[Federal Register: March 6, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 45)]
[Notices]
[Page 12070-12073]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06mr08-24]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Inviting Applications for Renewable Energy Systems and Energy
Efficiency Improvements Grants and Guaranteed Loans
AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), an Agency within the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development,
announces it is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2008 to
purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency
improvements for agriculture producers and rural small businesses in
eligible rural areas. Funding will be available in the form of grants
and loan guarantees. In addition to stand-alone grants and loan
guarantees, applicants may apply for combination loan guarantee and
grant funding (combination package).
For renewable energy systems, the minimum grant is $2,500 and the
maximum is $500,000. For energy efficiency improvements, the minimum
grant is $1,500 and the maximum is $250,000. Funding for grant and loan
combination packages will be funded from the same allocation as loan
guarantees. Fifty percent of the appropriated grant funding will be
reserved for the first grant-only competition. Any unused grant only
funds from the first competition will be made available for the second
grant-only competition.
The maximum amount of a guarantee to be provided to a borrower will
be $10 million. For FY 2008, the guarantee fee amount is 1 percent of
the guaranteed portion of the loan and the annual renewal fee is 0.250
percent (one-quarter of one percent) of the guaranteed portion of the
loan.
For FY 2008, the following are the funds provided by Congress for
the Section 9006 program: For grants, $15,888,000, and for loans,
$204,953,560.
DATES: The USDA will issue one grant solicitation for two separate
competitions in FY 2008. Competitive deadlines will occur in accordance
with deadlines as follows:
Grants
For the first competitive window, complete (see 7 CFR 4280.111)
grant-only applications, must be submitted to the appropriate USDA
Rural Development State Office no later than April 15, 2008. For the
second competitive window, complete (see 7 CFR 4280.111) grant-only
applications must be submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural
Development State Office no earlier than April 16, 2008, and no later
than June 16, 2008. Applications submitted under the first competition
that are not selected will automatically be considered under the second
competition, using the materials and score from the first competition
(i.e., no changes to scored applications will be accepted). It is
anticipated that two grant award announcements will be made. The first
announcement is anticipated prior to June 16, 2008, and the second,
prior to September 16, 2008.
Guaranteed Loans
Complete guaranteed loan applications will be accepted and
processed, until June 16, 2008, in a rolling application manner.
Applications for loan guarantees must be completed and submitted to the
appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office no later than June 16,
2008. No application received in the State Office after June 16, 2008,
will be considered.
Combination Packages
Complete combination packages will be accepted and processed, until
June 16, 2008. Once funds become available, combination packages will
be evaluated on a bi-weekly basis. Combination applications must be
completed and submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development State
Office no later than June 16, 2008. No application received after June
16, 2008, will be considered.
Any unused funding as of August 15, 2008, may be pooled and revert
to grant money. All submissions must be
[[Page 12071]]
received at the applicable office by 4:30 p.m. local time on the
deadline date.
The application closing deadlines for grant, loan guarantee, and
combination packages are firm. USDA Rural Development will not consider
any application that is received after the closing deadline. In
addition to the application requirements stated in 7 CFR part 4280-B, a
complete application will include all environmental review documents
with supporting documentation in accordance with 7 CFR part 1940
subpart G. The application must be complete before the State Office
forwards the application to the National Office for funding
consideration.
ADDRESSES: Submit applications to the USDA Rural Development State
Office in the state where your project is located. A list of the USDA
Rural Development State Offices and Energy Coordinators addresses and
telephone numbers follow. For further information about this
solicitation, please contact the applicable State Office. This document
is available on our Web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/
farmbill/index.html.
