[Federal Register: October 28, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 209)]
[Notices]
[Page 64006-64007]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28oc08-107]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Deadline for Notification of Intent To Use the Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) Sponsor, Cargo, and Nonprimary Entitlement
Funds for Fiscal Year 2009
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces February
2, 2009, as the deadline for each airport sponsor to notify the FAA
whether or not it will use its fiscal year 2009 entitlement funds
available under Public Law No. 110-330 to accomplish Airport
Improvement Program (AIP)-eligible projects that the sponsor previously
identified through the Airports Capital Improvement Plan (ACIP) process
during the preceding year. If a sponsor does not declare their
intention regarding the use of fiscal year 2009 entitlement funds by
February 2, 2009, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to
designate these as ``protected'' carryover funds; these funds will not
be carried over without a legislative enactment that provides an
additional AIP authorization and an extension of the FAA's spending
authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beyond March 31, 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Frank J. San Martin, Manager,
Airports Financial Assistance Division, APP-500, on (202) 267-3831.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title 49 of the United States Code, section 47105(f), provides that
the sponsor of each airport to which funds are apportioned shall notify
the Secretary by such time and in a form as prescribed by the
Secretary, of the sponsor's intent to apply for the funds apportioned
to it (entitlements). This notice applies only to those airports that
have had entitlement funds apportioned to them, except those nonprimary
airports located in designated Block Grant States. Sponsors intending
to apply for any of their available entitlement funds, including those
unused from prior years, shall submit by February 2, 2009, a written
indication to the designated Airports District Office (or Regional
Office in regions without Airports District Offices) that they will
advertise, bid, and submit an application prior to February 11, 2009,
or by the date established by the designated Airport District or
Regional Office.
This notice is promulgated to expedite and prioritize the grant-
making process. In the past when there has been full-year funding for
AIP, the FAA has established a deadline of May 1 for an airport sponsor
to declare that it will defer use of its entitlement funding.
Considering that Congress has authorized the AIP program only until
March 31, 2009, i.e. into the middle of a fiscal year, and uncertainty
about additional statutory action before the end of the fiscal year,
the FAA is establishing February 2, 2009, as the deadline for each
airport sponsor to notify the FAA whether or not it will use its fiscal
year 2009 entitlement funds.
The AIP grant program is operating under the requirements of Public
Law 110-329, the ``Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009'', which is a continuing resolution
through March 6, 2009, and Public Law 110-330, the ``Federal Aviation
Administration Extension Act of 2008, Part II'', enacted on September
30, 2008, which amends 49 U.S.C. 48103, to extend AIP for a six-month
period beginning October 1, 2008 and ending on March 31, 2009. The
FAA's expenditure authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund will
expire on March 31, 2009, in the absence of an additional statutory
extension. Therefore, to avoid the risk of not being able to carryover
funds should an additional extension not be enacted,
[[Page 64007]]
and to allow at least three days for accounting processing time, AIP
funds should be obligated in FAA's accounting records on or before
March 3, 2009.
Sponsors have three options available to them regarding AIP grants
during this period. First, sponsors may elect to make an application
for a grant based on entitlements currently available to them. Sponsors
that elect to take such a grant must submit grant applications to the
FAA no later than February 11, 2009, in order to meet the March 3, 2009
obligation deadline. Second, sponsors may elect to wait until after the
February 2, 2009 notification date for protection of carryover
entitlements. However, if a sponsor does not declare their intention
regarding the use of fiscal year 2009 entitlement funds by the February
2, 2009 deadline, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to
designate these as ``protected'' carryover funds, and these funds would
not be carried over without a legislative enactment that provides
additional AIP authorization for fiscal year 2009 and extends the FAA's
spending authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beyond March
31, 2009. Third, sponsors may elect to declare their intention to
carryover the entitlements prior to the February 2, 2009 deadline
through sending an acceptable written notification of such intention by
February 2, 2009. Unused carryover entitlements that have been deferred
will be available in fiscal year 2010 as provided in current law. FAA
will then issue discretionary grants from the deferred entitlement
funds pursuant to the authority and limitations in section 471 17(f).
If a statutory extension beyond March 31, 2009 of the AIP program
and the FAA's authority to make expenditures from the Trust Fund is
enacted, additional entitlement funds may be available to sponsors. In
that case, airport sponsors who did not previously declare their
intention to carryover the entitlements must provide a written
indication to the designated Airports District Office (or Regional
Office in regions without Airports District Offices) that they will
either carryover or use their fiscal year 2009 entitlements by May 1,
2009.
Issued in Washington, DC on October 21, 2008.
Benito DeLeon,
Director, FAA Office of Airport Planning and Programming.
[FR Doc. E8-25712 Filed 10-27-08; 8:45 am]
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