The Department of Transportation's Build America Bureau is soliciting applications until May 10 for grants intended to help state and local governments assess whether any of their assets would be viable for monetization in a public-private partnership (P3). Click here to apply.

The Innovative Finance and Asset Concession Grant Program provides up to $2 million per recipient to analyze, evaluate and determine whether any existing highway, transit, passenger rail, freight, port, airport and transit-oriented development^[1] asset could be monetized in a P3 arrangement.  

States, tribal governments, local governments and special purpose public authorities that own or control an eligible project are eligible recipients.

Asset Monetization in Transportation

An asset monetization in this context involves a private concessionaire paying a public entity for the right to improve, maintain, manage and/or operate a project. This approach is taken most frequently for toll roads, airports, ports, water treatment and distribution facilities and other  assets with the potential to generate revenue.

In the transit-oriented development space, a real-estate monetization could be relevant. The federal government’s view is that many states and political subdivisions have assets with significant value that they may be able to monetize with private partners – but often lack resources to hire consultants to investigate that possibility. Private partners typically provide an up-front payment to a government and take responsibility for long-term operational and maintenance costs.

In More Detail: The Innovative Finance and Asset Concession Grant Program

The grant program entails $100 million of budget authority over five years, with $57.72 million to be obligated on a competitive basis under this notice of funding opportunity. Grants can support a variety of pre-procurement and development tasks and costs, from initial asset surveys/valuation and value-for-money analyses to planning and design and concession agreement negotiation. Grant money also can cover costs of financial, technical or legal advice and certain other pre-development work.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act created the grant program, the first of its kind. Two types of grants are available:

Technical Assistance Grants

• Assist with pre-construction tasks, such as asset scans, value-for-money analyses and other tasks that consider innovative finance and delivery, including asset concessions.

Expert Services Grants

• Enable recipients to hire professionals to develop and deliver public-private partnerships in developing an asset.

Applicants must choose one of the grant types to apply for in this round of funding.

The Department of Transportation will award no more than $4 million in total to recipients in a single state during any three years.

The program is a centerpiece of federal policy support for public-private partnerships. Build America Bureau, the DOT's P3-focused office, will administer the program.

^[1] These all must be projects that would reasonably be deemed eligible to receive a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan, which include each of these categories.