(a) Eligibility screening. Applications will be reviewed to determine whether the Lender and Borrower are eligible, the information required under § 400.205(b) is complete, and the proposed loan complies with applicable statutes and regulations. The Board can at any time reject an application that does not meet these requirements.

(b) Evaluation criteria. Applications that are determined to be eligible pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section shall be subject to a substantive review by the Board based upon the following evaluation factors, in order of importance:

(1) The ability of the Borrower to repay the loan by the date specified in the Loan Document, which shall be no later than December 31, 2005. Evaluation of this factor will consider the prospective earning power of the Borrower. An essential and necessary element of the Board's evaluation of whether this criterion is satisfied is whether the applicant has committed to undertake significant efforts to eliminate or reduce economically unviable capacity;

(2) The adequacy of the proposed provisions to protect the Government, including sufficiency of Security, the priority of the lien position in the Security, and the percentage of Guarantee requested; and

(3) Adequacy of the underwriting analysis performed by the Lender in preparing the application and the ability of the Lender to administer the loan in full compliance with the requisite standard of care set forth in § 400.211(b).

(c) Decisions by the Board. Upon completion of the evaluation of an application and as soon as possible after its receipt, the Board will approve or deny an eligible application that is timely received under this Program. The Board shall notify the Applicants and the Borrower in writing of the approval or denial of an application as soon as possible. Approvals for loan Guarantees shall be conditioned upon compliance with § 400.208.