Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary Grants (formerly RAISE)
BUILD, renamed from RAISE, funds road, bridge, transit, rail, port and active transportation capital projects plus planning grants with local or regional impact. DOT rates applications on eight statutory merit criteria, then reviews project readiness, environmental risk and a benefit-cost analysis before the Secretary selects projects. The FY2026 round emphasized safety, quality of life, mobility and community connectivity, and economic competitiveness, and limited each applicant to three submissions.
Program facts
- Agency
- Office of the Secretary of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Assistance Listing
- 20.933
- Statutory authority
- Local and Regional Project Assistance Program, 49 U.S.C. 6702, as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58), and annual appropriations acts
- Award ceiling
- Up to $25 million; capital project minimums of $5 million (urban) and $1 million (rural); no minimum for planning grants
- Awards
- The FY2026 NOFO made about $1.5 billion available in a single round, including $75 million for planning grants; the historical success rate has been under 10%
- Period of performance
- Funds must be obligated by the statutory deadline (generally about four years after the appropriation) and expended within roughly five years after obligation
- Cost share
- Federal share up to 80% for urban projects; rural projects and projects in Areas of Persistent Poverty or Historically Disadvantaged Communities may receive up to 100%
- Cycle
- The NOFO has recently posted in late fall or winter with a single deadline in late winter: the FY2026 NOFO posted in December 2025 and closed February 24, 2026. The FY2027 NOFO had not posted as of October 2026
Program goals
- Improve safety for all users of the transportation system
- Improve mobility and community connectivity for people and freight
- Strengthen economic competitiveness and opportunity, including tourism
- Maintain infrastructure in a state of good repair
Scoring rubric
Safety20
Crash data for the project area, the specific countermeasures proposed and expected reductions in fatalities and serious injuries.
Mobility and community connectivity15
Better access and travel options for people and freight, removed barriers and network connections.
Economic competitiveness and opportunity15
Job access, freight movement, tourism and economic growth supported by data.
Quality of life10
Reduced travel time or cost burdens and improved access to daily destinations.
State of good repair10
Asset condition data and how the project restores or maintains infrastructure and lowers lifecycle costs.
Environmental sustainability5
Resilience to hazards and environmental effects addressed in project design.
Partnership, collaboration and innovation10
Public and private partners with committed funds, and innovative technology, delivery or financing approaches.
Project readiness and benefit-cost analysis15
Schedule, required approvals, environmental review status, technical capacity, and a benefit-cost analysis that follows DOT guidance.
DOT rates BUILD merit criteria qualitatively and does not publish points. The weights shown are ELIXIR CONSUMERS' readiness weighting reflecting the FY2026 NOFO's priority criteria (safety, quality of life, mobility and connectivity, economic competitiveness); confirm against the current NOFO.
Eligibility
- States, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories
- Units of local government, including cities, counties and special districts
- Public agencies or publicly chartered authorities established by one or more states
- Special purpose districts or public authorities with a transportation function, including port authorities
- Federally recognized Tribes and consortia of Tribes, and multi-jurisdictional groups of eligible entities
- Nonprofits are not eligible as lead applicants
Required attachments
- SF-424 via Grants.gov and the application in DOT's submission portal
- Project narrative organized by the NOFO's required sections and merit criteria
- Project information form and detailed budget with sources and uses
- Benefit-cost analysis spreadsheet and technical memo (capital projects)
- Letters of support and funding commitment letters
- Environmental review status documentation and project schedule
Formatting rules
- Project narrative limited to 25 pages in recent NOFOs, excluding the BCA and supporting documents
- Follow the section order specified in the NOFO so reviewers can find each criterion
- BCA must use DOT's current Benefit-Cost Analysis Guidance values
Why applications lose points
- BCA errors such as double-counting benefits or using outdated values
- Unrealistic schedules that cannot meet the obligation deadline
- Funding commitments for the non-federal share that are not documented
- Merit criteria answered generically without project-area data
- Submitting more than the allowed number of applications
How ELIXIR CONSUMERS helps with DOT BUILD
- 1.Drafts the narrative by merit criterion from your engineering studies, crash data and capital plan
- 2.Builds the sources-and-uses table and checks the federal share limit for your project location
- 3.Generates support and commitment letter templates for partners
- 4.Tracks obligation and expenditure deadlines after award
Questions, answered
Is BUILD the same as RAISE?
Yes. The program was renamed BUILD for FY2026, returning to an earlier name; the statutory authority and basic structure are the same.
Can a nonprofit apply?
No. Nonprofits can partner with an eligible public applicant but cannot be the lead applicant.
Do planning grants need a BCA?
Planning grants do not require a benefit-cost analysis; capital projects do.
$ elixir trial --days 14
Stop letting high-value grant deadlines pass you by.
Upload a past 990 and a target NOFO. Watch ELIXIR CONSUMERS draft a cited Section 1 narrative in 90 seconds.