Federal vs. Local Funds

Q. Our city has a project that is in design and they are using FTA monies. Can we use non-federal money on the construction and not have to include federal language in the construction contract and pay prevailing wage rates? The city would also like to avoid FTA language in the construction contract so we can use CM at Risk (with a qualifications based selection).

A. The rule for applicability of Federal requirements in grantee contracts is that if there are no Federal funds involved in the project, then there are no Federal requirements as far as contracts awarded for that project. We would suggest, however, that you contact your FTA Regional Grant Manager to confirm that the construction portion of this project does indeed have no associated Federal funds per the grant application that was approved by FTA. We suggest this in view of the fact that the design phase now in progress is in fact using Federal funds, and one might expect that Federal funds would also be provided for the construction phase, although that may not be the case.
(Reviewed: October 8, 2009)