Motor Carrier Safety Assistance High Priority Activities Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Support, enrich, and augment Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) safety programs through partnerships with States, local governments, Federally recognized Indian tribes, other political jurisdictions, and other persons to carry out high priority activities and projects. The High Priority grant program includes: 1) High Priority (HP) grants to implement, promote, and maintain national programs to improve CMV safety; increase compliance with CMV safety regulations; increase public awareness about CMV safety; provide education on CMV safety and related issues; and demonstrate new safety related technologies; and 2) Information Technology Deployment (ITD) grants to advance technological capability and promote deployment of intelligent transportation system applications (CMV, carrier, and driver) as well as support/maintain CMV information systems and networks.

Innovative Technology Deployment (HP-ITD)
Eligible Entities
The HP-ITD awards are available to States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Individuals and businesses are not eligible to apply for HP-ITD funding. To be eligible for HP-ITD funding, the State applicant shall:

i. have a commercial motor vehicle information systems and networks program plan (the Program Plan/Top Level Design (PP/TLD)) approved by the Secretary that describes the various systems and networks at the State level that need to be refined, revised, upgraded, or built to accomplish deployment of commercial motor vehicle information systems and network capabilities;

ii. certify that the State’s current Program Plan (PP/TLD) was approved by the Secretary as outlined in FAST Act (Pub. L. No. 114-94);

iii. certify to the Secretary that its commercial motor vehicle information systems and network deployment activities, including hardware procurement, software and system development, and infrastructure modifications:

a. are consistent with the national intelligent transportation systems and commercial motor vehicle information systems and networks architectures and available standards; and

b. promote interoperability and efficiency to the extent practicable.

iv. agree to execute interoperability tests developed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to verify that its systems conform with the national intelligent transportation systems architecture, applicable standards, and protocols for commercial motor vehicle information systems and networks; and

v. certify that the State agency is the lead agency responsible for the PP/TLD, or if it is not the State agency responsible for the PP/TLD, demonstrate that it has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), or other agreement with the ITD lead agency and confirm that the applicant has coordinated with the ITD lead agency regarding all projects requested in the application to ensure State-wide effectiveness and efficiency and to avoid any duplication of effort or other wastefulness in Federal funding initiatives.

Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety – (HP-CMV)
Eligible Entities
The HP-CMV awards are available to the following entities dependent on the selected priority:
i. State government agencies including: District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
ii. local governments (including county, city, township, and special district)
iii. Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
iv. institutions of higher education
v. non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service
vi. For-profit organizations and individuals are not eligible recipients
Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) lead State agencies may request HP-CMV projects which augment initiatives funded by the MCSAP formula grant program. Such projects must clearly demonstrate that their objectives exceed initiatives approved in their State’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Plan (CVSP).

FMCSA may award these grants to the agencies of States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

90-120 days of the submission deadline (subject to availability of funds) or as soon thereafter as administratively practicable.

Applicants must register with Grants.gov to apply for funding. Applications should be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided and must be submitted electronically to FMCSA through the Grants.gov website.

Contingent upon Agency funding levels.