The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P. L. 117-58, November 15, 2021) authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to eligible non-profit institutions of higher education to establish and operate University Transportation Centers (UTCs or Centers). Non-profit institutions of higher education may include qualifying two-year institutions (20 U.S.C. § 1001(a)). The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT or DOT) will manage the UTC Program.
Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity, the US DOT seeks competitive grant applications for National UTCs, Regional UTCs, and Tier 1 UTCs as set forth in the IIJA (detailed descriptions of the three types of UTCs are provided in the Notice of Funding Opportunity). A UTC and its consortium members must be established and located physically in the United States or its territories or on Tribal lands. It must be a consortium of two or more universities. Each Center is required to obtain matching funds from non-Federal sources. National and Regional UTCs must obtain matching funds in an amount equal to the US DOT grant amount. The match for Tier 1 UTCs is 50 percent of the US DOT grant amount.
The objectives of each of these Centers are to:
• Advance transportation expertise and technology in the varied disciplines that comprise the field of transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities;
• Provide for a critical multimodal transportation knowledge base outside of the US DOT; and
• Address critical workforce needs and educate the next generation of transportation leaders with respect to the statutory research priorities
Deadlines:
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Letter of Intent Requested: July 1, 2022
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Required Application Due: Aug. 25, 2022
Only U.S. non-profit institutions of higher education as defined under 20 U.S.C. § 1001(a) are eligible to apply. Non-profit institutions of higher education may include qualifying two-year institutions that meet the requirements of 20 U.S.C. § 1001(a). Any application submitted by or including in its consortium an entity other than a U.S. non-profit institution of higher education will not be considered for selection.
Institutions may apply for multiple grants by submitting separate applications for each, and they may choose to submit separate applications for grants under more than one type of UTC category (National, Regional or Tier 1). However, 49 U.S.C. § 5505(b)(2) (as amended by IIJA, Sec. 25017) restricts the number of UTC grants that an institution may receive through this competition as a lead institution of a consortium to one UTC grant (previously a lead institution could receive one grant under each type of center, but now only one UTC grant in total may be received). In this competition, there are no restrictions on the numbers or types of UTCs of which an institution may be a non-lead consortium member; an institution could be selected as the lead on one UTC and as a non-lead consortium member on another selected UTC.
See solicitation for details.