USDA State Rural Development Offices
Alabama
Quinton Harris, USDA Rural Development, Sterling Centre, Suite 601,
4121 Carmichael Road, Montgomery, AL 36106-3683, (334) 279-3623
Alaska
Dean Stewart, USDA Rural Development, 800 West Evergreen, Suite 201,
Palmer, AK 99645-6539, (907) 761-7722
Arizona
Alan Watt, USDA Rural Development, 230 North First Avenue, Suite
206, Phoenix, AZ 85003-1706, (602) 280-8769
Arkansas
Tim Smith, USDA Rural Development, 700 West Capitol Avenue, Room
3416, Little Rock, AR 72201-3225, (501) 301-3280
California
Charles Clendenin, USDA Rural Development, 430 G Street, AGCY 4169,
Davis, CA 95616, (530) 792-5825
Colorado
April Dahlager, USDA Rural Development, 655 Parfet Street, Room E-
100, Lakewood, CO 80215, (720) 544-2909
Delaware-Maryland
James Waters, USDA Rural Development, 1221 College Park Drive, Suite
200, Dover, DE 19904, (302) 857-3626
Florida/Virgin Islands
Joe Mueller, USDA Rural Development, 4440 NW. 25th Place,
Gainesville, FL 32606, (352) 338-3482
Georgia
J. Craig Scroggs, USDA Rural Development, 111 E. Spring St., Suite
B, Monroe, GA 30655, Phone 770-267-1413 ext. 113
Hawaii
Tim O'Connell, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Room 311,
154 Waianuenue Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720, (808) 933-8313
Idaho
Brian Buch, USDA Rural Development, 725 Jensen Grove Drive, Suite 1,
Blackfoot, ID 83221, (208) 785-5840, Ext. 118
Illinois
Molly Hammond, USDA Rural Development, 2118 West Park Court, Suite
A, Champaign, IL 61821, (217) 403-6210
Indiana
Jerry Hay, USDA Rural Development, 2411 N. 1250 W., Deputy, IN
47230, (812) 873-1100
Iowa
Teresa Bomhoff, USDA Rural Development, 873 Federal Building, 210
Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50309, (515) 284-4447
Kansas
David Kramer, USDA Rural Development, 1303 SW First American Place,
Suite 100, Topeka, KS 66604-4040, (785) 271-2744
Kentucky
Scott Maas, USDA Rural Development, 771 Corporate Drive, Suite 200,
Lexington, KY 40503, (859) 224-7435
Louisiana
Kevin Boone, USDA Rural Development, 905 Jefferson Street, Suite
320, Lafayette, LA 70501, (337) 262-6601
Maine
John F. Sheehan, USDA Rural Development, 967 Illinois Avenue, Suite
4, P.O. Box 405, Bangor, ME 04402-0405, (207) 990-9168
Massachusetts/Rhode Island/Connecticut
Charles W. Dubuc, USDA Rural Development, 60 Quaker Lane, Suite 44,
Warwick, RI 02886, (401) 826-0842
Michigan
Traci J. Smith, USDA Rural Development, 3001 Coolidge Road, Suite
200, East Lansing, MI 48823, (517) 324-5225
Minnesota
Lisa L. Noty, USDA Rural Development, 1400 West Main Street, Albert
Lea, MN 56007, (507) 373-7960 Ext. 120
Mississippi
G. Gary Jones, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Suite 831,
100 West Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39269, (601) 965-5457
Missouri
Matt Moore, USDA Rural Development, 601 Business Loop 70 West,
Parkade Center, Suite 235, Columbia, MO 65203, (573) 876-9321
Montana
John Guthmiller, USDA Rural Development, 900 Technology Blvd., Unit
1, Suite B, P.O. Box 850, Bozeman, MT 59771, (406) 585-2540
Nebraska
Debra Yocum, USDA Rural Development, 100 Centennial Mall North, Room
152, Federal Building, Lincoln, NE 68508, (402) 437-5554
Nevada
Herb Shedd, USDA Rural Development, 1390 South Curry Street, Carson
City, NV 89703, (775) 887-1222
New Hampshire (See Vermont)
New Jersey
Victoria Fekete, USDA Rural Development, 8000 Midlantic Drive, 5th
Floor North, Suite 500, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054, (856) 787-7753
New Mexico
Eric Vigil, USDA Rural Development, 6200 Jefferson Street, NE.,
Room 255, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (505) 761-4952
New York
Thomas Hauryski, USDA Rural Development, 415 West Morris Street,
Bath, NY 14810, (607) 776-7398 Ext. 132
North Carolina
H. Rossie Bullock, USDA Rural Development, 4405 Bland Road, Suite
260, Raleigh, NC 27609, (910) 739-3349 Ext. 4
North Dakota
Dennis Rodin, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Room 208,
220 East Rosser Avenue, P.O. Box 1737, Bismarck, ND 58502-1737,
(701) 530-2029
Ohio
Randy Monhemius, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Room
507, 200 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43215-2418, (614) 255-2424
Oklahoma
Jody Harris, USDA Rural Development, 100 USDA, Suite 108,
Stillwater, OK 74074-2654, (405) 742-1036
Oregon
Don Hollis, USDA Rural Development, 1229 SE Third Street, Suite A,
Pendleton, OR 97801-4198, (541) 278-8049, Ext. 129
Pennsylvania
Bernard Linn, USDA Rural Development, One Credit Union Place, Suite
330, Harrisburg, PA 17110-2996, (717) 237-2182
Puerto Rico
Luis Garcia, USDA Rural Development, IBM Building, 654 Munoz Rivera
