The U.S. DOT is authorized to award $600 million in TIGER II discretionary grants through Title I of the Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 111-117, Dec. 16, 2009). The grants will provide at least $140 million for projects in rural areas (outside of urbanized areas of 50,000 or more in population), not more than $150 million for subsidies under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, not more than $35 million for planning and design of eligible projects, and not more than $25 million can be retained by the U.S. DOT for administration and oversight.

This appropriation is similar, but not identical to the appropriation for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER discretionary grant program, authorized and implemented pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. U.S. DOT officials said in a TIGER II program summary: “Because of the similarity in program structure and objectives, the DOT is referring to the grants for National Infrastructure Investments under the FY2010 Appropriations Act as ‘TIGER II Discretionary Grants’.”

Grant awards can be made in the range of $10-200 million; however, in rural areas awards may be as small as $1 million. 

At least 20 percent of projects costs must be provided from nonfederal funds; however projects in rural areas may receive up to 100 percent federal funding. Projects can increase their competitiveness by demonstrating significant nonfederal contributions.

States, local governments, transit agencies, ports, metropolitan planning organizations, and Native American tribes, among others, are eligible to apply.

Similar to the TIGER grant program, TIGER II grants will be awarded on a competitive basis. The U.S. DOT will give priority to projects that have a significant impact on desirable long-term outcomes for the nation, a metropolitan area or region.  All surface transportation capital projects are eligible, including highways and bridges, public transit, freight and passenger rail, and ports.

The U.S. DOT announced it will accept preapplications for TIGER II grants received before July 16.  Preapplications will be reviewed by the U.S. DOT to determine whether they meet the three threshold requirements (project is eligible for TIGER II funds; NEPA has been initiated; and local match supports at least 20 percent of costs).  Final applications are due Aug. 23.  The application system is expected to be open by July 30.

Awards may be made no sooner than Sept. 15, 2010. Funds will be available for obligation through Sept. 30, 2012.

Federal Register Notice, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - Notice of Funding Availability

U.S. DOT TIGER II Web site, including frequently asked questions, fact sheet and additional details

Under this program, referred to by the U.S. DOT as Grants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery or TIGER Discretionary Grants, funds will be awarded to state and local governments who submit applications for projects that include, but are not limited to, capital investments in highway or bridge projects, public transportation projects, passenger and freight rail, and port infrastructure investments.

Selection criteria
TIGER Discretionary Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis based on the following selection criteria, which incorporate the criteria specified in the Recovery Act:

(a) Long-term outcomes : The U.S. DOT will give priority to projects that have a significant impact on desirable long-term outcomes for the nation, a metropolitan area or a region. The following types of long-term outcomes will be given priority:
(i) State of good repair : Improving the condition of existing transportation facilities and systems, with particular emphasis on projects that minimize life-cycle costs.
(ii) Economic competitiveness : Contributing to the economic competitiveness of the United States over the medium- to long-term.
(iii) Livability : Improving the quality of living and working environments and the experience for people in communities across the United States.
(iv) Sustainability : Improving energy efficiency, reducing dependence on oil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and benefitting the environment.
(v) Safety : Improving the safety of U.S. transportation facilities and systems.

(b) Job creation and economic stimulus : Consistent with the purposes of the Recovery Act, the U.S. DOT will give priority to projects that are expected to quickly create and preserve jobs and stimulate rapid increases in economic activity, particularly jobs and activity that benefit economically distressed areas.
(c) Innovation: The U.S. DOT will give priority to projects that use innovative strategies to pursue the long-term outcomes outlined above.
(d) Partnership: The U.S. DOT will give priority to projects that demonstrate strong collaboration among a broad range of participants and/or integration of transportation with other public service efforts.

The Federal Register notice provides additional guidance on the selection criteria. The U.S. DOT will give more weight to the “long-term outcomes” and “jobs creation and economic stimulus” criteria than to the “innovation and partnership” criteria. Projects that are unable to demonstrate a likelihood of significant long-term benefits in any of the five long-term outcomes will not proceed in the evaluation process. For the “jobs creation and economic stimulus” criterion, a project that is not ready to proceed quickly is less likely to be successful.

Program-specific criteria
The U.S. DOT will use certain program-specific criteria to help differentiate between similar projects (for example, New Starts projects or bridge replacements). To the extent two or more similar projects have similar ratings based on the selection criteria, the program-specific criteria will be used to assign priority among these projects.

Distribution of funds
The Recovery Act prohibits the award of more than 20 percent of the funds made available under this program to projects in any one state. The Recovery Act also requires that the U.S. DOT take measures to ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds and an appropriate balance in addressing the needs of urban and rural communities.

The Recovery Act also allows for up to $200 million of the $1.5 billion to be used to pay the subsidy and administrative costs of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 (TIFIA) program, a federal credit assistance program, if it would further the purposes of the TIGER Discretionary Grants program. The U.S. DOT refers to these payments as TIGER TIFIA Payments. The U.S. DOT estimates that $200 million of TIGER TIFIA Payments could support approximately $2 billion in TIFIA credit assistance.

Application
Applicants seeking TIGER TIFIA Payments must apply in accordance with all of the criteria and guidance specified for TIGER Discretionary Grant and will be evaluated concurrently with all other applications. Applicants must also submit a separate TIFIA loan application.

Applications for this program were due Sept. 15, 2009, and a funding announcement was made by the U.S. DOT on Feb. 17, 2010. None of the applications submitted by the Iowa DOT were selected for funding.

Project Description	Project Type	Federal Funding Requested
I-29 interstate reconstruction, Segment 3 in Sioux City, Woodbury County	Highway	$34 million
I-74 Mississippi River bridge, Scott County	Highway	$126 million (joint application between Iowa and Illinois)
I-80/Iowa 945 to Iowa 1, Johnson County	Highway	$41.1 million
U.S. 6 (Broadway Viaduct), Pottawattamie County	Highway	$26.4 million
U.S. 30 Tama/Toledo bypass	Highway	$23.8 million
U.S. 34 Missouri River Connector, Mills County	Highway	$143.4 million (joint application between Iowa and Nebraska)
U.S. 61 Fort Madison bypass, Lee County	Highway	$45.5 million
BNSF Burlington Bridge	Rail	$25 million
CRANDIC Interchange Project	Rail	$7 million
IANR Bridge/Rail Rehabilitation	Rail	$19,859,268
UP Clinton Bridge	Rail	$33 million
UP Wind Belt Project	Rail	$24 million

[Note: Information regarding applications submitted directly to the U.S. DOT by local governments or transit agencies in Iowa must be obtained from the respective agencies. The Iowa DOT does not collect that information. According to the U.S. DOT announcement, applications submitted by the City of Dubuque for the Millwork District Multimodal Improvements project ($5,600,000) and Ames Transit Agency for the Ames Intermodal Facility ($8,463,000) were selected for funding.]