Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants

OVERVIEW

Contents by Section

1. Funding Opportunity Description
2. Award Information
3. Eligibility Information
4. Proposal and Submission Information
5. Proposal Review Information
6. Award Administration Information
7. Agency Contacts
8. Other Information

SECTION I - FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Background

In the early 1990s, stakeholders expressed their concerns to EPA about the problems associated with brownfields across the country. More than 600,000 properties that were once used for industrial, manufacturing, or commercial uses were lying abandoned or underused due to the suspicion of contamination. Brownfield areas, particularly those in city centers, were contributing to blight and joblessness in surrounding communities. Unknown environmental liabilities were preventing communities, developers, and investors from restoring these properties to productive use and revitalizing impacted neighborhoods.

In 1994, EPA responded to the brownfield problem with an environmental protection approach that is locally based, encourages strong public-private partnerships, and promotes innovative and creative ways to assess, clean up, and redevelop brownfield sites. This approach empowers state, tribal, and local environmental and economic development officials to oversee brownfield activities, and encourages implementing local solutions to local problems. EPA also has provided funding to create local environmental job training programs to ensure that the economic benefits derived from brownfield revitalization efforts remain in local neighborhoods.

The Brownfields Law

On January 11, 2002, the President signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law). The Brownfields Law expands potential federal financial assistance for brownfield revitalization, including grants for assessment, cleanup, and job training. The Law also limits the liability of certain contiguous property owners and prospective purchasers of brownfield properties, and clarifies innocent landowner defenses to encourage revitalization and reuse of brownfield sites. The Brownfields Law also includes provisions to establish and enhance state and tribal response programs, which will continue to play a critical role in the successful cleanup and revitalization of brownfields.

The Brownfields Law contains provisions that are important for grant applicants to keep in mind when using these guidelines.¹ Some of those features are summarized below.

Applicant Eligibility

• The Brownfields Law expands eligibility for brownfields funding by broadening the entities eligible for funding by permitting the award of cleanup grants to eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, that own the property they wish to clean up. EPA has adopted a definition of nonprofit organizations that includes universities and other nonprofit educational institutions. In addition, EPA will continue its policy of accepting proposals from "coalitions," or groups of eligible entities, to pool their revolving loan capitalization grant funds. A coalition is a group of two or more eligible entities which submits one revolving loan fund (RLF) grant proposal under the name of one of the coalition participants. The grant recipient must administer the RLF grant, is accountable to EPA for proper expenditure of the funds, and will be the point of contact for the other coalition members.

Site Eligibility

• The Brownfields Law defines a brownfield site broadly, but does exclude certain sites from funding eligibility unless EPA makes a property-specific determination to fund (see Appendix 3 for additional information). This determination will be based on whether or not awarding a grant will protect human health and the environment and either promote economic development or enable the property to be used for parks, greenways, and similar recreational or nonprofit purposes. (See Appendix 3 and Appendix 4 for more information on "eligibility for funding" and "property-specific determinations.")

• The Brownfields Law excludes the following three types of properties from funding eligibility and prohibits EPA from making property-specific determinations on these properties: 1.) Facilities listed (or proposed for listing) on the National Priorities List (NPL); 2.) Facilities subject to unilateral administrative orders, court orders, administrative orders on consent or judicial consent decrees issued to or entered into by parties under CERCLA; and 3.) Facilities that are subject to the jurisdiction, custody or control, of the United States government. (Note: Land held in trust by the United States government for an Indian tribe is eligible for brownfields funding.)

Petroleum Eligibility

• Generally, the Law allows EPA to award brownfield grant funds for activities at petroleum-contaminated sites that meet the definition of "brownfield site" in CERCLA § 101(39)(A)-(C) and that: 1) EPA or the state determines are of "relatively low risk" compared with other petroleum-contaminated sites in the state; 2) EPA or the state determines have no viable responsible party and that will be assessed, investigated, or cleaned up by a person that is not potentially liable for cleaning up the site; and 3) are not subject to a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 9003(h) order. EPA must make available 25 percent of the total grant funds for assessment and/or cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites. EPA has designed these guidelines to allow applicants to specify the amount of funding that will be used at petroleum-contaminated sites. (See Appendix 3 for additional information.)

Cost Share

The Brownfields Law requires a 20 percent cost share for revolving loan fund (RLF) and cleanup grants. There is no cost share requirement for assessment grants. For example, a $200,000 cleanup grant will require a $40,000 cost share; a $1 million RLF grant will require a $200,000 cost share. Applicants may seek a waiver of this cost share due to hardship. EPA will consider hardship waiver requests on a case-by-case basis and will approve such requests on a limited basis. Refer to the Cost Share threshold criteria in the RLF and cleanup grant sections for additional information.

Prohibitions on the Use of Grant Funds

• Grant funds cannot be used for administrative costs. Please note that proposal preparation costs, including associated consultant fees, are ineligible administrative costs. (See Appendix 2 for additional information.)

• No part of a grant or loan can be used to pay response costs at a brownfield site for which the recipient of the grant or loan is potentially liable under CERCLA §107. This means that applicants are not eligible for grants or loans at sites for which they are liable parties under CERCLA. Under CERCLA § 107, current owners and operators of a facility, owners and operators of a facility at the time of disposal of a hazardous substance, parties that arranged for the treatment or disposal of hazardous substances, and parties that accepted hazardous substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities are potentially liable for cleanup or paying the cost of cleaning up a site. Thus, an owner of contaminated land may be liable under CERCLA § 107 even though he/she did not cause or contribute to the contamination at the site. Note, however, that CERCLA § 107 does not apply to petroleum sites. In addition, CERCLA provides certain liability protections for owners and prospective purchasers of contaminated properties who are not responsible for the contamination (and not affiliated with a responsible party) and comply with certain specific conditions provided in the statute.

  The Brownfields Law clarified the innocent landowner provision and established liability protections for contiguous property owners and bona fide prospective purchasers of contaminated land. Applicants that own or plan to purchase a contaminated site may qualify for one of these landowner liability protections and be eligible for funding. To qualify for the liability protections, landowners must comply with certain obligations to take "appropriate care" after purchasing a property, and prospective landowners must conduct "all appropriate inquiries" prior to purchasing a property. For more information on these liability protections, please refer to the Brownfields Law and the March 6, 2003, EPA guidance entitled "Interim Guidance Regarding Criteria Landowners Must Meet in Order to Qualify for Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser, Contiguous Property Owner, or Innocent Landowner Limitations on CERCLA ("Common Elements")"
  (http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/cleanup/superfund/common-elem-guide.pdf).

  NOTE: Recent legislation expands the availability of grant or loan funds for use at sites where applicants have met all of the elements of the bona fide prospective purchaser protection, except that the site was purchased prior to January 11, 2002. Up to 20 percent of the funds EPA has for Brownfields grants under this competition are available for these sites. Please contact your Regional Brownfields Contact (Appendix 1) for additional information on this important legislative change.

  Also note that for the purposes of the all appropriate inquiries requirement, Phase I environmental site assessments must be conducted or updated within one year prior to the purchase date of the property. In addition, certain aspects of a Phase I assessment must be updated prior to the purchase date, if the Phase I assessment was conducted more than 180 days prior to the purchase date of the property. Phase I environmental site assessments must be conducted using the ASTM E1527 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process.

