Does FTA Circular 4220.1F govern legal service contracts that provide only general counsel representation for an agency if the representation is not related to a transit project?
A. Whether FTA Circular 4220.1F, “Third Party Contracting Guidance,” applies to a contract awarded for general operating services, such as legal services for general counsel representation, depends upon whether FTA is participating in the costs of that contract. If the grantee has a grant for a specific project and the grantee is billing FTA an overhead charge under the grant, and the overhead charge includes a portion for general legal services, then FTA Circular 4220.1F applies to the contract for general legal services. Because a grantee may choose to charge or not to charge overhead costs to the grant, we cannot assume in our answer that the grantee is in fact billing FTA for general counsel costs as part of its overhead costs. If there is no billing for overhead costs, and the general counsel costs are not otherwise billed as direct costs to the grant, then the general counsel’s contract would not be covered by FTA Circular 4220.1F. If the grantee is receiving operating assistance
