Funding Opportunities: Capital Magnet Fund; 2021 Funding Round, 50773-50789 [2021-19598]
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 173 / Friday, September 10, 2021 / Notices
this year’s meeting will be conducted
virtually.
NHTSA technical research staff will
discuss projects underway and allow
time for meeting attendees to ask
questions. Given the virtual nature of
the event, all presented information will
be available for download. Updates on
this event will be available at https://
www.nhtsa.gov/events/research-publicmeeting-2021 listed under the title of
the public meeting.
Discussion of research projects will
occur in the form of technical panel
presentations, with the following topics
planned:
• Day 1, October 19 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
EST), Crash avoidance research panels
including advanced driver assistance
systems, human factors, Automated
Driving Systems (ADS), and vehicle
cybersecurity.
• Day 2: October 20 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
EST), Behavioral safety panels
presenting on speeding/speed
management and risky driving
behaviors followed by panels on
vulnerable road user research and
alternative fuels.
• Day 3: October 21 (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
EST), Crashworthiness research panels
presenting on female crash safety, ADS
crash safety, advanced crash test
dummies, and occupant protection.
The agency invites comments on the
information presented regarding
research priorities, research goals, and
additional research gaps/needs the
public may believe NHTSA should be
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50773
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Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30181–30182;
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.95.
Issued in Washington, DC.
Cem Hatipoglu,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety
Research.
[FR Doc. 2021–19577 Filed 9–9–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–59–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund
Funding Opportunities: Capital Magnet
Fund; 2021 Funding Round
Funding Opportunity Title: Notice of
Funds Availability (NOFA) inviting
Applications for the fiscal year (FY)
2021 Funding Round of the Capital
Magnet Fund (CMF).
Announcement Type: Announcement
of funding opportunity.
Funding Opportunity Number: CDFI–
2021–CMF.
Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance (CFDA) Number: 21.011.
Dates:
TABLE 1—FY 2021 CAPITAL MAGNET FUND FUNDING ROUND CRITICAL DEADLINES FOR APPLICANTS
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Description
Last day to create an Awards Management Information
System (AMIS) Account (if Applicant doesn’t have
one).
Last day to enter or update the EIN and DUNS numbers in AMIS (all Applicants).
Last day to submit SF–424 Mandatory Form (Application for Federal Assistance).
Last day to contact Capital Magnet Fund Staff ..............
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Deadline
Time
(eastern
time-ET)
October 12,
2021.
11:59 p.m.
ET.
Electronically via Awards Management Information
System (AMIS).
October 12,
2021.
October 12,
2021.
November 4,
2021.
11:59 p.m.
ET.
11:59 p.m.
ET.
5:00 p.m. ET
Electronically via AMIS.
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Submission method
Electronically via Grants.gov.
Submit Service Request via AMIS; call CDFI Fund
Helpdesk:
202–653–0421;
or
email
cmf@
cdfi.treas.gov.
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TABLE 1—FY 2021 CAPITAL MAGNET FUND FUNDING ROUND CRITICAL DEADLINES FOR APPLICANTS—Continued
Description
Deadline
Last day to submit CMF Application and Required Attachments.
November 9,
2021.
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Executive Summary: The Capital
Magnet Fund (CMF) is administered by
the Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). Through
the CMF, the CDFI Fund provides
financial assistance grants to
Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFIs) and to qualified
Nonprofit Organizations that have the
development or management of
affordable housing as one of their
principal purposes. All awards provided
through this Notice of Funds
Availability (NOFA) are subject to
funding availability.
I. Program Description
A. Authorizing Statute and
Regulation: The CMF was established
through the Housing and Economic
Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), which
added section 1339 to the Federal
Housing Enterprises Financial Safety
and Soundness Act of 1992. For a
complete understanding of the program,
the CDFI Fund encourages Applicants to
review the CMF interim rule (12 CFR
part 1807) as amended February 8, 2016
(the CMF Interim Rule); this NOFA; the
CDFI Fund’s environmental quality
regulation (12 CFR part 1815); the CMF
funding application (referred to
hereafter as the ‘‘Application,’’ meaning
the application submitted in response to
this NOFA); and the Uniform
Administrative Requirements, Cost
Principles, and Audit Requirements for
Federal Awards (2 CFR part 1000),
which is the Department of the
Treasury’s codification of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
government-wide framework for grants
management at 2 CFR part 200 (Uniform
Administrative Requirements or UAR).
Each capitalized term used in this
NOFA, but not defined herein, shall
have the respective meanings assigned
to them in the CMF Interim Rule, the
Application, or the Uniform
Administrative Requirements. Details
regarding Application content
requirements are found in the
Application and related materials at
www.cdfifund.gov/cmf.
B. History: The CDFI Fund was
established by the Riegle Community
Development Banking and Financial
Institutions Act of 1994 to promote
economic revitalization and community
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Time
(eastern
time-ET)
5:00 p.m. ET
Submission method
Electronically via AMIS.
development through investment in and
assistance to CDFIs. The CMF made its
first awards in FY 2010, with
subsequent funding rounds beginning in
FY 2016 and occurring annually
thereafter. To date, more than $740
million has been awarded under the
CMF Program.
C. Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
(2 CFR part 1000): The Uniform
Administrative Requirements codify
financial, administrative, procurement,
and program management standards
that Federal award-making agencies
must follow. Per the Uniform
Administrative Requirements, when
evaluating award Applications,
awarding agencies must evaluate each
Applicant’s merits, eligibility, and any
risks to the program posed by each
Applicant. These requirements are
designed to ensure that Applicants for
Federal assistance receive a fair and
consistent review prior to an award
decision. This review will assess items
such as the Applicant’s financial
stability, quality of management
systems, history of performance, and
single audit findings. In addition, the
Uniform Administrative Requirements
include guidance on audit requirements
and other award compliance
requirements for award Recipients.
D. Priorities: The purpose of the CMF
is to attract private capital for and
increase investment in the
Development, Preservation,
Rehabilitation, or Purchase of
Affordable Housing for primarily
Extremely Low-Income, Very LowIncome, and Low-Income Families, as
well as Economic Development
Activities, which, In Conjunction With
Affordable Housing Activities,
implement a Concerted Strategy to
stabilize or revitalize a Low-Income
Area or Underserved Rural Area. To
pursue these objectives, the CDFI Fund
has established the following priorities
for the FY 2021 Funding Round: (i)
Applications where at least 20% of all
rental Affordable Housing units that
will be financed and/or supported with
FY 2021 CMF Awards are targeted to
Very Low-Income Families and/or at
least 20% of all Homeownership
Affordable Housing units that will be
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financed and/or supported with FY
2021 CMF Awards are targeted to LowIncome Families; (ii) Applications
where rental Affordable Housing units
are located in either Areas of Economic
Distress (AED) 1 or High Opportunity
Areas (HOA) 2; and (iii) Applications
where Homeownership Affordable
Housing is either located in an AED
(targeted to Eligible-Income Families;
120% AMI and below) or is targeted to
Low-Income Families (80% AMI or
below); and (iv) Applications proposing
to use the CMF Award to leverage
private capital to finance and/or support
Affordable Housing Activities and
Economic Development Activities.
Additionally, the CDFI Fund seeks to
fund Applications serving
geographically diverse Areas of
Economic Distress, including
Metropolitan Areas and Underserved
Rural Areas. In particular, the priority
for geographic diversity includes
funding highly qualified Applications
that serve territories not included in the
Service Areas of Recipients in the past
two CMF rounds (FY 2019 and FY
1 Areas of Economic Distress: Areas of Economic
Distress are census tracts: (a) Where at least 20%
of households that are Very Low-Income (50% of
AMI or below) spend more than half of their income
on housing; or (b) that are designated Qualified
Opportunity Zones under 26 U.S.C 1400Z–1; or (c)
that are Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Qualified
Census Tracts; or (d) where greater than 20% of
households have incomes below the poverty rate
and the rental vacancy rate is at least 10%; or (e)
where greater than 20% of the households have
incomes below the poverty rate and the
homeownership vacancy rate is at least 10%; or (f)
are Underserved Rural Areas as defined in the CMF
Interim Rule (as amended February 8, 2016; 12 CFR
part 1807). The CDFI Fund will publish a dataset
on its website indicating which census tracts are
designated as Areas of Economic Distress for the FY
2021 Round.
2 High Opportunity Area: The CMF Program uses
the definition of High Opportunity Area found in
the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Duty to
Serve Rule for this term: (a) An area designated by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) as a ‘‘Difficult Development Area’’ during
any year covered by an Enterprise’s Underserved
Markets Plan (Plan) or in the year prior to a Plan’s
effective date, whose poverty rate falls below 10%
(for Metropolitan areas) or below 15% (for NonMetropolitan areas); or (b) an area designated by a
state or local Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) as a
high opportunity area whose poverty rate falls
below 10% (for Metropolitan areas) or 15% (for
Non-Metropolitan areas). The CDFI Fund will
publish a dataset on its website indicating which
census tracts are designated as High Opportunity
Areas for the FY 2021 Round.
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2020): American Samoa, Guam, the
Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.
Virgin Islands.
E. Funding limitations: The CDFI
Fund reserves the right to fund, in
whole or in part, any, all, or none of the
Applications submitted in response to
this NOFA.
II. Federal Award Information
A. Funding Availability: The CDFI
Fund plans to award up to $380.2
million in grants for the CMF FY 2021
Round under this NOFA. Eligible
organizations of all sizes are encouraged
to apply, including new and previous
Applicants, past CMF Recipients, and
Applicants focused on Homeownership,
Rental housing, or both. HERA prohibits
the CDFI Fund from obligating more
than 15% of the aggregate available in
CMF Awards to any Applicant, its
Subsidiaries and Affiliates in the same
funding round. In past rounds, the CDFI
Fund has typically provided awards
smaller than the statutory cap. For
example, for the FY 2020 funding
round, awards ranged from $750,000 to
$8,000,000, with an average award of
$3.7 million. Given the larger amount of
funding available for the FY 2021 CMF
round compared with the FY 2020 CMF
round, the CDFI Fund will consider
award requests that significantly exceed
the maximum award amounts made in
past rounds. In addition, the CDFI Fund
anticipates issuing more awards at
various award sizes, including smaller
awards. Given the administrative and
compliance responsibilities for
Recipients, the CDFI Fund will not
accept Applications for the FY 2021
CMF Round that request less than
$500,000 and will not provide awards
below $500,000 to any CMF Award
Recipient for the FY 2021 CMF Round.
The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in
its sole discretion, to provide a CMF
Award in an amount other than that
which the Applicant requests. However,
the Award amount will not exceed the
Applicant’s Award request as stated in
its Application, nor will the Award
amount be less than the Applicant’s
minimum Award request if one is
provided in the Application. An
Applicant may receive only one Award
through the FY 2021 CMF Round,
though one or more Affiliates of an
Applicant, if eligible, may separately
apply and be awarded.
B. Types of Awards: The CDFI Fund
will provide CMF Awards in the form
of grants. CMF Awards must be used to
support the eligible activities as set forth
in 12 CFR 1807.301. A CMF Award
Recipient may not distribute the CMF
Award to any Affiliate, Subsidiary, or
third-party entity in any manner that
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would create a Subrecipient
relationship (as defined in the Uniform
Administrative Requirements) without
the CDFI Fund’s prior written consent.
The Recipient of a CMF Award must
retain all obligations related to the
Award. This restriction does not prevent
a Recipient from using its CMF Award
to loan to or invest directly in an
Affiliate (separate legal entity) or in a
specific Project being undertaken by an
Affiliate, unless the Affiliate received a
CMF Award in the same funding round.
C. Limitations on using CMF Awards
in conjunction with other CDFI Fund
awards/allocations: 1. A CMF Award
Recipient may not use its CMF Award
for any project that also receives
funding from other CDFI Fund program
awards or allocations the Recipient (or
any of its Affiliates) has received, except
when the CMF Award dollars are used
to finance/support a different ‘‘phase’’
of development in the same Project than
that financed by other CDFI Fund
awards or allocations. The separate
phases of development financing are: (1)
Predevelopment; (2) acquisition; (3) site
work (preconstruction); (4)
construction/rehabilitation; (5)
permanent financing; and (6) bridge
financing between two or more phases.
Additionally, one or more Affiliated
entities may not use CMF Award funds
from the same funding round to finance/
support the same Project, regardless of
whether the funds are used in different
phases of the Project.
The phase restriction above does not
apply to the Recipient’s prior CMF
Awards. The Recipient may combine its
multiple CMF Awards to provide
financing on any Project, including
financing the same phase of any Project.
However, the Recipient may not deem
the same costs as Eligible Project Costs
under multiple CMF Awards and must
prorate the unit production performance
across its multiple CMF Awards.
Similarly, Affiliates with CMF Awards
from different rounds may only use
those Awards to finance the same
Project if they prorate Eligible Projects
and unit production performance among
the Affiliates (i.e., Affiliates may not use
the same Eligible Project Costs or
housing units to meet Assistance
Agreement requirements under separate
CMF Awards).
If providing Homeownership
assistance, a CMF Award may be used
in conjunction with awards/allocations
from other CDFI Fund programs only if
the Project can be divided into such
phases, and the CMF Award is used in
a different phase from the other CDFI
Fund program awards/allocations. To
clarify, a CMF Award cannot be used for
a Homeownership property that is
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50775
permanently financed (or supported) by
both the Recipient’s (or any of its
Affiliates’) CMF Award and an award/
allocation from another CDFI Fund
program (e.g., down payment assistance
funded from CMF Award may not be
combined with a permanent mortgage
funded from another CDFI Fund
program).
2. Costs financed and/or supported by
the Recipient’s other awards/allocations
from CDFI Fund programs, including
awards from prior CMF rounds, may not
be counted or reported as Leveraged
Costs for the CMF Award pursuant to
this NOFA as further set forth in the
Assistance Agreement. While the
Recipient may combine its CMF Award
pursuant to this NOFA with prior issued
CMF Awards to finance/support the
same Project, each CMF Award must
separately meet the program
requirements as outlined in the
applicable Assistance Agreement and
the CMF Interim Rule (12 CFR part
1807).
In all cases, the CMF Award remains
subject to the following restriction
imposed by the CDFI Bond Guarantee
Program: Award funds received under
any CDFI Fund program cannot be used
by any participant of the CDFI Bond
Guarantee Program, including Qualified
Issuers, Eligible CDFIs, and Secondary
Borrowers, to pay principal, interest,
fees, administrative costs, or issuance
costs (including Bond Issuance Fees)
related to the CDFI Bond Guarantee
Program, or to fund the Risk Share Pool
for a Bond Issue (all capitalized terms
used in this sentence, other than ‘‘CMF
Award,’’ shall have the meanings
ascribed to them in the CDFI Bond
Guarantee Program regulations and
applicable guidance).
D. Anticipated Start Date and Period
of Performance: The CDFI Fund
anticipates the period of performance
for the FY 2021 CMF Round to begin in
early 2022. The period of performance
for each CMF Award begins with the
date that the CDFI Fund announces the
Recipients of FY 2021 CMF Awards and
continues until the end of the ten-year
period of affordability for all Projects
financed and/or supported with the
CMF Award, as set forth at 12 CFR
1807.401(d) and 12 CFR 1807.402, and
as further set forth in the Assistance
Agreement, during which time the
Recipient must meet certain
Performance Goals.
E. Eligible Activities: A CMF Award
must support or finance activities that
attract private capital for and increase
investment in (i) the Development,
Preservation, Rehabilitation, or
Purchase of Affordable Housing for
primarily Low-, Very Low-, and
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Extremely Low-Income Families, and
(ii) Economic Development Activities.
CMF Awards may only be used as
follows: (i) To provide Loan Loss
Reserves, (ii) to capitalize a Revolving
Loan Fund, (iii) to capitalize an
Affordable Housing Fund, (iv) to
capitalize a fund to support Economic
Development Activities, (v) for RiskSharing Loans, or (vi) to provide Loan
Guarantees. No more than 30% of a
CMF Award may be used for Economic
Development Activities. For the FY
2021 CMF Round, the CDFI Fund will
allow all Recipients to use up to 5% of
their CMF Award for Direct
Administrative Expenses. The amount
available for Direct Administrative
Expenses may only be used for direct
costs (as defined by the Uniform
Administrative Requirements) incurred
by the Recipient and related to the
financing and/or support of a Project.
The CDFI Fund considers the tracking of
impacts and outcomes associated with
Projects financed and/or supported by a
CMF Award to fall under Direct
Administrative Expenses. Any portion
of the amount available for Direct
Administrative Expenses may be used
for direct costs related to the effective
tracking and evaluation of program or
evidence-based outcomes for Projects.
III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants: In order to be
eligible to apply for a CMF Award, an
Applicant must either be a Certified
CDFI or a Nonprofit Organization, as
defined in 12 CFR 1807.104. Table 2
indicates the criteria that each category
of Applicant must meet in order to be
eligible for a CMF Award pursuant to
this NOFA. Note: A Certified CDFI that
is also a Nonprofit Organization only
needs to meet the Certified CDFI
eligibility criteria described in Table 2,
below, in order to be eligible for a CMF
Award.
TABLE 2—APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Category
Eligibility requirements
Certified CDFI ......................
• Has been in existence as a legally formed entity for at least 3 years prior to the AMIS Application deadline
under this NOFA;
• Has been determined by the CDFI Fund to meet the CDFI certification requirements set forth in 12 CFR
1805.201 and as verified in the CDFI’s AMIS account as of the publication date of this NOFA; and
• Has not been notified in writing by the CDFI Fund that its certification has been terminated.
• In cases where the CDFI Fund has provided a Certified CDFI with written notification that it no longer meets
one or more certification standards and has been given an opportunity to cure, the CDFI Fund will continue to
consider this Applicant to be a Certified CDFI until it has received a final determination letter that its certification has been terminated.
• Has audited financial statements encompassing its two most recently completed fiscal years prior to the publication date of this NOFA. A Regulated Institution that files call reports to its regulator is exempt from this requirement and must attach call reports for its two most recently completed fiscal years in lieu of audited financial statements.
• Has been in existence as a legally formed entity for at least 3 years prior to the AMIS Application deadline
under this NOFA;
• Meets the definition of Nonprofit Organization set forth in 12 CFR 1807.104.
• Demonstrates, through articles of incorporation, by-laws, or other board-approved documents, that the development or management of affordable housing are among its principal purposes; and
• Demonstrates by providing an attestation in the Application that at least 33.3% of its total assets are dedicated
to the development or management of affordable housing.
• Has audited financial statements encompassing its two most recently completed fiscal years prior to the publication date of this NOFA. A Regulated Institution that files call reports to its regulator is exempt from this requirement.
• The CDFI Fund will conduct a debarment check and reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to not consider an
Application submitted by an Applicant (or Affiliate of an Applicant) as eligible if the Applicant and/or Affiliate is
delinquent on any Federal debt.
• The Do Not Pay Business Center was developed to support Federal agencies in their efforts to reduce the
number of improper payments made through programs funded by the Federal government. The Do Not Pay
Business Center provides delinquency information to the CDFI Fund to assist with the debarment check.
• Each Applicant, including Affiliated Applicants, must have its own active SAM registration in order to submit the
required Application materials through Grants.gov.
• SAM is a web-based, government-wide application that collects, validates, stores, and disseminates business
information about the federal government’s trading partners in support of the contract awards, grants, and electronic payment processes. See SAM.gov for more information.
• Applicants must have a login.gov account to sign into SAM. Applicants must also have a DUNS number and an
EIN in order to register in SAM.
• Applicants must complete registration in SAM in order to be able to complete the Grants.gov registration and
submit an SF–424.
• The CDFI Fund reserves the right to deem an Application ineligible if the Applicant’s SAM account expires during the Application evaluation period, or is set to expire before March 1, 2022, and the Applicant does not reactivate or renew (as applicable) the account within the deadlines that the CDFI Fund communicates to affected Applicants during the Application evaluation period.
• Each Applicant must submit the required Application documents listed in Table 4.