• Grant funds cannot be used for the payment of a Federal cost-share requirement.

• Grant funds cannot be used for the payment of a cost of compliance with any Federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup.

Additional Uses of Grant Funds

• Under the Brownfields Law, a local government (as defined in 40 CFR Part 31.3, Local Government) may use up to 10 percent of its grant funds for monitoring the health of populations exposed to one or more hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants from a brownfield site and monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant from a brownfield site. The term local government does not include state or tribal governments but may include, among others, public housing authorities, school districts and councils of governments. To effectively oversee assessments and cleanups, local governments may use grant funds (within the overall 10 percent limit) for other related program development and implementation activities (e.g., writing local brownfield-related ordinances) described in their EPA approved scope of work.

• Applicants that receive grants or loans to perform characterization, assessment, or cleanup of a brownfield site may use a portion of their brownfields grant or loan funds to purchase environmental insurance. Purchases must be consistent with the applicable OMB Cost Circulars – A-21 is applicable to universities and educational institutions, A-87 is applicable to governmental units, and A-122 is applicable to non-profit organizations.

Other Requirements

• Brownfields grantees must comply with all applicable Federal and State laws to ensure that the assessment and cleanup protect human health and the environment.

• Applicability of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) may require a grantee to consult with EPA prior to conducting on-site activity with the potential to impact historic properties (such as invasive sampling or cleanup) to ensure that, if applicable, EPA is assisted in complying with Section 106 of NHPA and its implementing regulations (36 CFR Part 800). Assessment grantees anticipating future cleanup on eligible brownfields sites should consider NHPA requirements as part of planning for future cleanup of assessed sites.

• In accordance with Executive Order 12372, EPA encourages applicants to contact their State Intergovernmental Review Office early, so that the required intergovernmental review process may begin immediately upon selection by EPA. If the state does not have an Intergovernmental Review Office, the successful applicant must provide notice of the proposed agreement directly to affected state, area-wide, regional, and local entities. Contact your Regional Brownfields Contact for assistance, if needed.

What are the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants?

Three competitive brownfields grant types are discussed in these guidelines: assessment grants, revolving loan fund (RLF) grants, and cleanup grants.

Assessment Grants

Assessment grants provide funding for a grant recipient to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct cleanup and redevelopment planning and community involvement related to brownfield sites.

• Applicants may apply for both Community-Wide and Site-Specific assessment grants, as discussed below. However, an applicant is limited to submitting only ONE hazardous substance assessment grant proposal and ONE petroleum assessment proposal (refer to chart). In the event that an applicant submits more proposals than allowed, EPA will contact the applicant and require that it withdraw the excess proposal(s) from the grants competition.

• An eligible entity may submit no more than 2 assessment proposals.

• The performance period for assessment grants is up to three years.

• Refer to Appendix 2, Prohibitions on Use of Funds, for information on activities that may not be funded using brownfields grant funds.

Community-Wide

• An applicant may apply for a community-wide assessment grant if a specific site has not been identified or if the assessment will address more than one site within the community. An applicant may discuss potential assessment sites in a community-wide proposal; however, EPA's acceptance of the proposal does not constitute a determination by EPA that the sites identified in the proposal are eligible. EPA reserves the right to approve sites as part of the workplan negotiation and upon commencement of the work. Community-wide assessment grant applicants may focus their proposal on classes or categories of sites, (e.g. abandoned gas stations, sites with environmental justice concerns, sites in a designated redevelopment area) rather than identifying and discussing specific sites.

• Applicants electing to apply for up to $200,000 for a community-wide hazardous substance assessment grant are not eligible for a site-specific hazardous substance assessment grant in the same grant competition. Similarly, applicants applying for up to $200,000 for a community-wide petroleum or petroleum product assessment grant will not be eligible for a site-specific petroleum assessment grant in the same grant competition.

Site-specific

• Applicants planning to assess only one site must apply for a site-specific assessment grant. In addition, the applicant must submit a site-specific assessment grant proposal if a waiver of the funding limitation is requested. Cooperative agreement recipients expending funding from a community-wide assessment grant or a previously awarded site-specific assessment grant for a particular site must include such funding amount in calculating the total funding expended on the site. An applicant may seek a waiver of the $200,000 limit for a site-specific assessment grant and request up to $350,000 for a single site.

• Applicants will not be allowed to substitute another site for a site-specific assessment grant even if the site identified in the proposal is later determined to be ineligible.

Total Assessment Funding Limit per Applicant/Number of Proposals to be Submitted

• Applicants are subject to community-wide and site-specific assessment grant funding limitations.

• An applicant may apply for up to $200,000 for a community-wide assessment grant for hazardous substances, and up to $200,000 for a community-wide assessment grant for petroleum; OR

• An applicant may apply for up to $200,000 for a site-specific assessment grant for hazardous substances, and up to $200,000 for a site-specific assessment grant for petroleum; OR

• An applicant may apply for up to $200,000 for a community-wide assessment grant for hazardous substances, and up to $200,000 for a site-specific assessment grant for petroleum; OR

• An applicant may apply for up to $200,000 for a community-wide assessment grant for petroleum, and up to $200,000 for a site-specific assessment grant for hazardous substances.

• Proposals for assessment of hazardous substance contamination and hazardous substance contamination co-mingled with petroleum must be submitted separately from proposals for petroleum or petroleum product contamination. DO NOT SUBMIT PROPOSALS THAT COMBINE REQUESTS TO ASSESS HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES WITH REQUESTS TO ASSESS PETROLEUM OR PETROLEUM PRODUCT. In the event that an applicant submits more proposals than allowed, EPA will contact the applicant and require that it withdraw the excess proposal(s) from the grants competition.

Site-specific Assessment Grant Waiver

• An applicant may seek a waiver of the $200,000 limit for a site-specific proposal and request up to $350,000 for a single site. Such waivers must be based on the anticipated level of contamination, the size, or status of ownership of the site. Sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants may include hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum. Site-specific proposals for sites contaminated by petroleum or petroleum product require separate grant proposals and waiver requests from those for sites contaminated or co-mingled with hazardous substances.

• Community-wide assessment grants are not eligible for assessment grant "waivers."

Proposals For Community-Wide and Site-Specific Assessment Grants

The following examples may assist you in understanding the funding limitations applied to assessment grants:

* See discussion above regarding assessment grant waivers for site-specific proposals which may increase funding to up to $350,000 for a site. This dollar amount could increase if an assessment waiver is requested.

Revolving Loan Fund Grants

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grants provide funding for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving loan fund and to provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites.

• An eligible entity may submit ONE proposal for up to $1,000,000 for an RLF grant.

• These funds may be used to clean up sites contaminated by petroleum and/or hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). If the proposal is for both petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, the budget must reflect the distribution of funds (petroleum vs. hazardous substances).

• Proposals may be submitted by "coalitions," or groups of eligible entities, to pool their revolving loan capitalization grant funds. A coalition is a group of two or more eligible entities which submits one grant proposal under the name of one of the coalition participants. The grant recipient must administer the grant, be accountable to EPA for proper expenditure of the funds, and be the point of contact for the other coalition members. Members of the coalition other than the grant recipient must submit letters agreeing to be part of the coalition.

