Port Infrastructure Development Grants | 693JF7 19 BAA 0002

Opportunity Information: Apply for 693JF7 19 BAA 0002

The Port Infrastructure Development Grants opportunity is a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) discretionary grant program administered by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019. For this round, Congress appropriated a total of $292,730,000 to support projects that improve port facilities at coastal seaports. The program is structured as a competitive, merit-based grant competition, and the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (Funding Opportunity Number 693JF7-19-BAA-0002; CFDA 20.823) lays out the selection criteria, required application contents, and federal compliance expectations applicants must follow.

The core purpose of the program is to fund capital improvements that strengthen how goods move through coastal seaports. DOT is looking for projects that measurably improve safety, efficiency, or reliability for freight movement into, out of, around, or within a coastal seaport, including projects that directly support the unloading and loading of cargo. In practical terms, this can cover a wide range of port infrastructure investments, as long as the applicant can show the project will produce real operational benefits to port users and supply chains, such as reduced congestion or delays, safer operations, better freight throughput, or improved resilience and reliability in port access and terminal operations.

A notable set-aside applies to the funding in this announcement. Of the total appropriation, $92,730,000 is directed specifically for grants to the 15 coastal seaports that handled the greatest number of loaded foreign and domestic containerized cargo units (twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) in 2016, based on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data. The remaining funds are still awarded competitively, but this set-aside signals a dedicated funding track for the highest-volume container ports as defined in the statute.

Eligible applicants are public-sector and quasi-public port and government entities connected to port infrastructure delivery. The NOFO states that eligible applicants include port authorities; commissions (or their subdivisions or agents operating under existing authority); States; political subdivisions of States; local governments; Tribal governments; public agencies; and publicly chartered authorities established by one or more States, among other special-purpose entities. In other words, the program is not framed for private companies applying on their own, but it can support infrastructure that benefits private terminal operators and carriers when the project sponsor is an eligible public applicant and the project meets program goals.

Applicants should plan for standard federal grant compliance obligations. The notice explicitly highlights that all recipients must meet applicable federal requirements, including the Buy American Act, which can affect procurement strategies, specifications, and contracting timelines. Because this is a DOT discretionary program, the application must also be built to the NOFO instructions and evaluation criteria, with clear documentation of project readiness, scope, budget, and the public benefits tied to safety, efficiency, and reliability.

For logistics and deadlines, applications were required to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov, with a submission deadline of 8:00 p.m. EDT on September 16, 2019. DOT indicated it would post clarifications, frequently asked questions, and webinar information on its port grants webpage (www.transportation.gov/Portgrants), which is typically where applicants monitor updates during an open funding round.

The government point of contact listed for this opportunity is Robert Bouchard, Director, Office of Port Infrastructure Development, U.S. DOT (MARAD), located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Washington, DC 20590. Contact details included phone 202-366-5076, TDD 202-366-3993, and email Ports@dot.gov.

• The Maritime Administration in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Port Infrastructure Development Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 20.823.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-06-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-09-16. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 693JF7 19 BAA 0002

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: