(a) General. RUS may retain funds at the National Office or may allocate funds to Rural Development (RD) State Offices. Funds allocated to RD State Offices that remain unobligated may be pooled at the National Office's discretion and made available to any RD State Offices with eligible applications on a case-by-case basis. The application and supporting information submitted with it will be used to determine applicant eligibility and scoring for available funds. Applicants that do not receive an award will be advised of their appeal rights in accordance with 7 CFR part 11. Paragraph (c) of this section indicates items and conditions which will be considered in selecting applications for funding. When ranking eligible applications for consideration of limited funds, Agency officials will consider the scoring criteria met by each application and the degree to which those criteria are met.

(b) Agency review. Applications should be submitted in accordance with 7 CFR 1780. For funds retained at RUS National Office, applications will be processed, scored, and reviewed for funding priority by the processing office and then submitted for consideration to the RUS National Office. It is preferred that applications be submitted electronically through RD Apply or its successor platforms. Where electronic application is not feasible, an application can be submitted physically to the local processing office. Information relating to the local processing office may be found at www.rd.usda.gov. For funds allocated to RD state offices, the respective office will process, score, and fund projects with the available allocation. Projects that cannot be fully funded within the allocation will be considered in accordance with funds retained at the RUS National Office on a project-by-project basis. The Agency reserves the right to make no award if: no funding is received, or all applications are ineligible, incomplete, or do not meet the established program objectives and priorities. The Agency may determine that the application is:

(1) Eligible and selected for funding,

(2) Eligible but offered less funds than requested,

(3) Eligible but not selected for funding due to ranking of all applications by score, or

(4) Ineligible for funding.

(c) Scoring. The criteria in paragraphs (c)(1) through (6) of this section will be used to rank applications and in selecting projects for funding.

(1) Population. The proposed project will primarily serve a rural area having a population:

(i) Not in excess of 1,000—25 points.

(ii) Between 1,001 and 2,500—15 points.

(iii) Between 2,501 and 5,500—5 points.

(2) Income. The median household income of population to be served by the proposed project is:

(i) Not in excess of 50 percent of the SNMHI—30 points.

(ii) More than 50 percent and not in excess of 60 percent of the SNMHI income—20 points.

(iii) More than 60 percent and not in excess of 70 percent of the SNMHI—15 points.

(3) Joint financing. The amount of funds, other than RUS funds, committed to the proposed project is:

(i) Fifty percent or more—15 points.

(ii) Twenty to forty-nine percent—10 points.

(iii) Five to nineteen percent—5 points.

(4) Colonia. (See definition in § 1777.4). The proposed project will provide water or waste disposal services to the residents of a recognized Colonia—25 points.

(5) Access and health risks. (i) A service area that lacks access to both water and waste disposal facilities, resulting in a significant health risk—50 points.

(ii) A service area that lacks access to either water or waste disposal facilities, resulting in a significant health risk—40 points.

(iii) A service area that has access to water and waste disposal facilities but has a significant health risk—20 points.

(6) Discretionary. (i) State Director or designee with loan and grant approval authority in certain cases, and when a written justification is prepared, may assign up to 15 points for administrative and programmatic priorities for items including, but not limited to, natural disasters, priority coordination between RUS and other agencies, including leveraged funding or other initiatives identified by the administration, to assist those projects that are the most cost effective, or to projects located in areas experiencing high unemployment and poverty rates and severe health risks.

(ii) RUS Administrator may assign up to 15 additional points that will be considered in the total points for items including, but not limited to, the geographic distribution of funds nationally and within the state, and the severity of health risks.