Clean School Bus Program

Title XI, Section 71101 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA or The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or (BIL)), Public Law 117-58 amended section 741 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16091) to authorize the EPA’S Clean School Bus (CSB) Program to award grants, contracts, and rebates for the replacement of existing school buses with clean school buses. IIJA appropriates $ 5 billion for the program over five Federal fiscal years (FY 22-26). The objective of this assistance is, to the maximum extent practicable, achieve nationwide deployment of clean school buses and zero-emission school buses and to ensure a broad geographic distribution of awards. The CSB Program will fund 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. The Clean School Bus Program works to reduce pollution emitted from existing school buses by replacing them with cleaner school buses. Priority is given to projects which propose to replace buses that serve high-need local education agencies; rural school districts; Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded school districts; and school districts receiving basic support payments for children who reside on Indian land.

Eligible recipient means 1 or more local or State governmental entities responsible for providing school bus service to 1 or more public school systems or the purchase of school buses; an eligible contractor; a nonprofit school transportation association; or an Indian Tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.5304)), Tribal organization (as defined in that section), or Tribally controlled school (as defined in section 5212 of the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988 (25 U.S.C.2511)) that is responsible for providing school bus service to 1 or more Bureau-funded schools (as defined in section 1141 of the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2021)) or the purchase of school buses. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

Owners of eligible school buses. Both publicly owned fleets and privately owned fleets may benefit, but private fleets may be limited in their ability to apply directly for funds.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

Approximately 180 days after the closing date of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).