Minnesota Department of Transportation

511 Travel Info

Research & Innovation

State Planning and Research Funds

Transportation Pooled Funds/Minnesota Planning Research

A portion of Federal transportation funds apportioned to each state go towards transportation pooled fund (TPF) research projects, where multiple states contribute to the cost of doing research, or to Minnesota-only projects. These State Planning and Research (SP&R) Funds are awarded through grants by the FHWA.

The Office of Research & Innovation established the following process to request SP&R funds if you want to initiate or participate in a transportation pooled fund (TPF)or Minnesota planning research (MPR) project where:

  1. MnDOT will serve as the lead state of a TPF
  2. MnDOT will contribute as a partner state to a TPF
  3. MnDOT will be the sole state in an MPR project (a 20 percent match must be identified to be eligible)   

The MnDOT office requesting pooled fund dollars needs to submit a cover memo along with the SP&R Funding Request form (links below). The submitted memo should be addressed to the Director of Research & Innovation, and should come from the director of the requesting office. Both forms should be forwarded to research.dot@state.mn.us.

Please be sure that all questions are completed on the SP&R request form. 

Requests for funding are reviewed on a quarterly basis (March, June, September and December). Decisions for approval are based on funding availability and eligibility for SP&R criteria. Once a decision has been determined on the funding request, the originating office will be notified via e-mail.

If a project is approved, the technical liaison assigned to the project will be required to submit quarterly reports and project status updates to comply with Federal Highway Administration requirements. If travel is going to be reimbursed by SP&R funds, the technical liaison will be required to submit travel expense forms and meeting minutes to the SP&R administrator.

Process for awarding SPR funds

For projects in which MnDOT will serve as the lead state of a pooled fund:

  1. The SP&R administrator posts the solicitation on the TPF website.
  2. The FHWA assigns the project a solicitation number.
  3. The solicitation is given an expiration date. (This is usually three months from the date the solicitation is posted; however, extensions may be requested if additional time is needed to meet the funding target.)
  4. MnDOT submits a request to the FHWA to use 100 percent SP&R funds. (This process may take up to four months or more, depending on whether the funding target is met and the project becomes financially viable.)
  5. MnDOT posts its commitment on the TPF website.

Once the project is financially viable, and the FHWA has approved use of 100 percent SP&R funds:

  1. The project is assigned a TPF number and officially becomes a pooled fund project.
  2. The SP&R Administrator sends acceptance letters to participating states, notifying them that we are now ready to accept the funds. (The technical liaison that was identified on the request letter will receive copies of the letters).
  3. Participating states transfer funds to MnDOT.
  4. The technical liaison is notified when all the funds have been received and is given the "notice to proceed." The Research & Innovation Office then assigns a project advisor to the project. The project technical advisory panel meets to finalize the scope and select the researcher.

For projects in which MnDOT will contribute as a partner state:

  1. MnDOT posts its commitment on the TPF website.
  2. If the project has met the funding target and is approved for use of 100 percent SP&R funds, the lead state forwards an acceptance letter to the MnDOT SP&R coordinator.
  3. The funds are transferred to the lead agency.
  4. The technical liaison will be notified via e-mail when the transfer is processed, at which point MnDOT becomes an official partner in the pooled fund.

For MPR projects in which MnDOT is the sole state:

  1. A 20 percent non-federal match must be identified and verified.
  2. An MPR (Minnesota Planning Research) number is assigned.
  3. Funding is transferred to the project.
  4. Notice to proceed is sent to the project technical liaison

Funding Request Flow Chart

Quarterly reports for TPF projects

To comply with FHWA requirements, the technical liaison assigned to the approved project will be required to submit quarterly reports and project status updates. If necessary, the lead state or the TAP may request that these reports be issued more frequently. The reports are posted on the TPF website. States handle the posting of documents for any project for which they are the lead, and the TPF coordinator handles this function for FHWA-led studies.

There are no formal requirements as to what should be included in the quarterly report. However, from a program perspective, we ask that your reports include the following:

  • The project number and title
  • The project manager’s name and contact information
  • A detailed description of the work performed and future plans
  • The period of performance
  • Cost expenditures and projections

This is usually the type of information the co-sponsors will want. They are the main audience for the quarterly report, although other states might also be interested in the progress of the study. Quarterly reports are a way of addressing accountability (i.e. what are you doing with the money) as well as an opportunity to report progress and to share preliminary results.

Use the TPF Quarterly Report Template (Word) to complete the report. For examples of quarterly reports look at other Transportation Pooled Fund studies.

Reports are due for each calendar quarter (i.e., January–March; April–June; etc.). The quarterly reporting schedule is as follows (periods of performance are in parentheses):

  • Due: April 30 (January - March)
  • Due: July 31 (April - June)
  • Due: October 31 (July - September)
  • Due: January 31 (October - December)

If travel is going to be reimbursed by SP&R funds, the technical liaison will be required to submit travel expense forms and meeting minutes to the SP&R administrator.

Final reports

If there is a final report for a pooled fund project, it will be published to the TPF website and TRIS. When MnDOT is the lead agency or sole agency, the reports may also be published to the Digital Library using the MnDOT Report Template, depending on the decision of the project lead. All reports must meet Section 8 digital requirements. See TPF-5(442) Transportation Research and Connectivity Pooled Fund Study: 508/Accessibility.