It sounds to me like SMART is (and have been) incurring eligible project costs with a "letter of no prejudice, but don't as yet have a full funding agreement, with FTA. And, from this article it would appear that they have not been reimbursed for eligible costs already expended.

This is a greyer area, if Congress has allocated these funds, and DOT is not releasing them, or not completing and deliberately "stalling" the "paper work" on the final full funding agreement, after the letter of no prejudice, it could be considered "impounding" funds, which Nixon tried and failed at.

I always encouraged Federal grant recipients that I worked with to finalize there full funding agreement before incurring significant reimbursable Federal costs, so there would be less "risk" or cash flow problems from such "paperwork" problems that might crop up later. Many agencies followed that good advice, but some didn't.....

Since this administration is in a state of constant sheer chaos, sometimes doesn't feel a strong need to comply with laws they don't particularly like, is often pitting flunkies and even Secretaries against each other, has had a musical chairs parade of folks who play political games to curry favor, is behind in staffing up, is often staffed by some pretty just plain incompetent dufus's, and has other Departments that often can't seem to make decisions for fear of sudden and unforeseen blowback by the giant Cheeto, this doesn't surprise me.

There are a number of big projects right now that are in the same straights. The Secretary of Transportation, as McConnell's wife, although experienced, is not staffed up either, and is in a particularly difficult position, within this dysfunctional cult of personality, because the Cheeto and her hubby have had their own bumpy and tumultuous ups and downs of late......