Nonprofit Organization .........
Debarment/Do Not Pay
Verification.
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System for Award Management (SAM).
Application type and submission method through
Grants.gov and Awards
Management Information
System (AMIS).
• The CDFI Fund will only accept Applications that use the official Application templates provided on the
Grants.gov and AMIS websites. Applications submitted with alternative or altered templates will not be considered.
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TABLE 2—APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS—Continued
Category
Employer Identification Number (EIN).
DUNS number ......................
AMIS Account ......................
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501(c)(4) status ....................
Compliance with Nondiscrimination and Equal
Opportunity Statutes, Regulations, and Executive
Orders.
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Eligibility requirements
• Applicants undergo a two-step process that requires the submission of Application documents by two separate
deadlines in two different locations: (1) The SF–424 in Grants.gov and (2) all other Required Application Documents in AMIS.
• Grants.gov and the SF–424 Mandatory form:
Æ Applicants must submit the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved Standard Form (SF) 424 Mandatory (Application for Federal Assistance) form in Grants.gov.
Æ All Applicants must register in the Grants.gov system to successfully submit an Application. The Grants.gov
registration process can take 30 days or more to complete. The CDFI Fund strongly encourages Applicants to
register as early as possible to meet the deadlines in Table 1.
Æ The SF–424 must be submitted in Grants.gov before the other Application materials are submitted in AMIS.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their SF–424 as early as possible via the Grants.gov portal.
Æ Because the SF–424 is part of the Application, if the SF–424 is not accepted by Grants.gov by the applicable
deadline, the Applicant will not be able to submit the AMIS Application.
Æ The SF–424 must be submitted under the FY 2021 CMF Funding Opportunity Number.
Æ The CDFI Fund will not extend the SF–424 application deadline for any Applicant that started the Grants.gov
registration process on, before, or after the date of the publication of this NOFA, but did not complete it by the
deadline, except in the case of a Federal government administrative or technological error that directly resulted
in a late submission of the SF–424.
• AMIS:
Æ Applicants must submit all other required Application materials in AMIS.
Æ AMIS is the CDFI Fund’s enterprise-wide information technology system that will be used to submit and store
organization and Application information with the CDFI Fund.
Æ Applicants are only allowed one Capital Magnet Fund.
Æ Application submission per funding round in AMIS.
Æ Affiliated entities must submit every component of the Application separate from its Affiliates.
Æ Each Application in AMIS must be signed by an Authorized Representative. The Authorized Representative is
an employee or officer of the Applicant, authorized to sign legal documents on behalf of the organization. Consultants working on behalf of the organization may not be designated as Authorized Representatives.
Æ Only an Authorized Representative or Application Point of Contact included in the Application may submit the
Application in AMIS.
Æ All Required Application Documents must be submitted in AMIS on or before the deadline specified in Table 1.
Æ The CDFI Fund will not extend the deadline for any Applicant except in the case of a Federal government administrative or technological error that directly resulted in the late submission of the Application in AMIS.
• Each Applicant must have a unique EIN assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
• The CDFI Fund will reject an Application submitted with the EIN of a parent or Affiliate of the Applicant.
• The EIN in the Applicant’s AMIS account must match the EIN on the SF–424 submitted through Grants.gov
and the EIN in the Applicant’s System for Award Management (SAM) account. The CDFI Fund reserves the
right to reject an Application if the EIN in the Applicant’s AMIS account does not match the EIN on the SF–424
and/or its SAM account.
• The EIN of the Applicant must be entered into the AMIS organization profile by the applicable deadline in Table
1.
• Pursuant to OMB guidance (68 FR 38402), an Applicant must apply using its unique DUNS number in
Grants.gov.
• The CDFI Fund will reject an Application submitted with the DUNS number of a parent or Affiliate of the Applicant.
• The DUNS number of the Applicant must be entered into the AMIS organization profile by the applicable deadline in Table 1.
• The DUNS number in the Applicant’s AMS account must match the Applicant’s DUNS number on the SF–424
submitted through Grants.gov and its SAM.gov account. The CDFI Fund reserves the right to reject an Application if the DUNS number in the Applicant’s AMIS account does not match the DUNS number on the SF–424
and/or SAM.gov accounts.
• Each Applicant, including Affiliated Applicants, must register as an organization in AMIS and submit all required
Application materials through the AMIS portal.
• If the Applicant does not fully register its organization in AMIS by the deadline set forth in Table 1, its Application will be rejected without further consideration.
• The Authorized Representative and Application Point of Contact must be included as ‘‘users’’ in the Applicant’s
AMIS account.
• An Applicant that fails to properly register and update its AMIS account may miss important communications
from the CDFI Fund or not be able to successfully submit an Application.
• Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 1611, any 501(c)(4) organization that engages in lobbying activities is not eligible to apply
for or receive a CMF Award.
• An Applicant may not be eligible to receive an award if proceedings have been instituted against it in, by, or
before any court, governmental agency, or administrative body, and a final determination, issued within the last
3 years as of the publication date of this NOFA, indicates the Applicant has violated any of the following laws:
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000d); Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 794); the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101–6107); Title VIII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.); Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for
Persons with Limited English Proficiency, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
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TABLE 2—APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS—Continued
Category
Eligibility requirements
Depository Institution Holding
Company Applicant.
• In the case where a CDFI Depository Institution Holding Company Applicant intends to carry out the activities
of its award through its Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository Institution, the Application must be submitted by
the CDFI Depository Institution Holding Company and reflect the activities and financial performance of the
Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository Institution.
• The Authorized Representative of the Depository Institution Holding Company Applicant must certify that the information included in the Application represents that of the Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository Institution, and
that the Award will be used to support the Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository Institution for the eligible activities outlined in the Application.
• To be eligible for an Award, each Regulated Institution Applicant must have a CAMELS/CAMEL composite rating (rating for banks and credit unions, respectively), by its Federal regulator of at least ‘‘3.’’
• Organizations with CAMELS/CAMEL composite ratings of ‘‘4’’ or ‘‘5’’ will not be eligible for awards.
• Organizations with a Prompt Corrective Action directive from its regulator will not be eligible for awards.
• The CDFI Fund will also evaluate material concerns identified by the Appropriate Federal Banking Agency in
determining eligibility of Regulated Institution Applicants.
Regulated Institutions 3 .........
Any Applicant that does not meet the
criteria in Table 2 is ineligible to apply
for a CMF Award under this NOFA.
Further, Section III.B describes
additional considerations applicable to
prior Recipients and/or allocatees under
any CDFI Fund program.
B. Prior Award Recipients: Eligibility
determinations in prior funding rounds
have no bearing on and do not guarantee
eligibility in this round. Prior CMF
Award Recipients and prior award
recipients of other CDFI Fund programs
will be eligible to apply under this
NOFA if they meet the eligibility criteria
in Table 2, except as noted in Table 3.
TABLE 3—ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANTS WHICH ARE PRIOR AWARD/ALLOCATION RECIPIENTS
Criteria
Pending resolution of noncompliance.
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Default or Noncompliance
status.
Description
• If an Applicant (or Affiliate of an Applicant) that is a prior recipient or allocatee under any CDFI Fund program:
(i) Has demonstrated it has been in noncompliance with a previous assistance agreement, award agreement,
allocation agreement, bond loan agreement, or agreement to guarantee and (ii) the CDFI Fund has yet to
make a final determination as to whether the entity is in noncompliance with or default of its previous agreement, the CDFI Fund will consider the Applicant’s Application under this NOFA pending full resolution, in the
sole determination of the CDFI Fund, of the noncompliance.
• The CDFI Fund will not consider an Application submitted by an Applicant that is a prior CDFI Fund award recipient or allocatee under any CDFI Fund program if, as of the AMIS Application deadline of this NOFA, the
CDFI Fund has made a final determination in writing that such Applicant (or Affiliate of such Applicant) is in
noncompliance with or default of a previously executed assistance agreement, award agreement, allocation
agreement, bond loan agreement, or agreement to guarantee.
• Such entities will be ineligible to apply for an Award pursuant to this NOFA if the CDFI Fund has provided written notification that such entity is ineligible to apply for or receive any future CDFI Fund awards or allocations.
Such entities will be ineligible to submit an application for such time period as specified by the CDFI Fund in
writing.
C. Contacting the CDFI Fund:
Applicants that are prior Recipients
and/or allocatees under any CDFI Fund
program are advised to comply with
requirements specified in an Assistance
Agreement, allocation agreement, bond
loan agreement, or agreement to
guarantee, and to ensure their Affiliates
are in compliance with any agreements.
All outstanding reporting and
compliance questions should be
directed to the Office of Certification,
Compliance Monitoring, and Evaluation
help desk by AMIS Service Requests
(select ‘‘Capital Magnet Fund’’ for
‘‘Program’’), via email CCME@
cdfi.treas.gov, or by telephone at (202)
653–0421. For general questions,
organizations with an AMIS account are
strongly encouraged to submit a Service
Request in AMIS using ‘‘Capital Magnet
Fund’’ for the Service Request program.
Members of the public that do not have
AMIS accounts can contact Capital
Magnet Fund staff via email at CMF@
cdfi.treas.gov. The CDFI Fund will not
respond to Applicants’ reporting,
compliance, or disbursement telephone
calls or email inquiries that are received
after 5:00 p.m. ET on November 4, 2021
until after the Application deadline. The
CDFI Fund will respond to technical
issues related to AMIS Accounts
through 5:00 p.m. ET on November 9,
2021, via AMIS Service Requests, or at
AMIS@cdfi.treas.gov, or by telephone at
(202) 653–0422.
D. Cost sharing or matching funds
requirements: Not applicable.
E. Other Eligibility Criteria:
3 Regulated Institutions include Insured Credit
Unions, Insured Depository Institutions, State-
Insured Credit Unions, and Depository Institution
Holding Companies.
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1. Affiliates: As part of the
Application review process, the CDFI
Fund considers whether Applicants are
Affiliates, as such term is defined in 12
CFR1807.104. Affiliates may submit
separate Applications under this NOFA.
However, each Affiliate submitting an
Application must meet all of the
eligibility requirements on its own
behalf and may not rely on any other
organization for eligibility purposes.
Moreover, an Applicant must propose a
substantially different strategy than its
Affiliate(s) applying under this NOFA. It
must also present a distinct project
pipeline and rely on its own track
record and not the track record of any
Affiliate also submitting an Application
under this NOFA. If the CDFI Fund
deems that the Applications submitted
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by Affiliates contain overlapping or
substantially similar pipelines or
strategies, the CDFI Fund may, at its
discretion, reject all such Applications
received or select only one of the
submitted Applications to deem
eligible, assuming that Application
meets all other eligibility criteria in
Section III of this NOFA. Collectively,
all Affiliates may not request more than
15% of the total amount available under
this NOFA.
2. An Applicant will not be eligible to
receive a CMF Award if the Applicant
fails to demonstrate in the Application
that its CMF Award would result in
Eligible Project Costs (Leveraged Costs
plus those costs funded by the CMF
Award) that equal at least 10 times the
amount of the CMF Award. Note that no
costs attributable to Direct
Administrative Expenses may be
considered Eligible Project Costs.
IV. Application and Submission
Information
A. Address to Request Application
Package: Application materials can be
found on Grants.gov and the CDFI
Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/
cmf. If an Applicant is unable to access
Grants.gov or the CDFI Fund’s website,
an Applicant may request a paper
version of any Application material by
contacting the CDFI Fund Help Desk by
email at cmf@cdfi.treas.gov or by phone
at (202) 653–0421.
B. Content and Form of Application
Submission: The CDFI Fund will post to
its website, at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf,
instructions for accessing and
submitting an Application. Detailed
Application content requirements are
found in the Application and related
guidance documents. All Applications
must be prepared in English and
calculations must be made in U.S.
dollars. Table 4 lists the required
funding Application documents for the
FY 2021 CMF Round. Applicants must
50779
submit all required documents for the
Application to be deemed complete.
Please be aware that an Applicant that
fails to submit audited financial
statements for its two most recently
completed fiscal years will be deemed
as not having a complete Application
and will be considered ineligible. A
Regulated Institution that submits call
reports for its two most recently
completed fiscal years is exempted from
this requirement. The CDFI Fund
reserves the right to request and review
other pertinent or public information
that has not been specifically requested
in this NOFA or the Application.
Information submitted by the Applicant
that the CDFI Fund has not specifically
requested will not be reviewed or
considered as part of the Application.
Information submitted must accurately
reflect the Applicant’s activities and/or
its Subsidiary Insured Depository
Institution, in the case where the
Applicant is an Insured Depository
Institution Holding Company.
TABLE 4—FUNDING APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
Application document
Submission format
Standard Form (SF) 424 Mandatory Form ...................................................................................
Fillable PDF in
Grants.gov.
AMIS ...........................
Required for all Applicants.
Required for all Applicants.
PDF in AMIS ...............
Required for all Applicants.
Required for all Applicants.
CMF Application ............................................................................................................................
Required?
ATTACHMENTS TO THE APPLICATION
Audited financial statements for the most recently completed 2 fiscal years. Regulated Institutions may submit call reports in lieu of audited financial statements.
Any Management Letters, if applicable, related to the audited financial statements for the
most recently completed 2 fiscal years. The Management Letter is prepared by the Applicant’s auditor and provides communication on internal control over financial reporting, compliance, and other matters.4 If no Management Letter was issued for either of the two most
recently completed fiscal years, the Applicant must attach a document explicitly stating
such.
State Charter, Articles of Incorporation, authorizing statute, or other establishing documents
designating that the Applicant is a nonprofit or not-for-profit entity under the laws of the organization’s State of formation.
A certification demonstrating tax exempt status from the IRS. Only Applicants that are governmental instrumentalities, and are unable to provide such determination from the IRS and
meet all other eligibility requirements, must submit a legal opinion from counsel, in form and
substance acceptable to the CDFI Fund, opining that the Applicant is exempt from Federal
income tax.
Articles of incorporation, by-laws, authorizing statute, or other documents demonstrating that
the Applicant has a principal purpose of managing or developing affordable housing.
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The CDFI Fund has a sequential, twostep process that requires the
4 The Management Letter may include
suggestions for improving identified weaknesses
and deficiencies and/or best practice suggestions for
items that may not be considered to be weaknesses
or deficiencies. The Management Letter may also
include items that are not required to be disclosed
in the annual audited financial statements. The
Management Letter is distinct from the auditor’s
Opinion Letter, which is required by Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Management Letters are not required by GAAP and
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submission of Application documents
in separate systems with two separate
deadlines. The SF–424 must be
submitted through Grants.gov and all
other Application documents through
the AMIS portal. The CDFI Fund will
not accept Applications via email, mail,
facsimile, or other forms of
communication, except in extremely
are sometimes provided by the auditor as a separate
letter from the audit itself.
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PDF in AMIS ...............
PDF in AMIS ...............
PDF in AMIS ...............
PDF in AMIS ...............
Required only for Applicants that are not
Certified CDFIs.
Required only for Applicants that are not
Certified CDFIs.
Required only for Applicants that are not
Certified CDFIs.
rare circumstances that have been preapproved by the CDFI Fund. The
separate Application deadlines for the
SF–424 and all other Application
materials are listed in Tables 1 and 6.
Only the Authorized Representative for
the Organization or Application Point of
Contact designated in AMIS may submit
the Application through AMIS.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to
submit the SF–424 as early as possible
through Grants.gov in order to provide
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sufficient time to resolve any potential
submission issues. Applicants should
contact Grants.gov directly with
questions related to the registration or
submission process, as the CDFI Fund
does not administer the Grants.gov
system.
The CDFI Fund strongly encourages
Applicants to start the Grants.gov
registration process as soon as possible,
as it may take several weeks to complete
(refer to the following link: https://
www.grants.gov/web/grants/
register.html). An Applicant that has
previously registered with Grants.gov
must verify that its registration is
current and active. If an Applicant has
not previously registered with
Grants.gov, it must first successfully
register in SAM.gov, as described in
Section IV.D below.
C. Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal
Numbering System (DUNS): Pursuant to
the Uniform Administrative
Requirements, each Applicant must
provide as part of its Application
submission a valid Dun & Bradstreet
Data Universal Numbering System
(DUNS) number. Any Applicant without
a DUNS number will not be able to
register in SAM or register and submit
an Application in the Grants.gov
system. Please allow sufficient time for
Dun & Bradstreet to respond to inquiries
and/or requests for DUNS numbers.
D. System for Award Management
(SAM): Any entity applying for Federal
grants or other forms of Federal
financial assistance through Grants.gov
must be registered in SAM before
submitting its Application materials
through that platform. When accessing
SAM.gov, users will be asked to create
a login.gov user account (if they don’t
already have one). Going forward, users
will use their login.gov username and
password every time when logging into
SAM.gov. The SAM registration process
can take four weeks or longer to
complete so Applicants are strongly
encouraged to begin the registration
process upon publication of this NOFA
in order to avoid potential Application
submission issues. An original, signed
notarized letter identifying the
authorized entity administrator for the
entity associated with the DUNS
number is required by SAM and must be
mailed to the Federal Service Desk. This
requirement is applicable to new
entities registering in SAM or on
existing registrations where there is no
existing entity administrator. Existing
entities with registered entity
administrators do not need to submit an
annual notarized letter. Applicants
without DUNS and/or EIN numbers
should allow for additional time as an
Applicant cannot register in SAM
without those required numbers.
Applicants that have previously
completed the SAM registration process
must verify that their SAM accounts are
current and active.
Applicants are required to maintain a
current and active SAM account at all
times during which it has an active
Federal award or an Application under
consideration for an award by a Federal
awarding agency.
The CDFI Fund will not consider any
Applicant that fails to properly register
or activate its SAM account and, as a
result, is unable to submit the SF–424
in Grants.gov or the Application by the
applicable Application deadline.
Applicants must contact SAM directly
with questions related to registration or
SAM account changes, as the CDFI
Fund does not maintain this system. For
more information about SAM, please
visit https://www.sam.gov or call 866–
606–8220.
TABLE 5—GRANTS.GOV REGISTRATION TIMELINE SUMMARY
Estimated minimum
time to complete
Step
Agency
Obtain a DUNS number ....................................
Obtain an EIN Number ......................................
Register in SAM.gov ..........................................
Register in Grants.gov .......................................
Dun & Bradstreet ...................................................................................
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) .............................................................
System for Award Management (SAM) .................................................
Grants.gov ..............................................................................................
One Week *
Two Weeks *
Four Weeks *
One Week **
* Applicants are advised that the stated duration are estimates only and represent minimum timeframes. Actual timeframes may take longer.
The CDFI Fund will not consider any Applicant that fails to properly register or activate its SAM account, has not yet received a DUNS number,
and/or fails to properly register in Grants.gov.
** This estimate assumes an Applicant has a DUNS number, an EIN number, and is already registered in SAM.gov.
E. Submission Dates and Times:
1. Submission Deadlines: Table 6 lists
the deadlines for submission of the
documents related to the FY 2021 CMF
Funding Round:
TABLE 6—FY 2021 CMF DEADLINES FOR APPLICANTS
Document
Deadline
Time—eastern time (ET)
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SF–424 Mandatory form ................ October 12, 2021 ..........................
Create AMIS Account (if the Appli- October 12, 2021 ..........................
cant does not already have one).
CMF Application and Required At- November 9, 2021 ........................
tachments.
2. Confirmation of Application
Submission in Grants.gov and AMIS:
Applicants are required to submit the
SF–424 Mandatory Form through the
Grants.gov system under the FY 2021
Capital Magnet Fund Funding
Opportunity Number (listed at the
beginning of this NOFA). All other
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11:59 pm ET .................................
11:59 pm ET .................................
Electronically via Grants.gov.
Electronically via AMIS.
5:00 pm ET ...................................
Electronically via AMIS.
required Application materials must be
submitted through the AMIS website.
Application materials submitted
through each system are due by the
applicable deadline listed in Table 6.