• Coalitions of eligible entities may apply together under one recipient for up to $1,000,000 per eligible entity.

• An RLF grant recipient must use at least 60 percent of the awarded funds to capitalize and implement a revolving loan fund. Revolving loan funds generally are used to provide no-interest or low-interest loans for brownfields cleanups. RLF grantees may make intra-governmental loans and loans to nonprofit and for-profit organizations as long as they are not potentially liable at the site under CERCLA § 107.

• An RLF grant recipient also may use its funds to award cleanup subgrants to other eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, for brownfields cleanups on sites owned by the subgrantee; however, an RLF grant recipient may use no more than 40 percent of the awarded funds for subgrants and may not subgrant to itself. As with loans, an applicant cannot make a subgrant to a potentially liable party at the site. An RLF grant recipient may not make a cleanup subgrant that exceeds $200,000 per site. In the case of a coalition, the RLF grant recipient may subgrant to other coalition members. Unlike loans, cleanup subgrants do not require repayment. An RLF grant recipient may also use the funds to guarantee, in whole or part, loans made by third-party lenders for eligible cleanup.

• An RLF award requires a 20 percent cost share, which may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services, and must be for eligible and allowable costs (the match must equal 20 percent of the amount of funding provided by EPA and cannot include administrative costs, as described in Appendix 2). An RLF grant applicant may request a waiver of the 20 percent cost share requirement based on hardship.

• The performance period for RLF grants is up to five years.

• Refer to Appendix 2, Prohibitions on Use of Funds, for information on activities that may not be funded using brownfields grant funds.

Cleanup Grants

Cleanup grants provide funding for a grant recipient to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites.

• An eligible entity may apply for up to $200,000 per site. Due to budget limitations, no entity may apply for funding for cleanup activities at more than five sites. These funds may be used to clean up sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum).

• A separate proposal must be submitted for each site. If more than one cleanup proposal is submitted for the same site, EPA will contact the applicant and require that it withdraw the excess proposal(s) from the grants competition.

• If an applicant elects to submit a proposal for both hazardous substance and petroleum cleanup funding for the same site, the funding amount cannot exceed the $200,000 site limit AND the budget must reflect the amount of hazardous substance funding and the amount of petroleum funding requested.

• Cleanup grants require a 20 percent cost share, which may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services, and must be for eligible and allowable costs (the match must equal 20 percent of the amount of funding provided by EPA and cannot include administrative costs, as described in Appendix 2). A cleanup grant applicant may request a waiver of the 20 percent cost share requirement based on hardship.

• In order to receive a cleanup grant, the applicant must be the sole owner of the property that is the subject of its cleanup grant proposal by June 30, 2006. An applicant who is not the sole owner of the subject property at time of proposal submission must achieve sole ownership by June 30, 2006, to be eligible for funding. (see Review and Selection Process on page 48). For the purposes of eligibility determinations in these guidelines only, the term "own" means fee simple title. The grantee must maintain such sole ownership until all of the cleanup work funded by the grant has been completed.

• A written ASTM or equivalent Phase I report must be completed and a minimum of an ASTM or equivalent Phase II site assessment must be underway or completed prior to proposal submission. Note: cleanup funds may not be used to conduct assessment work.

• The performance period for cleanup grants is up to three years.

• Refer to Appendix 2, Prohibitions on Use of Funds, for information on activities that may not be funded using brownfields grant funds.

1. Linkage to EPA Strategic Plan. All three grant types will support progress towards the same Goal, Objective, and Sub-objective. This project supports progress towards EPA Strategic Plan Goal 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems), Objective 4.2 (Communities), and Sub-objective 4.2.3 (Assess and Cleanup Brownfields). Specifically, these grants will help sustain, clean up, and restore communities and the ecological systems that support them by providing funds to assess and clean up brownfields. EPA will negotiate work plans with recipients to collect information about the hazardous substances, pollutants and petroleum contaminants addressed and the amount of land made safe for communities' economic and ecological use.

2. Outcomes. EPA will work with grantees to demonstrate the impact of assessing and cleaning up brownfields by measuring the amount of land on which environmental threats have been determined, risks have been addressed, and the number of acres made ready for reuse by the impacted communities. Expected outcomes of these grants will include the number of jobs leveraged and other funding leveraged through the economic reuse of properties along with the acres of greenspace created for communities. Expected outcomes will be included in the grant agreement.

3. Outputs. The anticipated output for these grants is assessment and cleanup of brownfields sites. Through the assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup grants, EPA anticipates a minimum of at least 1000 properties assessed and 60 properties cleaned up by the end of Fiscal Year 2006. Expected outputs will be included in the grant agreement.

SECTION II - AWARD INFORMATION

1. What is the amount of available funding?

   The total estimated funding available under this competitive opportunity is approximately $72 million.

2. How many agreements will EPA award in this competition?

   EPA anticipates award of approximately 200 cooperative agreements.

3. May EPA Award a Grant for Only a Portion of a Proposal?

   EPA reserves the right to make an award of a grant which would fund only a portion of the activities described in the proposal. The grant award may fund discrete activities, portions, or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund a proposal, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the proposal, or portion thereof, was evaluated and selected for award, and that maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

4. What is the project period for awards resulting from this solicitation?

   The estimated project period for awards resulting from this solicitation varies by grant type. The project period for assessment grants is up to three years, RLF grants is up to five years, and cleanup grants is up to three years.

SECTION III - ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Who Can Apply?

   Eligible applicants, including those with existing brownfields grants, may apply for one, two, or all, of the grant programs. The following table indicates, by grant program, what types of entities are eligible to receive EPA funds for brownfields assessment, RLF, and cleanup grants:

   Type of Applicant	Assessment	RLF1	Cleanup2
   General Purpose Unit of Local Government3	X	X	X
   Land Clearance Authority or other quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government	X	X	X
   Government Entity Created by State Legislature	X	X	X
   Regional Council or group of General Purpose Units of Local Government	X	X	X
   Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state	X	X	X
   State	X	X	X
   Indian Tribe other than in Alaska4	X	X	X
   Alaska Native Regional Corporation, Alaska Native Village Corporation, and Metlakatla Indian Community5	X	X	X
   Nonprofit organizations6			X
   1 To be eligible for an RLF subgrant, the subgrantee must be sole owner of the site and provide documentation demonstrating ownership (e.g., copy of the fee simple title) prior to the award of the subgrant. 2 To be eligible for a cleanup grant, the applicant must be the sole owner of the property that is the subject of its cleanup grant proposal by June 30, 2006. For the purposes of eligibility determinations in these guidelines only, the term "own" means fee simple title. EPA reserves the right to request documentation of ownership as part of its threshold review of the proposal. 3 For purposes of the brownfields grant program, EPA defines general purpose unit of local government as a "local government" as that term is defined under 40 CFR Part 31. 4 Intertribal Consortia are eligible for funding in accordance with EPA's policy for funding intertribal consortia published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2002. This policy also may be obtained from your Regional Brownfields Contact. 5 Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations are defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 and following). 6 For the purposes of the brownfields grant program, EPA will use the definition of nonprofit organizations contained in Section 4(6) of the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, Public Law 106-107, 31 USC 6101, Note. The term "nonprofit organization" means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated mainly for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purpose in the public interest; is not organized primarily for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operation of the organization.

