(a) Where the Federal Insurance Administrator determines that a community has made adequate progress on the construction of a flood protection system involving Federal funds which will significantly limit the area of special flood hazards, the applicable risk premium rates for any property, located within a special flood hazard area intended to be protected directly by such system will be those risk premium rates which would be applicable when the system is complete.

(b) Adequate progress in paragraph (a) of this section means that the community has provided information to the Federal Insurance Administrator sufficient to determine that substantial completion of the flood protection system has been effected because:

(1) 100 percent of the total financial project cost of the completed flood protection system has been authorized;

(2) At least 60 percent of the total financial project cost of the completed flood protection system has been appropriated;

(3) At least 50 percent of the total financial project cost of the completed flood protection system has been expended;

(4) All critical features of the flood protection system, as identified by the Federal Insurance Administrator, are under construction, and each critical feature is 50 percent completed as measured by the actual expenditure of the estimated construction budget funds; and

(5) The community has not been responsible for any delay in the completion of the system.

(c) Each request by a community for a determination must be submitted in writing to the Risk Analysis Division, Mitigation Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington DC, and contain a complete statement of all relevant facts relating to the flood protection system, including, but not limited to, supporting technical data (e.g., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood protection project data), cost schedules, budget appropriation data and the extent of Federal funding of the system's construction. Such facts shall include information sufficient to identify all persons affected by such flood protection system or by such request: A full and precise statement of intended purposes of the flood protection system; and a carefully detailed description of such project, including construction completion target dates. In addition, true copies of all contracts, agreements, leases, instruments, and other documents involved must be submitted with the request. Relevant facts reflected in documents, however, must be included in the statement and not merely incorporated by reference, and must be accompanied by an analysis of their bearing on the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section, specifying the pertinent provisions. The request must contain a statement whether, to the best of the knowledge of the person responsible for preparing the application for the community, the flood protection system is currently the subject matter of litigation before any Federal, State or local court or administrative agency, and the purpose of that litigation. The request must also contain a statement as to whether the community has previously requested a determination with respect to the same subject matter from the Federal Insurance Administrator, detailing the disposition of such previous request. As documents become part of the file and cannot be returned, the original documents should not be submitted.

(d) The effective date for any risk premium rates established under this section shall be the date of final determination by the Federal Insurance Administrator that adequate progress toward completion of a flood protection system has been made in a community.

(e) A responsible official of a community which received a determination that adequate progress has been made towards completion of a flood protection system shall certify to the Federal Insurance Administrator annually on the anniversary date of receipt of such determination that no present delay in completion of the system is attributable to local sponsors of the system, and that a good faith effort is being made to complete the project.

(f) A community for which risk premium rates have been made available under section 1307(e) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as amended, shall notify the Federal Insurance Administrator if, at any time, all progress on the completion of the flood protection system has been halted or if the project for the completion of the flood protection system has been canceled.