[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7164-7167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-3501]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
Amber Plan Program Support Assistance; Request for Applications
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice; request for applications.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This document requests applications for assistance from public
agencies in supporting Amber Plan Programs in each State. The U.S. DOT
Amber Plan Grant Program will provide up to seven million dollars in
grants to States (including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia)
to fund the application of Intelligent Transportation Systems to
facilitate the inclusion of State and local transportation agencies
into existing or proposed Amber Plan Programs. The intent is to provide
funds to States for the purpose of planning the systems and procedures
necessary to incorporate various traveler information systems such as
changeable message signs (CMS) in the issuance of Amber Alerts.
DATES: Applications for Amber Plan Program support assistance must be
received prior to August 1, 2003. Decisions regarding the acceptance of
specific applications for funding will be made within 60 business days
of receipt.
ADDRESSES: Applications for Amber Plan Program support assistance
should be submitted electronically via e-mail to
[email protected], or mailed directly to the Federal Highway
Administration, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program
Office, Amber Plan Support, HOIT-1, 400 Seventh St., SW., Room 3416,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Rupert, Office of
Transportation Management (HOTM-1), (202) 366-2194; Mr. Craig Allred,
ITS Joint Program Office (HOIT-1), (202) 366-8034; or Ms. Gloria
Hardiman-Tobin, Office of Chief Counsel (HCC-40), (202) 366-0780;
Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, 400
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Office hours are from 8
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
An electronic copy of this document may be downloaded using a modem
and suitable communications software from the Government Printing
Office's Electronic Bulletin Board Service at (202) 512-1661. Internet
users may reach the Office of the Federal Register's Home page at
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register and the Government Printing
Office's Web page at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara.
The document may also be viewed at the DOT's ITS Home page at
http://www.its.dot.gov.
Background
The Amber Plan Program is a voluntary program where law enforcement
agencies partner with broadcasters to issue an urgent bulletin in the
most serious child abduction cases. These bulletins notify the public
about abductions of children. The U.S. DOT recognizes the value of the
Amber Plan Program and fully supports the State and local governments'
choice to implement this program.
Alerts of recent serious child abductions may be communicated
through various means including radio and television stations, highway
advisory radio, changeable message signs (CMS), and other media. Under
certain circumstances, using CMS to display child abduction messages as
part of an Amber Plan Program has been determined to be consistent with
current FHWA policy governing the use of CMS and the type of messages
that are displayed. The FHWA, in fact, recently issued a policy
memorandum that supports the use of changeable message signs (CMS) for
Amber Alerts. This memorandum may be viewed at the following url:
http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Travel/reports/amber.htm.
A key factor in the success of the Amber Plan Program is the need
for public agencies to develop formal Amber Plan policies that include
a sound set of procedures for calling an Amber Alert. If public
agencies decide to display an Amber Alert or child abduction messages
on a CMS, the FHWA has determined that this application is acceptable
only if it is part of a well-established local Amber Plan Program, and
public agencies have developed a formal policy that governs the
operation and messages that are displayed on CMS.
Local Amber Plan Programs should include written criteria for
issuing and calling off an Amber Alert, procedures on issues to
coordinate with local
[[Page 7165]]
agencies and other interests, and should conform to the recommendations
of the National Amber Plan Program. Information about the National
Amber Plan Program may be found at the following url: http://www.missingkids.com/html/amberplan.html. The general criteria for
issuing an Alert and the associated procedures may include confirmation
that a child has been abducted; belief that the circumstances
surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of
serious bodily harm or death, and enough descriptive information about
the child, abductor, and/or suspect's vehicle to believe an immediate
broadcast alert will help.
Of specific interest to the U.S. DOT are that these policies and
procedures provide specific guidance on displaying Amber Alert or child
abduction messages on CMS. Such guidance should address items such as
the criteria when CMS will be used for Amber Alerts; clear
identification of the law enforcement agency responsible for issuing
the alert; which agencies, interests, and persons are to be contacted
to initiate or call off an Amber Alert; circumstances under which the
Amber Alert message could or could not be displayed; length of time to
display the message; geographic area over which the information is to
be displayed; circumstances that would cause the discontinuation of use
of the CMS if the Amber Alert message creates an adverse traffic
impact; and format and content of the messages to be displayed.