   
   

2. Other Threshold Eligibility Criteria

   In addition to applicant eligibility, Section V of the proposal guidelines describes other statutory- and policy-based threshold criteria (e.g., Community Notification, State or Tribal Environmental Authority Letter, Site Eligibility and Property Ownership Eligibility, Cleanup Authority and Oversight Structure, Cost Share) that applicants must meet in order to be eligible to be considered for funding. Moreover, proposals which do not substantially conform to the specific proposal outline and content detailed above will not be considered for award.

SECTION IV - PROPOSAL AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. How Do I Apply for a Brownfields Grant?

   Electronic copies of these guidelines can be obtained from the EPA brownfields web site (http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm), through grants.gov, or by contacting your Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Appendix 1.

2. Content and Form of Proposal Submission

   Applicants must submit a separate proposal for each grant type that they are applying for (i.e., assessment, revolving loan fund, and/or cleanup.) Additionally, a separate proposal must be submitted for each grant within a grant type (i.e., you must submit separate proposals if you are seeking more than one cleanup grant or more than one assessment grant.) Each proposal must address the applicable threshold and ranking criteria identified in Section V for each grant being proposed for. Each proposal must stand on its own merits based on the responses given to the criteria relevant to the grant type for which the applicant is submitting a proposal and must not reference responses to criteria in another proposal. Applicants who exceed the maximum number of proposals allowable for each grant type will be contacted promptly by EPA, prior to review of any of the proposals by EPA, to determine which proposals the applicant will withdraw from the competition. Proposals may be submitted through the U.S. Postal Service, commercial delivery service, or electronically through grants.gov. Please refer to Appendix 5 for specific instructions on the use of the grants.gov option. Note: There is a registration process to complete for grants.gov electronic submission, which may take a week or more to complete.

1. All proposals, regardless of the method of submission to EPA, must substantially conform to the following outline and content:
1. Narrative proposal - includes cover letter and project description;
2. Documentation of non-profit status, if applicable;
3. Documentation of applicant eligibility if other than city, county, state, or tribe;
4. Letter from the state or tribal environmental authority;
5. For RLF applicants only - Legal opinion to access and secure sites in the event of an emergency or default of a loan agreement or non-performance under a subgrant;
6. For RLF applicants only - Legal opinion that demonstrates your legal authority to perform the actions necessary to manage a revolving loan fund.


2. The narrative proposal must be typed, single line spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. The narrative proposal shall not exceed 17 pages and must substantially conform to the following outline and content:
   
1. Cover Letter (2 pages maximum): The cover letter shall identify the brownfields grant applicant and a contact for communication with EPA. A maximum of two pages in length, the cover letter must include a brief description of your project, be written on your organizations's official letterhead, and signed by an official with the authority to commit your organization to the proposed project. Reminder: Applicants are to submit SEPARATE cover letters with proposals for EACH type of grant (assessment, revolving loan fund, cleanup) for which you are applying. Each cover letter must also include:
   
1. Applicant Identification: Provide the name and full address of the entity applying for funds. This is the agency or organization that will be receiving the grant and will be accountable to the EPA. Note: For RLF coalitions, it is not necessary to list the coalition members. However, the entity named here will be considered the cooperative agreement recipient.
   
2. Funding Requested:
1. Grant type: Assessment, RLF, or Cleanup
2. Amount: $______ (please see funding limitations for each grant)
3. Contamination: Hazardous Substances or Petroleum
4. For assessment grants only: Community-wide or Site-specific
   
3. Location: City, county, and state or reservation, tribally owned lands, tribal fee lands, etc., of the brownfields community(ies) that you propose to serve. Include the names, addresses, phone and fax numbers of the mayor, county executive, governor, tribal chair, etc., for the brownfields community that you propose to serve. Note: For RLF coalition proposals, list the relevant information for each eligible entity in the coalition.
   
4. Contacts: Please provide name, phone/fax numbers, email address, and mailing address of the project director and head of organization/executive director responsible for the project proposal. These individuals may be contacted if other information is needed.
   
5. Date Submitted: Date proposal is submitted to EPA via U.S. Postal Service, commercial delivery service, or electronically through grants.gov.
   
6. Project Period: Project period must not exceed three years for assessment grants, five years for revolving loan fund grants, and three years for cleanup grants.
7. Population:
1. Provide the general population of your jurisdiction.
2. If you are not a municipal form of government, provide the population of the area addressed by this proposal. Tribes must provide the number of tribal/non-tribal members affected.
   
8. Other: Indicate whether you are a federally recognized tribe; federally designated Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community; federally designated Renewal Community; or a community with an Official Recognition (OR) from the Department of Justice for its Weed and Seed strategy.
   
9. Cooperative Partners: Provide names and phone numbers of individuals and organizations that have agreed to participate in the implementation of the project.
   
2. Project Description (15 pages maximum): The project description must provide a concise overview of how the applicant will implement and conduct its operation. Proposals must be clear, concise and specifically address each of the applicable threshold and ranking criteria identified in Section V of these guidelines for the type of grant being proposed for. Sufficient detail must be provided to allow for an evaluation of the merits of the proposal.

For purposes of evaluating applicants under the programmatic capability and/or past performance criterion in Section V, EPA will consider information provided by the applicant and may also consider information from other sources including Agency files.

Proposals must be concise and well organized. Proposals must provide the information requested in the guidelines and respond to each criterion. Factual information about your proposed project and community must be provided. Do not include discussions of broad principles that are not specific to the proposed work or project covered by your proposal. Responses to criteria must include the criteria number and title but need not restate the entire text of the criteria.

Applicants are strongly advised to avoid submission of non-essential materials unrelated to the proposal's requirements. Upon receipt, proposals will be reviewed for content and copied for distribution to evaluators. Pages exceeding the maximum page limitations expressed above will not be copied or evaluated. The maximum page limitation does not include required attachments identified in Section IV of these guidelines. Proposals which do not substantially conform to the specific proposal outline and content detailed above will not be considered for award. All proposal materials must be completed in English. Do not include binders, spiral binding, or color printing. Photos and graphics will not be considered.

3. Submission Dates and Times/Other Information

1. Applicants may submit their proposals through the U.S. Postal Service, commercial delivery service, or electronically through grants.gov. Proposals sent through the U.S. Postal Service or sent via a commercial delivery service must be postmarked by December 14, 2005, 5:00 p.m. EDT. All proposals must be sent to Environmental Management Support, Inc. (contractor to EPA), and applicants shall also submit one complete copy of their proposal, including attachments, to the appropriate EPA Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Appendix 1. Additional submission instructions are contained in Section IV of the announcement. In addition, applicants may submit their proposals electronically through grants.gov; proposals submitted through grants.gov must be received by 5:00 p.m. EDT on December 14, 2005. Please refer to Appendix 5 for specific instructions for use of grants.gov. Note: There is a registration process to complete for electronic submission via grants.gov, which may take a week or more to complete. Please submit the proposal through one means only – either hard copy or electronically through grants.gov, but not both. Proposals received or postmarked after the respective dates and times specified above will not be considered. Facsimile delivery of proposals is not permitted. Proposals received by facsimile submission will not be considered or evaluated for award.

