[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 23 (Thursday, February 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 6178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2381]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Deadline for Notification of Intent to Use the Airport
Improvement Program (AIP) Primary, Cargo, and Nonprimary Entitlement
Funds for Fiscal Year 2011
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces February
22, 2011, as the deadline for each airport sponsor to notify the FAA
whether or not it will use its fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds
available under Public Law 111-322 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
their fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds by February 22, 2011, FAA will
be unable to take the necessary actions to award these funds, nor
designate these funds as ``protected'' carryover funds. In addition,
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, 2011.
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 22, 2011, a written indication to the designated
Airports District Office (or Regional Office in regions without
Airports District Offices) that they will submit a grant application
prior to February 25, 2011, or by a prior 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 whether it will apply for, or defer use of its entitlement
funding. Considering that Congress has authorized the AIP program only
until March 31, 2011, i.e. into the middle of a fiscal year, the FAA is
establishing February 22, 2011, as the deadline for each airport
sponsor to notify the FAA whether or not it will use its fiscal year
2011 entitlement funds.
The AIP grant program is operating under the requirements of Public
Law 111-329, the ``Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part IV'',
enacted on December 22, 2010, which amends 49 U.S.C. 48103, to extend
AIP through March 31, 2011. The FAA's expenditure authority from the
Airport and Airway Trust Fund will also expire on March 31, 2011, in
the absence of an additional statutory extension. Therefore, to avoid
the risk of not being able to carryover funds if an additional
extension is not enacted, and to allow sufficient time for accounting
processing, AIP funds should be obligated in FAA's accounting records
on or before March 17, 2011.
Sponsors have three options available 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 25, 2011, in order to meet the March 17, 2011
obligation deadline. Second, sponsors may elect to wait until after the
February 22, 2011 notification date for protection of carryover
entitlements. However, if a sponsor does not declare their intention
regarding the use of fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds by the February
22, 2011 deadline, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to
designate these as ``protected'' carryover funds. In addition, these
funds would not be carried over without a legislative enactment that
provides additional AIP authorization for fiscal year 2011 and extends
the FAA's spending authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund
beyond March 31, 2011. Third, sponsors may elect to declare their
intention to carryover the entitlements by sending written notification
of such intention by February 22, 2011. Unused carryover entitlements
that have been deferred will be available in fiscal year 2012 pending
legislative action to further extend authorization and appropriations.
If a statutory extension beyond March 31, 2011 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 by May 1, 2011 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 2011 entitlements
by submitting a grant application by August 1, 2011.
Issued in Washington, DC on January 28, 2011.
Frank J. San Martin,
Manager, Airports Financial Assistance Division, Office of Airport
Planning and Programming.
[FR Doc. 2011-2381 Filed 2-2-11; 8:45 am]
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