Prime Recipient: Means an entity that receives funds in the form of a grant, cooperative agreement, or loan directly from the Federal Government.  Note: No definition was provided in either Federal Register Notice noted above for the other definitions.  As such, this definition was derived from a similar use in section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – Public Law 111-5.

Subrecipient: Means an entity that receives a subaward from the prime recipient under an award; and is accountable to the prime recipient for the use of the Federal funds provided by the subaward.  For the FAHP, this will generally be a local public agency that administers a Federal-aid project, but may also be a non-profit, educational institution, and in some cases, a Federal agency.

Subaward: Means a legal instrument to provide support for the performance of any portion of the substantive project or program for which a prime recipient received this award and that the prime, as the recipient, awards to an eligible subrecipient.  The term does not include procurement of property and services needed to carry out the project or program (for further explanation, see Sec. ll.210 of the attachment to OMB Circular A–133, ‘‘Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations”). An example would be an agreement between the State DOT as prime recipient and the local government as subrecipient.

State: means (a) Any state of the United States; (b) The District of Columbia; (c) Any agency or instrumentality of a state other than a local government or state-controlled institution of higher education; (d) The Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands; and (e) The United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and a territory or possession of the United States.

Q-6: For purposes of FFATA, is the state DOT always the “prime recipient”?

A-6: For the FAHP, the state DOT will be the prime recipients in most, but not all, instances.  There are other direct recipients of FAHP funds, such as entities administering the Recreational Trails Program (RTP), for example.

Q-7:  Is “award” synonymous with an obligation on a Federal-aid project agreement, or apportionment to a State at the highest level?

A-7: As noted above in the definitions, an award, for purposes of FFATA reporting, occurs when Federal funds are obligated on a project agreement or cooperative agreement.  At a later date to be announced by OMB, the definition of award will be expanded to include other types of Federal financial assistance.

Q-8: How does FFATA reporting work for projects authorized under Advance Construction?

A-8:  Authorization of Advance Construction establishes eligibility and reserves the right for the State to request Federal funds at a later date.  The date Federal funds are obligated, via “conversion”, is the date required entry into FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) is triggered.