2. The proposal(s) must be sent to the following address:
   
   U.S. Postal Service or Commercial Delivery Service
   Environmental Management Support, Inc.
   Attn: Mr. Don West
   8601 Georgia Avenue, Suite 500
   Silver Spring, MD 20910
   Phone 301-589-5318
   
   (Note: Overnight mail must include Mr. West's phone number in the address.)

3. In accordance with 40 CFR 2.203, applicants may claim all or a portion of their proposal as confidential business information. EPA will evaluate confidentiality claims in accordance with 40 CFR Part 2. Applicants must clearly mark proposals or portions of proposals they claim as confidential. If no claim of confidentiality is made, EPA is not required to make the inquiry to the applicant otherwise required by 40 CFR 2.204(c)(2) prior to disclosure.

SECTION V - PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Evaluation (Threshold and Ranking) Criteria

Below are the threshold and ranking criteria and the respective information that applicants must submit relating to these criteria for the three types of grants that may be awarded under this announcement.

Assessment Grant Criteria

Proposals for assessment grant funding will be evaluated against the threshold and ranking criteria set forth below. Applicants must provide information in their proposal addressing these criteria. Threshold criteria are pass/fail - applicants must meet all of the threshold criteria. Only those proposals that meet all of the threshold criteria will be evaluated against the ranking criteria. An eligible entity may submit no more than two assessment proposals. (Refer to Assessment Grant section).

Threshold Criteria for Assessment Grants

Note: For purposes of the threshold eligibility review, EPA, if necessary, may seek clarification of applicant information and/or consider information from other sources, including EPA files.

1. Applicant Eligibility

Describe how you are an eligible entity for the grant for which you are applying. Refer to the description of applicant eligibility in the section Who Can Apply?. For entities other than cities, counties, tribes or states, please attach documentation of your eligibility (e.g., resolutions, statutes, etc.).

2. Community Notification

Community notification must be conducted by or on behalf of the applicant. If conducted by another entity on behalf of you, the applicant, please demonstrate how you were involved in the community notification (i.e., you attended the public meeting, you responded to comments, etc). Describe how the targeted community(ies) was/were notified of the preparation and submission of this grant proposal. You must clearly demonstrate that a copy(ies) of this grant proposal has been made available for public review and an opportunity for public comment has been provided prior to submitting this proposal. This may include putting a notice of availability in the local newspaper or other widely available/accessible local media asking for public comment; discussing a brownfields proposal during an open government meeting; holding a public meeting; notifying affected residents door-to-door. Notifications must be current and related to this specific proposal being submitted for consideration. Failure to demonstrate community notification will result in failure of this proposal. Applicants who are submitting more than one proposal may opt to have a single community notification. However, all targeted communities must receive the notification and be provided an opportunity to comment on the proposal(s) relevant to their community. Please note that the notification is to citizens or members of the public, not exclusively to government officials. EPA reserves the right to request documentation of community notification as part of its threshold review of the proposal.

3. Letter from the State or Tribal Environmental Authority

For an applicant other than a state or tribal environmental authority, attach a current letter from the appropriate state or tribal environmental authority acknowledging that the applicant plans to conduct assessment activities and is planning to apply for Federal grant funds. Letters regarding proposals from prior years are not acceptable. If you are applying for multiple types of grant program activities, you need to submit only one letter acknowledging the relevant grant activities. However, you must provide the letter as an attachment to EACH proposal. Please note that general correspondence and documents evidencing state involvement with the project (i.e., state enforcement orders or state notice letters) are NOT acceptable. Please provide advance notice to the appropriate state or tribal environmental authority to allow adequate time to receive the letter to accompany your proposal.

4. Site Eligibility and Property Ownership Eligibility (Site- Specific Proposals Only)

If you are submitting a community-wide assessment grant proposal, there is no site eligibility and property ownership eligibility criterion. If you are submitting a site-specific assessment grant proposal, address the following for the site. If the site does not pass the threshold criteria below, an applicant may not substitute other sites.

1. Identify a.) the name of the site; b.) the address of the site; c.) whether this site is contaminated by petroleum or hazardous substances; d.) the operational history and current uses(s) of the site; and e.) environmental concerns, if known, at the site.

2. Indicate whether you are applying for a waiver of the $200,000 per site funding limit. If so, indicate the dollar amount requested and provide a justification as to why the waiver should be granted. Justification must be based on the anticipated level of contamination, size, or status of ownership.

3. Affirm that the site is a.) not listed or proposed for listing on the National Priorities List; b.) not subject to unilateral administrative orders, court orders, administrative orders on consent, or judicial consent decrees issued to or entered into by parties under CERCLA; and c.) Not subject to the jurisdiction, custody, or control of the United States government. (Note: Land held in trust by the United States government for an Indian tribe is eligible for brownfield funding.) Please refer to Appendix 3.

4. Identify whether the site is (a) subject to a CERCLA planned or ongoing removal action; (b) subject of a unilateral administrative order, a court order, an administrative order on consent or a judicial consent decree that has been issued to or entered into by the parties, or a facility to which a permit has been issued by the U.S. or a State under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), or the Safe Drinking Water Act; (c) subject to corrective action under the SWDA and has a corrective action permit or order that has been issued or modified to require the implementation of corrective measures; (d) a land disposal unit with respect to which a closure notification under subtitle C of the SWDA has been submitted and closure requirements have been specified in the closure plan or permit; (e) a portion of a facility at which there has been a release of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and that is subject to remediation under TSCA; or (f) a portion of a facility, for which portion, assistance for response activity has been obtained under subtitle I of the SWDA from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund established under section 9508 of the IRS Code of 1986. If the site falls into one of these categories, it will need a property-specific determination from EPA to be eligible for funding. If so, please attach the information requested in Appendix 4, Section 4.1.

5. Explain the phase of assessment, if any, that has been completed to date. Provide dates of the assessment(s).

6. Affirm that you are not potentially liable for contamination at the site under CERCLA Section 107 (e.g., as a current owner or operator of a facility, an owner or operator of a facility at the time of disposal of a hazardous substance, a party that arranged for the treatment or disposal of hazardous substances, or a party that accepted hazardous substances for transport to disposal or treatment facilities at the site) and explain why.

If the site is a petroleum site, please proceed to question #12. If the site is a hazardous substance site, please continue responding to the questions in order.

7. Identify a.) who currently owns the site and who currently conducts operations on the site if different from the owner; b.) when they became owner and/or began their operations; and c.) from whom the site was acquired.

8. Identify how the site became contaminated or why the site is suspected to be contaminated and, to the extent possible, describe the nature and extent of the contamination.

9. Identify known ongoing or anticipated environmental enforcement actions related to the brownfield site for which funding is sought. Describe any inquiries or orders from federal, state, or local government entities that the applicant is aware of regarding the responsibility of any party (including the applicant) for the contamination or hazardous waste at the site. The information provided in this section may be verified, and EPA may conduct an independent review of information related to the applicant's responsibility for the contamination or hazardous waste at the site.

10. If the site is not owned by the applicant:
1. describe your relationship with the owner;
2. describe the owner's role in the work to be performed; and
3. indicate how you will gain access to the site.
   
