(a) An application may be filed whenever the applicant has prevailed in the proceeding or in a significant and discrete substantive portion of the proceeding, but in no case later than 30 days after the Agency's final disposition of the proceeding.

(b) If review or reconsideration is sought or taken of a decision as to which an applicant believes it has prevailed, proceedings for the award of fees shall be stayed pending final disposition of the underlying controversy.

(c) For purposes of this rule, final disposition means the latter of:

(1) The date on which the last “initial decision”, in a bifurcated proceeding, or other recommended disposition of the merits (both as to liability and amount, if applicable) of the proceeding, by an adjudicative officer or intermediate reviewer, becomes administratively final;

(2) The date on which an order is issued disposing of any petitions for reconsideration;

(3) If no petition for reconsideration is filed, the last date on which such a petition could have been filed; or

(4) The date of a final order or any other final resolution of the proceeding, such as a settlement or a voluntary dismissal, which is not subject to a petition for reconsideration.