In general, the Amber Plan Program has proven to be a very
effective yet relatively simple and inexpensive program to implement.
However, the inclusion of the transportation community and the use of
various highway advisory systems such as CMS as part of an Amber Plan
Program has exposed several issues that need to be addressed in order
for such use to be effective and an appropriate use of the advanced
technology may be appropriate.
One key issue that has broad implications beyond Amber Alerts is
the lack of well established communication systems and protocols
between the public safety community and the transportation community or
the inability of such systems to be used for the purposes of conveying
Amber Alert information among agencies. Currently most Amber Alerts are
communicated to Transportation Operations Centers by telephone or
facsimile. While there is no evidence that these relatively informal
``low-tech'' arrangements are not effective, such an informal system,
dependant on simple communication methods, certainly has the potential
for problems such as missed calls, data errors, and erroneous or false
alerts. Furthermore, the lack of formal communication links has larger
implications for highway incident response, hazmat incidents, natural
disasters, and security related events. A number of jurisdictions have
identified this broader need for communication and have established
communication systems among the various public safety and
transportation agencies to report and coordinate response to incidents
but it is not clear whether any of these systems have been used for
Amber Alerts.
Another obstacle that has been identified is the lack of capability
for jurisdictions to issue area wide messages on CMS or other traveler
information systems. These systems are generally intended to alert
motorists to a localized condition (e.g., an incident on a specific
roadway). As a result, in some jurisdictions, the systems that control
these signs are not capable of posting the same message on all signs
across a region. The result in the case of an Amber Alert is a rather
labor intensive and time consuming process to change the message on the
signs one sign at a time. Currently several of these jurisdictions are
exploring ways to upgrade their systems to provide such capability.
This has implications for other area wide situations such as a major
natural disaster or security related event where evacuation or other
critical information may need to be conveyed to motorists over a broad
region.
A third issue that can impact the appropriate use of CMS for Amber
Alerts is the fact that many transportation operation centers are not
staffed around the clock. In those cases, if an Amber Alert or other
critical message needs to be posted on CMS, an off-duty operator has to
be contacted by an appropriate authority so he or she can return to the
operations center and post the message. Another option is to give a
public safety agency the capability and authority to post such messages
during off hours. In some jurisdictions, this problem has been resolved
by linking operations centers and providing for the transfer of control
to a designated back-up center. In some cases these back-up centers are
continuously operated Transportation Operation Centers; in other cases,
these are emergency response centers (e.g., police dispatch centers).
In either case, both technological and institutional issues must be
resolved to provide this important functionality.
Another concern is that jurisdictions must have the basic
capability to communicate such information to motorists via CMS or
other traveler information systems. Currently, CMS deployment is
largely limited to urban freeways, and even in some of our largest
metropolitan areas, the numbers of such signs are often limited. While
it is not practical to widely deploy such systems for the specific
purposes of issuing Amber Alerts, there is some value to increasing our
overall capability to communicate with motorists. Exploring and
planning alternative methods of providing information to travelers and
expanding the use of such systems for such purposes as Amber Alerts
should be pursued.
Finally, there is the issue of the message to be conveyed. There is
anecdotal evidence of Amber Alerts being provided by multi-panel
messages containing details such as the type of vehicle, the license
plate number, and the ten-digit number to call adversely impact traffic
as drivers attempted to read and possibly copy all the relevant
information. Clearly, it is important to ensure that these signs are
properly and safely used as part of an overall effort to provide
information on Amber Alerts.
Objectives of the Amber Alert Grant Program
The proposed U.S. DOT Amber Plan Grant Program will provide up to
$7 million in grants to States (including Puerto Rico and the District
of Columbia) to fund the application of Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS) to facilitate the inclusion of State and local
transportation agencies into existing or proposed Amber Plan Programs.