Applicants must submit the SF–424 by
an earlier deadline than that of the other
required Application materials in AMIS.
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Submission method
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If a valid SF–424 is not submitted
through Grants.gov by the
corresponding deadline, the Applicant
will not be able to submit the additional
Application materials in AMIS, and the
Application will be deemed ineligible.
Thus, Applicants are strongly
encouraged to submit the SF–424 as
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early as possible in the Grants.gov
portal, given that potential submission
issues may impact the ability to submit
a complete Application. Applicants
must also ensure that their AMIS
account contains the correct EIN and
DUNS numbers by the deadline listed in
Table 1 of this NOFA.
(a) Grants.gov Submission
Information: Each Applicant will
receive an initial email from Grants.gov
immediately after submitting the SF–
424, confirming that the submission has
entered the Grants.gov system. This
email will contain a tracking number for
the submitted SF–424. Within 48 hours,
the Applicant will receive a second
email which will indicate if the
submitted SF–424 was either
successfully validated or rejected with
errors. However, Applicants should not
rely on the email notification from
Grants.gov to confirm that their SF–424
was validated.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to
use the tracking number provided in the
first email to closely monitor the status
of their SF–424 by checking Grants.gov
directly. The Application materials
submitted in AMIS are not accepted by
the CDFI Fund until Grants.gov has
validated the SF–424. In the Grants.gov
Workspace function, please note that
the Application package has not been
submitted if you have not received a
tracking number.
(b) AMIS Submission Information:
AMIS is a web-based portal where
Applicants will directly enter their
Application information and add
required attachments listed in Table 4.
Each Applicant must register as an
organization in AMIS in order to submit
the required Application materials
through this portal. AMIS will verify
that the Applicant provided the
minimum information required to
submit an Application. Applicants are
responsible for the quality and accuracy
of the information in the Application
and in the attachments included in the
Application submitted in AMIS. The
CDFI Fund strongly encourages the
Applicant to allow sufficient time to
confirm the Application content, review
the material submitted, and remedy any
issues prior to the Application deadline.
Applicants can only submit one
Application in AMIS. Upon submission,
the Application will be locked and
cannot be resubmitted, edited, or
modified in any way. The CDFI Fund
will not unlock or allow multiple AMIS
Application submissions.
Prior to submission, each Application
in AMIS must be signed by an
Authorized Representative. An
Authorized Representative is an
employee or officer that has the
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authority to legally bind and make
representations on behalf of the
Applicant; consultants working on
behalf of the Applicant cannot be
designated as Authorized
Representatives. The Applicant may
include consultants as Application
point(s) of contact, who will be
included on any communication
regarding the Application and will be
able to submit the Application but
cannot digitally sign the Application.
The Authorized Representative and/or
Application point(s) of contact must be
included as ‘‘Contacts’’ in the
Applicant’s AMIS account. The
Authorized Representative must also be
a ‘‘user’’ in AMIS. An Applicant that
fails to properly register and update its
AMIS account may miss important
communications from the CDFI Fund or
fail to submit an Application
successfully. Only an Authorized
Representative for the organization or an
Application point of contact can submit
the Application in AMIS. After
submitting its Application, the
Applicant will not be permitted to
revise or modify its Application in any
way.
3. Multiple Application Submissions:
Each Applicant is only permitted to
submit one complete Application in
AMIS. However, the CDFI Fund does
not administer Grants.gov, which does
allow for multiple submissions of the
SF–424. If an Applicant submits
multiple SF–424 Applications in
Grants.gov, the CDFI Fund will only
review the SF–424 Application
submitted in Grants.gov that is attached
to the AMIS Application.
4. Late Submission: The CDFI Fund
will not accept an Application if a valid
SF–424 is not submitted by Grants.gov
by the SF–424 deadline. Additionally,
the CDFI Fund will not accept an
Application if it is not signed by an
Authorized Representative and
submitted in AMIS by the Application
deadline. In either case, the CDFI Fund
will not review any material submitted
and the Application will be deemed
ineligible, except where the submission
delay was a direct result of a Federal
government administrative or
technological error. This exception
includes any errors associated with
Grants.gov, SAM.gov, AMIS, or any
other applicable government system.
Please note that this exception does not
apply to errors arising from obtaining a
DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet,
which is not a government entity. An
Applicant unable to make timely
submission of its Application due to any
errors in the process of obtaining a
DUNS number will not be allowed to
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50781
submit its Application after the
Application deadline has passed.
(a) SF–424 Late Submission: In cases
where a Federal government
administrative or technological error
directly resulted in the late submission
of the SF–424, the Applicant must
submit a Service Request in AMIS for
acceptance of the late SF–424
submission and include documentation
of the error no later than two business
days after the SF–424 deadline. The
CDFI Fund will not respond to requests
for acceptance of late SF–424
submissions after that time period.
Applicants must submit late SF–424
submission requests to the CDFI Fund
via an AMIS service request to the CMF
Program with a subject line of ‘‘CMF
Late SF–424 Submission Request.’’
(b) Application Late Submission: In
cases where a Federal government
administrative or technological error
directly resulted in a late submission of
the Application in AMIS, the Applicant
must submit a Service Request in AMIS
for acceptance of the late Application
submission and include documentation
of the error no later than two business
days after the Application deadline. The
CDFI Fund will not respond to requests
for acceptance of late Application
submissions after that time period.
Applicants must submit late
Application submission requests to the
CDFI Fund via an AMIS service request
to the CMF Program with a subject line
of ‘‘CMF Late Application Submission
Request.’’
5. Intergovernmental Review: Not
Applicable.
6. Funding Restrictions: CMF Awards
are limited by the following:
(a) A Recipient shall use CMF Award
funds only for the eligible activities set
forth in 12 CFR 1807.301 and as
described in Section II.C and Section
II.E of this NOFA and its Assistance
Agreement.
(b) A Recipient may not disburse CMF
Award funds to an Affiliate, Subsidiary,
or any other entity in any manner that
would create a Subrecipient
relationship (as defined in the Uniform
Administrative Requirements) without
the CDFI Fund’s prior written approval.
(c) CMF Award dollars shall only be
paid to the Recipient.
(d) The CDFI Fund, in its sole
discretion, may pay CMF Awards in
amounts, or under terms and
conditions, which are different from
those requested by an Applicant.
However, the CDFI Fund will not grant
an Award in excess of the amount
requested by the Applicant.
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V. Application Review Information
A. Criteria: All complete and eligible
Applications will be reviewed in
accordance with the criteria and
procedures described in the CMF
Interim Rule, this NOFA, the
Application guidance, and the Uniform
Administrative Requirements. As part of
the review process, the CDFI Fund
reserves the right to contact the
Applicant by telephone, email, mail, or
through an on-site visit for the sole
purpose of clarifying or confirming
Application information at any point
during the review process. The CDFI
Fund reserves the right to collect such
additional information from Applicants
as it deems appropriate. If contacted, the
Applicant must respond within the time
period communicated by the CDFI Fund
or its Application may be rejected. For
the sake of clarity, specific Application
evaluation criteria are described in the
context of the overall Application
review and selection process described
in Section V.B. below.
B. Review and Selection Process: The
CDFI Fund will evaluate each complete
and eligible Application using the
multi-phase review process described in
this Section. For the first part of the
review process, the External Review, the
Applications will be grouped into two
categories depending on their approach:
(1) Financing entities and (2) affordable
housing developers/managers. All
Applicants will be able to select
whether they are applying with a
financing entity approach or with an
affordable housing developer/manager
approach. However, all eligibility
requirements, as either a certified CDFI
or Nonprofit Organization, must be met.
In most cases, CDFIs will select the
financing entity approach; however, a
CDFI that is applying with a strategy to
act as an affordable housing developer
and has a track record as an affordable
housing developer, can select the
affordable housing developer/manager
entity approach. The Applications of
these two groups will be evaluated
based on the criteria listed in this
section. Where appropriate, the CDFI
Fund will use different criteria in order
to evaluate the financial health,
capacity, portfolio performance, and
projected activities of the Applicant
based on these distinct approaches.
These differences are noted in the
following sections and the Application
Instructions.
1. External Review and Quantitative
Assessment: All eligible Applications
will be evaluated through a Quantitative
Assessment and External Review. The
Quantitative Assessment evaluates the
Application’s quantitative factors and is
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performed automatically in AMIS. In
the External Review, Applications will
be separately scored by two or more
external non-Federal reviewers who are
selected based on criteria that include:
A professional background in affordable
housing or in community and economic
development finance with experience
with affordable housing. These
reviewers must complete the CDFI
Fund’s conflict of interest process and
be approved by the CDFI Fund.
Reviewers will be assigned a set number
of Applications to review, consisting of
either Applicants with a financing
entity approach or Applicants with an
affordable housing developer/manager
approach. The reviewer will provide a
score for each of the Applications
assessed in accordance with the scoring
criteria outlined in Section V.B.2 of this
NOFA and the Application materials.
The external reviewer’s evaluation, in
combination with the quantitative
assessment factors, will result in the
Application being awarded up to 100
points for each review scorecard. The
majority of the score will be based on
the external reviewer’s evaluation.
These points will be distributed across
three sections: Business and Leveraging
Strategy (40 possible points),
Community Impact (35 possible points),
and Organizational Capacity (25
possible points). As each Application is
evaluated by two external reviewers, the
maximum score each Application can
receive is 200 points (100 points × 2
Reviewers).
(a) Business and Leveraging Strategy
(40 points): In the Business and
Leveraging Strategy section, the
Applicant will address: (i) The needs of
communities and persons in the areas it
proposes to serve with a CMF Award
and the extent to which the proposed
strategy addresses these needs; (ii) the
affordable housing, economic
development, and financing gaps
addressed by its business strategy; (iii)
the projected CMF activities and
relevant track record; (iv) the role CMF
will play in its project financing
strategy; (v) its strategy for leveraging
private capital with a CMF Award; and
(vi) its strategy for leveraging its CMF
Award at the Enterprise-level, through
re-investments, and/or at the Projectlevel (as applicable).
An Applicant will generally score
more favorably in the criteria evaluated
by the external review and by the
quantitative assessment factors to the
extent that it: (i) Clearly aligns its
proposed CMF Award activities with
the affordable housing needs and
financing gaps it identifies; (ii)
demonstrates that its CMF Award
activities will result in more favorable
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financing rates and terms to Projects;
(iii) demonstrates that its projected
activities are achievable based on the
Applicant’s strategy and track record;
(iv) describes a process for selecting
projects that have a clear need for CMF
financing; (v) has a credible pipeline of
projects or can demonstrate clear
demand for its proposed financial
products from borrowers; (vi) has a clear
strategy for and track record of
leveraging private capital resulting in a
higher multiplier of private leverage;
(vii) has a clear strategy for attracting
capital and demonstrates a track record
of leveraging funds at the Enterpriselevel, through re-investments, and/or at
the Project-level (as applicable); and
(viii) whether the Application is
proposing to serve American Samoa,
Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or
the U.S. Virgin Islands.
(b) Community Impact (35 points): In
the Community Impact Section, the
Applicant will address: (i) The extent to
which the Applicant’s strategy is likely
to result in the selected Affordable
Housing and/or Economic Development
Activities impacts and its plan to track
relevant outcome metrics; (ii) for rental
housing, (a) its strategy for and track
record of financing and/or supporting
rental housing units located in Areas of
Economic Distress or High Opportunity
Areas; and (b) its strategy for and track
record of financing rental housing units
targeted to Very Low-Income (VLI)
Families (50% of AMI or below); (iii) for
Homeownership housing, its strategy for
and track record of financing
Homeownership units targeted to LowIncome (LI) Families (80% of AMI or
below) or units located in Areas of
Economic Distress ; (iv) if applicable, its
strategy for and track record of financing
and/or supporting Economic
Development Activities and how the
projected activities will align with a
Concerted Strategy and will benefit the
residents of nearby Affordable Housing;
and (v) commitment to and track record
of serving Rural Areas.
An Applicant will generally score
more favorably in the criteria evaluated
by the external reviewer and by the
quantitative assessment factors to the
extent that it: (i) Demonstrates a clear
strategy for achieving the selected
Affordable Housing and/or Economic
Development Activities impacts
identified in the Application and it
presents a clear and effective plan to
track metrics related to relevant
outcomes; (ii) if rental housing is
proposed, demonstrates a compelling
strategy for and track record of financing
and/or supporting rental housing units
located in Areas of Economic Distress
and/or High Opportunity Areas; (iii) if
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rental housing is proposed,
demonstrates a compelling strategy for
and track record of financing and/or
supporting rental housing units targeted
to Very Low-Income (VLI) Families
(50% of AMI or below), with the
maximum score available to
Applications that propose to target at
least 45% of units to Very Low-Income
Families; (iv) if Homeownership is
proposed, demonstrates a compelling
strategy for financing and/or supporting
up to 100% of CMF Award to
Homeownership units either targeted to
Low-Income Families (80% of AMI or
below) or Homeownership units
targeted to Eligible-Income Families
(120% of AMI or below) located in
AEDs, with the Applicant’s track record
supporting their ability to execute this
strategy; (v) if proposing Economic
Development Activities, demonstrates
how its proposed Economic
Development Activities fit within a
Concerted Strategy and will benefit the
residents of the nearby Affordable
Housing; and (vi) makes a commitment
to invest at least 10% of the CMF Award
in Rural Areas and presents a
corresponding track record of serving
Rural Areas.
(c) Organizational Capacity (25
points): In the Organizational Capacity
section, the Applicant will discuss: (i)
Its management team and key staff; (ii)
the roles and responsibilities of those
staff in managing the proposed CMF
Award; (iii) its past experience
managing Federal awards; (iv) its
financial health; and (v) lending or
property portfolio (as applicable).
An Applicant will generally score
more favorably in the criteria evaluated
by the external reviewer and by the
quantitative assessment factors to the
extent that it demonstrates: (i) Strong
qualifications of its key personnel with
respect to their skills and experience in
identifying investments, underwriting
or developing similar projects (as
applicable), and managing a portfolio of
similar activities and ensuring
compliance with program requirements;
(ii) a strong ability to successfully
manage Federal awards based on
experience managing prior Federal
Awards or administering state or local
government awards, foundation grants,
or other programs with complex
compliance requirements; (iv) strong
financial health, including but not
limited to strong capitalization, sound
operating performance, and strong
liquidity; (iv) favorable audit results
(e.g., opinion other than unqualified/
unmodified) with no negative findings,
including lack of a ‘‘going concern
paragraph’’, lack of repeat findings of
reportable conditions, lack of material
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weaknesses in internal controls, lack of
delinquencies on obligations to
investors or lenders, and not having
filed for bankruptcy or defaulted on
financial obligations; and (iv) solid
portfolio performance (property
portfolio or loan/investment portfolio,
as applicable). CMF Program encourages
first-time Applicants. Prior CMF
Recipients will not receive a scoring
advantage solely for having received a
prior CMF Award.
(d) Scoring anomaly: If, in the case of
a particular Application, the reviewers’
total External Review scores vary
significantly from each other, the CDFI
Fund may, in its sole discretion, obtain
the evaluation and numeric scoring of
an additional reviewer to determine
whether the anomalous score should be
replaced with the score of the additional
reviewer.
2. Internal Review: At the conclusion
of the External Review phase, the CMF
Program Manager will determine the
overall number of Applications that will
be initially forwarded for Internal
Review. Each group of Applications
(financing entity approach and
affordable housing developer/manager
approach) will be ranked separately
based on their External Review score.
The CMF Program Manager may
initially forward an amount up to the
highest scoring 50% of Applications
from the External Review to the Internal
Review, as long as the forwarded
Applications reflect, within no more
than 5% variance, the proportion of
financing entity approach Applications
to affordable housing developer/
manager approach Applications in the
overall Application Pool. Such
Applications will be forwarded for
Internal Review in descending order of
External Review score. The forwarded
Applications will be drawn from the
financing entity approach and
affordable housing developer/manager
approach groups in proportion to each
group’s representation in the overall
Application pool. This approach will
ensure that the percentage of Applicants
with a financing entity approach and
affordable housing developer approach
forwarded to Internal Review reflects
the proportion of these entity strategies
within the overall Application pool,
with no more than 5% variance.
These forwarded Applications will
constitute the highly qualified pool.
During the Internal Review, CDFI Fund
staff will prioritize the Applications in
the highly qualified pool for an Award
based on a combination of the following
criteria: (i) Final External Review score;
(ii) alignment with CMF statutory and
policy priorities; (iii) the overall quality
of the Applicant’s strategy; and (iv) the
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50783
Applicant’s organizational capacity and
financial health. The CDFI Fund will
not attempt to ensure any specific
balance of Applicants with a financing
entity approach and Applicants with an
affordable housing developer approach
in the final Award pool.
In assessing the Applicant’s
organizational capacity, CDFI Fund staff
will consider the following factors,
including, but not limited to the
Applicant’s overall organizational and
financial capacity, including (a) its
financial strength and ability, and its
resources to weather changing
conditions and risks; (b) its
organizational strength as demonstrated
by good management practices, risk
management, and internal controls; (c)
key personnel with relevant experience
and capacity; and (d) relevant
experience and capacity demonstrating
ability to meet federal award
management standards (including
performance with prior CDFI Fund
awards). The CDFI Fund will also
review OMB-designated repositories of
government-wide eligibility
qualification and financial integrity
information, as part of the assessment of
organizational capacity. In the case of an
Applicant that has received awards from
other Federal programs, the CDFI Fund
reserves the right to contact officials
from the appropriate Federal agency or
agencies to determine whether the
Recipient is in compliance with current
or prior award agreements as well as to
review the results of any Federal Single
Audit, and to take such information into
consideration before making a CMF
Award.
In assessing the Application’s
alignment with CMF statutory and
policy priorities, CDFI Fund staff will
consider the following factors,
including, but not limited to: (a) The
likelihood of the Applicant to reach a
minimum overall leverage multiplier of
10 times the Award amount or more; (b)
the amount of private capital it will
leverage relative to the CMF Award; (c)
if rental housing is proposed, the
Applicant’s approach, track record and
ability to finance/support a significant
portion (up to 45%) of its rental housing
for Very Low-Income Families; (d) if
rental housing is proposed, the
Applicant’s approach, track record and
ability to finance/support a significant
portion of rental housing located in
Areas of Economic Distress (AED) and/
or High Opportunity Areas (HOA) as a
percentage of its CMF rental portfolio;
(e) if Homeownership is proposed, the
Applicant’s approach, track record and
ability to successfully finance/support
up to 100% of its Homeownership units
for Low-Income Families (80% AMI or
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below) and/or in Areas of Economic
Distress as a percentage of its CMF
Homeownership portfolio; and f) the
number of Affordable Housing units
expected to be generated as a result of
the Award.
In assessing the quality of the
Applicant’s strategy, the CDFI Fund
staff will consider the following factors,
including, but not limited to: (a) The
effectiveness and cohesiveness of the
Applicant’s strategy; (b) how well the
proposed financing activities will help
close the financing gaps in their market,
including more favorable rates and
terms than are currently available in its
Service Area; (c) the Applicant’s ability
to execute its strategy and support its
projections; (d) how adaptable the
Applicant’s strategy is to changing
market conditions; (e) the alignment
between the proposed activities and
strategy and the selected impacts and
outcomes; and (f) for Applicant’s
proposing Economic Development
Activities (EDA), the extent the
activities are part of a Concerted
Strategy, whether activities will benefit
affordable housing residents, and the
track record and capacity of the
Applicant to carry out EDA.
In addition to the criteria outlined
above, the Applicant’s ability to deploy
the CMF Award in a timely manner will
be a key determinant in funding
recommendation. Deployment
considerations may include the
Applicant’s track record of activities
compared with projections, the
Applicant’s progress in committing and/
or deploying past CMF Awards, and
whether the Applicant received a FY
2021 CDFI/NACA Program award for a
similar business strategy as the
proposed use of the CMF Award. The
CDFI Fund may also consider the
number of geographies served when
determining funding recommendations.
