New federal center will help transportation agencies spend grant money

The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a new center to help local transportation agencies spend infrastructure grants “on time, on task and on budget.”

The Project Delivery Center of Excellence will guide grant recipients on the development and delivery of infrastructure projects with information on subjects like permits, contracts and bond issuances. 

The center, which is part of the Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center in Massachusetts, plans to offer peer-to-peer instruction through webinars and trainings, an “off-the-shelf” model for contracting and easy access to best practices in product development, according to its website. 

Anne Aylward, the Volpe Center’s director, will also serve as the director for the Project Delivery Center for Excellence.

“We believe that the most effective project delivery happens before your project even begins,” Aylward said in a press release. “We want this resource to be useful, so we will partner with federal, Tribal, state, and local Bipartisan Infrastructure Law project sponsors to grow the Center of Excellence.”

The center’s “Project Development Toolbox” includes a collection of resources for financing, including the Build America Bureau and the Federal Transportation Administration, many of which discuss issuing bonds or grant anticipation notes. 

Beyond disseminating resources, the center plans to convene stakeholders to study obstacles in project delivery. It will partner with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Transportation Builders Association and the American Public Transportation Association.