(a) A recipient may lease its FTA-funded equipment and drivers to registered charter providers for charter service only if the following conditions exist:

(1) The private charter operator is registered on the FTA charter registration Web site;

(2) The registered charter provider owns and operates buses or vans in a charter service business;

(3) The registered charter provider received a request for charter service that exceeds its available capacity either of the number of vehicles operated by the registered charter provider or the number of accessible vehicles operated by the registered charter provider; and

(4) The registered charter provider has exhausted all of the available vehicles of all registered charter providers in the recipient's geographic service area.

(b) A recipient leasing vehicles and drivers to a registered charter provider under this provision shall record:

(1) The registered charter provider's name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address;

(2) The number of vehicles leased, types of vehicles leased, and vehicle identification numbers; and

(3) The documentation presented by the registered charter provider in support of paragraphs (a)(1) through (4) of this section.

(c) In accordance with § 604.26, if a registered charter provider seeking to lease vehicles has filed a complaint requesting that another registered charter provider be removed from the FTA charter registration Web site, then the registered charter provider seeking to lease vehicles is not required to exhaust the vehicles from that registered charter provider while the complaint is pending before leasing vehicles from a recipient.