(a) Project Management Plan Requirements.—To receive Federal financial assistance for a major capital project for public transportation under this chapter or any other provision of Federal law, a recipient must prepare a project management plan approved by the Secretary and carry out the project in accordance with the project management plan. The plan shall provide for—

(1) adequate recipient staff organization with well-defined reporting relationships, statements of functional responsibilities, job descriptions, and job qualifications;

(2) a budget covering the project management organization, appropriate consultants, property acquisition, utility relocation, systems demonstration staff, audits, and miscellaneous payments the recipient may be prepared to justify;

(3) a construction schedule for the project;

(4) a document control procedure and recordkeeping system;

(5) a change order procedure that includes a documented, systematic approach to the handling of construction change orders;

(6) organizational structures, management skills, and staffing levels required throughout the construction phase;

(7) quality control and quality assurance functions, procedures, and responsibilities for construction, system installation, and integration of system components;

(8) material testing policies and procedures;

(9) internal plan implementation and reporting requirements;

(10) criteria and procedures to be used for testing the operational system or its major components;

(11) periodic updates of the plan, especially related to project budget and project schedule, financing, ridership estimates, and the status of local efforts to enhance ridership where ridership estimates partly depend on the success of those efforts;

(12) the recipient’s commitment to submit a project budget and project schedule to the Secretary quarterly; and

(13) safety and security management.

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(b) Plan Approval.—(1) The Secretary shall approve a plan not later than 60 days after it is submitted. If the approval cannot be completed within 60 days, the Secretary shall notify the recipient, explain the reasons for the delay, and estimate the additional time that will be required.

(2) The Secretary shall inform the recipient of the reasons when a plan is disapproved.

(c) Access to Sites and Records.—Each recipient of Federal financial assistance for public transportation under this chapter or any other provision of Federal law shall provide the Secretary and a contractor the Secretary chooses under section 5338(f) ¹ with access to the construction sites and records of the recipient when reasonably necessary.

(d) Regulations.—The Secretary shall prescribe regulations necessary to carry out this section. The regulations shall include—

(1) a definition of “major capital project” for section 5338(f) ¹ that excludes a project to acquire rolling stock or to maintain or rehabilitate a vehicle;

(2) a requirement that oversight—

(A) begin during the project development phase of a project, unless the Secretary finds it more appropriate to begin the oversight during another phase of the project, to maximize the transportation benefits and cost savings associated with project management oversight; and

(B) be limited to quarterly reviews of compliance by the recipient with the project management plan approved under subsection (b) unless the Secretary finds that the recipient requires more frequent oversight because the recipient has failed to meet the requirements of such plan and the project may be at risk of going over budget or becoming behind schedule; and

(3) a process for recipients that the Secretary has found require more frequent oversight to return to quarterly reviews for purposes of paragraph (2)(B).