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Cooperative Agreement With OCTA November 28, 2011 Page 2 staff to execute a second cooperative agreement with OCTA clarifying the roles of the two agencies needed to meet the federal New Starts Program guidelines and requirements for project development activities. The appropriation adjustment is required because the FTA Section 5307 funds were previously budgeted incorrectly. Prior to advancing the project into preliminary engineering, OCTA staff requested the Board's approval to establish a formal federal grant recipient relationship between FTA, OCTA, and the Cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove to expedite local project delivery in the context of the federal New Starts process. On September 26, 2011, the OCTA Board determined that OCTA should be identified as the federal grantee and that the cities should be grantee subrecipients for purposes of applying to the FTA New Starts funding program for the fixed guideway project. The OCTA is a proven entity to FTA in terms of delivering complex capital projects with the use of federal funds and is, therefore, in a better position than the cities to attract FTA capital funding for the project. In its role as federal grantee, OCTA would contribute its technical expertise for (1) project delivery, and, (2) compliance with the FTA oversight process. This not only reduces the administrative burden for the City, but helps to gain FTA's confidence that the project will be managed well. The proposed new cooperative agreement defines the roles and responsibilities related to funding and project delivery between OCTA and Santa Ana for the preliminary engineering phase of the Santa Ana and Garden Grove Fixed Guideway project. The new agreement establishes that OCTA will serve as the FTA grantee for the project and that Santa Ana will serve as the subgrantee. Consistent with the previous agreement, Santa Ana will act on behalf of its partner city, Garden Grove, for purposes of project administration. Garden Grove will continue to be an active participant in the project development and community outreach processes. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT There is no environmental impact associated with this action. FISCAL IMPACT The new cooperative agreement doesn't change the previously approved funding allocation of $5,541,700 for this project. Funds for the local match of 10 percent for PE in the amount of $554,170 to be paid in increments of $277,085 in FY 11/12 and FY 12/13 are available in Measure M Street Construction (accounting unit 03217662-66220, project 126766). 2501-2