The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Aug. 15 reported releasing a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Innovative Finance and Asset Concession Grant Program (IFAC), making $45.98 million available to assist public entities in “facilitating and evaluating public-private partnerships and exploring innovative financing and alternative delivery opportunities for Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act -eligible projects.”
Eligible applicants for the Build America Bureau-administered program include state, tribal, or local governments; special purpose public authorities; or agencies chartered by a state, tribal, or local government.
Grants are available for up to $2 million, with the first $1 million requiring no local match. This is the second NOFO for IFAC, with funds allocated from fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026 (if available). Applications are due no later than Oct. 1, 2025.
According to the USDOT, two types of grants are available under the program: technical assistance and expert services. Technical assistance grants, it said, enable recipients to “build organizational capacity and identify a portfolio of underutilized assets by hiring qualified employees or procuring advisors.” Expert services grants enable recipients to “procure expert professionals in connection with the development of a specific asset or assets,” it noted. Applicants must choose one of the grant types to apply for in this round of funding.
The Build America Bureau will host a free informational webinar about the IFAC NOFO and program on Aug. 27, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Accommodation requests must be submitted to InnovativeFinanceTA@dot.gov by Aug. 20, 2025. While participation in the webinar is not mandatory to receive funding, the Build America Bureau said it encourages potential applicants to learn about the application process and activities that can be funded before applying. A recording of the webinar and a copy of the presentation will be posted on the IFAC website.
“This novel program is promoting efficient and effective use of publicly owned assets, by enabling communities to find answers to this basic question: do they have underutilized assets that can be leveraged to address their infrastructure needs,” Build America Bureau Executive Director Morteza Farajian said. “The Bureau is constructing a bridge between our state, tribal, and local partners who have valuable underutilized assets and private partners who have expertise and financial capital to generate additional value from those assets to address community needs faster and at lower cost.”
Separately, the Build America Bureau last month reported a policy update to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit program that will allow all types of transportation infrastructure projects to finance up to 49% of eligible costs.
