U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
FHWA Home / Office of the CFO / Contractors & Recipients General Terms and Conditions for Assistance Awards
(for awards effective after August 7, 2023)
Performance under this Agreement will be governed by and in compliance with the following regulations:
2 CFR Part 200, "Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards."
2 CFR Part 200 will be applicable to all non–Federal entities by default, and any determination by FHWA not to apply 2 CFR Part 200 (subparts A through E) to for–profit entities, foreign public entities, or foreign organizations will be made in writing and the reason(s) for that determination must be identified.
Federal laws, rules and regulations set forth in 23 U.S.C. and 23 CFR, as applicable.
In addition to the work requirements specified in the award, the Recipient must ensure that all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) submittals meet the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ICT Final Standards and Guidelines (508 Refresh) at 36 CFR Part 1194.
As defined in the 508 Refresh, at 36 CFR Part 1194, Appendix A, E103.4, ICT is “Information technology and other equipment, systems, technologies, or processes, for which the principal function is the creation, manipulation, storage, display, receipt, or transmission of electronic data and information, as well as any associated content. Examples of ICT include but are not limited to computers and peripheral equipment; information kiosks and transaction machines; telecommunications equipment; customer premises equipment; multifunction office machines; software; applications; web sites; videos; and electronic documents.”
Section 508 requires that all electronic products prepared for the Federal Government be accessible to persons with disabilities, including those with vision, hearing, cognitive, and mobility impairments.
Applicable Standards:
Section 508 Refresh standards are available at https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh.
The Recipient must adhere to the terms and requirements in FHWA Form 4260 Section 508 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Conformance Criteria for Section 508 conformance. The Conformance Criteria document does not need to be completed with submittals.
The Recipient will provide overall program management. Specifically, the Recipient will be responsible for the following, as a minimum:
Meeting with the AOR as necessary;
Participating in a kick-off meeting with the AO and/or the AOR to discuss agreement expectations and procedures. Participating in meetings via teleconference or web conference with the AOR;
Performing the requirements of the award;
Coordinating and managing work, including issuing and managing subcontracts/sub awards and consulting arrangements, as necessary;
Submitting all required reports including Quarterly Progress Reports; and
During the period of performance, the FHWA and the Recipient will meet periodically (at a minimum annually) to discuss project activities. The location of the meeting will be established by the AOR.
Travel requirements under this Agreement will be met using the most economical form of transportation available. If economy class transportation is not available, the request for reimbursement must be submitted with justification for use of higher-class travel indicating dates, times, and flight numbers. Travel and per diem authorized under this Agreement will be reimbursed in accordance with the travel costs section of 2 CFR 200.475. In the absence of an acceptable, written institution policy regarding travel costs, the rates and amounts established in the Federal Travel Regulations in effect at the time of travel will apply. All non-domestic travel must be approved in writing by the AO prior to incurring costs.
This Agreement and any amendments executed by the AO constitute the entire agreement between the parties. Discussions and understandings concerning scope and subject matter are superseded by this Agreement and any executed amendments. All changes to the terms and conditions of this Agreement will be in writing, issued as an Amendment and signed by the AO pursuant to 2 CFR 200.308.
Unilateral. A unilateral amendment is signed only by the AO. Unilateral amendments are used, for example, to make administrative changes (i.e., funding, accounting data changes, change in Government personnel).
Bilateral. A bilateral amendment is a change that is signed by the Recipient and the AO. Bilateral amendments are used to reflect other agreements of the parties amending the terms of the Agreement.
The AO is the only person authorized to make or approve any changes in any of the requirements of this agreement. In the event the Recipient makes any changes at the direction of any person other than the AO, the change will be considered to have been made without authority and no adjustment will be made in the award terms and conditions, including the award amount.
The AO may designate an AOR to assist in monitoring the work under this Agreement. The AOR will oversee performance of this Agreement and act as technical liaison with the recipient. The AOR is not authorized to change the requirements as stated in the Agreement, to make any commitments or otherwise obligate the FHWA, or authorize any changes which affect the Agreement funding, delivery schedule, period of performance or other terms or conditions.
The AO is the only individual who can legally commit or obligate the FHWA for the expenditure of public funds. The technical administration of this Agreement does not authorize the revision of the terms and conditions. The AO will authorize any such revision(s) in writing.
