Amended Notice of Funding Opportunity: Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau (Bureau) announces $54.2 million available in no-match grants through its Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program (RTA). Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to support legal, technical, and financial advisors to help advance infrastructure projects in rural and tribal communities. This amended Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) combines Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 program funds, with a $20 million set-aside for Tribes.
The NOFO and application instructions are available on the RTA Program webpage and grants.gov. Applications will be accepted beginning September 8, 2025, at 2:00 pm ET via an online portal accessible through the RTA Program webpage. The application portal will close on October 8, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET. Funds may be expended before the application period closes.
Executive Summary
The Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program, administered by the Build America Bureau (the Bureau), was created under Public Law 117-58 to advance transportation infrastructure projects in rural and tribal communities by supporting planning and development-phase activities for projects reasonably expected to be eligible for certain U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT or the Department) credit and grant programs. However, there is no requirement for grantees to apply for other DOT funding programs in the future. RTA Program funding is for planning and design phase activities of transportation infrastructure projects that meet the Program’s eligibility requirements discussed in Section II. Grant recipients may hire staff or procure the services of expert firms to develop their projects. Section II. D lists example activities that would be eligible under this Program. Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible applications. Section IV discusses the application. The review process and criteria used to select applications for award is discussed in Section VI. Section V outlines the Program’s submission requirements for applying, including the application window opening dates.
Eligible Projects
Per the RTA Program’s requirements, projects that receive a grant award under this Program must be reasonably expected to be eligible for any one or more of DOT’s lending or grant programs listed below. This requirement is used to define the eligible project types for RTA Program funding; it does not commit the applicant to apply to any of these programs. The applicable programs are listed below. More information on these programs, including brief program descriptions and examples of eligible projects for each, are included in Appendix A.
- TIFIA Credit Program: www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/financing/tifia
- RRIF Credit Program: www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/financing/rrif
- INFRA Grant Program: www.transportation.gov/grants/infra-grants-program
- Mega Grant Program: www.transportation.gov/grants/mega-grant-program
- BUILD Grant Program: www.transportation.gov/BUILDgrants
- National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration Grant Program: www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/hydraulics/culverthyd/aquatic/culvertaop.cfm