Zero Emission Research Opportunity (ZERO) | FTA 2017 001 TRI

Opportunity Information: Apply for FTA 2017 001 TRI

The Zero Emission Research Opportunity (ZERO) is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration (FTA), focused on speeding up the advancement, production, and real-world deployment of zero-emission public transit vehicle technologies and the infrastructure needed to support them. Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), FTA made $2.75 million available in total for fiscal year 2017, with the intention of selecting multiple awardees to help move promising innovations out of research and into practical use by transit systems. The funding mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which typically means FTA expects to have substantial involvement in the work as it is carried out, rather than providing a hands-off grant.

A central feature of this solicitation is that it is designed not only to fund projects immediately, but also to set the stage for possible additional funding in later years. Specifically, FTA stated that, subject to future Congressional appropriations and FTA approval, organizations selected under this FY2017 competition could be eligible for future ZERO funding in FY2017 through FY2020 without further competition. In practical terms, this NOFO functions as a gateway: only the nonprofit consortia selected under the FY2017 notice would be eligible for those potential future opportunities during that period, giving the selected groups a significant strategic advantage if the program continued to receive appropriations.

FTA planned to select up to three nonprofit consortia and enter into cooperative agreements with them. These consortia were expected to build on prior research, innovation, and development efforts and to help facilitate deployment of zero-emission buses or other transit vehicles, along with associated advanced technologies and supporting infrastructure. While the lead entities were to be nonprofit consortia, the program was structured to encourage broad collaboration. Potential research and deployment partners could include transit agencies, other nonprofit organizations, vendors, suppliers, and systems integrators, and the NOFO explicitly allowed those partners to work with more than one consortium. This structure suggests FTA was aiming for a networked approach where consortia could act as hubs coordinating research, demonstrations, standards development, best practices, and deployment support across multiple stakeholders.

The cost-sharing requirement is also a key condition. The federal share for a project carried out under ZERO could not exceed 80 percent, meaning applicants needed to provide at least a 20 percent non-federal match. That match could come from eligible non-federal sources depending on the detailed rules in the full announcement, but the headline point is that applicants had to show real skin in the game and the ability to bring additional resources alongside federal dollars.

Eligibility was broad in the sense that many public and educational entities could apply or participate, including state governments, county governments, cities or townships, special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, private institutions of higher education, and other applicants as clarified in the full eligibility language. Even with this broad eligibility list, the NOFO emphasized that FTA intended to fund nonprofit consortia as the primary award recipients, so many otherwise-eligible entities would likely participate as members or partners rather than as the lead applicant.

Administratively, the opportunity was listed under Grants.gov as FTA-2017-001-TRI and referenced in the Federal Register as FTA-2016-009-TRI-ZERO. It falls under the transportation funding activity category and is associated with CFDA number 20.514. The NOFO was posted on November 28, 2016, and required proposals to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov by midnight Eastern Time on February 21, 2017. FTA expected to make up to three awards, consistent with the plan to select up to three consortia, with the total funding ceiling for the announcement set at $2,750,000.

• The Department of Transportation, DOT/Federal Transit Administration in the transportation sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Zero Emission Research Opportunity (ZERO)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 20.514.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 28, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 21, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,750,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Private institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for FTA 2017 001 TRI

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