Amended Notice of Funding Opportunity Now Available

$54.2 Million Available – Applications Accepted Beginning September 8, 2025  
 

The Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program (RTA) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)  provides up to $54.2 million in no-match grants on a first-come, first-serve basis to support legal, technical, and financial advisors to help advance infrastructure projects in rural and tribal communities. This amended NOFO combines Fiscal Years (FY) 2024 and 2025 program funds, with a $20 million set-aside for Tribes. Applications will be accepted beginning on September 8, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. ET, via an online application portal that will be accessible through this webpage. Applicants are not required to submit materials on grants.gov. 

Interested entities can review the NOFO to draft responses in advance of the application portal opening on September 8, 2025. Due to technical difficulties with the application portal in March 2025, the Build America Bureau is unable to consider previously submitted applications. If you are interested in this funding opportunity, you must submit a new application. The application portal will close on October 8, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. 

The Build America Bureau will hold an informational webinar on August 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar. For accommodations, please email RuralandTribalTA@dot.gov by August 19, 2025. 

Page Contents

Program Overview

Current Notice of Funding Opportunity

Resources and Additional Information

Program Overview

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) expanded the Build America Bureau’s capacity to help more communities advance infrastructure projects that enhance the safety, efficiency, and quality of the country’s transportation system. This included the creation of multiple new programs to be administered by the Bureau that provide technical assistance to help communities explore innovative financing and project delivery methods for their projects.  

The IIJA created the Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program, which provides grants to support legal, technical, and financial advisors to help advance infrastructure projects. 

Eligible project sponsors may receive grant funds to select advisors to assist with pre-development-phase activities, including:  

• feasibility studies 
• project planning 
• revenue forecasting and funding and financing options analyses  
• preliminary engineering and design work 
• environmental review 
• economic assessments and cost-benefit analyses 
• public benefits studies 
• statutory and regulatory framework analyses 
• value-for-money (VFM) studies   
• evaluations of costs to sustain the project 
• evaluation opportunities for private financing and project bundling   

For more information, please email RuralandTribalTA@dot.gov. 

Current Notice of Funding Opportunity

The Bureau has issued a NOFO making up to $54.2 million available in no-match grants for qualified applicants. These funds will support legal, technical, and financial advisors to help advance infrastructure projects. Interested entities can review the NOFO to draft responses in advance of the opening of the application portal on September 8, 2025. Applications will be accepted via an online application portal that will be accessible through this webpage. Applicants are not required to submit materials on grants.gov. 

The Bureau will hold an informational webinar on August 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar. For accommodations, please email RuralandTribalTA@dot.gov by August 19, 2025. 

• Online application portal opens on September 8, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. ET.
• Instructions for Application Questions  
• Find the NOFO on Grants.gov. Note: applicants are not required to submit application materials via grants.gov. All required information will be submitted via the online portal.

Eligibility 

Eligible Applicants: 

• Local government or State government on behalf of a project— 
  • Not in a Census Bureau 2020-designated urban area. --OR--  
  • In a Census Bureau 2020-designated urban area with a population of 150,000 or less. 
• Federally recognized Indian Tribes 
• Department of Hawaiian Home Lands 

Eligible Projects: 

Projects that are reasonably expected to be eligible for one or more of the following programs: 

• Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Program
• Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Program 
• Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects Program (INFRA)
• National Infrastructure Project Assistance Program (Mega)
• Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Program
• National Culvert Removal, Replacement, and Restoration Program 

Resources and Additional Information

• Interested applicants can use one of the following mapping tools to verify that the project’s location is in an area that meets the “rural” definition:
  • Rural Funding Eligibility Tool
    • Instructions on how to use this map to check for rural eligibility for the RTA Program can be found here.
• U.S. Census mapping tool TIGERweb
  • Instructions on how to use this map and check the urban area population, if applicable, can be found here.
• FY 2023 Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program Information: 
  • View the 2023 Applications Dashboard. 
  • Check out the Rural and Tribal Community Resources page for other relevant programs.