3. Selection: Once Applications have
been internally evaluated and
preliminary award determinations have
been made, the Applications will be
forwarded to a selecting official for a
final award determination. After
preliminary award determinations are
made, the selecting official will review
the list of potential Recipients to
determine whether the Recipient pool
meets the following statutory objectives:
(a) The potential Recipients’ proposed
Service Areas collectively represent
broad geographic coverage throughout
the United States; and
(b) The potential Recipients’ proposed
activities equitably represent both
Metropolitan Areas and Rural Areas. For
the purposes of the FY 2021 CMF
Round, the term Rural Areas is defined
per 12 CFR 1282.1 (Enterprise Duty To
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Serve Final Rule) as (i) A census tract
outside of a Metropolitan Statistical
Area as designated by the Office of
Management and Budget; or (ii) A
census tract in a Metropolitan Statistical
Area as designated by the Office of
Management and Budget that is outside
of the Metropolitan Statistical Area’s
Urbanized Areas, as designated by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Rural-Urban Commuting Area
(RUCA) Code #1, and outside of tracts
with a housing density of over 64
housing units per square mile for
USDA’s RUCA Code #2.
As Rural Areas data for the Enterprise
Duty to Serve Rule is not available for
American Samoa, Guam, the Northern
Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands, all census tracts in these
territories will be deemed as Rural
census tracts for Awards issued under
this NOFA. The CDFI Fund will publish
a dataset indicating which census tracts
are designated as Rural Areas for the FY
2021 Round on its website.
In the event the preliminary Recipient
pool does not reflect the geographic
coverage or representation of
Metropolitan and Rural Areas present in
the overall Applicant pool, the CDFI
Fund reserves the right to modify CMF
Award amounts and/or the CMF
Recipient pool if deemed necessary to
achieve either of these statutory
objectives. For the purposes of
conducting this analysis, the CDFI Fund
will classify Applications as addressing
Rural Areas if they propose to use 20%
or more of their award in Rural Areas,
and as addressing Metropolitan Areas if
they propose to use less than 20% of
their Award in Rural Areas.
In order to evaluate the geographic
coverage of the potential CMF Recipient
pool, Applicants will be asked to
designate one of the following two
Service Area types in their
Applications: Statewide or Multi-State.
These Service Area types are further
defined in the Application. Applicants
planning to serve communities below
the state level (cities and municipalities,
counties, regions) and within one state
should designate their Service Area as
Statewide.
Similarly, an Applicant that is
planning to serve communities below
the state level, but in more than one
state, should designate their Service
Area as Multi-State. The smallest
Service Area an Applicant can request
is one state or U.S. territory; the largest
Service Area an Applicant can propose
is a 15 state Multi-State Service Area.
Applicants should indicate in the
narrative portions of their Application if
they plan to concentrate their CMF
activities in a subset (e.g., a county or
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a Metropolitan Area) of their broader
Service Area. If necessary to achieve
proportional activity in Rural Areas
and/or broader geographic coverage, the
CDFI Fund may award Applications not
in the preliminary Recipient pool,
including Applications outside of the
highly qualified pool, in the order of
their Internal Review scoring ranking.
During the selection process, the CDFI
Fund also reserves the right to modify
or place restrictions on the Service Area
requested in any Application in order to
further these statutory objectives.
In cases where the selecting official’s
award determination varies significantly
from the initial CMF Award amount
recommended by the CDFI Fund staff
review, the CMF Award
recommendation will be forwarded to a
reviewing official for final
determination. The CDFI Fund, in its
sole discretion, reserves the right to
reject an Application and/or adjust CMF
Award amounts as appropriate, based
on information obtained during the
review process.
4. Insured Depository Institution
Applicants: In the case of Applicants
that are Insured Depository Institutions
or Insured Credit Unions, the CDFI
Fund will consider safety and
soundness information from the
Appropriate Federal Banking Agency or
Appropriate State Agency, as
applicable. If the Applicant is a CDFI
Depository Institution Holding
Company, the CDFI Fund will consider
information provided by the
Appropriate Federal Banking Agency
and Appropriate State Agency about
both the CDFI Depository Institution
Holding Company and the CDFI Insured
Depository Institution that will expend
and carry out the Award. If the
Appropriate Federal Banking Agency or
Appropriate State Agency identifies
safety and soundness concerns, the
CDFI Fund will assess whether the
concerns warrant that the Applicant is
incapable of undertaking the activities
for which funding has been requested.
5. Right of Rejection: The CDFI Fund
reserves the right to reject an
Application if information (including
administrative errors) comes to the
attention of the CDFI Fund that
adversely affects an Applicant’s
eligibility for an Award, adversely
affects the CDFI Fund’s evaluation or
scoring of an Application, or indicates
fraud or mismanagement on the
Applicant’s part, including
mismanagement of another Federal
award. If the CDFI Fund determines that
any portion of the Application is
incorrect in any material respect, the
CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to reject the Application. The
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CDFI Fund reserves the right to change
its eligibility and evaluation criteria and
procedures, if the CDFI Fund deems it
appropriate. If said changes materially
affect the CDFI Fund’s Award decisions,
the CDFI Fund will provide information
regarding the changes through the CDFI
Fund’s website. There is no right to
appeal the CDFI Fund’s Award
decisions. The CDFI Fund’s Award
decisions are final.
6. Anticipated Award Announcement:
The CDFI Fund anticipates making CMF
Award announcements in early 2022.
VI. Federal Award Administration
Information
A. Award Notification: Each
successful Applicant will receive
notification from the CDFI Fund stating
that its Application has been approved
for an Award. Each Applicant not
selected for an Award will receive
notification and be provided a
debriefing document in its AMIS
account.
B. Administrative and Policy
Requirements Prior to Entering into an
Assistance Agreement: The CDFI Fund
may, in its discretion and without
advance notice to the Recipient,
terminate the Award or take other
actions as it deems appropriate if, prior
to entering into an Assistance
Agreement, information (including an
administrative error) comes to the CDFI
Fund’s attention that adversely affects
the following: The Recipient’s eligibility
for an Award; the CDFI Fund’s
evaluation of the Application; the
Recipient’s compliance with any
requirement listed in the Uniform
Requirements; or indications of fraud or
mismanagement on the Recipient’s part,
including mismanagement of another
Federal award.
If the Recipient’s certification status
as a CDFI changes prior to entering into
an Assistance Agreement, the CDFI
Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to re-evaluate the CMF
Award, or modify the Assistance
Agreement based on the Recipient’s
non-CDFI status.
By receiving notification of a CMF
Award, the Recipient agrees that, if the
CDFI Fund becomes aware of any
information (including an
50785
administrative error) prior to the
Effective Date of the Assistance
Agreement that either adversely affects
the Recipient’s eligibility for an CMF
Award, adversely affects the CDFI
Fund’s evaluation of the Recipient’s
Application, or indicates fraud or
mismanagement on the part of the
Recipient, the CDFI Fund may, in its
discretion and without advance notice
to the Recipient, rescind the notice of
award or take other actions as it deems
appropriate.
The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in
its sole discretion, to rescind an Award
if the Recipient fails to return the
Assistance Agreement, signed by an
Authorized Representative of the
Recipient, and/or provide the CDFI
Fund with any other requested
documentation, within the CDFI Fund’s
deadlines.
In addition, the CDFI Fund reserves
the right, in its sole discretion, to
terminate and rescind the Assistance
Agreement and the award made under
this NOFA for any criteria described in
Table 7:
TABLE 7—REQUIREMENTS PRIOR TO EXECUTING AN ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT
Requirement
Criteria
Failure to meet reporting requirements.
• If an Applicant received a prior award or allocation under any CDFI Fund program and is not current on the reporting requirements set forth in the previously executed assistance, award, allocation, bond loan agreement(s), or agreement to guarantee, as of the date of the notice of award, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in
its sole discretion, to delay entering into an Assistance Agreement and/or to delay making a Payment of CMF
Award, until said prior Recipient or allocatee is current on the reporting requirements in the previously executed
assistance, award, allocation, bond loan agreement(s), or agreement to guarantee.
• If such a prior Recipient or allocatee is unable to meet this requirement within the timeframe set by the CDFI
Fund, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate and rescind the notice of award and
the CMF Award made under this NOFA.
• Please note that automated systems employed by the CDFI Fund for receipt of reports submitted electronically
typically acknowledge only a report’s receipt; such acknowledgment does not warrant that the report received
was complete, nor that it met reporting requirements. If said prior Recipient or allocatee is unable to meet this
requirement within the timeframe set by the CDFI Fund, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion,
to terminate and rescind the notice of Award and the CMF Award made under this NOFA.
• A Recipient must be a Certified CDFI or an eligible Nonprofit Organization, as each is defined in the CMF Interim Rule and this NOFA, prior to entering into an Assistance Agreement.
Failure to maintain CDFI
Certification (if applicable)
or eligible Nonprofit Organization status (if applicable).
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Pending resolution of noncompliance.
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• If, at any time prior to entering into an Assistance Agreement under this NOFA, an Applicant that is a Certified
CDFI has submitted reports (or failed to submit an annual certification report as instructed by the CDFI Fund)
to the CDFI Fund that demonstrate noncompliance with the requirements for certification, but the CDFI Fund
has yet to make a final determination regarding whether or not the entity is Certified, the CDFI Fund reserves
the right, in its sole discretion, to delay entering into an Assistance Agreement and/or to delay making a Payment of CMF Award, pending full resolution, in the sole determination of the CDFI Fund, of the noncompliance.
• If the Applicant is unable to meet this requirement, in the sole determination of the CDFI Fund, the CDFI Fund
reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate and rescind the notice of award and the CMF Award made
under this NOFA.
• The CDFI Fund will delay entering into an Assistance Agreement with a Recipient that has pending noncompliance issues with any of its previously executed CDFI Fund award(s), allocation(s), bond loan agreement(s), or
agreement(s) to guarantee.
• If said prior Recipient or allocatee is unable to satisfactorily resolve the compliance issues, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate and rescind the notice of award and the CMF Award made
under this NOFA.
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TABLE 7—REQUIREMENTS PRIOR TO EXECUTING AN ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT—Continued
Requirement
Default or Noncompliance
status.
Compliance with Federal civil
rights requirements.
Debarment/Do Not Pay ........
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Safety and soundness .........
Criteria
• If, at any time prior to entering into an Assistance Agreement, the CDFI Fund determines that an Applicant (or
an Affiliate of the Applicant) that is a prior CDFI Fund Recipient or allocatee under any CDFI Fund program is
noncompliant or found in default with any previously executed CDFI Fund award or Assistance agreement(s)
and the CDFI Fund has provided written notification that the Applicant is ineligible to apply for or receive any
future awards or allocations for a time period specified by the CDFI Fund in writing, the CDFI Fund may, in its
sole discretion, delay entering into an Assistance Agreement with Applicant until the Recipient has cured the
noncompliance by taking actions the CDFI Fund has specified in writing within such specified timeframe. If the
Recipient is unable to cure the noncompliance within the specified timeframe, the CDFI Fund may modify or rescind all or a portion of the CMF Award made under this NOFA.
• The CDFI Fund will terminate and rescind the Assistance Agreement and the CMF Award made under this
NOFA if, prior to entering into an Assistance Agreement under this NOFA, the Recipient receives a final determination, made within the last 3 years of the publication date of this NOFA, in any proceeding instituted against
the Recipient in, by, or before any court, governmental, or administrative body or agency, declaring that the
CMF Award Recipient has violated the following laws: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42
U.S.C. 2000d); Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794); the Age Discrimination Act of
1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101–6107); Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.);
Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency, and Title IX
of the Education Amendments of 1972.
• The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to rescind an award if the Recipient (or Affiliate of Recipient) is identified as being delinquent on any Federal debt in the Do Not Pay database.
• The Do Not Pay Business Center was developed to support Federal agencies in their efforts to reduce the
number of improper payments made through programs funded by the Federal government. The Do Not Pay
Business Center provides delinquency information to the CDFI Fund to assist with the debarment check.
• If it is determined that the Recipient is or will be incapable of meeting its CMF Award obligations, the CDFI
Fund will deem the Recipient to be ineligible or require it to improve safety and soundness conditions prior to
entering into an Assistance Agreement.
C. Assistance Agreement: Each
Applicant that is selected to receive an
award under this NOFA must enter into
an Assistance Agreement with the CDFI
Fund in order to become a Recipient
and receive Payment. Each CMF Award
under this NOFA generally will have a
period of performance that begins with
the announcement date of the Award
and continues until the end of the
period of affordability, as set forth at 12
CFR 1807.401(d) and 12 CFR 1807.402,
and as further set forth in the Assistance
Agreement.
1. The Assistance Agreement will set
forth certain required terms and
conditions of the CMF Award, which
will include, but not be limited to:
(a) The amount of the award;
(b) The approved uses of the award;
(c) The approved Service Area in
which the award may be used.
Applicants selected for a CMF Award
will be allowed to use up to 15% of the
award amount outside of their approved
Service Area at their discretion.
Moreover, they will be able to reinvest
Program Income from the CMF Award
anywhere in the United States,
including the U.S. territories.
(d) Performance goals and measures;
(e) Reinvestment requirements for
Program Income; and
(f) Reporting requirements for all
Recipients.
2. Prior to executing the Assistance
Agreement, the CDFI Fund may, in its
discretion, allow Recipients to request
changes to the Service Area of the
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18:09 Sep 09, 2021
Jkt 253001
Award and certain performance goals
and measures. The CDFI Fund, in its
sole determination, may approve or
reject these requested changes or
propose other modifications, including
a reduction in the Award amount. The
CDFI Fund will only approve
performance goals and measures or
Service Area changes if it determines
that such requested changes do not
undermine the competitive process
upon which the CMF Award
determination was made. The CDFI
Fund may also, in its discretion, provide
Recipients the opportunity to add states
to their Service Area in order to serve
states not already covered in the Award
pool and to further HERA’s goal that the
CMF serve geographically diverse areas
of every state. The CDFI Fund may also,
in its discretion, provide Recipients the
opportunity to add states to its approved
Service Area in order to serve
geographies for which: (i) The President
issued a ‘‘major disaster declaration,’’
and (ii) the major disaster declaration
makes such geographies eligible for both
‘‘individual and public assistance.’’ The
major disaster declaration must be made
after the publication date of this NOFA
and prior to the execution of the
Recipient’s Assistance Agreement. In
these cases, the CDFI Fund may allow
a Recipient to exceed the maximum 15
state Service Area, if applicable. Any
modifications agreed upon prior to the
execution of the Assistance Agreement
will become a condition of the Award.
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Frm 00093
Fmt 4703
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3. The Assistance Agreement shall
provide that, prior to any determination
by the CDFI Fund that a Recipient has
failed to comply substantially with the
Act, the CMF Interim Rule, or the
environmental quality regulations, the
CDFI Fund shall provide the Recipient
with reasonable notice and opportunity
to be heard. If the Recipient fails to
comply substantially with the
Assistance Agreement, the CDFI Fund
may:
(a) Require changes in the
performance goals set forth in the
Assistance Agreement;
(b) Reduce or terminate the CMF
Award; or
(c) Require repayment of any CMF
Award that has been distributed to the
Recipient.
4. The Assistance Agreement shall
also provide that, if the CDFI Fund
determines noncompliance with the
terms and conditions of the Assistance
Agreement on the part of the Recipient,
the CDFI Fund may:
(a) Bar the Recipient from reapplying
for any assistance from the CDFI Fund;
or
(b) Take such other actions as the
CDFI Fund deems appropriate or as set
forth in the Assistance Agreement.
5. In addition to entering into an
Assistance Agreement, each Applicant
selected to receive a CMF Award must
furnish to the CDFI Fund a certificate of
good standing from the jurisdiction in
which it was formed. The CDFI Fund
may, in its sole discretion or in lieu of
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a certificate of good standing, also
require the Applicant to furnish an
opinion from its legal counsel, the
content of which may be further
specified in the Assistance Agreement,
and which, among other matters, opines
that:
(a) The Recipient is duly formed and
in good standing in the jurisdiction in
which it was formed and the
jurisdiction(s) in which it transacts
business;
(b) The Recipient has the authority to
enter into the Assistance Agreement and
undertake the activities that are
specified therein;
(c) The Recipient has no pending or
threatened litigation that would
materially affect its ability to enter into
and carry out the activities specified in
the Assistance Agreement;
(d) The Recipient is not in default of
its articles of incorporation or
formation, bylaws or operating
agreements, other organizational or
establishing documents, or any
agreements with the Federal
government;
(e) The CMF affordability restrictions
that are to be imposed by deed
restrictions, covenants running with the
land, or other CDFI Fund approved
mechanisms that are recordable and
enforceable under the laws of the State
and locality where the Recipient will
undertake its CMF activities;
(f) If applicable, the Recipient is
exempt from Federal Income taxation
pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986; and
(g) If applicable, the Recipient is
designated as a nonprofit or not for
profit entity under the laws of the
organization’s State of formation.
6. Closing and Payment of the Award:
Pursuant to the Assistance Agreement,
there will be an initial closing at which
point the Assistance Agreement and
related documents will be properly
executed and delivered, and a Payment
of the CMF Award is made. Recipients
of CMF FY 2021 Awards will have the
option to choose Payment of the Award
in a single, lump sum payment or in two
payment tranches, each no more than
one year apart, and as set forth in the
Assistance Agreement. If the Applicant
is electing to receive Payment in two
tranches, the first Payment amount will
be based on the Applicant’s estimated
amount of the Award that will be
Committed in the first year, though the
first Payment amount can be modified at
the Recipients request prior to closing
the Assistance Agreement. The date of
Payment will affect the required date of
Commitment of the Award, two years
subsequent to each Payment, but will
not affect or change any other
performance goal or requirement set
forth in the Assistance Agreement,
including the requirement that all
Projects must achieve Project
Completion within five years of the
effective date of the Assistance
Agreement.
Following the initial closing of the
Assistance Agreement, there may be
subsequent closings involving
additional award Payments. Any
documentation in addition to the
Assistance Agreement that is connected
with such subsequent closings and
Payments shall be properly executed
50787
and timely delivered by the Recipient to
the CDFI Fund.
D. Paperwork Reduction Act: Under
the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35), an agency may not conduct
or sponsor a collection of information,
and an individual is not required to
respond to a collection of information,
unless it displays a valid OMB control
number. If applicable, the CDFI Fund
may inform Applicants that they do not
need to provide certain Application
information otherwise required.
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction
Act, the Capital Magnet Fund
Application has been assigned the
following control number: 1559–0036.
E. Reporting: The CDFI Fund will
require each Recipient that receives a
CMF Award through this NOFA to
account for and report to the CDFI Fund
on the use of the CMF Award. This will
require Recipients to establish
administrative controls, subject to the
Uniform Administrative Requirements
and other applicable OMB guidance.
The CDFI Fund will collect information
from each such Recipient on its use of
the CMF Award annually, following
Payment and more often if deemed
appropriate by the CDFI Fund in its sole
discretion. The CDFI Fund will provide
guidance to Recipients outlining the
format and content of the information
required to be provided to describe how
the funds were used.
The CDFI Fund may collect
information from each Recipient
including, but not limited to, an annual
report with the components listed in
Table 8:
TABLE 8—REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 5
Criteria
Description
Single Audit (if applicable) ...
A non-profit Recipient must complete an annual Single Audit pursuant to the Uniform Requirements (2 CFR
200.501) if it expends $750,000 or more in Federal awards in its fiscal year, or such other dollar threshold established by OMB pursuant to 2 CFR 200.501. If a Single Audit is required, it must be submitted electronically
to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) (see 2 CFR Subpart F-Audit Requirements in the Uniform Requirements) and optionally through AMIS.
For-profit and nonprofit Recipients must submit a Financial Statement Audit (FSA) report in AMIS, along with the
Recipient’s statement of financial condition audited or reviewed by an independent certified public accountant.