   
11. If you, the applicant, own the site:
1. describe how you took ownership of the site (e.g., tax foreclosure, purchase, donation, eminent domain) and date of acquisition;
2. identify whether or not all disposal of hazardous substances at the site occurred before you acquired the property and whether you caused or contributed to any release of hazardous substances at the site;
3. describe any inquiry by you or others into the previous ownership, uses of the property, and environmental conditions prior to taking ownership; describe in detail:
• the types of site assessments performed (e.g., ASTM Phase I or equivalent);
• who performed the assessments and identify his/her qualifications to perform such work; and
• provide the date that each such assessment was performed, state whether such assessment was performed specifically for you, the applicant, or if not, the name of the party for whom the assessment was performed and that party's relationship, if any, to you.
4. describe the uses of the site since your ownership began through the present; provide a timeline with dates, details of the uses (e.g., the nature of the use), the names of all current and prior users during the time of your ownership, and your relationship to the current and prior users;
5. identify any known parties who may be considered potentially liable for the contamination on the site, and describe any familial, contractual, corporate or financial relationship that you have with potentially liable parties at the site;
6. describe the appropriate care that you exercised with respect to hazardous substances found at the facility by taking REASONABLE STEPS to:
• stop any continuing releases;
• prevent any threatened future release;
• prevent or limit exposure to any previously released hazardous substance

Please note that reasonable steps may include actions such as limiting access to the property, monitoring known contaminants, and complying with state and/or local requirements.

7. confirm your commitment to:
• comply with all land use restrictions and institutional controls;
• assist and cooperate with those performing the cleanup and to provide access to the property;
• comply with all information requests and administrative subpoenas that have or may be issued in connection with the property; and
• provide all legally required notices.

Applicants that own contaminated land should be aware that achieving and maintaining landowner liability protections, ensuring eligibility for Brownfield grant funds, and complying with the terms and conditions on the uses of grant funds at brownfield sites requires that they meet certain continuing obligations. For example: grantees must comply with land use restrictions and institutional controls; take reasonable steps with respect to the hazardous substances on the property; cooperate, assist and allow access to authorized representatives; and comply with CERCLA information requests and subpoenas and provide legally required notices. For more information on the obligations of owners of contaminated property, please see EPA's Common Elements Reference Sheet at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/cleanup/superfund/common-elem-ref.pdf.

12. Petroleum Sites (Disregard this question, if you do not have a petroleum site.)

The Brownfields Law allows certain sites contaminated with petroleum or petroleum product to be eligible for brownfields grant funding. Eligibility will be determined by EPA or the state, as appropriate (See Appendix 3, part 3.3.2 Contamination by Petroleum or Petroleum Product for a description of the eligibility requirements).

Non-Tribal applicants must provide the information requested below to your state, so that the state can make the necessary determinations on petroleum site eligibility in Appendix 3, part 3.3.2. Include any response to your request received from your state regarding site eligibility with this proposal. If you do not receive a written response from your state by the deadline for filing proposals, please indicate this in your proposal cover letter. (Note: You must provide EPA with the date you requested your state to make the petroleum site determinations. EPA will make the petroleum site eligibility determination if a state is unable to do so following a request from an applicant.) Also in your letter to the State, please request that the State provide information regarding whether it applied EPA's guidelines in making the petroleum determination or, if not, what standard it applied.

Tribal applicants must submit the following information with their proposal to EPA. EPA will make the petroleum site eligibility determinations for Tribes.

Provide the following information to your state and to EPA as appropriate:

1. Identify the current and immediate past owner of the site. For the purposes of eligibility determinations in these guidelines only, the current owner is the person who will own the property on June 30, 2006.
2. Acquisition of Site. Identify when and by what method the current owner acquired the property (e.g., purchase, tax foreclosure, donation, eminent domain).
3. No Responsible Party for the Site. Identify whether the current and immediate past owner dispensed or disposed of petroleum or petroleum product, or exacerbated the existing petroleum contamination at the site, and whether the current and immediate past owner took reasonable steps (as to "reasonable steps," see question 11.f. above) with regard to the contamination at the site.
4. Cleaned Up by a Person Not Potentially Liable. Identify whether you (the applicant) dispensed or disposed of petroleum or petroleum product, or exacerbated the existing petroleum contamination at the site, and whether you took reasonable steps (as to "reasonable steps," see question 11.f. above) with regard to the contamination at the site.
5. Relatively Low Risk. Identify whether the site is of "relatively low risk" compared to other petroleum or petroleum product-only contaminated sites in the state in which the site is located, including whether the site is receiving or using Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund monies.
6. Judgments, Orders, or Third Party Suits. Provide information that no responsible party (including the applicant) is identified for the site through, either:
   (1) a judgment rendered in a court of law or an administrative order that would require any person to assess, investigate, or clean up the site; or
   (2) an enforcement action by federal or state authorities against any party that would require any person to assess, investigate, or clean up the site; or
   (3) a citizen suit, contribution action or other third party claim brought against the current or immediate past owner, that would, if successful, require the assessment, investigation, or cleanup of the site.
7. Subject to RCRA. Identify whether the site is subject to any order under section 9003(h) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act.
8. Financial Viability of Responsible Parties. For any current or immediate past owners identified as responsible for the contamination at the site, provide information regarding whether they have the financial capability to satisfy their obligations under federal or state law to assess, investigate or clean up the site. Note: If no responsible party is identified in (c) or (f) above, then the petroleum-contaminated site may be eligible for funding. If a responsible party is identified above, EPA or the state must next determine whether that party is viable. If any such party is determined to be viable, then the petroleum-contaminated site may not be eligible for funding.

If you are unable to obtain information on any of the above questions, you must include a brief explanation of why the information requested above is not available.

Ranking Criteria for Assessment Grants

Unless noted otherwise, sub-questions/sub-items under each criterion will have equal weight. For example, for a 10-point criterion with 5 sub-questions, each sub-question will be worth 2 points.

Note that responses for community-wide assessment proposals should address the entire target community. There is no need to identify potential sites in a community-wide proposal.

1. Assessment Grant Proposal Budget (a maximum of 10 points may be received for this criterion)

   Provide the proposed budget for your proposal, including a detailed description and narrative of each task. Typical tasks might include "Phase I/II Assessments," "Community Outreach," and "Cleanup Planning." Budgets that include some site assessment or cleanup planning activities will be ranked more favorably than those that focus only on inventory or planning activities. The narrative must provide a basis for the tasks. The budget must show the distribution of funds, including cost estimates for each of the proposed activities. If you are applying for an assessment waiver up to $350,000, your budget and tasks must reflect this.

   If you plan not to expend federal funds on otherwise eligible activities (e.g., community involvement, programmatic expenses associated with reporting), please describe these activities (i.e., in-kind) in the budget narrative and indicate the source(s) of funding.

   A local government may use up to 10 percent of its grant funds for monitoring the health of populations exposed to one or more hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants from a brownfield site and monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant from a brownfield site. To effectively oversee assessments and cleanups, local governments may use grant funds (subject to the 10 percent limit) for other related program development and implementation activities (e.g., writing local brownfield-related ordinances). Activities planned for the 10 percent category must be included in a separate budget task.

