There are increasing uncertainties about the availability of federal and state funding for transit projects. This has caused grants management, program administration and project operations practitioners to look for more ways of leveraging the available funding sources. Consequently, the availability and applicability of a broader range of revenue resources has become increasingly important for efforts to coordinate federal funding for transit projects.
The difficulties in documenting and allowing for in-kind as a leveraging tool and source of local match has been discussed for years. Each in-kind match situation can be unique and as a result there is a degree of uncertainty among potential funders concerning how various funds may be used The uncertainty of whether in-kind match will be allowed for a specific transit project makes budgeting extremely difficult for transit managers and leads to instability for transit programs.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to develop a resource guide that includes detailed descriptions of how in-kind and local match sources have been used successfully. The guide will help grantees (transit agencies) and grantors (State DOTs and FTA regions and other interested federal agencies) develop a better awareness and more consistent and effective approaches to various in-kind match scenarios involving FTA funded projects.