Avenue, Suite 601, Hato Rey, PR 00918-6106, (787) 766-5091, Ext. 251
South Carolina
Shannon Legree, USDA Rural Development, Strom Thurmond Federal
Building, 1835
[[Page 12072]]
Assembly Street, Room 1007, Columbia, SC 29201, (803) 765-5881
South Dakota
Douglas Roehl, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Room 210,
200 4th Street, SW., Huron, SD 57350, (605) 352-1145
Tennessee
Will Dodson, USDA Rural Development, 3322 West End Avenue, Suite
300, Nashville, TN 37203-1084, (615) 783-1350
Texas
Daniel Torres, USDA Rural Development, Federal Building, Suite 102,
101 South Main Street, Temple, TX 76501, (254) 742-9756
Utah
Roger Koon, USDA Rural Development, Wallace F. Bennett Federal
Building, 125 South State Street, Room 4311, Salt Lake City, UT
84138, (801) 524-4301
Vermont/New Hampshire
Lyn Millhiser, USDA Rural Development, City Center, 3rd Floor 89
Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 828-6069
Virginia
Laurette Tucker, USDA Rural Development, Culpeper Building, Suite
238, 1606 Santa Rosa Road, Richmond, VA 23229, (804) 287-1594
Washington
Mary Traxler, USDA Rural Development, 1835 Black Lake Blvd. SW,
Suite B, Olympia, WA 98512, (360) 704-7707
West Virginia
Cheryl Wolfe, USDA Rural Development, 75 High Street, Room 320,
Morgantown, WV 26505-7500, (304) 284-4882
Wisconsin
Mark Brodziski, USDA Rural Development, 4949 Kirschling Court,
Stevens Point, WI 54481, (715) 345-7600, Ext. 131
Wyoming
Jon Crabtree, USDA Rural Development, Dick Cheney Federal Building,
100 East B Street, Room 1005, P.O. Box 820, Casper, WY 82602, (307)
233-6719
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This solicitation is issued pursuant to
Section 9006 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002
(2002 Act), which established the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy
Efficiency Improvements Program (Section 9006). The program is designed
to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy
costs and consumption and help meet the Nation's critical energy needs.
The 2002 Act mandates the maximum percentages of funding that USDA
Rural Development will provide. Grants under this program will not
exceed 25 percent of the eligible project costs. Loan guarantees will
not exceed 50 percent of the eligible project costs. Funding approved
for combination guaranteed loan and grant packages will not exceed 50
percent of eligible project cost, with the grant portion not to exceed
25 percent of eligible project costs.
As stated in 7 CFR 4280.108, projects must be for a pre-commercial
or commercially available technology. The definition of ``pre-
commercial'' and ``commercial'' are at 7 CFR 4280.103. The Agency's
position is that if the system is currently commercially available only
outside the United States (U.S.), then applicants must provide
authoritative evidence of the foreign operating history, performance,
and reliability in order to address the proven operating history
identified in the definition. ``Commercial'' applicants must provide
evidence that professional service providers, trades, large
construction equipment providers and labor are readily available
domestically and familiar with installation procedures and practices,
and spare parts and service are readily available in the U.S. to
properly maintain and operate the system. All warranties must be valid
in the U.S.
In accordance with the definition of ``pre-commercial'' technology
found in 7 CFR 4280.103, technical and economic potential for
commercial application must be demonstrated to the Agency. In order to
demonstrate the system has emerged through research and development as
well as the demonstration process, applicants must provide,
authoritative evidence of the operating history, performance, and
reliability past completion of start-up, shake-down, and/or
commissioning. Typically, and inline with financial and operating
performance evaluation protocol, the documented operating history,
which may be established domestically or outside the U.S., should
provide performance data for a minimum of 12 months. The time period
will address the economic and technical performance potential
identified in 7 CFR 4280.103.
In accordance with demonstrating the potential for commercial
application, applicants must provide evidence that professional service
providers, trades, large construction equipment providers, and labor
are potentially available domestically and sufficiently familiar with
installation procedures and practices, and spare parts and service are
available in the U.S. to properly maintain and operate the system. Any
warranties would have to be valid in the U.S.
