Small Community Air Service Development Program

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The Small Community Program was established by the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (Pub. L. No. 106-181), reauthorized by the Vision 100-Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (Pub. L. No. 108-176), and subsequently reauthorized by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Pub. L. No. 112-95) as amended, the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017 (Pub. L. No. 115-63), and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-254) (FAA 2018) . [1] The program is designed to provide financial assistance to small communities in order to help them enhance their air service. The Department provides this assistance in the form of monetary grants that are disbursed on a reimbursable basis. Authorization for this program is codified at 49 U.S.C. § 41743. The Small Community Program is authorized to receive appropriations under 49 U.S.C. § 41743(e)(2). Appropriations are provided for this program for award selection in FY 2018 pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-141). 49 U.S.C. § 41743(c) sets forth the “Criteria for Participation.” As detailed below, in implementing these statutory criteria the Department has determined that certain criteria will be considered as part of the Eligibility Review, and other criteria will be considered as part of the Technical Review. The Department’s application of these criteria has not changed, but more clarity is being provided at this time to assist applicants. B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION No more than four communities or consortia of communities, or a combination thereof, from the same State may be selected to participate in the program in any fiscal year. No more than 40 communities or consortia of communities, or a combination thereof, may be selected to participate in the program in each year for which the funds are appropriated. Applications for renewal or supplementation of existing projects are not eligible to compete with applications for new Federal awards. Pursuant to the authorities described above, the Department has $12.5 million available for FY 2018 grant awards to carry out this program. There is no other limitation on the amount of individual awards, and the amounts awarded will vary depending upon the features and merits of the selected proposals. In past years, the Department’s individual grant sizes have ranged from $20,000 to nearly $1.6 million. Funding amounts made available for reimbursement may be impacted by future limitations placed on the spending authority and appropriations enacted for the Department. OST may, at its discretion, issue partial funding awards up to the level authorized and provided that the above conditions are met. [1] FAA 2018 made a number of structural and technical changes to the program which apply to grants from FY 2018 forward and which are reflected in this Order.

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