The intent is to facilitate, through the use of advanced technologies,
the seamless coordination between law enforcement agencies and
transportation communities necessary to implement an Amber Alert using
changeable message signs or other traveler information systems and to
improve our overall capability of communicating Amber Alerts and other
important information to motorists.
Each State (including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia) may
apply for a grant of $125,000 for planning, coordinating and designing
of systems, protocols, and message sets that support the coordination
and communication necessary to issue an Amber Alert and to provide the
means to communicate an Amber Alert to motorists. This funding would
ensure that the notification is well designed and integrated between
the law enforcement and transportation communities.
Once such planning has been completed, any remaining funds from
[[Page 7166]]
the grant could be used to support the implementation of systems that
will support the dissemination of Amber Alert messages via CMS or other
traveler information systems.
Funding
The instrument to provide funding, on a cost reimbursable basis,
will be a Federal-aid project agreement. Federal funding authority is
derived from Sec. 5001(a)(5) of the Transportation Equity Act for the
21st Century (TEA-21), Pub. L. 105-178, 112 Stat. 107, 419 (1998).
Actual award of funds will be subject to funding availability. Federal
ITS funding for Amber Plan support assistance may be used as necessary
for:
1. Developing general policies and procedures that would guide the
use of CMS or other motorist information systems to issue Amber Alerts.
2. Developing guidance or policies on the content and format of
alert messages being conveyed on CMS or other traveler information
systems.
3. Coordinating State, regional, and local plans for use of CMS or
other transportation related issues.
4. Planning secure and reliable communications systems and
protocols between public safety and transportation agencies or modify
existing communications systems to support Amber Alerts.
5. Planning and designing improved systems for communicating with
motorists including the capability for issuing wide area alerts to
motorists.
6. Planning systems and protocols to facilitate the efficient
issuance of Amber Alerts and other key information to motorists during
off-hours.
7. Providing training and guidance to transportation authorities to
facilitate appropriate use of CMS and other traveler information
systems for Amber Alerts.
Once these eligible activities are complete, any remaining funding
allocated under agreements resulting from this request may be used to
implement the systems that will support the dissemination of Amber
Alert messages via CMS or other traveler information systems. This
includes systems necessary to establish the necessary communications
between appropriate public safety and transportation agencies to post
Amber Alerts on CMS; systems necessary to provide for wide area alerts
to motorists; and systems necessary for 24-hour operation of such
systems. Note: The actual purchase of CMS or other on-street or in-
vehicle hardware is not eligible for funding under this program.
Matching Share/Cost Sharing
There is a statutorily required minimum twenty percent matching
share that must be from non-federally derived funding sources, and must
consist of either cash, substantial equipment contributions that are
wholly utilized as an integral part of the project, or personnel
services dedicated full-time to the project for a substantial period,
as long as such personnel are not otherwise supported with Federal
funds.\1\ The non-federally derived funding may come from State, local
government, or private sector partners. However, funding identified to
support continued operations, maintenance, and management of the system
will not be considered as part of the partnership's cost-share
contribution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Sec. 5001(b) of the Transportation Equity Act for the
21st Century, Pub. L. 105-178; 112 Stat. 107, June 1998.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offerors are encouraged to consider additional matching share above
the required minimum match described above. Those offerors willing to
propose additional match may include the value of federally supported
projects directly associated with the proposed project.
Grantees shall maintain financial records that detail the
activities provided by Federal funding, indicating appropriate total
matching requirements, as described under the heading, Matching Share/
Cost Sharing. The U.S. DOT and the Comptroller General of the United
States have the right to access all documents pertaining to the use of
Federal ITS funds and non-Federal contributions. Grantees and sub-
grantees are responsible for obtaining audits in accordance with the
Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (31 U.S.C. 7501-7507) and revised
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133, Audits of States,
Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations, dated June 24, 1997,
that is available at the following url: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html. The audits shall be conducted by an
independent auditor in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards covering financial audits found at 49 CFR 18.26.