The Recipient’s request for advanced payments or reimbursement of costs incurred in the performance of the award are allowable under the applicable cost provisions. Advance payments and/or reimbursement of costs may not exceed the funds currently available for the award. Requests should be made no more frequently than monthly and must include the certification as required by 2 CFR 200.415.
Requests for payments by reimbursement will be submitted to the payment office via Delphi eInvoicing System. When requesting reimbursement of costs incurred and/or credit for cost share incurred, the Recipient will electronically submit a supporting cost detail with a SF 270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement or, a SF 271, Outlay Report and Request for Reimbursement for Construction (for construction projects) to clearly document all costs incurred. A cost detail:
The AO or Agreement Specialist reserve the right to withhold processing requests for reimbursement until sufficient detail is received. In addition, reimbursement will not be made without AOR review and approval to ensure that progress on the Agreement is sufficient to substantiate payment. After AOR approval, the AO will certify and forward the request for reimbursement to the payment office via the Delphi eInvoicing System.
Recipients may be paid in advance, provided they maintain or demonstrate the willingness to maintain the following in accordance with 2 CFR 200.305 as applicable: (1) written procedures that minimize the time elapsing between the transfer of funds and disbursement by the Recipient, and (2) financial management systems that meet the standards for fund control and accountability. When these items are not met, reimbursement will be the method for payment.
Payment system registration. All persons accessing the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal will be required to have their own unique user Delphi eInvoicing ID and password and be credentialed through login.gov.
Electronic authentication. See www.login.gov for instructions. Click on the following link for instructions on establishing a login.gov account: https://login.gov/help/creating-an-account/how-to-create-an-account/
To create a login.gov account, the user will need a valid email address and a working phone number. The user will create a password and then login.gov will reply with an email confirming the email address.
Recipient POC’s who require access to the eInvoicing web-portal for invoice submission and payment tracking purposes will be required to provide their full name, email address, and current phone number to the agency POC to initiate the Delphi eInvoicing web-portal account. Recipient users and the agency POC will be notified via e- mail when the account is created. The Recipient user will be provided detailed instructions for logging into their Delphi eInvoicing account. FHWA’s agency POC is HCFA-10@dot.gov.
If the Recipient has any general questions or issues accessing the iSupplier web-portal, please contact the ESC iSupplier helpdesk either at:
Training on Delphi. To facilitate use of Delphi, comprehensive user information is available at http://einvoice.esc.gov.
Account Management. Recipients are responsible for contacting the Delphi Help Desk when their firm’s points of contacts will no longer be submitting invoices so they can be removed from the system. Instructions for contacting the Delphi Help Desk can be found at http://einvoice.esc.gov.
If a user ID becomes inactive/times out due to no activity by the POC, the Recipient shall contact HCFA-10@dot.gov with the full name, title, phone number, e-mail address, and user ID of the POC to be reactivated. To prevent being timed out due to no activity, users should login once within 90 days of their last login.
The Department of Transportation Financial Management officials may, on a case-by-case basis, waive the requirement to register and use the Delphi eInvoicing System. Waiver request forms can be obtained on the Delphi eInvoicing website (http://www.dot.gov/cfo/delphi-einvoicing-system.html) or by contacting the AOR. All Recipients must explain why they are unable to use or access the Internet to register and enter payment requests.
All waiver requests shall be sent via mail to:
Director of the Office of Financial Management
US Department of Transportation, B-30
Office of Financial Management, Room W93-431
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington DC 20590-0001or electronically to: DOTeInvoicing@dot.gov
The Director of the DOT Office of Financial Management will confirm or deny the request within approximately 30 days.
If a Recipient is granted a Waiver, Requests for Advance or Reimbursement and required supporting documents, must be sent via regular U.S. Postal Service to the following address:
Federal Highway Administration Invoice Processing
P.O. Box 268865
Oklahoma City, OK 73126-8865
Attention: [Fill-in Name of Agreement Officer]
Invoices submitted via an overnight service must use the following physical address:
MMAC
FHWA/AMZ-150
6500 MacArthur Blvd. Oklahoma City, OK 73169
Attention: Lead Accounting Technician
Express Delivery Point of Contact: Lead Accounting Technician, 405-954-8252
All invoices, regardless of submission method, must identify the Agreement Officer as the point of contact.
