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and catalyst for growth of rural communities. The Department will consider whether and <br />the extent to which the construction of the transportation project will allow concurrent <br />broadband deployment and the installation of high-speed networks. <br />(ii) Innovative Project Delivery <br />DOT will consider the extent to which the project utilizes innovative practices in <br />contracting (such as public -private partnerships), congestion management, asset <br />management, or long-term operations and maintenance. <br />The Department also seeks projects that employ innovative approaches to <br />improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the environmental permitting and review to <br />accelerate project delivery and achieve improved outcomes for communities and the <br />environment. The Department's objective is to achieve timely and consistent <br />environmental review and permit decisions. Accordingly, projects from States with <br />NEPA assignment authority under 23 U.S.C. 327 are considered to use an innovative <br />approach to project delivery. Participation in innovative project delivery approaches will <br />not remove any statutory requirements affecting project delivery. <br />While BUILD Transportation grant award recipients are not required to employ <br />innovative approaches, the Department encourages BUILD Transportation grant <br />applicants to describe innovative project delivery methods for proposed projects. <br />Additionally, DOT is interested in projects that apply innovative strategies to <br />improve the efficiency of project development or expedite project delivery by using <br />FHWA's Special Experimental Project No. 14 (SEP-14) and Special Experimental <br />Project No. 15 (SEP-15). Under SEP-14 and SEP-15, FHWA may waive statutory and <br />regulatory requirements under title 23 on a project -by -project basis to explore innovative <br />PAGE 35 <br />