The Recipient must submit a performance report not less than annually, which is a progress report on the Recipient’s use of the CMF Award towards meeting its performance goals, Affordable Housing outcomes, and the
Recipient’s overall performance. The CMF Performance Report covers the Announcement Date through the Investment Period for the CMF Award and the ten-year Affordability Period for each Project. The Investment Period shall mean the period beginning with the Effective Date of the Assistance Agreement and ending not earlier than the fifth year anniversary of the Effective Date, or as otherwise established in the Assistance Agreement. The Affordability Period shall mean, for each Project, the period beginning on the date when the Project
is placed into service and consisting of the full ten consecutive years thereafter, or as otherwise established in
the Assistance Agreement.
If the Recipient fails to meet a performance goal or reporting requirements, it must submit an explanation of noncompliance via AMIS.
Financial Statement Audit ....
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Performance Report .............
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50788
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 173 / Friday, September 10, 2021 / Notices
TABLE 8—REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 5—Continued
Criteria
Description
Environmental Review .........
The Recipient shall submit the Environmental Review Notification Report each time the Recipient identifies a new
proposed CMF project for which (i) a categorical exclusion does not apply and/or (ii) the Recipient determines
that the proposed project does involve actions that normally require an Environmental Impact Statement, as described in 12 CFR Part 1815. The Environmental Review Notification Report must be submitted to the CDFI
Fund no later than one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the date that the funds are Committed to a Project.
5 Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is information, which if lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual. Although Applicants are required to enter addresses of homes and other
properties in AMIS, Applicants should not include the following PII for the individuals who received the financial products or services in AMIS or
in the supporting documentation (i.e., name of the individual, Social Security Number, driver’s license or state identification number, passport
number, Alien Registration Number, etc.). This information should be redacted from all supporting documentation (if applicable).
Each Recipient is responsible for the
timely and complete submission of the
annual reporting documents. The CDFI
Fund will use such information to
monitor each Recipient’s compliance
with the requirements set forth in the
Assistance Agreement and to assess the
impact of the CMF. The CDFI Fund
reserves the right, in its sole discretion,
to modify these reporting requirements
if it determines it to be appropriate and
necessary; however, such reporting
requirements will be modified only after
notice to Recipients.
F. Financial Management and
Accounting: The CDFI Fund will require
Recipients to maintain financial
management and accounting systems
that comply with Federal statutes,
regulations, and the terms and
conditions of the CMF Award. These
systems must be sufficient to permit the
preparation of reports required by
general and program specific terms and
conditions, including the tracing of
funds to a level of expenditures
adequate to establish that such funds
have been used in accordance with the
Federal statutes, regulations, and the
terms and conditions of the CMF
Award.
The cost principles used by
Recipients must be consistent with
Federal cost principles, must support
the accumulation of costs as required by
the principles, and must provide for
adequate documentation to support
costs charged to the CMF Award. In
addition, the CDFI Fund will require
Recipients to: Maintain effective
internal controls; comply with
applicable statutes and regulations, the
Assistance Agreement, and related
guidance; evaluate and monitor
compliance; take action when not in
compliance; and safeguard personally
identifiable information.
support concerning this NOFA and the
Application between the hours of 9:00
a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, starting on the
date of the publication of this NOFA
until the close of business on the third
business day preceding the Application
deadline. The CDFI Fund will not
respond to questions or provide support
concerning the Application that are
received after 5:00 p.m. ET on said date,
until after the Application deadline.
CDFI Fund IT support will be available
until 5:00 p.m. ET on date of the
Application deadline. Applications and
other information regarding the CDFI
Fund and its programs may be obtained
from the CDFI Fund’s website at https://
www.cdfifund.gov/cmf. The CDFI Fund
will post on its website responses to
questions of general applicability
regarding the CMF.
VII. Agency Contacts
A. Availability: The CDFI Fund will
respond to questions and provide
B. The CDFI Fund’s Contact Information
is Listed in Table 9
TABLE 9—CONTACT INFORMATION
Type of question
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
CMF .........................................................
CDFI Certification ....................................
Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation ...
Information Technology Support .............
Submit
Submit
Submit
Submit
The preferred method of contact is to
submit a Service Request within AMIS.
For a CMF Application question, select
‘‘Capital Magnet Fund’’ for the program.
For a CDFI Certification question, select
‘‘Certification.’’ For a Compliance
question, select ‘‘Compliance &
Reporting.’’ For Information
Technology, select ‘‘Technical Issues.’’
Failure to select the appropriate
program for the Service Request could
result in delays in responding to your
question.
C. Communication with the CDFI
Fund: The CDFI Fund will use AMIS to
communicate with Applicants and
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:09 Sep 09, 2021
Telephone
number
(not toll free)
Preferred method
Jkt 253001
a
a
a
a
Service
Service
Service
Service
Request
Request
Request
Request
in
in
in
in
AMIS
AMIS
AMIS
AMIS
........
........
........
........
202–653–0421
202–653–0423
202–653–0423
202–653–0422
Recipients, using the contact
information maintained in their
respective AMIS accounts. Therefore,
the Recipient and any Subsidiaries,
signatories, and Affiliates must maintain
accurate contact information (including
contact persons and Authorized
Representatives, email addresses, fax
numbers, phone numbers, and office
addresses) in its AMIS account(s). For
more information about AMIS please
see the Help documents posted at
https://amis.cdfifund.gov/s/Training.
D. Civil Rights and Diversity: Any
person who is eligible to receive
benefits or services from the CDFI Fund
PO 00000
Frm 00095
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Email addresses
cmf@cdfi.treas.gov.
ccme@cdfi.treas.gov.
ccme@cdfi.treas.gov.
AMIS@cdfi.treas.gov.
or Recipients under any of its programs
is entitled to those benefits or services
without being subject to prohibited
discrimination. The Department of the
Treasury’s Office of Civil Rights and
Diversity enforces various Federal
statutes and regulations that prohibit
discrimination in financially assisted
and conducted programs and activities
of the CDFI Fund. If a person believes
that s/he has been subjected to
discrimination and/or reprisal because
of membership in a protected group, s/
he may file a complaint with: Associate
Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of
Civil Rights, and Diversity, 1500
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 173 / Friday, September 10, 2021 / Notices
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20220 or (202) 622–1160 (not a toll-free
number).
E. Statutory and National Policy
Requirements: The CDFI Fund will
manage and administer the Federal
award in a manner so as to ensure that
Federal funding is expended and
associated programs are implemented in
full accordance with the U.S.
Constitution, Federal Law, statutory,
and public policy requirements:
Including, but not limited to, those
protecting free speech, religious liberty,
public welfare, the environment, and
prohibiting discrimination.
VIII. Other Information
None.
Authority: Public Law 110–289. 12
U.S.C. 4701, 12 CFR part 1805, 12 CFR
part 1807, 12 CFR part 1815, 12 U.S.C.
4502.
Jodie L. Harris,
Director, Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund.
[FR Doc. 2021–19598 Filed 9–9–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810–70–P
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
[Docket No. OP–1752]
FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE
CORPORATION
RIN 3064–ZA26
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency
[Docket ID OCC–2021–0011]
Proposed Interagency Guidance on
Third-Party Relationships: Risk
Management
The Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System (Board), the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), and the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
ACTION: Proposed interagency guidance
and request for comment; extension of
comment period.
AGENCY:
On July 19, 2021, the Board,
FDIC, and OCC (together, the agencies)
published in the Federal Register an
invitation to comment on proposed
guidance on managing risks associated
with third-party relationships. The
notice provided for a comment period
ending on September 17, 2021. In
response to commenters’ requests for
additional time to analyze and respond
to the proposal, the agencies are
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:09 Sep 09, 2021
Jkt 253001
extending the comment period for 30
days until October 18, 2021.
DATES: For the notice of proposed
guidance published on July 19, 2021 (86
FR 38182), comments must be received
by October 18, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by any of the methods identified in the
proposal.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Board: Nida Davis, Associate Director,
(202) 872–4981; Timothy Geishecker,
Lead Financial Institution and Policy
Analyst, (202) 475–6353, Division of
Supervision and Regulation; Jeremy
Hochberg, Managing Counsel, (202)
452–6496; Matthew Dukes, Counsel,
(202) 973–5096, Division of Consumer
and Community Affairs; Claudia Von
Pervieux, Senior Counsel, (202) 452–
2552; Evans Muzere, Counsel, (202)
452–2621; Alyssa O’Connor, Senior
Attorney, (202) 452–3886, Legal
Division, Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, 20th and C
Streets NW, Washington, DC 20551.
FDIC: Thomas F. Lyons, Corporate
Expert in Examination Policy, TLyons@
fdic.gov, (202) 898–6850); Judy E. Gross,
Senior Policy Analyst, JuGross@
fdic.gov, (202) 898–7047, Policy &
Program Development, Division of Risk
Management Supervision; Paul Robin,
Chief, probin@fdic.gov, (202) 898–6818,
Supervisory Policy Section, Division of
Depositor and Consumer Protection;
Marguerite Sagatelian, Senior Special
Counsel, msagatelian@fdic.gov, (202)
898–6690, Supervision, Legislation &
Enforcement Branch, Legal Division,
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
550 17th Street NW, Washington, DC
20429.
OCC: Kevin Greenfield, Deputy
Comptroller for Operational Risk
Division, Lazaro Barreiro, Director for
Governance and Operational Risk
Policy, Emily Doran, Governance and
Operational Risk Policy Analyst, Stuart
Hoffman, Governance and Operational
Risk Policy Analyst, Operational Risk
Policy Division, (202) 649–6550; or Tad
Thompson, Counsel or Eden Gray,
Assistant Director, Chief Counsel’s
Office, (202) 649–5490, Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th
Street SW, Washington, DC 20219.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July
19, 2021, the agencies published in the
Federal Register an invitation to
comment on proposed guidance on
managing risks associated with thirdparty relationships.1 The proposed
guidance would offer a framework based
on sound risk management principles
for banking organizations to consider in
1 86
PO 00000
FR 38182 (July 19, 2021).
Frm 00096
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
50789
developing risk management practices
for third-party relationships that takes
into account the level of risk,
complexity, and size of the banking
organization and the nature of the thirdparty relationship. The proposed
guidance would replace each agency’s
existing guidance on this topic and
would be directed to all banking
organizations supervised by the
agencies. The notice solicited
respondents’ views on all aspects of the
proposed guidance, including to what
extent the guidance provides sufficient
utility, relevance, comprehensiveness,
and clarity for banking organizations
with different risk profiles and
organizational structures.
The proposed guidance provided for a
comment period ending on September
17, 2021. Since the publication of the
proposal, the agencies have received
comments requesting a 30-day extension
of the comment period. An extension of
the comment period will provide
additional opportunity for interested
parties to analyze the proposed
guidance and prepare and submit
comments. Therefore, the agencies are
extending the end of the comment
period for the proposal from September
17, 2021 to October 18, 2021.
By order of the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, acting through the
Secretary of the Board under delegated
authority.
Ann E. Misback,
Secretary to the Board.
Michael J. Hsu,
Acting Comptroller of the Currency.
Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Dated at Washington, DC, on September 3,
2021.
James P. Sheesley,
Assistant Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–19545 Filed 9–9–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
Open Meeting of the Taxpayer
Advocacy Panel’s Tax Forms and
Publications Project Committee
Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Treasury.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Notice of meeting.
An open meeting of the
Taxpayer Advocacy Panel’s Tax Forms
and Publications Project Committee will
be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy
Panel is soliciting public comments,
ideas, and suggestions on improving
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\10SEN1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 173 (Friday, September 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50773-50789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19598]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund
Funding Opportunities: Capital Magnet Fund; 2021 Funding Round
Funding Opportunity Title: Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA)
inviting Applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2021 Funding Round of
the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF).
Announcement Type: Announcement of funding opportunity.
Funding Opportunity Number: CDFI-2021-CMF.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 21.011.
Dates:
Table 1--FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund Funding Round Critical Deadlines for Applicants
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description Deadline Time (eastern time-ET) Submission method
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last day to create an Awards October 12, 2021...... 11:59 p.m. ET......... Electronically via Awards
Management Information System Management Information
(AMIS) Account (if Applicant System (AMIS).
doesn't have one).
Last day to enter or update the EIN October 12, 2021...... 11:59 p.m. ET......... Electronically via AMIS.
and DUNS numbers in AMIS (all
Applicants).
Last day to submit SF-424 Mandatory October 12, 2021...... 11:59 p.m. ET......... Electronically via
Form (Application for Federal Grants.gov.
Assistance).
Last day to contact Capital Magnet November 4, 2021...... 5:00 p.m. ET.......... Submit Service Request via
Fund Staff. AMIS; call CDFI Fund
Helpdesk: 202-653-0421; or
email [email protected].
[[Page 50774]]
Last day to submit CMF Application November 9, 2021...... 5:00 p.m. ET.......... Electronically via AMIS.
and Required Attachments.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Summary: The Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) is administered by
the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund).
Through the CMF, the CDFI Fund provides financial assistance grants to
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and to qualified
Nonprofit Organizations that have the development or management of
affordable housing as one of their principal purposes. All awards
provided through this Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) are subject
to funding availability.
I. Program Description
A. Authorizing Statute and Regulation: The CMF was established
through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), which
added section 1339 to the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety
and Soundness Act of 1992. For a complete understanding of the program,
the CDFI Fund encourages Applicants to review the CMF interim rule (12
CFR part 1807) as amended February 8, 2016 (the CMF Interim Rule); this
NOFA; the CDFI Fund's environmental quality regulation (12 CFR part
1815); the CMF funding application (referred to hereafter as the
``Application,'' meaning the application submitted in response to this
NOFA); and the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles,
and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR part 1000), which is
the Department of the Treasury's codification of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) government-wide framework for grants
management at 2 CFR part 200 (Uniform Administrative Requirements or
UAR). Each capitalized term used in this NOFA, but not defined herein,
shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in the CMF Interim
Rule, the Application, or the Uniform Administrative Requirements.
Details regarding Application content requirements are found in the
Application and related materials at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf.
B. History: The CDFI Fund was established by the Riegle Community
Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 to promote
economic revitalization and community development through investment in
and assistance to CDFIs. The CMF made its first awards in FY 2010, with
subsequent funding rounds beginning in FY 2016 and occurring annually
thereafter. To date, more than $740 million has been awarded under the
CMF Program.
C. Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit
Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR part 1000): The Uniform
Administrative Requirements codify financial, administrative,
procurement, and program management standards that Federal award-making
agencies must follow. Per the Uniform Administrative Requirements, when
evaluating award Applications, awarding agencies must evaluate each
Applicant's merits, eligibility, and any risks to the program posed by
each Applicant. These requirements are designed to ensure that
Applicants for Federal assistance receive a fair and consistent review
prior to an award decision. This review will assess items such as the
Applicant's financial stability, quality of management systems, history
of performance, and single audit findings. In addition, the Uniform
Administrative Requirements include guidance on audit requirements and
other award compliance requirements for award Recipients.
D. Priorities: The purpose of the CMF is to attract private capital
for and increase investment in the Development, Preservation,
Rehabilitation, or Purchase of Affordable Housing for primarily
Extremely Low-Income, Very Low-Income, and Low-Income Families, as well
as Economic Development Activities, which, In Conjunction With
Affordable Housing Activities, implement a Concerted Strategy to
stabilize or revitalize a Low-Income Area or Underserved Rural Area. To
pursue these objectives, the CDFI Fund has established the following
priorities for the FY 2021 Funding Round: (i) Applications where at
least 20% of all rental Affordable Housing units that will be financed
and/or supported with FY 2021 CMF Awards are targeted to Very Low-
Income Families and/or at least 20% of all Homeownership Affordable
Housing units that will be financed and/or supported with FY 2021 CMF
Awards are targeted to Low-Income Families; (ii) Applications where
rental Affordable Housing units are located in either Areas of Economic
Distress (AED) \1\ or High Opportunity Areas (HOA) \2\; and (iii)
Applications where Homeownership Affordable Housing is either located
in an AED (targeted to Eligible-Income Families; 120% AMI and below) or
is targeted to Low-Income Families (80% AMI or below); and (iv)
Applications proposing to use the CMF Award to leverage private capital
to finance and/or support Affordable Housing Activities and Economic
Development Activities. Additionally, the CDFI Fund seeks to fund
Applications serving geographically diverse Areas of Economic Distress,
including Metropolitan Areas and Underserved Rural Areas. In
particular, the priority for geographic diversity includes funding
highly qualified Applications that serve territories not included in
the Service Areas of Recipients in the past two CMF rounds (FY 2019 and
FY
[[Page 50775]]
2020): American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.
Virgin Islands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Areas of Economic Distress: Areas of Economic Distress are
census tracts: (a) Where at least 20% of households that are Very
Low-Income (50% of AMI or below) spend more than half of their
income on housing; or (b) that are designated Qualified Opportunity
Zones under 26 U.S.C 1400Z-1; or (c) that are Low-Income Housing Tax
Credit Qualified Census Tracts; or (d) where greater than 20% of
households have incomes below the poverty rate and the rental
vacancy rate is at least 10%; or (e) where greater than 20% of the
households have incomes below the poverty rate and the homeownership
vacancy rate is at least 10%; or (f) are Underserved Rural Areas as
defined in the CMF Interim Rule (as amended February 8, 2016; 12 CFR
part 1807). The CDFI Fund will publish a dataset on its website
indicating which census tracts are designated as Areas of Economic
Distress for the FY 2021 Round.
\2\ High Opportunity Area: The CMF Program uses the definition
of High Opportunity Area found in the Federal Housing Finance
Agency's Duty to Serve Rule for this term: (a) An area designated by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a
``Difficult Development Area'' during any year covered by an
Enterprise's Underserved Markets Plan (Plan) or in the year prior to
a Plan's effective date, whose poverty rate falls below 10% (for
Metropolitan areas) or below 15% (for Non-Metropolitan areas); or
(b) an area designated by a state or local Qualified Allocation Plan
(QAP) as a high opportunity area whose poverty rate falls below 10%
(for Metropolitan areas) or 15% (for Non-Metropolitan areas). The
CDFI Fund will publish a dataset on its website indicating which
census tracts are designated as High Opportunity Areas for the FY
2021 Round.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Funding limitations: The CDFI Fund reserves the right to fund,
in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the Applications submitted in
response to this NOFA.
II. Federal Award Information
A. Funding Availability: The CDFI Fund plans to award up to $380.2
million in grants for the CMF FY 2021 Round under this NOFA. Eligible
organizations of all sizes are encouraged to apply, including new and
previous Applicants, past CMF Recipients, and Applicants focused on
Homeownership, Rental housing, or both. HERA prohibits the CDFI Fund
from obligating more than 15% of the aggregate available in CMF Awards
to any Applicant, its Subsidiaries and Affiliates in the same funding
round. In past rounds, the CDFI Fund has typically provided awards
smaller than the statutory cap. For example, for the FY 2020 funding
round, awards ranged from $750,000 to $8,000,000, with an average award
of $3.7 million. Given the larger amount of funding available for the
FY 2021 CMF round compared with the FY 2020 CMF round, the CDFI Fund
will consider award requests that significantly exceed the maximum
award amounts made in past rounds. In addition, the CDFI Fund
anticipates issuing more awards at various award sizes, including
smaller awards. Given the administrative and compliance
responsibilities for Recipients, the CDFI Fund will not accept
Applications for the FY 2021 CMF Round that request less than $500,000
and will not provide awards below $500,000 to any CMF Award Recipient
for the FY 2021 CMF Round.
The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to
provide a CMF Award in an amount other than that which the Applicant
requests. However, the Award amount will not exceed the Applicant's
Award request as stated in its Application, nor will the Award amount
be less than the Applicant's minimum Award request if one is provided
in the Application. An Applicant may receive only one Award through the
FY 2021 CMF Round, though one or more Affiliates of an Applicant, if
eligible, may separately apply and be awarded.
