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Pausing Projects

Pausing Projects

Projects on the Permitting Dashboard can be “Paused” in situations where the lead agency cannot determine new milestone dates due to reasons beyond the government’s control and progress is suspended on all actions for that project. For example, a project would be appropriately “Paused” if the project sponsor notifies the lead agency that they are changing the scope of the project.

In the case of a project pause, the lead agency would first mark all actions as “Paused,” then change the overall project status to “Paused” and indicate the reason for pause (e.g., “Project Sponsor Factors”). When marking a project as “Paused,” the reason for pause must be selected from one of the reasons in following list. The table below includes a non-exhaustive list of scenarios for each reason for pause. If you have questions about which scenario is applicable to your project, please contact the appropriate FAST-41, OMB, or DOT point of contact.

After selecting a reason for pause, the lead agency must provide a short summary of the steps that are being taken to determine a new project timetable and an estimate of when the pause will be lifted. The short summary must include descriptions of coordination with the project sponsor and potentially affected agencies, whether the appropriate agency CERPOs have been made aware of the pause, and next steps in resolving the project schedule. While the project is in “Paused” status, this summary must be updated at least quarterly.

Once the lead agency receives sufficient information to revise the project timetable, the agency should change the status of all actions back to “In Progress,” update the relevant milestone target dates, and list the reason for date change as “Project pause.” For FAST-41 projects, updates to milestone target completion dates will trigger the Executive Director review process for the scenarios described in the FAST-41 Data Management Guides.

Reason for Pause

Possible Scenarios or Examples

State Government Factors
  • There are unresolved issues between Federal and state agencies related to environmental impact assessment, endangered species, air or water quality permitting, or historic or cultural resources.
  • A necessary state authorization has been denied or delayed.

Local Government Factors
  • There are unresolved issues between Federal and local governments related to environmental impact assessment, endangered species, air or water quality permitting, or historic or cultural resources.
  • There are unresolved conflicts with local, county, or city zoning.
  • There are unresolved impacts on recreational or protected areas.

Tribal Government Factors
  • There are unresolved tribal government economic, environmental, or realty concerns about a project.
  • There are unresolved issues associated with treaty rights such as impacts to water, mineral, oil and gas, or aboriginal hunting or fishing rights.
  • There are unresolved issues between Federal and Tribal governments related to environmental impact assessment, endangered species, air or water quality permitting, or historic or cultural resources.

Project Sponsor Factors
  • A project sponsor needs more time to submit required information to an agency and cannot estimate a time for submission.
  • There are financing issues identified by the project sponsor.
  • The project sponsor has project scope has changed significantly.

Pending Legal Action
  • The project sponsor or a Federal agency must address litigation related to the project.

Natural Disasters
  • Necessary schedule changes directly resulting from circumstances related to a natural disaster.

Click here to view the Data Management Guides for major infrastructure projects (MIPs) and FAST-41 covered projects.

Last updated: Thursday, August 1, 2019