

Selected projects will be funded with either FY 2023, FY 2024, FY 2025, or FY 2026 funds. For FY 2024 and FY 2025 funds jointly awarded for the first application period, FY 2024 funds are expected to be obligated before FY 2025 funds. FY 2023 funds must be obligated by September 30, 2026; FY 2024 funds must be obligated by September 30, 2027; FY 2025 funds must be obligated by September 30, 2028; and FY 2026 funds must be obligated by September 30, 2026. FY 2026 funds may not be obligated before October 1, 2025.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Pre-award costs
  • Supporting or opposing union organizing, whether directly or as an offset for other funds

For FY 2022/2023, a total of nearly $830 million was distributed through this program overall, of which approximately $45 million was distributed via 26 awards ranging from $142,500 to $9,635,733 through this component. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Primary Contact:

Vincent C. Speaks
Agreement Specialist
(202) 366-7799
PROTECTdiscretionary@dot.gov

Alternate Contact:

Ryan Buck
Agreement Officer/Team Leader
(202) 366-4229
PROTECTdiscretionary@dot.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20590

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the appropriate program contact. Questions submitted via email are preferred.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US18140A_NOFA_FY2024-26.pdf (596.8 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18140A_AppTemplate_FY2024-26.zip (81.8 Kb)
Award File: US18140A_Award_FY2024-26.pdf (492.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18140A_Webinar_FY2024-26.pdf (121.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18140A_WebinarPresentation_FY2024-26.zip (3.2 Mb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The AppTemplate folder contains templates applicants are encouraged to use to assist in structuring the project narrative and to ensure all appropriate information is included in the project narrative. The Webinar file contains information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The WebinarPresentation folder contains slides from the webinars held for this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients.

December 6, 2024
A recording of an additional webinar for this program has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, slides from the additional webinar held for this program have been released and appended to the WebinarPresentation folder as the WebinarPresentation3 file.

November 27, 2024
Recordings of the webinars for this program have been released, and a link to the presentations is available in the Application section. In addition, slides from the webinars held for this program have been released and appended to the WebinarPresentation folder as the WebinarPresentation1 and WebinarPresentation2 files.

Grant Keywords
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Grant Categories
Community Development
Disaster Preparedness
Transportation