FTA's Pilot Program Notice addresses these issues directly, and the selected projects will be eligible for a simplified and accelerated review process that is intended to substantially reduce the time and cost to the sponsors of New Starts reviews and increase funding assurance, as follows:
• FTA will limit or eliminate altogether certain risk assessments from the rating process, specifically including assessments conducted during the preliminary engineering stage as well as assessments prior to entering into a Full Funding Grant Agreement.37
• FTA will limit or eliminate certain reviews of transportation user benefits, specifically including the projections of user benefits and mobility benefits which will be used by FTA to develop the Pilot Project's rating "subject to the private partner's agreeing to assume levels of risk with respect to such benefits on terms satisfactory to FTA." Depending on the degree to which the private sector entity has assumed management, construction, and financial risks, FTA may alter the scope and content of the Project Management and Financial Management Oversight reviews. Such projects may also be eligible for accelerated design approvals, including the issuance of concurrent approvals for the Pilot Project to enter into preliminary engineering and final design, thus allowing the project to proceed with final design immediately upon completion of preliminary engineering without requiring additional approvals.38
• FTA has also offered to limit or accept, without further review, projections of transportation user benefits on the basis of which cost-effectiveness and mobility measures for the Pilot Project's rating will be developed, provided that the private partner assumes levels of risk with respect to such benefits on terms satisfactory to FTA.39
With these provisions, FTA is providing significant opportunity for private partners in Pilot Projects to benefit from significant streamlining of the Federal review and evaluation process. Moreover, they may enjoy both acceleration of the process and financial benefits if they are confident in their own cost estimates and ridership projections and are willing to accept some risk that their estimates and projections may prove too optimistic. The results of the PPP Pilot Program should help FTA to identify policy and procedural changes that will help to speed up the process and allow sponsoring agencies to implement transit projects with private sector involvement on a more expeditious basis.
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37 Pilot Program Notice, section 3(i)(i)(D) at p. 2589.
38 Pilot Program Notice, section 3(i)(i)(E) at p. 2589.
39 Pilot Program Notice, section 3(i)(i)(I) at p. 2589.