The Recipient shall notify the AO in writing whenever it has reason to believe that the costs it expects to incur under this Agreement in the next 60 days, when added to all costs previously incurred, will exceed 75 percent of the total amount so far allotted to the Agreement by the Government. If the recipient anticipates a need for a budget increase, the notice shall state the estimated amount of additional funds required to complete the work under the Agreement.
An acknowledgment of FHWA support and a disclaimer must appear in any publication of any material, whether copyrighted or not, based on or developed under the Agreement, in the following terms:
"This material is based upon work supported by the Federal Highway Administration under Agreement No. – [fill in award number]." All materials must also contain the following:
"Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Federal Highway Administration."
The FHWA, through its authorized representatives, has the right, at all reasonable times, to make site visits to review project accomplishments and management control systems and to provide such technical assistance as may be required. During a site visit, the Recipient and/or sub-recipient/subcontractor will provide all reasonable facilities and assistance for the safety and convenience of the FHWA representative. All site visits and evaluations will be performed in such a manner as to not unduly delay work.
The Recipient is required to report deviations from budget and program plans and request prior approval for budget and program plan revisions in accordance with 2 CFR 200.308. For awards with a Federal share greater than the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, the Recipient must obtain prior written approval from the AO to transfer amounts budgeted for direct cost categories when the cumulative value of such transfers will exceed 10% of the value of Federal share of this Agreement.
The Recipient must have an active registration in the SAM in order to receive payments under this Agreement. Use of the SAM is to provide one location for Applicants and Recipients to change information about their organization and enter information on where government payments should be made. Information for registering in the SAM and online documents can be found at www.sam.gov.
The Joint Committee on Printing Regulations Number 26, Section 36 states that Recipients shall not become prime or substantial sources of printing for the use of departments and agencies.
In the performance of this Agreement, the Recipient may duplicate less than 5,000 units of only one page or less than 25,000 units in the aggregate of multiple pages. Duplication of quantities in excess of the amounts stated requires prior written approval of the AO. The Recipient must submit such requests in writing or by email to the AO, to include specifics on the submittals, requested printing quantity, and estimated costs for printing.
The Recipient will comply with Subpart B of 49 CFR Part 32, Government wide Requirements for a Drug-Free Workplace (Financial Assistance). See 49 CFR Part 32 for details of the requirement.
The non-Federal entity must comply with the provisions in 2 CFR Part 180 OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Government Debarment and Suspension (Non-procurement) and 2 CFR Part 1200 DOT Non-procurement Suspension and Debarment. These provisions restrict Federal awards, subawards and contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal programs or activities.
This Agreement may be terminated or suspended in whole or in part, at any time prior to its expiration date in accordance with 2 CFR 200.340.
The Recipient may appeal or object to a termination or suspension for non-compliance by submitting an appeal in writing to the AO within 30 days after receipt of the written notification of termination or suspension of this Agreement. The Recipient will document the dispute by notifying the Agency in writing of the relevant facts, identify the grounds for objecting or appealing the termination or suspension and specify the remedy sought. The Agency will follow the procedures in the Disputes section when responding to this appeal.
"Driving" - Means operating a motor vehicle on an active roadway with the motor running, including while temporarily stationary because of traffic, a traffic light, stop sign, or otherwise. Does not include operating a motor vehicle with or without the motor running when one has pulled over to the side of, or off, an active roadway and has halted in a location where one can safely remain stationary.
"Text messaging" - means reading from or entering data into any handheld or other electronic device, including for the purpose of short message service texting, e-mailing, instant messaging, obtaining navigational information, or engaging in any other form of electronic data retrieval or electronic data communication. The term does not include glancing at or listening to a navigational device that is secured in a commercially designed holder affixed to the vehicle, provided that the destination and route are programmed into the device either before driving or while stopped in a location off the roadway where it is safe and legal to park.
This clause implements Executive Order 13513, Federal Leadership on Reducing Text Messaging while Driving, dated October 1, 2009.
The Applicant should-
Sub-agreements/sub-contracts. The Applicant shall insert the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in all sub- agreement/subcontracts that exceed the micro-purchase threshold.
