During the 2016 National Regional Transportation Conference, Larry Mattson, Yakima Valley Conference of Governments, provided an overview of the transparent process used by the region's technical advisory committee

1. Yakima Valley Conference Of
Government’s Prioritization
Process
Cooperation and collaboration
Larry Mattson, YVCOG Executive Director
June 2016

2. YVCOG – Nationally Recognized for
Prioritization Process
 Active Participation from Technical Advisory Committee
 To set timeframe
 To determine $$ availability
 To align objective measures with application materials
 Supportive Policy Board
 To track successes and challenges
 To ensure regional equity

3. Three Federal Funding ‘Buckets’
 We use the same prioritization process for:
 Surface Transportation Block Grant (formerly STP)
 Surface Transportation Block Grant – Set aside (formerly TAP)
 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality

4. Congestion Mitigation and
Air Quality (CMAQ)
YVCOG is currently soliciting MPO
members for a 4-year CMAQ Call for
Projects.

5. Action Triggered
 Allocations trickle down on February
1, 2016 from FAST Act passage
 Uncommitted CMAQ funding in the
upcoming 2017-2020 MTIP
Development

6. Typical Process (CMAQ Call for Projects)
1. Allocation = Funds Available
2. Staff initiates Call for Projects
3. Staff and Sub-committee develop application packet
4. Packet reviewed & approved by TAC, Policy Board
5. Applications received, staff calculates benefits
6. Applications reviewed & ranked by separate sub-committee
7. Awardees acknowledge commitment

7. Staff Proposes a
Call for Projects
 Staff prepares proposal by researching:
 Available funding through 2020
 FAST Act interpretations for potential changes
 Status of previous Call for Projects
 Previous materials developed
 Potential timeline for Call for Projects
 Staff pursues Policy Board approval to begin work on a Call for Projects and
requests for TAC to convene a sub-committee

8. Application Packet Development
 Selection criteria and scoring
 Able to tailor and weight scoring for regional emphasis
 Timeline for Call
 Application edits for criteria alignment
 Announcement Memo
This process typically accomplished in one sub-committeework session.

9. Application Packet Approval Process
 Staff distributes previous materials
 Sub-committee reviews & edits for current Call
 Full Technical Advisory Committee recommends to the Policy Board
 Policy Board approves Call
This process customarily accomplished between Policy Board approving work to be
pursued and following Policy Board meeting.

10. Staff Receives Applications and Calculates
Benefits
 Staff performs or coordinates project evaluations:
 Project sponsors provide information for evaluation
 Staff performs spreadsheet analysis – or -
 Staff coordinates Department of Ecology modeling through local Air Quality Control Authority
 Staff sends calculations back to project sponsors to incorporate into the application
 Project Sponsors also allowed to perform calculations for benefits independently
 All applications received are reviewed by another TAC sub-committee for evaluation
and ranking purposes.

11. Awardee is Required to Acknowledge $$
Commitment
 As part of the award process:
 Project sponsors are required to acknowledge time and funding commitment as awarded
 Staff maintains a Project Progress Report shared at monthly TAC meetings
 Each project sponsor is required to keep the TAC apprised of changes in their project through
completion
 Project sponsors have had to return STP funding to the MPO for redistribution due to not
meeting obligation deadlines or losing non-federal matching requirement
 Our prioritized project list allows us to use redistributed funding from other MPOs across the
state of Washington.

12. 2017-2020 CMAQ Call for
Projects
Staff started analysis – February 2, 2016
Call for Projects announced – March 25,
2016
Application due – June 30, 2016
Anticipate prioritization list approval –
July 18, 2016
Top project eligible for funding in 2017.

13. Yakima Valley Conference of
Governments (YVCOG)
Larry Mattson, Executive Director
p. (509) 574-1550
e. larry.mattson@yvcog.org
w. www.yvcog.org