Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Public Transportation. Task 66. States and Local Use of Administrative Resources Provided by the Federal Transit Administration

States operate administratively under different guidelines allowing certain expenses to be charged to federal programs. Budgetary decision makers are asking questions on how States are currently using Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrative Funds identified in 49 United States Code (USC) Chapter 53. Studying how administrative resources are utilized by states could help justify the promotion of more efficient, effective approaches to FTA program management. Research is needed to document current practices on whether or not states are able to use federal funds for various expenses including salaries, travel, operating expenses and contracting. The research should also address the percentages of funding used from FTA programs (i.e., the FTA grant program may allow for 10% for state administrative expenses, but the state only utilizes 5%) and should also detail amount/percentage for the various types of expenses. Results among those managing FTA programs will certainly vary, but findings may show consistent patterns which plant seeds for uniform improvement. If states are not allowed to utilize federal funds or elect to supplement the available federal funds with additional funds from other sources for administrative costs, it would be helpful to know the sources of those funds utilized versus federal. This research would investigate how FTA administrative funds are utilized once passed on to state agencies and the percentage of the total FTA administrative funds that can be used to meet expenses under state requirements. Queries would be conducted to see how FTA administrative funds are used, and comparisons would be drawn across State agencies to document current utilization of the funds. The objective of this research is to inform state FTA program management models employed by state FTA program managers. It would consider the factors mentioned above, in addition to any others deemed important through a review of relevant literature. With this information, state FTA program managers would be able to identify how other states are able to utilize funds to meet the ongoing expenses of appropriate program management including tools, technology, staffing strategies and opportunities. Specifically, the project will result in documentation of the current uses of federal funds at the state oversight level.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3946
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $50000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 20-65, Task

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Chisholm-Smith, Gwen

• Start Date: 20150310
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 39206

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Administration; Budgeting; Federal aid; Government funding; Program management; State government agencies; State of the practice
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Transit Administration
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01556639
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 20-65, Task
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 11 2015 1:01AM