Reporting of first-tier sub-awards.
Applicability. Unless you are exempt as provided in paragraph d. of this award term, you must report each action that obligates $25,000 or more in Federal funds that does not include Recovery funds (as defined in section 1512(a)(2) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5) for a sub-award to an entity (see definitions in paragraph e. of this award term).
Where and when to report.
What to report. You must report the information about each obligating action that the submission instructions posted at http://www.fsrs.gov.
Applicability and what to report. You must report total compensation for each of your five most highly compensated executives for the preceding completed fiscal year, if-
The total Federal funding authorized to date under this award is $25,000 or more;
The public does not have access to information about the compensation of the executives through periodic reports filed under section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a), 78o(d)) or section 6104 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (To determine if the public has access to the compensation information, see the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission total compensation filings at http://www.sec.gov/answers/execomp.htm)
Where and when to report. You must report executive total compensation described in paragraph b.1. of this award term:
Reporting of Total Compensation of Sub-applicant Executives.
In the preceding fiscal year, your sub-applicant received-
The public does not have access to information about the compensation of the executives through periodic reports filed under section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a), 78o(d)) or section 6104 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (To determine if the public has access to the compensation information, see the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission total compensation filings at http://www.sec.gov/answers/execomp.htm)
Where and when to report. You must report sub-applicant executive total compensation described in paragraph c.1. of this award term:
Exemptions. If, in the previous tax year, you had gross income, from all sources, under $300,000, you are exempt from the requirements to report:
Definitions. For purposes of this award term:
Entity means all of the following, as defined in 2 CFR Part 25:
Executive means officers, managing partners, or any other employees in management positions.
Sub-award:
Sub-applicant means an entity that:
Total compensation means the cash and noncash dollar value earned by the executive during the Applicant's or sub-applicant's preceding fiscal year and includes the following (for more information see 17 CFR 229.402(c)(2)):
The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. § 3501 and implementing regulations at 5 CFR § 1320) was enacted to minimize the paperwork burden for private businesses and individuals resulting from the collection of information by or for the Federal government and requires an agency to obtain approval from OMB before conducting or sponsoring a “collection of information.” The regulations provide that a collection of information undertaken by a Recipient of a Federal award is considered “conducted or sponsored” by an agency only if:
DOT Order 1351.29 defines Departmental requirements for Paperwork Reduction Act/Information Collection. The Order can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Paperwork Reduction Act/Information Collection.pdf.
If at any time during performance, the Recipient identifies an actual or potential personal or organizational conflict of interest relating to performance of this Agreement, the Recipient must immediately notify the AO in writing. Actual or potential conflicts of interest may include but are not limited to any past, present, or planned contractual, financial, or other relationships, obligations, commitments, or responsibilities, which may bias the Recipient or affect the Recipient's ability to perform the agreement in an impartial and objective manner.
The AO will review the statement and may require additional relevant information from the Recipient. All such information, and any other relevant information known to DOT, will be used to determine whether Agreement performance by the Recipient creates an actual or potential conflict of interest. If any such conflict of interest is found to exist, the AO may (a) terminate the Agreement pursuant to the termination term of the Agreement, or (b) determine that it is otherwise in the best interest of the United States to continue the Agreement and include appropriate provisions to mitigate or avoid such conflict in the Agreement pursuant to 2 CFR 200.112.
In accordance with 2 CFR 200.233, the Recipient must submit an electronic copy of the SF-429 Real Property Report to the AOR and to the Agreement Specialist 60 days prior to the anniversary date of this Agreement.
The Recipient must submit an electronic copy of the SF-428 Tangible Personal Property Report to the AOR and one electronic copy and one hard copy to the Agreement Specialist 60 days prior to the anniversary date of this Agreement.
If no property was furnished or acquired during the Agreement up to the end date of the reporting period, indicate that information in the applicable form. If property was furnished or acquired during the Agreement up to the end date of the reporting period, list the property on the applicable form(s). Use additional sheets as necessary. Use separate sets of sheets to show Federally owned property and Recipient-owned property.
The Recipient shall not require employees or subrecipients to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subrecipients from lawfully reporting waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.
The Recipient shall not require employees or subrecipients to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subrecipients from lawfully reporting waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.
