Applicants are eligible for assistance through this program if all of the following requirements are met:
(a) System for Award Management (SAM) registration, General Certifications and Representations and unique entity identifier (UEI). At the time of application, each Applicant must have an active registration in SAM before submitting its application in accordance with 2 CFR part 25. This registration must remain current, accurate and complete at all times during which the Applicant has an active Federal award or an application under consideration. The Applicant must also obtain a UEI through SAM.gov.
(b) Legal authority. Applicants must certify that they have the legal authority to carry out the purpose of the grant, and/or their business is in good standing in the State where it is incorporated and/or in the State that is the primary location of an applicant's business operations for the VAPG Project.
(c) Applicant type. The Applicant meets the definition for one of the following Applicant types—Agricultural Producer, Agricultural Producer Group, Farmer or Rancher Cooperative, or Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Venture.
(1) Agricultural Producer. An Applicant applying as an Agricultural Producer must identify each owner member by name or class, provide the percentage of ownership of each owner member, and discuss how each owner member meets the definition of Agricultural Producer.
(i) A Steering Committee must apply as an Agricultural Producer and discuss how it intends to form a program-eligible legal entity prior to execution of the Financial Assistance Agreement by the Agency.
(ii) A Harvester must apply as an Agricultural Producer and document its legal right to access and harvest the Agricultural Commodity that will be used for the Value-Added Agricultural Product.
(2) Agricultural Producer Group. An Applicant applying as an Agricultural Producer Group must identify each Agricultural Producer member by name or class, provide the percentage of ownership of each member, discuss how each member meets the definition of Agricultural Producer, and discuss how the Applicant meets the definition of Agricultural Producer Group.
(3) Farmer or Rancher Cooperative. An Applicant applying as a Farmer or Rancher Cooperative must discuss how they meet the definition of Farmer or Rancher Cooperative.
(4) Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Venture. An Applicant applying as a Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Venture must discuss how it meets the definition of Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Venture.
(d) Ownership and control. (1) For the Project, the Applicant must produce and own more than 50 percent of the Agricultural Commodity to which value will be added. Agricultural Producers must maintain ownership of the Agricultural Commodity or product from its raw state through the production and marketing of the Value-Added Agricultural Product. All Applicants applying for Working Capital Grant funds must document the quantity of each Agricultural Commodity that will be used for the Value-Added Agricultural Product, expressed in an appropriate unit of measure (pounds, tons, bushels, etc.) to demonstrate the scale of the Applicant's Project. This quantification must include an estimated total quantity of each Agricultural Commodity needed for the Project, the quantity that will be provided (produced and owned) by the Agricultural Producers of the Applicant organization, and the quantity that will be purchased or donated from third-party sources.
(2) Applicants who produce the Agricultural Commodity under contract for another entity, but do not own the Agricultural Commodity or Value-Added Agricultural Product produced, are not considered Agricultural Producers. Entities that contract out the production of an Agricultural Commodity are not considered Agricultural Producers. Agricultural Producer entities must confirm their owner members as eligible and must identify them by name or class.
(3) The Agency will determine the Agricultural Producer status of Tribes or Tribal entities without regard to ownership of the commodity to which value will be added so long as the Tribal member participant, Tribal entity and/or Tribe own and control more than 50 percent of the Agricultural Commodity necessary for the Project.
(e) Emerging Market. An Applicant that is an Agricultural Producer Group, a Farmer or Rancher Cooperative, or a Majority-Controlled Producer-Based Business Venture must demonstrate that it is entering into an Emerging Market as a result of the Project. An Agricultural Producer Applicant type that has produced and marketed the Value-Added Agricultural Product for less than two (2) years must also demonstrate that it is entering an Emerging Market.
(f) Citizenship. An Applicant must certify that it is more than 50 percent owned by individuals who are either a citizen or national of a State or reside in the United States after legal admittance for permanent residence.
(g) Multiple grants. An Applicant must submit only one application in response to a solicitation and may have only one active VAPG award at any given time unless the Applicant is also applying as a member of a Farmer or Rancher Cooperative or an Agricultural Producer Group. In addition, the following restrictions apply:
(1) Applicants who have already received a Planning Grant for the Project cannot receive another Planning Grant for the same Project; and
(2) Applicants who have already received a Working Capital Grant for the Project cannot receive any additional grants for that Project.
(h) Current VAPG award. If an Applicant has a current VAPG award at the time of subsequent competition, the Applicant must exhaust all VAPG award funds and submit final financial and performance reports to the Agency by the application submission deadline for the subsequent VAPG competition. If VAPG award funds will not be spent by the subsequent VAPG application submission deadline, the Applicant must request a cancellation of the current VAPG award prior to the subsequent application submission deadline.