I received the following question regarding the eligibility of future maintenance items:

Will any of the Federal or State Funding programs permit the Local Agency to include in the construction contract and specs an order for the Contractor to furnish additional materials (parts, supplies) for future maintenance of specialty items such as decorative street light poles/mast arms/luminaries, LED Blank-Out signage, bus lane and bicycle traffic signal lenses, etc…?

Various forms of the question are commonly asked and I thought it was worth sharing my response …

When Federal and/or State participation is requested for the construction phase of a project, actual costs to construct the project itself are eligible for reimbursement. Items procured for future maintenance work (or any type of future use) is nonparticipating.

A contract may have provisions for stockpiled materials, but participating materials must still conform with the plans and specifications presented at the request for authorization.  Additional information about Stockpiled Materials can be found in the Construction Administration Core Curriculum.