B. Types of Awards: The CDFI Fund will provide CMF Awards in the
form of grants. CMF Awards must be used to support the eligible
activities as set forth in 12 CFR 1807.301. A CMF Award Recipient may
not distribute the CMF Award to any Affiliate, Subsidiary, or third-
party entity in any manner that would create a Subrecipient
relationship (as defined in the Uniform Administrative Requirements)
without the CDFI Fund's prior written consent. The Recipient of a CMF
Award must retain all obligations related to the Award. This
restriction does not prevent a Recipient from using its CMF Award to
loan to or invest directly in an Affiliate (separate legal entity) or
in a specific Project being undertaken by an Affiliate, unless the
Affiliate received a CMF Award in the same funding round.
C. Limitations on using CMF Awards in conjunction with other CDFI
Fund awards/allocations: 1. A CMF Award Recipient may not use its CMF
Award for any project that also receives funding from other CDFI Fund
program awards or allocations the Recipient (or any of its Affiliates)
has received, except when the CMF Award dollars are used to finance/
support a different ``phase'' of development in the same Project than
that financed by other CDFI Fund awards or allocations. The separate
phases of development financing are: (1) Predevelopment; (2)
acquisition; (3) site work (preconstruction); (4) construction/
rehabilitation; (5) permanent financing; and (6) bridge financing
between two or more phases. Additionally, one or more Affiliated
entities may not use CMF Award funds from the same funding round to
finance/support the same Project, regardless of whether the funds are
used in different phases of the Project.
The phase restriction above does not apply to the Recipient's prior
CMF Awards. The Recipient may combine its multiple CMF Awards to
provide financing on any Project, including financing the same phase of
any Project. However, the Recipient may not deem the same costs as
Eligible Project Costs under multiple CMF Awards and must prorate the
unit production performance across its multiple CMF Awards. Similarly,
Affiliates with CMF Awards from different rounds may only use those
Awards to finance the same Project if they prorate Eligible Projects
and unit production performance among the Affiliates (i.e., Affiliates
may not use the same Eligible Project Costs or housing units to meet
Assistance Agreement requirements under separate CMF Awards).
If providing Homeownership assistance, a CMF Award may be used in
conjunction with awards/allocations from other CDFI Fund programs only
if the Project can be divided into such phases, and the CMF Award is
used in a different phase from the other CDFI Fund program awards/
allocations. To clarify, a CMF Award cannot be used for a Homeownership
property that is permanently financed (or supported) by both the
Recipient's (or any of its Affiliates') CMF Award and an award/
allocation from another CDFI Fund program (e.g., down payment
assistance funded from CMF Award may not be combined with a permanent
mortgage funded from another CDFI Fund program).
2. Costs financed and/or supported by the Recipient's other awards/
allocations from CDFI Fund programs, including awards from prior CMF
rounds, may not be counted or reported as Leveraged Costs for the CMF
Award pursuant to this NOFA as further set forth in the Assistance
Agreement. While the Recipient may combine its CMF Award pursuant to
this NOFA with prior issued CMF Awards to finance/support the same
Project, each CMF Award must separately meet the program requirements
as outlined in the applicable Assistance Agreement and the CMF Interim
Rule (12 CFR part 1807).
In all cases, the CMF Award remains subject to the following
restriction imposed by the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program: Award funds
received under any CDFI Fund program cannot be used by any participant
of the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, including Qualified Issuers,
Eligible CDFIs, and Secondary Borrowers, to pay principal, interest,
fees, administrative costs, or issuance costs (including Bond Issuance
Fees) related to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, or to fund the Risk
Share Pool for a Bond Issue (all capitalized terms used in this
sentence, other than ``CMF Award,'' shall have the meanings ascribed to
them in the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program regulations and applicable
guidance).
D. Anticipated Start Date and Period of Performance: The CDFI Fund
anticipates the period of performance for the FY 2021 CMF Round to
begin in early 2022. The period of performance for each CMF Award
begins with the date that the CDFI Fund announces the Recipients of FY
2021 CMF Awards and continues until the end of the ten-year period of
affordability for all Projects financed and/or supported with the CMF
Award, as set forth at 12 CFR 1807.401(d) and 12 CFR 1807.402, and as
further set forth in the Assistance Agreement, during which time the
Recipient must meet certain Performance Goals.
E. Eligible Activities: A CMF Award must support or finance
activities that attract private capital for and increase investment in
(i) the Development, Preservation, Rehabilitation, or Purchase of
Affordable Housing for primarily Low-, Very Low-, and
[[Page 50776]]
Extremely Low-Income Families, and (ii) Economic Development
Activities. CMF Awards may only be used as follows: (i) To provide Loan
Loss Reserves, (ii) to capitalize a Revolving Loan Fund, (iii) to
capitalize an Affordable Housing Fund, (iv) to capitalize a fund to
support Economic Development Activities, (v) for Risk-Sharing Loans, or
(vi) to provide Loan Guarantees. No more than 30% of a CMF Award may be
used for Economic Development Activities. For the FY 2021 CMF Round,
the CDFI Fund will allow all Recipients to use up to 5% of their CMF
Award for Direct Administrative Expenses. The amount available for
Direct Administrative Expenses may only be used for direct costs (as
defined by the Uniform Administrative Requirements) incurred by the
Recipient and related to the financing and/or support of a Project. The
CDFI Fund considers the tracking of impacts and outcomes associated
with Projects financed and/or supported by a CMF Award to fall under
Direct Administrative Expenses. Any portion of the amount available for
Direct Administrative Expenses may be used for direct costs related to
the effective tracking and evaluation of program or evidence-based
outcomes for Projects.
III. Eligibility Information
A. Eligible Applicants: In order to be eligible to apply for a CMF
Award, an Applicant must either be a Certified CDFI or a Nonprofit
Organization, as defined in 12 CFR 1807.104. Table 2 indicates the
criteria that each category of Applicant must meet in order to be
eligible for a CMF Award pursuant to this NOFA. Note: A Certified CDFI
that is also a Nonprofit Organization only needs to meet the Certified
CDFI eligibility criteria described in Table 2, below, in order to be
eligible for a CMF Award.
Table 2--Applicant Eligibility Requirements
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category Eligibility requirements
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certified CDFI............... Has been in existence as a
legally formed entity for at least 3
years prior to the AMIS Application
deadline under this NOFA;
Has been determined by the CDFI
Fund to meet the CDFI certification
requirements set forth in 12 CFR
1805.201 and as verified in the CDFI's
AMIS account as of the publication date
of this NOFA; and
Has not been notified in writing
by the CDFI Fund that its certification
has been terminated.
In cases where the CDFI Fund has
provided a Certified CDFI with written
notification that it no longer meets one
or more certification standards and has
been given an opportunity to cure, the
CDFI Fund will continue to consider this
Applicant to be a Certified CDFI until
it has received a final determination
letter that its certification has been
terminated.
Has audited financial statements
encompassing its two most recently
completed fiscal years prior to the
publication date of this NOFA. A
Regulated Institution that files call
reports to its regulator is exempt from
this requirement and must attach call
reports for its two most recently
completed fiscal years in lieu of
audited financial statements.
Nonprofit Organization....... Has been in existence as a
legally formed entity for at least 3
years prior to the AMIS Application
deadline under this NOFA;
Meets the definition of
Nonprofit Organization set forth in 12
CFR 1807.104.
Demonstrates, through articles
of incorporation, by-laws, or other
board-approved documents, that the
development or management of affordable
housing are among its principal
purposes; and
Demonstrates by providing an
attestation in the Application that at
least 33.3% of its total assets are
dedicated to the development or
management of affordable housing.
Has audited financial statements
encompassing its two most recently
completed fiscal years prior to the
publication date of this NOFA. A
Regulated Institution that files call
reports to its regulator is exempt from
this requirement.
Debarment/Do Not Pay The CDFI Fund will conduct a
Verification. debarment check and reserves the right,
in its sole discretion, to not consider
an Application submitted by an Applicant
(or Affiliate of an Applicant) as
eligible if the Applicant and/or
Affiliate is delinquent on any Federal
debt.
The Do Not Pay Business Center
was developed to support Federal
agencies in their efforts to reduce the
number of improper payments made through
programs funded by the Federal
government. The Do Not Pay Business
Center provides delinquency information
to the CDFI Fund to assist with the
debarment check.
System for Award Management Each Applicant, including
(SAM). Affiliated Applicants, must have its own
active SAM registration in order to
submit the required Application
materials through Grants.gov.
SAM is a web-based, government-
wide application that collects,
validates, stores, and disseminates
business information about the federal
government's trading partners in support
of the contract awards, grants, and
electronic payment processes. See
SAM.gov for more information.
Applicants must have a login.gov
account to sign into SAM. Applicants
must also have a DUNS number and an EIN
in order to register in SAM.
Applicants must complete
registration in SAM in order to be able
to complete the Grants.gov registration
and submit an SF-424.
The CDFI Fund reserves the right
to deem an Application ineligible if the
Applicant's SAM account expires during
the Application evaluation period, or is
set to expire before March 1, 2022, and
the Applicant does not re-activate or
renew (as applicable) the account within
the deadlines that the CDFI Fund
communicates to affected Applicants
during the Application evaluation
period.
Application type and Each Applicant must submit the
submission method through required Application documents listed in
Grants.gov and Awards Table 4.
Management Information
System (AMIS).
The CDFI Fund will only accept
Applications that use the official
Application templates provided on the
Grants.gov and AMIS websites.
Applications submitted with alternative
or altered templates will not be
considered.
[[Page 50777]]
Applicants undergo a two-step
process that requires the submission of
Application documents by two separate
deadlines in two different locations:
(1) The SF-424 in Grants.gov and (2) all
other Required Application Documents in
AMIS.
Grants.gov and the SF-424
Mandatory form:
[cir] Applicants must submit the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB)-approved
Standard Form (SF) 424 Mandatory
(Application for Federal Assistance)
form in Grants.gov.
[cir] All Applicants must register in the
Grants.gov system to successfully submit
an Application. The Grants.gov
registration process can take 30 days or
more to complete. The CDFI Fund strongly
encourages Applicants to register as
early as possible to meet the deadlines
in Table 1.
[cir] The SF-424 must be submitted in
Grants.gov before the other Application
materials are submitted in AMIS.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to
submit their SF-424 as early as possible
via the Grants.gov portal.
[cir] Because the SF-424 is part of the
Application, if the SF-424 is not
accepted by Grants.gov by the applicable
deadline, the Applicant will not be able
to submit the AMIS Application.
[cir] The SF-424 must be submitted under
the FY 2021 CMF Funding Opportunity
Number.
[cir] The CDFI Fund will not extend the
SF-424 application deadline for any
Applicant that started the Grants.gov
registration process on, before, or
after the date of the publication of
this NOFA, but did not complete it by
the deadline, except in the case of a
Federal government administrative or
technological error that directly
resulted in a late submission of the SF-
424.
AMIS:
[cir] Applicants must submit all other
required Application materials in AMIS.
[cir] AMIS is the CDFI Fund's enterprise-
wide information technology system that
will be used to submit and store
organization and Application information
with the CDFI Fund.
[cir] Applicants are only allowed one
Capital Magnet Fund.
[cir] Application submission per funding
round in AMIS.
[cir] Affiliated entities must submit
every component of the Application
separate from its Affiliates.
[cir] Each Application in AMIS must be
signed by an Authorized Representative.
The Authorized Representative is an
employee or officer of the Applicant,
authorized to sign legal documents on
behalf of the organization. Consultants
working on behalf of the organization
may not be designated as Authorized
Representatives.
[cir] Only an Authorized Representative
or Application Point of Contact included
in the Application may submit the
Application in AMIS.
[cir] All Required Application Documents
must be submitted in AMIS on or before
the deadline specified in Table 1.
[cir] The CDFI Fund will not extend the
deadline for any Applicant except in the
case of a Federal government
administrative or technological error
that directly resulted in the late
submission of the Application in AMIS.
Employer Identification Each Applicant must have a
Number (EIN). unique EIN assigned by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
The CDFI Fund will reject an
Application submitted with the EIN of a
parent or Affiliate of the Applicant.
The EIN in the Applicant's AMIS
account must match the EIN on the SF-424
submitted through Grants.gov and the EIN
in the Applicant's System for Award
Management (SAM) account. The CDFI Fund
reserves the right to reject an
Application if the EIN in the
Applicant's AMIS account does not match
the EIN on the SF-424 and/or its SAM
account.
The EIN of the Applicant must be
entered into the AMIS organization
profile by the applicable deadline in
Table 1.
DUNS number.................. Pursuant to OMB guidance (68 FR
38402), an Applicant must apply using
its unique DUNS number in Grants.gov.
The CDFI Fund will reject an
Application submitted with the DUNS
number of a parent or Affiliate of the
Applicant.
The DUNS number of the Applicant
must be entered into the AMIS
organization profile by the applicable
deadline in Table 1.
The DUNS number in the
Applicant's AMS account must match the
Applicant's DUNS number on the SF-424
submitted through Grants.gov and its
SAM.gov account. The CDFI Fund reserves
the right to reject an Application if
the DUNS number in the Applicant's AMIS
account does not match the DUNS number
on the SF-424 and/or SAM.gov accounts.
AMIS Account................. Each Applicant, including
Affiliated Applicants, must register as
an organization in AMIS and submit all
required Application materials through
the AMIS portal.
If the Applicant does not fully
register its organization in AMIS by the
deadline set forth in Table 1, its
Application will be rejected without
further consideration.
The Authorized Representative
and Application Point of Contact must be
included as ``users'' in the Applicant's
AMIS account.
An Applicant that fails to
properly register and update its AMIS
account may miss important
communications from the CDFI Fund or not
be able to successfully submit an
Application.
501(c)(4) status............. Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 1611, any
501(c)(4) organization that engages in
lobbying activities is not eligible to
apply for or receive a CMF Award.
Compliance with An Applicant may not be eligible
Nondiscrimination and Equal to receive an award if proceedings have
Opportunity Statutes, been instituted against it in, by, or
Regulations, and Executive before any court, governmental agency,
Orders. or administrative body, and a final
determination, issued within the last 3
years as of the publication date of this
NOFA, indicates the Applicant has
violated any of the following laws:
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000d);
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 794); the Age
Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C.
6101-6107); Title VIII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1968, as amended (42
U.S.C. 3601 et seq.); Executive Order
13166, Improving Access to Services for
Persons with Limited English
Proficiency, and Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972.
[[Page 50778]]
Depository Institution In the case where a CDFI
Holding Company Applicant. Depository Institution Holding Company
Applicant intends to carry out the
activities of its award through its
Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository
Institution, the Application must be
submitted by the CDFI Depository
Institution Holding Company and reflect
the activities and financial performance
of the Subsidiary CDFI Insured
Depository Institution.
The Authorized Representative of
the Depository Institution Holding
Company Applicant must certify that the
information included in the Application
represents that of the Subsidiary CDFI
Insured Depository Institution, and that
the Award will be used to support the
Subsidiary CDFI Insured Depository
Institution for the eligible activities
outlined in the Application.
Regulated Institutions \3\... To be eligible for an Award,
each Regulated Institution Applicant
must have a CAMELS/CAMEL composite
rating (rating for banks and credit
unions, respectively), by its Federal
regulator of at least ``3.''
Organizations with CAMELS/CAMEL
composite ratings of ``4'' or ``5'' will
not be eligible for awards.
Organizations with a Prompt
Corrective Action directive from its
regulator will not be eligible for
awards.
The CDFI Fund will also evaluate
material concerns identified by the
Appropriate Federal Banking Agency in
determining eligibility of Regulated
Institution Applicants.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any Applicant that does not meet the criteria in Table 2 is
ineligible to apply for a CMF Award under this NOFA. Further, Section
III.B describes additional considerations applicable to prior
Recipients and/or allocatees under any CDFI Fund program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Regulated Institutions include Insured Credit Unions,
Insured Depository Institutions, State-Insured Credit Unions, and
Depository Institution Holding Companies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Prior Award Recipients: Eligibility determinations in prior
funding rounds have no bearing on and do not guarantee eligibility in
this round. Prior CMF Award Recipients and prior award recipients of
other CDFI Fund programs will be eligible to apply under this NOFA if
they meet the eligibility criteria in Table 2, except as noted in Table
3.
Table 3--Eligibility Requirements for Applicants Which Are Prior Award/
Allocation Recipients
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Criteria Description
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pending resolution of If an Applicant (or Affiliate of
noncompliance. an Applicant) that is a prior recipient
or allocatee under any CDFI Fund
program: (i) Has demonstrated it has
been in noncompliance with a previous
assistance agreement, award agreement,
allocation agreement, bond loan
agreement, or agreement to guarantee and
(ii) the CDFI Fund has yet to make a
final determination as to whether the
entity is in noncompliance with or
default of its previous agreement, the
CDFI Fund will consider the Applicant's
Application under this NOFA pending full
resolution, in the sole determination of
the CDFI Fund, of the noncompliance.
Default or Noncompliance The CDFI Fund will not consider
status. an Application submitted by an Applicant
that is a prior CDFI Fund award
recipient or allocatee under any CDFI
Fund program if, as of the AMIS
Application deadline of this NOFA, the
CDFI Fund has made a final determination
in writing that such Applicant (or
Affiliate of such Applicant) is in
noncompliance with or default of a
previously executed assistance
agreement, award agreement, allocation
agreement, bond loan agreement, or
agreement to guarantee.
Such entities will be ineligible
to apply for an Award pursuant to this
NOFA if the CDFI Fund has provided
written notification that such entity is
ineligible to apply for or receive any
future CDFI Fund awards or allocations.
Such entities will be ineligible to
submit an application for such time
period as specified by the CDFI Fund in
writing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Contacting the CDFI Fund: Applicants that are prior Recipients
and/or allocatees under any CDFI Fund program are advised to comply
with requirements specified in an Assistance Agreement, allocation
agreement, bond loan agreement, or agreement to guarantee, and to
ensure their Affiliates are in compliance with any agreements. All
outstanding reporting and compliance questions should be directed to
the Office of Certification, Compliance Monitoring, and Evaluation help
desk by AMIS Service Requests (select ``Capital Magnet Fund'' for
``Program''), via email [email protected], or by telephone at (202)
653-0421. For general questions, organizations with an AMIS account are
strongly encouraged to submit a Service Request in AMIS using ``Capital
Magnet Fund'' for the Service Request program. Members of the public
that do not have AMIS accounts can contact Capital Magnet Fund staff
via email at [email protected] The CDFI Fund will not respond to
Applicants' reporting, compliance, or disbursement telephone calls or
email inquiries that are received after 5:00 p.m. ET on November 4,
2021 until after the Application deadline. The CDFI Fund will respond
to technical issues related to AMIS Accounts through 5:00 p.m. ET on
November 9, 2021, via AMIS Service Requests, or at [email protected],
or by telephone at (202) 653-0422.
D. Cost sharing or matching funds requirements: Not applicable.
E. Other Eligibility Criteria:
1. Affiliates: As part of the Application review process, the CDFI
Fund considers whether Applicants are Affiliates, as such term is
defined in 12 CFR1807.104. Affiliates may submit separate Applications
under this NOFA. However, each Affiliate submitting an Application must
meet all of the eligibility requirements on its own behalf and may not
rely on any other organization for eligibility purposes. Moreover, an
Applicant must propose a substantially different strategy than its
Affiliate(s) applying under this NOFA. It must also present a distinct
project pipeline and rely on its own track record and not the track
record of any Affiliate also submitting an Application under this NOFA.
If the CDFI Fund deems that the Applications submitted
[[Page 50779]]
by Affiliates contain overlapping or substantially similar pipelines or
strategies, the CDFI Fund may, at its discretion, reject all such
Applications received or select only one of the submitted Applications
to deem eligible, assuming that Application meets all other eligibility
criteria in Section III of this NOFA. Collectively, all Affiliates may
not request more than 15% of the total amount available under this
NOFA.
2. An Applicant will not be eligible to receive a CMF Award if the
Applicant fails to demonstrate in the Application that its CMF Award
would result in Eligible Project Costs (Leveraged Costs plus those
costs funded by the CMF Award) that equal at least 10 times the amount
of the CMF Award. Note that no costs attributable to Direct
Administrative Expenses may be considered Eligible Project Costs.
