[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 222 (Monday, November 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 66273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25326]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

[Docket No. RBS-21-BUSINESS-0024]


Inviting Applications for the Rural Energy for America Program; 
Amendment

AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; amendment.

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SUMMARY: The Rural-Business Cooperative Service (the Agency) published 
a notice of solicitation of applications (NOSA) in the Federal Register 
on July 26, 2021, entitled ``Inviting Applications for the Rural Energy 
for America Program,'' to allow potential applicants time to submit 
applications for financial assistance under the Rural Energy for 
America Program (REAP) for fiscal year (FY) 2022 and allow the Agency 
time to process applications within the current FY. This notice amends 
scoring provisions found in Section V.A. to notify stakeholders of how 
the Agency intends to utilize State Director and Administrator priority 
points for FY 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information contact Deb 
Yocum, Program Management Division, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, 
United States Department of Agriculture, 2920 East Court Street, Suite 
3, Beatrice, NE 68310, 402-499-1198 or email [email protected].
    For project specific information or to file an application contact 
the applicable USDA Rural Development Energy Coordinator in your 
respective state, as identified via the following link: https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RBS_StateEnergyCoordinators.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Amendment

    In FR Doc. 2021-15785 of July 26, 2021 (86 FR 40000), the following 
amendment to provide additional guidance on priority points is being 
made:
    On page 40003, in column 1, under Section V. ``Application Review 
Information,'' subsection A. ``Scoring,'' at the end, add the following 
paragraphs to read as follows:
    State Director and Administrator priority points can be awarded to 
applications which help further a Presidential initiative, or a 
Secretary of Agriculture priority as found in 7 CFR 4280.121 (h)(4) for 
REAP Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and Energy Efficiency Improvement 
(EEI) grants and 7 CFR 5001.319 (g)(4) for REAP RES and EEI and Energy 
Efficient Equipment and Systems guaranteed loans. For FY 2022, 10 State 
Director and Administrator priority points will be automatically 
awarded for applications, which based on location, meet any one of the 
key priorities as follows: (1) Assisting rural communities to recover 
economically from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly 
disadvantaged communities; (2) Ensuring all rural residents have 
equitable access to RD programs and benefits from RD funded projects; 
and (3) Supporting economic investments in distressed communities. Data 
sources for the key priorities are found at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points and at https://ruraldevelopment.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=06a26a91d074426d944d22715a90311e for 
distressed communities.
    The State Director or Administrator at their discretion may award 
up to 5 priority points maximum for projects which meet any of the 
following criteria if a project does not qualify for the 10 priority 
points under the Administration's priorities or as a distressed 
community as described above: (1) The application is for an under-
represented technology; (2) selecting the application helps achieve 
geographic diversity, which may include points based upon the size of 
the funding request; (3) the applicant is a member of an unserved or 
under-served population described as follows: (i) Owned by a veteran, 
including but not limited to individuals as sole proprietors, members, 
partners, stockholders, etc., of not less than 20 percent. In order to 
receive points, applicants must provide a statement in their 
application to indicate that owners of the project have veteran status; 
or (ii) owned by a member of a socially disadvantaged group, which are 
groups whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender 
prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without 
regard to their individual qualities. In order to receive points, the 
application must include a statement to indicate that the owners of the 
project are members of a socially disadvantaged group; (4) the proposed 
project is located in a Federally declared major disaster area. 
Declarations must be within the last 2 calendar years; (5) the proposed 
project is located in an area where 20 percent or more of its 
population is living in poverty over the last 30 years, as defined by 
the United States Census Bureau, underserved community(ies) or has 
experienced long-term population decline, or loss of employment. Except 
for veteran and socially disadvantaged group status, all other priority 
points are based upon project location specific criteria which will be 
documented automatically by the Agency. State Director or Administrator 
priority points for a REAP application cannot exceed 10 points total.

Karama Neal,
Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-25326 Filed 11-19-21; 8:45 am]
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