Memorandum
Date August 2, 2012
TO Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
FROM Karl H. Quackenbush
CTPS Executive Director
RE Work Program for: Federal Transit Administration Formula Grant Funding Review
Review and approval
That the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, upon the recommendation of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, vote to approve the work program for Federal Transit Administration Formula Grant Funding Review in the form of the draft dated August 2, 2012.
Technical Support/Operations Analysis Projects
14335
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Project Supervisor: Victor Rivas
Principal: Annette Demchur
Manager: Steven Andrews
Future MBTA Contract
The MPO staff has sufficient resources to complete this work in a capable and timely manner. By undertaking this work, the MPO staff will neither delay the completion of nor reduce the quality of other work in the UPWP.
Each year, through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the federal government releases funds allocated to each urbanized area (UZA) through formula grants. The largest two formula grants are the Urbanized Area Formula Program (§5307) and the recently created State of Good Repair Grants (§5337). Under the recently passed Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) legislation, the State of Good Repair Grants replaced the Fixed Guideway Modernization formula grants (§5309.b.2). Integral to FTA’s calculations for both formula grant programs are data from the census and the National Transit Database (NTD), such as passenger-miles, revenue vehicle-miles, and operating costs, which are used to determine the allocation to specific UZAs. Within the UZA, funds are divided among the recipients, including—in the Boston UZA—the MBTA, based on agreements developed by them.
The entire process—from reporting service data for the NTD to distributing money among agencies within a UZA—is quite complex, and its ramifications for decision making in a given case are often not readily apparent. Translating this process into an easily usable format will help the MBTA and other transit agencies to determine how changes to legislation will affect their annual allocations, to test alternative funding and service scenarios, to anticipate future financial constraints and borrowing needs, and to make sound agency budget decisions.
The general purpose of this study is to provide a review of the §5307 and §5337 federal funding programs that will help the MBTA and other transit agencies to gain a greater understanding of how each step in the process affects their capital and operating budgets. The specific objectives are:
The work required to accomplish the project objectives will be carried out in three tasks, as described below.
CTPS will review the current process used to determine the funds provided to each UZA. This process will start with the NTD data that individual agencies submit and follow that data through to derive the unit values that are used to distribute funds.
A memorandum providing a straightforward description of the entire formula grant funding processes for both §5307 and §5337
Using the information gained in Task 1, CTPS will create a spreadsheet model that will allow the MBTA to understand how the FTA arrives at the numbers it uses for the §5307 and §5337 formula grant allocations to the Boston UZA. The model will demonstrate how the funding provided to the Boston UZA is affected by the NTD data reported by each agency and by changes in the level of federal funding for all UZAs. The MBTA will be able to use this model to test scenarios in order to see how variations in NTD data used in the formula might affect the MBTA’s allocation and how potential changes in the overall level of federal funding would affect the Authority’s bottom line in future years. The model will also allow the MBTA to test the impact of changes to one or more of the variables used in the formula.
In addition to developing a model with a user-friendly interface, CTPS will provide an easily understandable summary of the formulas for both programs (including the formula inputs) and documentation of how the model works.
CTPS will use the model developed in Task 2 to show the effects of potential changes in service statistics (and thus in the NTD data submitted) on the grant-funding allocation to the Boston UZA. CTPS will select the specific service statistic scenarios to be used in this task in consultation with the MBTA.
Funding estimates based on model runs for various scenarios
It is estimated that this project will be completed nine weeks after the notice to proceed is received. The proposed schedule, by task, is shown in Exhibit 1.
The total cost of this project is estimated to be $26,877. This includes the cost of 11.2 person-weeks of staff time and overhead at the rate of 96.58 percent. A detailed breakdown of estimated costs is presented in Exhibit 2.
Task |
Week | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
1.
Review and Document the Current Federal Funding Allocation Process |
From week 1 to 4.
Week 4, deliverable A, Memorandum.
| ||||||||
2.
Develop a Model of the Formula Grant Process |
From week 3 to 8.
Week 8, deliverable B, Spreadsheet model with documentation.
| ||||||||
3.
Generate Formula Funding Estimates Based on Projected Service Statistics |
From week 6 to 10.
Week 10, deliverable C, Funding estimates.
|
Task |
Person-Weeks | Direct Salary |
Overhead (@ 96.58%) |
Total Cost |
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M-1 | P-3 | Total | ||||
1.
Review and Document the Current Federal Funding Allocation Process |
0.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | $4,159 | $4,017 | $8,176 |
2.
Develop a Model of the Formula Grant Process |
1.2 | 3.0 | 4.2 | $5,176 | $4,999 | $10,174 |
3.
Generate Formula Funding Estimates Based on Projected Service Statistics |
1.2 | 2.2 | 3.4 | $4,338 | $4,189 | $8,527 |
Total |
3.0 | 8.2 | 11.2 | $13,672 | $13,205 | $26,877 |