Information required to be in the grant application package is
contained in 7 CFR 4280.111. Awards are made on a competitive basis
using specific evaluation criteria contained in 7 CFR 4280.112(e). To
ensure that projects are accurately scored by USDA, applicants are
requested to tab and number each evaluation criteria and include in
that section, its corresponding supporting documentation and
calculations according to 7 CFR 4280.112. Only projects that have
completed the environmental review process according to 7 CFR
4280.114(d), demonstrated project eligibility according to 7 CFR
4280.108, demonstrated technical feasibility, and are complete will be
eligible for funding consideration.
State Offices will submit eligible grant funding requests, with the
State Office executed score sheets, including all supporting
documentation to the National Office for funding consideration.
To reduce scoring bias by technology and scale, a standard
statistical normalization process will be applied to all competitive
grant application scores. All applicants will be notified by the USDA
Rural Development State Offices of the Agency's decision on the awards.
Information required to be in the guaranteed loan application and
the combination guaranteed loan and grant application package is
contained in 7 CFR 4280.128 and 7 CFR 4280.193(c), respectively.
Guaranteed loan applications will be received and
processed, on a rolling basis, until June 16, 2008, or funds are
exhausted, whichever occurs first.
Combination packages will also be received and processed
on a rolling basis until June 16, 2008. However, due to the grant
component, competitive scoring of combination packages will take place
on a bi-weekly basis. Awards will be announced based on the bi-weekly
competition schedule until funds are exhausted or there are no
remaining qualified applicants. Combination applications may only be
submitted by applicants that demonstrate financial need. Combination
applicants that are approved for funding must accept and utilize both
the loan and the grant. In addition, to ensure equitable competition,
and high quality projects, the grant portion of any combination package
must score at least 70 percent of the available points (minimum of 84
points), of which at least 24 points must be for technical merit. Only
those combination packages that demonstrate financial need and score a
sufficient amount of grant points will be considered for funding.
Applications that do not meet these thresholds may be resubmitted as a
guaranteed loan only application.
[[Page 12073]]
All applicants will be notified by the USDA Rural Development State
Offices in regards to the Agency's decision on their application.
This program is listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance under Number 10.775 and is subject to the provisions of
Executive Order 12372, which requires intergovernmental consultation
with state and local officials.
USDA is participating as a partner in the government-wide
Grants.gov site. Applicants may submit grant-only applications to the
Agency in either electronic or paper format. Please be mindful that the
application deadline for electronic format differs from the deadline
for paper format. The electronic format deadline will be based on
Washington, DC time. The paper format deadline is local time for each
USDA Rural Development State Office.
Users of Grants.gov will be able to download a copy of the
application package, complete it off line, and then upload and submit
the application via the Grants.gov site. You may not e-mail an
electronic copy of a grant application to USDA Rural Development;
however, the Agency encourages your participation in Grants.gov.
When you enter the Grants.gov site, you will find
information about submitting an application electronically through the
site as well as the hours of operation. USDA Rural Development strongly
recommends that you do not wait until the application deadline date to
begin the application process through Grants.gov. To use Grants.gov,
applicants must have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering
System (DUNS) number which can be obtained at no cost via a toll-free
request line at 1-866-705-5711 or online at http://fedgov.dnb.com/
webform.
You may submit all documents electronically through the
Web site, including all information typically included on the
application for Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency
Improvements Program, and all necessary assurances and certifications.
After electronically submitting an application through the Web site,
the applicant will receive an automatic acknowledgement from Grants.gov
that contains a Grants.gov tracking number.
USDA Rural Development may request that the applicant
provide original signatures on forms at a later date.
If applicants experience technical difficulties on the
closing date and are unable to meet the 4:30 p.m. (Washington, DC time)
deadline, print out your application and submit it to your respective
State Office. If applicants submit applications to a State Office,
applicants must meet the closing date and local time deadlines.
Applicants may access the electronic grant application for
Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program at
http://www.Grants.gov.
Please note that applicants must locate the downloadable
application package for this program by the CFDA Number or FedGrants
Funding Opportunity Number, which can be found at http://
www.Grants.gov.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the paperwork
burden has been cleared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
under OMB Control Number 0570-0050.
Nondiscrimination Statement
USDA prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on
the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where
applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status,
religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs,
reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived
from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to
all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means
for communication of program information (braille, large print,
audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600
(voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director,
Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).
``USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.''
Dated: February 29, 2008.
Ben Anderson,
Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
[FR Doc. E8-4305 Filed 3-4-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-XY-P