The Agency will award and administer RISE grants in accordance with departmental regulations and with the procedures and requirements specified in this part.

(a) Bonding and insurance. The applicant must provide satisfactory evidence to the Agency that all officers of the applicant organization are authorized to receive and/or disburse Federal funds and are covered by such bonding and/or insurance requirements as are normally required by the applicant.

(b) Letter of conditions. A letter of conditions will be prepared by the Agency, establishing conditions that must be agreed to by the applicant before any obligation of funds can occur. Upon reviewing the conditions and requirements in the letter of conditions, the applicant must complete, sign, and return the Form RD 1942-46, “Letter of Intent to Meet Conditions,” and Form RD 1940-1, “Request for Obligation of Funds,” to the Agency if it accepts the conditions of the grant; or if certain conditions cannot be met, the applicant may propose alternate conditions in writing to the Agency. The Agency must resolve or concur with any changes proposed by the applicant to the letter of conditions before the application will be further processed.

(c) Evidence of matching funds. The applicant is responsible for providing documentation that the required matching funds for the project have been received or remain committed at the date a financial assistance agreement is executed with the Agency.

(d) SAM requirements. Each applicant applying for grant funds (unless an exception, as outlined in 2 CFR 25.110(a) through (d), is approved by the Agency) is required to:

(1) Be registered in SAM before submitting its application;

(2) Provide a valid unique entity identifier in its application; and

(3) Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency.

(e) Financial assistance agreement. Once the requirements specified in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section have been met, the financial assistance agreement can be executed by the lead applicant and the Agency. The applicant must abide by all requirements contained in the financial assistance agreement, this subpart, and any other applicable Federal statutes or regulations. Failure to follow these requirements might result in termination of the grant and adoption of other available remedies.

(f) Grant approval. The lead applicant will be sent an executed copy of the executed Form RD 1940-1, “Obligation of Funds,” and the financial assistance agreement.