1 U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE Washington, DC 20590
Office of the Secretary
Build America Bureau
May 18, 2023
via E-mail
Claude McFerguson
Director of Transportation
City of Commerce
2535 Commerce Way
Commerce, CA 90040
Via E-mail: [email protected]
Re: Zero-Emission Bus Operations, Maintenance, and Administration Facility – TIFIA Preliminary Eligibility Determinations
Dear Mr. McFerguson:
Thank you for expressing interest in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program administered by the Build America Bureau (Bureau). The City of Commerce (City or Applicant or Borrower) has provided information to assist the Bureau in making preliminary determinations as to whether the City and the Zero-Emission Bus Operations, Maintenance, and Administration Facility project (Project) are eligible for TIFIA credit assistance.
Based on the information provided to date, the Bureau has made preliminary determinations that:
• The City of Commerce, as an incorporated municipality in the State of California, is a government entity; thus, the City is an eligible “obligor” for TIFIA credit assistance under 23 U.S.C. § 601(a)(11)(B).
• The Project, a facility for use in public transportation, is a surface transportation project eligible for federal assistance under chapter 53 of title 49, U.S. Code; thus, the Project is eligible for TIFIA credit assistance under 23 U.S.C. § 601(a)(12)(A).
Please note that these are not final eligibility determinations nor are they judgements of the creditworthiness of the Borrower or Project. These preliminary eligibility determinations are based exclusively on the information provided by the City to date. The Bureau has not verified any of this information; our preliminary determinations assume that the information provided to date is true, accurate, and complete. As part of the next steps in the Bureau’s process, we will proceed to further analyze and verify the 2 information you have provided. Upon such verification and analysis of this information by the Bureau or in the event the Borrower, project scope, or project costs are modified, these preliminary eligibility determinations may need to be updated or revised.
We are happy to work with you to further develop the Project, continue to assess its eligibility under the statutory criteria, and assist with regulatory compliance. At the appropriate point in the future, we will work to determine the creditworthiness of the Borrower and Project for a possible TIFIA loan.
Daniel Schned
Head of Project Development
Build America Bureau
CC:
Roger Bohnert, Director, Office of Outreach and Project Development, Build America Bureau
Robert Hanifin, Project Development Lead, Build America Bureau