IV. Application and Submission Information
A. Address to Request Application Package: Application materials
can be found on Grants.gov and the CDFI Fund's website at
www.cdfifund.gov/cmf. If an Applicant is unable to access Grants.gov or
the CDFI Fund's website, an Applicant may request a paper version of
any Application material by contacting the CDFI Fund Help Desk by email
at [email protected] or by phone at (202) 653-0421.
B. Content and Form of Application Submission: The CDFI Fund will
post to its website, at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf, instructions for
accessing and submitting an Application. Detailed Application content
requirements are found in the Application and related guidance
documents. All Applications must be prepared in English and
calculations must be made in U.S. dollars. Table 4 lists the required
funding Application documents for the FY 2021 CMF Round. Applicants
must submit all required documents for the Application to be deemed
complete. Please be aware that an Applicant that fails to submit
audited financial statements for its two most recently completed fiscal
years will be deemed as not having a complete Application and will be
considered ineligible. A Regulated Institution that submits call
reports for its two most recently completed fiscal years is exempted
from this requirement. The CDFI Fund reserves the right to request and
review other pertinent or public information that has not been
specifically requested in this NOFA or the Application. Information
submitted by the Applicant that the CDFI Fund has not specifically
requested will not be reviewed or considered as part of the
Application. Information submitted must accurately reflect the
Applicant's activities and/or its Subsidiary Insured Depository
Institution, in the case where the Applicant is an Insured Depository
Institution Holding Company.
Table 4--Funding Application Documents
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application document Submission format Required?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Standard Form (SF) 424 Mandatory Form................ Fillable PDF in Grants.gov.. Required for all
Applicants.
CMF Application...................................... AMIS........................ Required for all
Applicants.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTACHMENTS TO THE APPLICATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audited financial statements for the most recently PDF in AMIS................. Required for all
completed 2 fiscal years. Regulated Institutions may Applicants.
submit call reports in lieu of audited financial
statements.
Any Management Letters, if applicable, related to the PDF in AMIS................. Required for all
audited financial statements for the most recently Applicants.
completed 2 fiscal years. The Management Letter is
prepared by the Applicant's auditor and provides
communication on internal control over financial
reporting, compliance, and other matters.\4\ If no
Management Letter was issued for either of the two
most recently completed fiscal years, the Applicant
must attach a document explicitly stating such.
State Charter, Articles of Incorporation, authorizing PDF in AMIS................. Required only for
statute, or other establishing documents designating Applicants that are not
that the Applicant is a nonprofit or not-for-profit Certified CDFIs.
entity under the laws of the organization's State of
formation.
A certification demonstrating tax exempt status from PDF in AMIS................. Required only for
the IRS. Only Applicants that are governmental Applicants that are not
instrumentalities, and are unable to provide such Certified CDFIs.
determination from the IRS and meet all other
eligibility requirements, must submit a legal
opinion from counsel, in form and substance
acceptable to the CDFI Fund, opining that the
Applicant is exempt from Federal income tax.
Articles of incorporation, by-laws, authorizing PDF in AMIS................. Required only for
statute, or other documents demonstrating that the Applicants that are not
Applicant has a principal purpose of managing or Certified CDFIs.
developing affordable housing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CDFI Fund has a sequential, two-step process that requires the
submission of Application documents in separate systems with two
separate deadlines. The SF-424 must be submitted through Grants.gov and
all other Application documents through the AMIS portal. The CDFI Fund
will not accept Applications via email, mail, facsimile, or other forms
of communication, except in extremely rare circumstances that have been
pre-approved by the CDFI Fund. The separate Application deadlines for
the SF-424 and all other Application materials are listed in Tables 1
and 6. Only the Authorized Representative for the Organization or
Application Point of Contact designated in AMIS may submit the
Application through AMIS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ The Management Letter may include suggestions for improving
identified weaknesses and deficiencies and/or best practice
suggestions for items that may not be considered to be weaknesses or
deficiencies. The Management Letter may also include items that are
not required to be disclosed in the annual audited financial
statements. The Management Letter is distinct from the auditor's
Opinion Letter, which is required by Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP). Management Letters are not required by GAAP and
are sometimes provided by the auditor as a separate letter from the
audit itself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit the SF-424 as early as
possible through Grants.gov in order to provide
[[Page 50780]]
sufficient time to resolve any potential submission issues. Applicants
should contact Grants.gov directly with questions related to the
registration or submission process, as the CDFI Fund does not
administer the Grants.gov system.
The CDFI Fund strongly encourages Applicants to start the
Grants.gov registration process as soon as possible, as it may take
several weeks to complete (refer to the following link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html). An Applicant that has
previously registered with Grants.gov must verify that its registration
is current and active. If an Applicant has not previously registered
with Grants.gov, it must first successfully register in SAM.gov, as
described in Section IV.D below.
C. Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS):
Pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, each Applicant
must provide as part of its Application submission a valid Dun &
Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. Any Applicant
without a DUNS number will not be able to register in SAM or register
and submit an Application in the Grants.gov system. Please allow
sufficient time for Dun & Bradstreet to respond to inquiries and/or
requests for DUNS numbers.
D. System for Award Management (SAM): Any entity applying for
Federal grants or other forms of Federal financial assistance through
Grants.gov must be registered in SAM before submitting its Application
materials through that platform. When accessing SAM.gov, users will be
asked to create a login.gov user account (if they don't already have
one). Going forward, users will use their login.gov username and
password every time when logging into SAM.gov. The SAM registration
process can take four weeks or longer to complete so Applicants are
strongly encouraged to begin the registration process upon publication
of this NOFA in order to avoid potential Application submission issues.
An original, signed notarized letter identifying the authorized entity
administrator for the entity associated with the DUNS number is
required by SAM and must be mailed to the Federal Service Desk. This
requirement is applicable to new entities registering in SAM or on
existing registrations where there is no existing entity administrator.
Existing entities with registered entity administrators do not need to
submit an annual notarized letter. Applicants without DUNS and/or EIN
numbers should allow for additional time as an Applicant cannot
register in SAM without those required numbers. Applicants that have
previously completed the SAM registration process must verify that
their SAM accounts are current and active.
Applicants are required to maintain a current and active SAM
account at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an
Application under consideration for an award by a Federal awarding
agency.
The CDFI Fund will not consider any Applicant that fails to
properly register or activate its SAM account and, as a result, is
unable to submit the SF-424 in Grants.gov or the Application by the
applicable Application deadline. Applicants must contact SAM directly
with questions related to registration or SAM account changes, as the
CDFI Fund does not maintain this system. For more information about
SAM, please visit https://www.sam.gov or call 866-606-8220.
Table 5_Grants.gov Registration Timeline Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated minimum
Step Agency time to complete
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obtain a DUNS number............ Dun & Bradstreet.. One Week *
Obtain an EIN Number............ Internal Revenue Two Weeks *
Service (IRS).
Register in SAM.gov............. System for Award Four Weeks *
Management (SAM).
Register in Grants.gov.......... Grants.gov........ One Week **
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Applicants are advised that the stated duration are estimates only and
represent minimum timeframes. Actual timeframes may take longer. The
CDFI Fund will not consider any Applicant that fails to properly
register or activate its SAM account, has not yet received a DUNS
number, and/or fails to properly register in Grants.gov.
** This estimate assumes an Applicant has a DUNS number, an EIN number,
and is already registered in SAM.gov.
E. Submission Dates and Times:
1. Submission Deadlines: Table 6 lists the deadlines for submission
of the documents related to the FY 2021 CMF Funding Round:
Table 6--FY 2021 CMF Deadlines for Applicants
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Document Deadline Time--eastern time (ET) Submission method
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SF-424 Mandatory form................ October 12, 2021....... 11:59 pm ET............ Electronically via
Grants.gov.
Create AMIS Account (if the Applicant October 12, 2021....... 11:59 pm ET............ Electronically via
does not already have one). AMIS.
CMF Application and Required November 9, 2021....... 5:00 pm ET............. Electronically via
Attachments. AMIS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Confirmation of Application Submission in Grants.gov and AMIS:
Applicants are required to submit the SF-424 Mandatory Form through the
Grants.gov system under the FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund Funding
Opportunity Number (listed at the beginning of this NOFA). All other
required Application materials must be submitted through the AMIS
website. Application materials submitted through each system are due by
the applicable deadline listed in Table 6. Applicants must submit the
SF-424 by an earlier deadline than that of the other required
Application materials in AMIS. If a valid SF-424 is not submitted
through Grants.gov by the corresponding deadline, the Applicant will
not be able to submit the additional Application materials in AMIS, and
the Application will be deemed ineligible. Thus, Applicants are
strongly encouraged to submit the SF-424 as
[[Page 50781]]
early as possible in the Grants.gov portal, given that potential
submission issues may impact the ability to submit a complete
Application. Applicants must also ensure that their AMIS account
contains the correct EIN and DUNS numbers by the deadline listed in
Table 1 of this NOFA.
(a) Grants.gov Submission Information: Each Applicant will receive
an initial email from Grants.gov immediately after submitting the SF-
424, confirming that the submission has entered the Grants.gov system.
This email will contain a tracking number for the submitted SF-424.
Within 48 hours, the Applicant will receive a second email which will
indicate if the submitted SF-424 was either successfully validated or
rejected with errors. However, Applicants should not rely on the email
notification from Grants.gov to confirm that their SF-424 was
validated.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the tracking number
provided in the first email to closely monitor the status of their SF-
424 by checking Grants.gov directly. The Application materials
submitted in AMIS are not accepted by the CDFI Fund until Grants.gov
has validated the SF-424. In the Grants.gov Workspace function, please
note that the Application package has not been submitted if you have
not received a tracking number.
(b) AMIS Submission Information: AMIS is a web-based portal where
Applicants will directly enter their Application information and add
required attachments listed in Table 4. Each Applicant must register as
an organization in AMIS in order to submit the required Application
materials through this portal. AMIS will verify that the Applicant
provided the minimum information required to submit an Application.
Applicants are responsible for the quality and accuracy of the
information in the Application and in the attachments included in the
Application submitted in AMIS. The CDFI Fund strongly encourages the
Applicant to allow sufficient time to confirm the Application content,
review the material submitted, and remedy any issues prior to the
Application deadline. Applicants can only submit one Application in
AMIS. Upon submission, the Application will be locked and cannot be
resubmitted, edited, or modified in any way. The CDFI Fund will not
unlock or allow multiple AMIS Application submissions.
Prior to submission, each Application in AMIS must be signed by an
Authorized Representative. An Authorized Representative is an employee
or officer that has the authority to legally bind and make
representations on behalf of the Applicant; consultants working on
behalf of the Applicant cannot be designated as Authorized
Representatives. The Applicant may include consultants as Application
point(s) of contact, who will be included on any communication
regarding the Application and will be able to submit the Application
but cannot digitally sign the Application. The Authorized
Representative and/or Application point(s) of contact must be included
as ``Contacts'' in the Applicant's AMIS account. The Authorized
Representative must also be a ``user'' in AMIS. An Applicant that fails
to properly register and update its AMIS account may miss important
communications from the CDFI Fund or fail to submit an Application
successfully. Only an Authorized Representative for the organization or
an Application point of contact can submit the Application in AMIS.
After submitting its Application, the Applicant will not be permitted
to revise or modify its Application in any way.
3. Multiple Application Submissions: Each Applicant is only
permitted to submit one complete Application in AMIS. However, the CDFI
Fund does not administer Grants.gov, which does allow for multiple
submissions of the SF-424. If an Applicant submits multiple SF-424
Applications in Grants.gov, the CDFI Fund will only review the SF-424
Application submitted in Grants.gov that is attached to the AMIS
Application.
4. Late Submission: The CDFI Fund will not accept an Application if
a valid SF-424 is not submitted by Grants.gov by the SF-424 deadline.
Additionally, the CDFI Fund will not accept an Application if it is not
signed by an Authorized Representative and submitted in AMIS by the
Application deadline. In either case, the CDFI Fund will not review any
material submitted and the Application will be deemed ineligible,
except where the submission delay was a direct result of a Federal
government administrative or technological error. This exception
includes any errors associated with Grants.gov, SAM.gov, AMIS, or any
other applicable government system. Please note that this exception
does not apply to errors arising from obtaining a DUNS number from Dun
& Bradstreet, which is not a government entity. An Applicant unable to
make timely submission of its Application due to any errors in the
process of obtaining a DUNS number will not be allowed to submit its
Application after the Application deadline has passed.
(a) SF-424 Late Submission: In cases where a Federal government
administrative or technological error directly resulted in the late
submission of the SF-424, the Applicant must submit a Service Request
in AMIS for acceptance of the late SF-424 submission and include
documentation of the error no later than two business days after the
SF-424 deadline. The CDFI Fund will not respond to requests for
acceptance of late SF-424 submissions after that time period.
Applicants must submit late SF-424 submission requests to the CDFI Fund
via an AMIS service request to the CMF Program with a subject line of
``CMF Late SF-424 Submission Request.''
(b) Application Late Submission: In cases where a Federal
government administrative or technological error directly resulted in a
late submission of the Application in AMIS, the Applicant must submit a
Service Request in AMIS for acceptance of the late Application
submission and include documentation of the error no later than two
business days after the Application deadline. The CDFI Fund will not
respond to requests for acceptance of late Application submissions
after that time period. Applicants must submit late Application
submission requests to the CDFI Fund via an AMIS service request to the
CMF Program with a subject line of ``CMF Late Application Submission
Request.''
5. Intergovernmental Review: Not Applicable.
6. Funding Restrictions: CMF Awards are limited by the following:
(a) A Recipient shall use CMF Award funds only for the eligible
activities set forth in 12 CFR 1807.301 and as described in Section
II.C and Section II.E of this NOFA and its Assistance Agreement.
(b) A Recipient may not disburse CMF Award funds to an Affiliate,
Subsidiary, or any other entity in any manner that would create a
Subrecipient relationship (as defined in the Uniform Administrative
Requirements) without the CDFI Fund's prior written approval.
(c) CMF Award dollars shall only be paid to the Recipient.
(d) The CDFI Fund, in its sole discretion, may pay CMF Awards in
amounts, or under terms and conditions, which are different from those
requested by an Applicant. However, the CDFI Fund will not grant an
Award in excess of the amount requested by the Applicant.
[[Page 50782]]
V. Application Review Information
A. Criteria: All complete and eligible Applications will be
reviewed in accordance with the criteria and procedures described in
the CMF Interim Rule, this NOFA, the Application guidance, and the
Uniform Administrative Requirements. As part of the review process, the
CDFI Fund reserves the right to contact the Applicant by telephone,
email, mail, or through an on-site visit for the sole purpose of
clarifying or confirming Application information at any point during
the review process. The CDFI Fund reserves the right to collect such
additional information from Applicants as it deems appropriate. If
contacted, the Applicant must respond within the time period
communicated by the CDFI Fund or its Application may be rejected. For
the sake of clarity, specific Application evaluation criteria are
described in the context of the overall Application review and
selection process described in Section V.B. below.
B. Review and Selection Process: The CDFI Fund will evaluate each
complete and eligible Application using the multi-phase review process
described in this Section. For the first part of the review process,
the External Review, the Applications will be grouped into two
categories depending on their approach: (1) Financing entities and (2)
affordable housing developers/managers. All Applicants will be able to
select whether they are applying with a financing entity approach or
with an affordable housing developer/manager approach. However, all
eligibility requirements, as either a certified CDFI or Nonprofit
Organization, must be met. In most cases, CDFIs will select the
financing entity approach; however, a CDFI that is applying with a
strategy to act as an affordable housing developer and has a track
record as an affordable housing developer, can select the affordable
housing developer/manager entity approach. The Applications of these
two groups will be evaluated based on the criteria listed in this
section. Where appropriate, the CDFI Fund will use different criteria
in order to evaluate the financial health, capacity, portfolio
performance, and projected activities of the Applicant based on these
distinct approaches. These differences are noted in the following
sections and the Application Instructions.
1. External Review and Quantitative Assessment: All eligible
Applications will be evaluated through a Quantitative Assessment and
External Review. The Quantitative Assessment evaluates the
Application's quantitative factors and is performed automatically in
AMIS. In the External Review, Applications will be separately scored by
two or more external non-Federal reviewers who are selected based on
criteria that include: A professional background in affordable housing
or in community and economic development finance with experience with
affordable housing. These reviewers must complete the CDFI Fund's
conflict of interest process and be approved by the CDFI Fund.
Reviewers will be assigned a set number of Applications to review,
consisting of either Applicants with a financing entity approach or
Applicants with an affordable housing developer/manager approach. The
reviewer will provide a score for each of the Applications assessed in
accordance with the scoring criteria outlined in Section V.B.2 of this
NOFA and the Application materials.
The external reviewer's evaluation, in combination with the
quantitative assessment factors, will result in the Application being
awarded up to 100 points for each review scorecard. The majority of the
score will be based on the external reviewer's evaluation. These points
will be distributed across three sections: Business and Leveraging
Strategy (40 possible points), Community Impact (35 possible points),
and Organizational Capacity (25 possible points). As each Application
is evaluated by two external reviewers, the maximum score each
Application can receive is 200 points (100 points x 2 Reviewers).
(a) Business and Leveraging Strategy (40 points): In the Business
and Leveraging Strategy section, the Applicant will address: (i) The
needs of communities and persons in the areas it proposes to serve with
a CMF Award and the extent to which the proposed strategy addresses
these needs; (ii) the affordable housing, economic development, and
financing gaps addressed by its business strategy; (iii) the projected
CMF activities and relevant track record; (iv) the role CMF will play
in its project financing strategy; (v) its strategy for leveraging
private capital with a CMF Award; and (vi) its strategy for leveraging
its CMF Award at the Enterprise-level, through re-investments, and/or
at the Project-level (as applicable).
An Applicant will generally score more favorably in the criteria
evaluated by the external review and by the quantitative assessment
factors to the extent that it: (i) Clearly aligns its proposed CMF
Award activities with the affordable housing needs and financing gaps
it identifies; (ii) demonstrates that its CMF Award activities will
result in more favorable financing rates and terms to Projects; (iii)
demonstrates that its projected activities are achievable based on the
Applicant's strategy and track record; (iv) describes a process for
selecting projects that have a clear need for CMF financing; (v) has a
credible pipeline of projects or can demonstrate clear demand for its
proposed financial products from borrowers; (vi) has a clear strategy
for and track record of leveraging private capital resulting in a
higher multiplier of private leverage; (vii) has a clear strategy for
attracting capital and demonstrates a track record of leveraging funds
at the Enterprise-level, through re-investments, and/or at the Project-
level (as applicable); and (viii) whether the Application is proposing
to serve American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the
U.S. Virgin Islands.
(b) Community Impact (35 points): In the Community Impact Section,
the Applicant will address: (i) The extent to which the Applicant's
strategy is likely to result in the selected Affordable Housing and/or
Economic Development Activities impacts and its plan to track relevant
outcome metrics; (ii) for rental housing, (a) its strategy for and
track record of financing and/or supporting rental housing units
located in Areas of Economic Distress or High Opportunity Areas; and
(b) its strategy for and track record of financing rental housing units
targeted to Very Low-Income (VLI) Families (50% of AMI or below); (iii)
for Homeownership housing, its strategy for and track record of
financing Homeownership units targeted to Low-Income (LI) Families (80%
of AMI or below) or units located in Areas of Economic Distress ; (iv)
if applicable, its strategy for and track record of financing and/or
supporting Economic Development Activities and how the projected
activities will align with a Concerted Strategy and will benefit the
residents of nearby Affordable Housing; and (v) commitment to and track
record of serving Rural Areas.
