(a) Administrative completeness required. All draft EAs, FEISs, documented reevaluations, and CEs for which a narrative document, rather than a checklist, is prepared must be determined to be administratively complete by the department delegate before it begins a technical review. After a document is declared to be administratively complete, no further administrative completeness review is required for future revised, amended, or final versions of that document.
(b) Initiation of review. To initiate administrative completeness review of an environmental review document, the project sponsor will submit the document to the department delegate with a written statement that the document is administratively complete, ready for technical review, and compliant with all applicable requirements.
(c) Project sponsor's deadline to submit certain types of documents.
  (1) Applicability. This subsection applies to EAs, and FEISs, but does not apply if the project sponsor is a local government that has paid a fee under §2.46 of this subchapter (relating to Optional Payment of Fee by Local Government).
  (2) Deadline. The project sponsor will submit to the department delegate for administrative completeness review any environmental review document subject to this subsection at least two years before the date planned for publishing notice to let the construction contract for the project, as indicated in whichever of the following documents was most recently approved:
    (A) the financially constrained portion of:
      (i) the approved state transportation improvement program; or
      (ii) the approved unified transportation program; or
    (B) a commission order identifying the project as being eligible for environmental review.
  (3) Date planned for publishing letting notice. If the date planned for publishing letting notice described in paragraph (2) of this subsection is identified in the applicable document only by the fiscal year, for the purposes of this subsection the date is September 1 of the previous year. If it is identified only by the calendar year, for the purposes of this subsection the date is January 1 of that year. If it is identified only by month and year, for the purposes of this section it is the first day of that month.
  (4) No waiting period for letting contract. This subsection does not require that the project sponsor wait any amount of time after the department delegate renders an environmental decision under §2.49 of this subchapter (relating to Technical Review) before letting the construction contract for the project.
(d) Requirements for administrative completeness. The department delegate will not determine an environmental review document to be administratively complete unless it determines that:
  (1) the description of the project is the same as shown in the project scope prepared under §2.44 of this subchapter (relating to Project Scope) including any amendments of the project scope;
  (2) the document contains a discussion of each issue required to be addressed in the document by the project scope;
  (3) all surveys and studies required by the project scope have been completed and are documented in the environmental review document, and any environmental reports prepared have been submitted to the department delegate;
  (4) all coordination with agencies required by the project scope to be completed before approval of the environmental review document has been completed, and both agencies' comments and the project sponsor's responses to those comments are documented in the environmental review document;
  (5) any other tasks required by the project scope before submission of the environmental review document have been completed and documented; and
  (6) any other tasks required by the project scope to be undertaken after approval of the environmental review document are appropriately identified in writing.
(e) Deadline for determination. Not later than the 20th day after the date the department delegate receives the project sponsor's environmental review document for administrative completeness review, the department delegate will:
  (1) issue a letter confirming that the document is administratively complete and ready for technical review; or
  (2) decline to issue a letter confirming that the document is administratively complete and ready for technical review, and instead send a written response to the project sponsor specifying in reasonable detail the basis for the department delegate's conclusions, including a listing of any required information determined by the department delegate to be missing from the document.
(f) Cooperation by department delegate. If the department delegate declines to issue a letter confirming that an environmental review document is administratively complete under subsection (e) of this section, the department delegate will undertake all reasonable efforts to cooperate with the project sponsor in a timely manner to ensure that the environmental review document is administratively complete.
(g) Re-submittal. The project sponsor may revise and re-submit any environmental review document determined by the department delegate to not be administratively complete. The department delegate will, in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, issue a determination letter on the re-submitted document not later than the 20th day after the date the department delegate receives it. There is no limit on the number of times an environmental review document may be revised and re-submitted under this subsection.

Source Note: The provisions of this §2.48 adopted to be effective April 16, 2012, 37 TexReg 1727; amended to be effective April 16, 2014, 39 TexReg 2941; amended to be effective July 20, 2016, 41 TexReg 5234