Instructions to Applicants
An application for Amber Plan program assistance shall consist of
two parts: (1) A proposed technical approach; and (2) a financial plan.
Together these two elements must describe the proposed activities to be
conducted with this funding. The complete application shall not exceed
15 pages in length, including the Amber Plan Approach, the Financial
Plan, the title page, index, and tables. A page is defined as one side
of an 8\1/2\ by 11-inch paper, with a type font no smaller than 12
point.
Applications shall be submitted in an electronic format compatible
with Microsoft Office 2000. The cover sheet or title page of the
application shall include the name, address, and phone number of an
individual to whom correspondence and questions about the application
may be directed. Any portion of the application or its contents that
may contain proprietary information shall be clearly indicated;
otherwise, the application and its contents shall be non-proprietary.
Application Content
Applicants must submit an acceptable Technical Approach and
Financial Plan that together provide sound evidence that the objectives
of this program can successfully be completed in a timely fashion.
Applications should be organized into the following two sections:
1. Technical Approach
The application should describe the proposed approach for
establishing the systems, protocols and message sets necessary for
posting of Amber Alert messages on CMS and other traveler information
systems. The following paragraphs illustrate the general information
that applicants should include in this section of the application.
(A) The application should identify candidate agencies or
organizations that will be engaged in the proposed activities. These
organizations may include, but not be limited to: highway agencies,
public safety agencies, sources of traveler information, and commercial
radio and television stations. It is expected that the slate of
organizations, agencies, and firms involved in developing an Amber Plan
Program will be adjusted as deployment plans are developed.
(B) The application should discuss institutional or organizational
issues that will affect the Amber Plan Program and the involvement of
the transportation community in that program, and what candidate
techniques or activities will be used to address these issues. Prior
activities that identified or addressed Amber Plan Program issues may
be described in this section to provide a complete portrayal of the
breadth of effort by the applicant to develop a plan for regional
deployment.
(C) The application should describe the expected product(s) of the
activities described in paragraph (B) of this
[[Page 7167]]
section. It is expected that reports, plans, presentations, or other
products would be produced by these activities for use by the
applicant. The applicant should propose which of these products may
serve as deliverables to the ITS-JPO under any resultant agreement from
this request. The final deliverables will be determined in negotiations
between the ITS-JPO and the selected locations.
(D) The application should include a proposed schedule or timeline
for completion of the proposed activities and outputs for which the
grant will be used. The schedule should include milestone events or
targeted activities, especially indicating any activities that require
ITS-JPO actions or actions by organizations typically not influenced by
the applying agency. Additionally, the schedule should also indicate
targets for delivery of any products or outputs from development
activities.
2. Financial Plan
The Financial Plan should demonstrate that sufficient funding is
available to successfully complete all aspects of the proposed
development of the plans and designs described in section 1.
Additionally, the Financial Plan shall provide the financial
information described under the heading, Matching Share/Cost Sharing.
An acceptable Financial Plan should:
(A) Provide a clear identification of the proposed funding for
activities leading to the development of a comprehensive plan for
issuing Amber Alerts, and a commitment that no more than 80 percent of
the total cost will be supported by Federal ITS funds. As appropriate,
financial commitments from other public agencies and from private firms
should be documented appropriately, such as through memorandums of
understanding.
(B) Describe how the proposed systems will be developed to ensure
their timely implementation and the continued long-term operations of
the systems.
(C) As appropriate, include corresponding public and/or private
investments that minimize the relative percentage and amount of Federal
ITS funds. Also include evidence of continuing fiscal capacity and
commitment from anticipated public and private sources.
Authority: Sec. 5001(a)(5), Pub. L. 105-178, 112 Stat. 107, 420;
23 U.S.C. 315; and 49 CFR 1.48.
Issued on: February 6, 2003.
Mary E. Peters,
Federal Highway Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-3501 Filed 2-11-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P