Sample Format for Budget

Budget Categories	Project Tasks
(programmatic costs only)	[Task 1]	[Task 2]	[Task 3]	[Task 4]	Total
Personnel
Fringe Benefits
Travel1
Equipment2
Supplies
Contractual3
Other (specify) __________
Total
1 Travel to brownfield-related training conferences is an acceptable use of these grant funds. 2 EPA defines equipment as items that cost $5,000 or more with a useful life of more than one year. Items costing less than $5,000 are considered supplies. Generally, equipment is not required for assessment grants. 3 Applicants must comply with the procurement procedures contained in 40 CFR 31.36, or for non-profits, with 40 CFR 30.40 through 30.48.




2. Community Need (a maximum of 15 points may be received for this criterion)

1. Provide a detailed description of the target community that the project(s) will benefit. Include demographic information for the target community and indicators, such as the poverty rate, unemployment rate, special community situations (e.g., population size), or other environmental justice factors that support community need relating directly to this project (e.g., low-income and/or minority communities; sensitive populations, such as children and pregnant women; or communities disproportionately impacted by environmental factors). Identify the source for this information.

2. Explain how the targeted community will benefit from this grant.

3. Characterize the impact of brownfields on your target community (or communities) by describing the extent of brownfields (e.g., size, number, location) and the economic, health, and/or environmental impacts of the brownfields.

3. Site Selection Process (a maximum of 6 points may be received for this criterion)

1. Describe how sites were selected/will be selected and what site selection criteria were/will be developed. Describe how you will determine that sites selected are eligible for funding under the statute.

2. Describe possible or previous inventory activities, prioritization efforts, or other activities.

3. If you anticipate conducting assessment activities on privately owned sites, discuss possible access issues and how you would resolve the issues.

4. Sustainable Reuse of Brownfields (a maximum of 12 points may be received for this criterion)

Describe how this grant would support the goals listed below and, specifically, how your plans, development regulations, policies and/or programs will achieve these goals.

1. prevent pollution and reduce resource consumption (strategies to do so may include green building, clean energy production, alternative stormwater management, eco-industrial development, native landscaping, demolition debris and fill reuse and/or others);

2. promote economic benefits (e.g., an expanded tax base, increased investment, job creation, enhanced property values through adjacent greenspace creation, and/or others);

3. promote a vibrant community characterized by a mix of uses, appropriate density, transportation/housing choice and walkability (strategies to do so may include smart growth, new urbanism, linked recreational and park areas, public transportation, bike-to-work/walk-to-work opportunities, and/or others);

4. reuse existing infrastructure (e.g., existing roads, rail/bus/subway services, buildings, utility services, sidewalks/pedestrian/bicycle trails, recreational services, landscaping, neighborhood centers/institutions);

5. prevent future brownfields (through such activities as brownfields inventories, active communication with operating facilities, preventing land abandonment, and/or others);

6. the extent to which a project is committed to achieving recognized green building and/or energy efficiency building standards. Examples include Energy Star, U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System, California Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Austin Green Builder Program or equivalent standards.

5. Creation and/or Preservation of Greenspace/Open Space or Nonprofit Purpose (a maximum of 5 points may be received for this criterion)

Describe the extent to which the grant would facilitate the creation of, preservation of, or addition to a park, greenway, undeveloped property, recreational property, or other property used for nonprofit purposes. If this grant would result in such creation or addition (e.g., a new or expanded community park), what specific regulations, policies, or programs, are (or will be) in place to provide for long-term management and care? If this grant would result in such preservation (e.g. preserving outlying greenfields by focusing development on brownfields) what specific regulations, policies, or programs, are (or will be) in place to assure long-term management, care and preservation?

6. Community Involvement (a maximum of 16 points may be received for this criterion)

EPA requires early community notification and encourages continuing community involvement.

1. Discuss your plan for involving the affected community (e.g., neighborhood organizations, citizens' groups, borrowers, redevelopers, and other stakeholders) in cleanup decisions or reuse planning. Describe what community involvement activities, if any, have already occurred.

2. Describe your efforts and/or plans to develop partnerships at the local, state, and/or tribal level with other stakeholders to ensure appropriate and sustainable cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields in your targeted community.

3. Describe your specific plans for communicating the progress of your project(s) to citizens, including plans for communicating in languages indigenous to the community or other efforts to reach the targeted community as well as the broader community.

4. Provide a list of the community-based organizations involved in this project and a contact person, phone number, and a brief description of the organization's activities and representation (these organizations may include, but are not limited to, local citizen groups, environmental organizations, civic organizations, local business groups and institutions, educational institutions, and local labor organizations). Community-based organizations do not include the local planning department, the local fire department, or the mayor's office.

Note: EPA may conduct reference checks to ensure that organizations identified are supportive and involved with the brownfields project.

7. Reduction of Threats to Human Health and the Environment (a maximum of 20 points may be received for this criterion)

1. Describe how the funds will be used to address/facilitate the identification and/or reduction of threats to human health and the environment within the target area (including cancer, asthma, or birth defects) that may be associated with exposure to hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, or petroleum.

2. Describe how you are working with your state or tribal environmental authority and/or local public health department to ensure protectiveness of human health and the environment, and to ensure the consideration of public health issues, during both the cleanup and the redevelopment process as well as in the monitoring and maintenance of engineering controls. Include a brief discussion of relevant state/tribal response program (or "Voluntary Cleanup Program") processes, where applicable.

8. Leveraging of Additional Resources (a maximum of 10 points may be received for this criterion)

1. Identify the funds (e.g., general revenues, Tax Increment Financing (TIF), staff time/in-kind) that your agency/organization has committed or will commit to meet the assessment needs not met through this grant, e.g., additional stages of assessment, etc.

2. Demonstrate your ability to leverage funds. Describe all other funding sources (e.g., federal, state, nonprofit, or private) that will be committed or that you are pursuing to fill in any remaining funding gaps to ensure the success of this project.

9. Programmatic Capability (a maximum of 15 points may be received for this criterion; not all sub-questions are of equal weight for this criterion)

1. Demonstrate your ability to manage this grant and successfully perform all phases of work under this grant, and, if applicable, describe the system(s) you have in place to acquire the requisite expertise necessary to successfully perform the grant. (7 points)

2. Describe your history of managing federal funds. You must identify and provide information regarding the status of any adverse audit findings from an OMB Circular A-133 audit, an audit conducted by a federal, state, tribal, or local government inspector general or similar organization, or audits conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office. You also must note whether you are, or have previously been, required to comply with special "high risk" terms and conditions under agency regulations implementing OMB Circular A-102. Note: If you have not previously managed federal funds, you will receive a neutral score for this factor. (2 points)

3. If you are, or have been, a recipient of an EPA Brownfields cooperative agreement(s), provide information regarding your compliance with quarterly progress reports, brownfields reporting measures, and annual financial status reporting. (2 points)

4. If you are, or have been, a recipient of an EPA Brownfields cooperative agreement(s), indicate the year of award and the amount of funds remaining. (2 points)

5. If you are, or have been, a recipient of an EPA Brownfields cooperative agreement(s), highlight significant accomplishments generated through the use of the funds. (2 points)

Those applicants who are not, or have not been, a recipient of an EPA Brownfields cooperative agreement will receive a neutral score for items 3, 4, and 5 (e.g., a total of 3/6 points).

Revolving Loan Fund Criteria

Proposals for revolving loan fund grant funding will be evaluated against the threshold and ranking criteria set forth below. Applicants must provide information in their proposal addressing these criteria. Threshold criteria are pass/fail - applicants must meet all of the threshold criteria. Only those proposals that meet all of the threshold criteria will be evaluated against the ranking criteria. An eligible entity (or coalition of eligible entities) may submit only ONE revolving loan fund proposal. The proposal can be for hazardous substance funding; petroleum funding; or a combination of both (but it cannot exceed the funding limitations for RLF grants).

Note: For FY 2006, EPA has made a policy decision to not award RLF grants on a site-specific basis. Applicants may provide (an) example(s) of sites that may be targeted through their proposed RLF program, however site eligibility issues will be dealt with as a matter of grants administration.

Threshold Criteria for RLF Grants

Note: For purposes of the threshold eligibility review, EPA, if necessary, may seek clarification of applicant information and/or consider information from other sources, including EPA files.

1. Applicant Eligibility

Describe how you are an eligible entity for the grant for which you are applying. Refer to the description of applicant eligibility in the section Who Can Apply?. For entities other than cities, counties, tribes or states, please attach documentation of your eligibility (e.g., resolutions, statutes, etc.).

Note: Coalition applicants for RLF grants must document how all coalition members are eligible entities. All coalition members must submit a letter in which they agree to be part of the coalition.

2. Description of Jurisdiction

For 2006, EPA will only award RLF grants on a community-wide and jurisdiction-wide basis. This allows for the use of grant funds throughout the jurisdiction, as defined by the applicant in its proposal. This does not preclude applicants from targeting specific communities or areas within the jurisdiction in their marketing, outreach, and cleanup activities. Applicants must provide a description of the boundaries of their jurisdiction, e.g., "the city limits of The City of ABC."

3. Community Notification

Community notification must be conducted by or on behalf of the applicant. If conducted by another entity on behalf of you, the applicant, please demonstrate how you were involved in the community notification (i.e., you attended the public meeting, you responded to comments, etc). Describe how the targeted community(ies) was/were notified of the preparation and submission of this grant proposal. You must clearly demonstrate that a copy(ies) of this grant proposal has been made available for public review and an opportunity for public comment has been provided prior to submitting this proposal. This may include putting a notice of availability in the local newspaper or other widely available/accessible local media asking for public comment; discussing a brownfields proposal during an open government meeting; holding a public meeting; notifying affected residents door-to-door. Notifications must be current and related to this specific proposal being submitted for consideration. Failure to demonstrate community notification will result in failure of this proposal. Applicants who are submitting more than one proposal may opt to have a single community notification. However, all targeted communities must receive the notification and be provided an opportunity to comment on the proposal(s) relevant to their community. Please note that the notification is to citizens or members of the public, not exclusively to government officials. EPA reserves the right to request documentation of community notification as part of its threshold review of the proposal.

4. Letter from the State or Tribal Environmental Authority

For an applicant other than a state or tribal environmental authority, attach a current letter from the appropriate state or tribal environmental authority acknowledging that the applicant plans to establish a revolving loan fund and conduct cleanup activities and is planning to apply for Federal grant funds. Letters regarding proposals from prior years are not acceptable. If you are applying for multiple types of grant program activities, you need to submit only one letter acknowledging the relevant grant activities. However, you must provide the letter as an attachment to EACH proposal. Please note that general correspondence and documents evidencing state involvement with the project (i.e., state enforcement orders or state notice letters) are NOT acceptable. Please provide advance notice to the appropriate state or tribal environmental authority to allow adequate time to receive the letter to accompany your proposal.

5. Cleanup Authority and Oversight Structure

Please note that you will be required to comply with all applicable Federal and State laws; and ensure that the cleanup protects human health and the environment.

1. Describe how you will oversee cleanup at sites. Indicate whether you plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a state or tribal response program. If you do not plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a state or tribal response program, or an appropriate state or tribal response program is not available, you will be required to consult with U.S. EPA to ensure cleanups are protective of human health and the environment. Therefore, if you do not plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a state or tribal response program, provide a description of the technical expertise you have to conduct, manage, and oversee the cleanup and/or whether you plan to acquire additional technical expertise. If you do plan to acquire additional technical expertise, discuss how, consistent with the competitive procurement provisions of 40 CFR 31.36, you will ensure that this technical expertise is in place prior to beginning cleanup activities.

2. Provide a legal opinion from your counsel that demonstrates that you have legal authority to access and secure sites in the event of an emergency or default of a loan agreement or non-performance under a subgrant. Attach your counsel's legal opinion.

Note: For coalitions, the applicant must have the broader jurisdiction, authority and program capacity to ensure adequate program performance of coalition members, borrowers, and/or subgrantees, if warranted.

6. Cost Share

RLF grant recipients are required by the Brownfields Law to provide a 20 percent cost share.² This cost share is calculated as 20 percent of the total federal RLF funds awarded. For example, if you are applying for $1 million of federal RLF funds, you must provide a cost share of an additional $200,000. The cost share may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services from a non-federal source. If the cost share is in the form of a contribution of labor, material, or other services, it must be incurred for an eligible and allowable expense under the grant and not for ineligible expenses, such as administrative costs (see Appendix 2 for a discussion of prohibited costs).

RLF grant applicants may petition EPA to waive the cost-share requirement if it would place an undue hardship on the eligible entity. EPA will consider hardship waiver requests on a case-by-case basis and will approve such requests on a limited basis. Undue hardship may be defined as bankruptcy or such other indicator of distress, including low per-capita income, unemployment rate above national average, or unemployment or economic adjustment problems resulting from severe short-term or long-term changes in economic conditions.

Describe your plans for providing the cost share, including the sources of the funding or services, as required for this RLF grant. If you are requesting a hardship waiver of the cost share, provide an explanation for the basis of your request as part of your proposal.

7. Legal Authority to Manage a Revolving Loan Fund

Provide an opinion from your legal counsel that demonstrates your legal authority to perform the actions necessary to manage a revolving loan fund. At a minimum, legal authority must include the ability to hold funds, make loans, enter into loan agreements, and collect repayments. This authority may be based on statute, regulation, or other authority. Applicant must attach a legal opinion.

Ranking Criteria for RLF Grants

Unless noted otherwise, sub-questions/sub-items under each criterion will have equal weight. For example, for a 10-point criterion with 5 sub-questions, each sub-question will be worth 2 points.

1. RLF Grant Proposal Budget (a maximum of 10 points may be received for this criterion)

Provide the proposed budget for your proposal, including a detailed description and narrative of each task. Typical tasks might include "Community Involvement," "Establishing the Revolving Fund," "Marketing the Revolving Fund," "Operating the Revolving Fund," "Cleanup Planning," and "Overseeing Site Cleanup." The narrative must provide a basis for the tasks. The budget also must reflect your cost share. The budget must show the distribution of funds, including cost estimates for each of the proposed activities. Please note that the sample budget below provides for separate budgets for loans and subgrants. An RLF grant recipient may not make a cleanup subgrant that exceeds $200,000 per site.

As mentioned previously on page 10, an RLF grant recipient must use at least 60 percent of the awarded funds to capitalize and implement a revolving loan fund. An RLF grant recipient also may use its funds to award subgrants to other eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, for brownfields cleanups on sites owned by the su