An Applicant will generally score more favorably in the criteria
evaluated by the external reviewer and by the quantitative assessment
factors to the extent that it: (i) Demonstrates a clear strategy for
achieving the selected Affordable Housing and/or Economic Development
Activities impacts identified in the Application and it presents a
clear and effective plan to track metrics related to relevant outcomes;
(ii) if rental housing is proposed, demonstrates a compelling strategy
for and track record of financing and/or supporting rental housing
units located in Areas of Economic Distress and/or High Opportunity
Areas; (iii) if
[[Page 50783]]
rental housing is proposed, demonstrates a compelling strategy for and
track record of financing and/or supporting rental housing units
targeted to Very Low-Income (VLI) Families (50% of AMI or below), with
the maximum score available to Applications that propose to target at
least 45% of units to Very Low-Income Families; (iv) if Homeownership
is proposed, demonstrates a compelling strategy for financing and/or
supporting up to 100% of CMF Award to Homeownership units either
targeted to Low-Income Families (80% of AMI or below) or Homeownership
units targeted to Eligible-Income Families (120% of AMI or below)
located in AEDs, with the Applicant's track record supporting their
ability to execute this strategy; (v) if proposing Economic Development
Activities, demonstrates how its proposed Economic Development
Activities fit within a Concerted Strategy and will benefit the
residents of the nearby Affordable Housing; and (vi) makes a commitment
to invest at least 10% of the CMF Award in Rural Areas and presents a
corresponding track record of serving Rural Areas.
(c) Organizational Capacity (25 points): In the Organizational
Capacity section, the Applicant will discuss: (i) Its management team
and key staff; (ii) the roles and responsibilities of those staff in
managing the proposed CMF Award; (iii) its past experience managing
Federal awards; (iv) its financial health; and (v) lending or property
portfolio (as applicable).
An Applicant will generally score more favorably in the criteria
evaluated by the external reviewer and by the quantitative assessment
factors to the extent that it demonstrates: (i) Strong qualifications
of its key personnel with respect to their skills and experience in
identifying investments, underwriting or developing similar projects
(as applicable), and managing a portfolio of similar activities and
ensuring compliance with program requirements; (ii) a strong ability to
successfully manage Federal awards based on experience managing prior
Federal Awards or administering state or local government awards,
foundation grants, or other programs with complex compliance
requirements; (iv) strong financial health, including but not limited
to strong capitalization, sound operating performance, and strong
liquidity; (iv) favorable audit results (e.g., opinion other than
unqualified/unmodified) with no negative findings, including lack of a
``going concern paragraph'', lack of repeat findings of reportable
conditions, lack of material weaknesses in internal controls, lack of
delinquencies on obligations to investors or lenders, and not having
filed for bankruptcy or defaulted on financial obligations; and (iv)
solid portfolio performance (property portfolio or loan/investment
portfolio, as applicable). CMF Program encourages first-time
Applicants. Prior CMF Recipients will not receive a scoring advantage
solely for having received a prior CMF Award.
(d) Scoring anomaly: If, in the case of a particular Application,
the reviewers' total External Review scores vary significantly from
each other, the CDFI Fund may, in its sole discretion, obtain the
evaluation and numeric scoring of an additional reviewer to determine
whether the anomalous score should be replaced with the score of the
additional reviewer.
2. Internal Review: At the conclusion of the External Review phase,
the CMF Program Manager will determine the overall number of
Applications that will be initially forwarded for Internal Review. Each
group of Applications (financing entity approach and affordable housing
developer/manager approach) will be ranked separately based on their
External Review score. The CMF Program Manager may initially forward an
amount up to the highest scoring 50% of Applications from the External
Review to the Internal Review, as long as the forwarded Applications
reflect, within no more than 5% variance, the proportion of financing
entity approach Applications to affordable housing developer/manager
approach Applications in the overall Application Pool. Such
Applications will be forwarded for Internal Review in descending order
of External Review score. The forwarded Applications will be drawn from
the financing entity approach and affordable housing developer/manager
approach groups in proportion to each group's representation in the
overall Application pool. This approach will ensure that the percentage
of Applicants with a financing entity approach and affordable housing
developer approach forwarded to Internal Review reflects the proportion
of these entity strategies within the overall Application pool, with no
more than 5% variance.
These forwarded Applications will constitute the highly qualified
pool. During the Internal Review, CDFI Fund staff will prioritize the
Applications in the highly qualified pool for an Award based on a
combination of the following criteria: (i) Final External Review score;
(ii) alignment with CMF statutory and policy priorities; (iii) the
overall quality of the Applicant's strategy; and (iv) the Applicant's
organizational capacity and financial health. The CDFI Fund will not
attempt to ensure any specific balance of Applicants with a financing
entity approach and Applicants with an affordable housing developer
approach in the final Award pool.
In assessing the Applicant's organizational capacity, CDFI Fund
staff will consider the following factors, including, but not limited
to the Applicant's overall organizational and financial capacity,
including (a) its financial strength and ability, and its resources to
weather changing conditions and risks; (b) its organizational strength
as demonstrated by good management practices, risk management, and
internal controls; (c) key personnel with relevant experience and
capacity; and (d) relevant experience and capacity demonstrating
ability to meet federal award management standards (including
performance with prior CDFI Fund awards). The CDFI Fund will also
review OMB-designated repositories of government-wide eligibility
qualification and financial integrity information, as part of the
assessment of organizational capacity. In the case of an Applicant that
has received awards from other Federal programs, the CDFI Fund reserves
the right to contact officials from the appropriate Federal agency or
agencies to determine whether the Recipient is in compliance with
current or prior award agreements as well as to review the results of
any Federal Single Audit, and to take such information into
consideration before making a CMF Award.
In assessing the Application's alignment with CMF statutory and
policy priorities, CDFI Fund staff will consider the following factors,
including, but not limited to: (a) The likelihood of the Applicant to
reach a minimum overall leverage multiplier of 10 times the Award
amount or more; (b) the amount of private capital it will leverage
relative to the CMF Award; (c) if rental housing is proposed, the
Applicant's approach, track record and ability to finance/support a
significant portion (up to 45%) of its rental housing for Very Low-
Income Families; (d) if rental housing is proposed, the Applicant's
approach, track record and ability to finance/support a significant
portion of rental housing located in Areas of Economic Distress (AED)
and/or High Opportunity Areas (HOA) as a percentage of its CMF rental
portfolio; (e) if Homeownership is proposed, the Applicant's approach,
track record and ability to successfully finance/support up to 100% of
its Homeownership units for Low-Income Families (80% AMI or
[[Page 50784]]
below) and/or in Areas of Economic Distress as a percentage of its CMF
Homeownership portfolio; and f) the number of Affordable Housing units
expected to be generated as a result of the Award.
In assessing the quality of the Applicant's strategy, the CDFI Fund
staff will consider the following factors, including, but not limited
to: (a) The effectiveness and cohesiveness of the Applicant's strategy;
(b) how well the proposed financing activities will help close the
financing gaps in their market, including more favorable rates and
terms than are currently available in its Service Area; (c) the
Applicant's ability to execute its strategy and support its
projections; (d) how adaptable the Applicant's strategy is to changing
market conditions; (e) the alignment between the proposed activities
and strategy and the selected impacts and outcomes; and (f) for
Applicant's proposing Economic Development Activities (EDA), the extent
the activities are part of a Concerted Strategy, whether activities
will benefit affordable housing residents, and the track record and
capacity of the Applicant to carry out EDA.
In addition to the criteria outlined above, the Applicant's ability
to deploy the CMF Award in a timely manner will be a key determinant in
funding recommendation. Deployment considerations may include the
Applicant's track record of activities compared with projections, the
Applicant's progress in committing and/or deploying past CMF Awards,
and whether the Applicant received a FY 2021 CDFI/NACA Program award
for a similar business strategy as the proposed use of the CMF Award.
The CDFI Fund may also consider the number of geographies served when
determining funding recommendations.
3. Selection: Once Applications have been internally evaluated and
preliminary award determinations have been made, the Applications will
be forwarded to a selecting official for a final award determination.
After preliminary award determinations are made, the selecting official
will review the list of potential Recipients to determine whether the
Recipient pool meets the following statutory objectives:
(a) The potential Recipients' proposed Service Areas collectively
represent broad geographic coverage throughout the United States; and
(b) The potential Recipients' proposed activities equitably
represent both Metropolitan Areas and Rural Areas. For the purposes of
the FY 2021 CMF Round, the term Rural Areas is defined per 12 CFR
1282.1 (Enterprise Duty To Serve Final Rule) as (i) A census tract
outside of a Metropolitan Statistical Area as designated by the Office
of Management and Budget; or (ii) A census tract in a Metropolitan
Statistical Area as designated by the Office of Management and Budget
that is outside of the Metropolitan Statistical Area's Urbanized Areas,
as designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural-
Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) Code #1, and outside of tracts with a
housing density of over 64 housing units per square mile for USDA's
RUCA Code #2.
As Rural Areas data for the Enterprise Duty to Serve Rule is not
available for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands, all census tracts in these territories will be
deemed as Rural census tracts for Awards issued under this NOFA. The
CDFI Fund will publish a dataset indicating which census tracts are
designated as Rural Areas for the FY 2021 Round on its website.
In the event the preliminary Recipient pool does not reflect the
geographic coverage or representation of Metropolitan and Rural Areas
present in the overall Applicant pool, the CDFI Fund reserves the right
to modify CMF Award amounts and/or the CMF Recipient pool if deemed
necessary to achieve either of these statutory objectives. For the
purposes of conducting this analysis, the CDFI Fund will classify
Applications as addressing Rural Areas if they propose to use 20% or
more of their award in Rural Areas, and as addressing Metropolitan
Areas if they propose to use less than 20% of their Award in Rural
Areas.
In order to evaluate the geographic coverage of the potential CMF
Recipient pool, Applicants will be asked to designate one of the
following two Service Area types in their Applications: Statewide or
Multi-State. These Service Area types are further defined in the
Application. Applicants planning to serve communities below the state
level (cities and municipalities, counties, regions) and within one
state should designate their Service Area as Statewide.
Similarly, an Applicant that is planning to serve communities below
the state level, but in more than one state, should designate their
Service Area as Multi-State. The smallest Service Area an Applicant can
request is one state or U.S. territory; the largest Service Area an
Applicant can propose is a 15 state Multi-State Service Area.
Applicants should indicate in the narrative portions of their
Application if they plan to concentrate their CMF activities in a
subset (e.g., a county or a Metropolitan Area) of their broader Service
Area. If necessary to achieve proportional activity in Rural Areas and/
or broader geographic coverage, the CDFI Fund may award Applications
not in the preliminary Recipient pool, including Applications outside
of the highly qualified pool, in the order of their Internal Review
scoring ranking. During the selection process, the CDFI Fund also
reserves the right to modify or place restrictions on the Service Area
requested in any Application in order to further these statutory
objectives.
In cases where the selecting official's award determination varies
significantly from the initial CMF Award amount recommended by the CDFI
Fund staff review, the CMF Award recommendation will be forwarded to a
reviewing official for final determination. The CDFI Fund, in its sole
discretion, reserves the right to reject an Application and/or adjust
CMF Award amounts as appropriate, based on information obtained during
the review process.
4. Insured Depository Institution Applicants: In the case of
Applicants that are Insured Depository Institutions or Insured Credit
Unions, the CDFI Fund will consider safety and soundness information
from the Appropriate Federal Banking Agency or Appropriate State
Agency, as applicable. If the Applicant is a CDFI Depository
Institution Holding Company, the CDFI Fund will consider information
provided by the Appropriate Federal Banking Agency and Appropriate
State Agency about both the CDFI Depository Institution Holding Company
and the CDFI Insured Depository Institution that will expend and carry
out the Award. If the Appropriate Federal Banking Agency or Appropriate
State Agency identifies safety and soundness concerns, the CDFI Fund
will assess whether the concerns warrant that the Applicant is
incapable of undertaking the activities for which funding has been
requested.
5. Right of Rejection: The CDFI Fund reserves the right to reject
an Application if information (including administrative errors) comes
to the attention of the CDFI Fund that adversely affects an Applicant's
eligibility for an Award, adversely affects the CDFI Fund's evaluation
or scoring of an Application, or indicates fraud or mismanagement on
the Applicant's part, including mismanagement of another Federal award.
If the CDFI Fund determines that any portion of the Application is
incorrect in any material respect, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in
its sole discretion, to reject the Application. The
[[Page 50785]]
CDFI Fund reserves the right to change its eligibility and evaluation
criteria and procedures, if the CDFI Fund deems it appropriate. If said
changes materially affect the CDFI Fund's Award decisions, the CDFI
Fund will provide information regarding the changes through the CDFI
Fund's website. There is no right to appeal the CDFI Fund's Award
decisions. The CDFI Fund's Award decisions are final.
6. Anticipated Award Announcement: The CDFI Fund anticipates making
CMF Award announcements in early 2022.
VI. Federal Award Administration Information
A. Award Notification: Each successful Applicant will receive
notification from the CDFI Fund stating that its Application has been
approved for an Award. Each Applicant not selected for an Award will
receive notification and be provided a debriefing document in its AMIS
account.
B. Administrative and Policy Requirements Prior to Entering into an
Assistance Agreement: The CDFI Fund may, in its discretion and without
advance notice to the Recipient, terminate the Award or take other
actions as it deems appropriate if, prior to entering into an
Assistance Agreement, information (including an administrative error)
comes to the CDFI Fund's attention that adversely affects the
following: The Recipient's eligibility for an Award; the CDFI Fund's
evaluation of the Application; the Recipient's compliance with any
requirement listed in the Uniform Requirements; or indications of fraud
or mismanagement on the Recipient's part, including mismanagement of
another Federal award.
If the Recipient's certification status as a CDFI changes prior to
entering into an Assistance Agreement, the CDFI Fund reserves the
right, in its sole discretion, to re-evaluate the CMF Award, or modify
the Assistance Agreement based on the Recipient's non-CDFI status.
By receiving notification of a CMF Award, the Recipient agrees
that, if the CDFI Fund becomes aware of any information (including an
administrative error) prior to the Effective Date of the Assistance
Agreement that either adversely affects the Recipient's eligibility for
an CMF Award, adversely affects the CDFI Fund's evaluation of the
Recipient's Application, or indicates fraud or mismanagement on the
part of the Recipient, the CDFI Fund may, in its discretion and without
advance notice to the Recipient, rescind the notice of award or take
other actions as it deems appropriate.
The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to
rescind an Award if the Recipient fails to return the Assistance
Agreement, signed by an Authorized Representative of the Recipient,
and/or provide the CDFI Fund with any other requested documentation,
within the CDFI Fund's deadlines.
In addition, the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to terminate and rescind the Assistance Agreement and the
award made under this NOFA for any criteria described in Table 7:
Table 7--Requirements Prior to Executing an Assistance Agreement
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Requirement Criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Failure to meet reporting If an Applicant received a prior
requirements. award or allocation under any CDFI Fund
program and is not current on the
reporting requirements set forth in the
previously executed assistance, award,
allocation, bond loan agreement(s), or
agreement to guarantee, as of the date
of the notice of award, the CDFI Fund
reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to delay entering into an
Assistance Agreement and/or to delay
making a Payment of CMF Award, until
said prior Recipient or allocatee is
current on the reporting requirements in
the previously executed assistance,
award, allocation, bond loan
agreement(s), or agreement to guarantee.
If such a prior Recipient or
allocatee is unable to meet this
requirement within the timeframe set by
the CDFI Fund, the CDFI Fund reserves
the right, in its sole discretion, to
terminate and rescind the notice of
award and the CMF Award made under this
NOFA.
Please note that automated
systems employed by the CDFI Fund for
receipt of reports submitted
electronically typically acknowledge
only a report's receipt; such
acknowledgment does not warrant that the
report received was complete, nor that
it met reporting requirements. If said
prior Recipient or allocatee is unable
to meet this requirement within the
timeframe set by the CDFI Fund, the CDFI
Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to terminate and rescind the
notice of Award and the CMF Award made
under this NOFA.
Failure to maintain CDFI A Recipient must be a Certified
Certification (if CDFI or an eligible Nonprofit
applicable) or eligible Organization, as each is defined in the
Nonprofit Organization CMF Interim Rule and this NOFA, prior to
status (if applicable). entering into an Assistance Agreement.
If, at any time prior to
entering into an Assistance Agreement
under this NOFA, an Applicant that is a
Certified CDFI has submitted reports (or
failed to submit an annual certification
report as instructed by the CDFI Fund)
to the CDFI Fund that demonstrate
noncompliance with the requirements for
certification, but the CDFI Fund has yet
to make a final determination regarding
whether or not the entity is Certified,
the CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its
sole discretion, to delay entering into
an Assistance Agreement and/or to delay
making a Payment of CMF Award, pending
full resolution, in the sole
determination of the CDFI Fund, of the
noncompliance.
If the Applicant is unable to
meet this requirement, in the sole
determination of the CDFI Fund, the CDFI
Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to terminate and rescind the
notice of award and the CMF Award made
under this NOFA.
Pending resolution of The CDFI Fund will delay
noncompliance. entering into an Assistance Agreement
with a Recipient that has pending
noncompliance issues with any of its
previously executed CDFI Fund award(s),
allocation(s), bond loan agreement(s),
or agreement(s) to guarantee.
If said prior Recipient or
allocatee is unable to satisfactorily
resolve the compliance issues, the CDFI
Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to terminate and rescind the
notice of award and the CMF Award made
under this NOFA.
[[Page 50786]]
Default or Noncompliance If, at any time prior to
status. entering into an Assistance Agreement,
the CDFI Fund determines that an
Applicant (or an Affiliate of the
Applicant) that is a prior CDFI Fund
Recipient or allocatee under any CDFI
Fund program is noncompliant or found in
default with any previously executed
CDFI Fund award or Assistance
agreement(s) and the CDFI Fund has
provided written notification that the
Applicant is ineligible to apply for or
receive any future awards or allocations
for a time period specified by the CDFI
Fund in writing, the CDFI Fund may, in
its sole discretion, delay entering into
an Assistance Agreement with Applicant
until the Recipient has cured the
noncompliance by taking actions the CDFI
Fund has specified in writing within
such specified timeframe. If the
Recipient is unable to cure the
noncompliance within the specified
timeframe, the CDFI Fund may modify or
rescind all or a portion of the CMF
Award made under this NOFA.
Compliance with Federal civil The CDFI Fund will terminate and
rights requirements. rescind the Assistance Agreement and the
CMF Award made under this NOFA if, prior
to entering into an Assistance Agreement
under this NOFA, the Recipient receives
a final determination, made within the
last 3 years of the publication date of
this NOFA, in any proceeding instituted
against the Recipient in, by, or before
any court, governmental, or
administrative body or agency, declaring
that the CMF Award Recipient has
violated the following laws: Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended
(42 U.S.C. 2000d); Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.
794); the Age Discrimination Act of 1975
(42 U.S.C. 6101-6107); Title VIII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended (42
U.S.C. 3601 et seq.); Executive Order
13166, Improving Access to Services for
Persons with Limited English
Proficiency, and Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972.
Debarment/Do Not Pay......... The CDFI Fund reserves the
right, in its sole discretion, to
rescind an award if the Recipient (or
Affiliate of Recipient) is identified as
being delinquent on any Federal debt in
the Do Not Pay database.
The Do Not Pay Business Center
was developed to support Federal
agencies in their efforts to reduce the
number of improper payments made through
programs funded by the Federal
government. The Do Not Pay Business
Center provides delinquency information
to the CDFI Fund to assist with the
debarment check.
Safety and soundness......... If it is determined that the
Recipient is or will be incapable of
meeting its CMF Award obligations, the
CDFI Fund will deem the Recipient to be
ineligible or require it to improve
safety and soundness conditions prior to
entering into an Assistance Agreement.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Assistance Agreement: Each Applicant that is selected to receive
an award under this NOFA must enter into an Assistance Agreement with
the CDFI Fund in order to become a Recipient and receive Payment. Each
CMF Award under this NOFA generally will have a period of performance
that begins with the announcement date of the Award and continues until
the end of the period of affordability, as set forth at 12 CFR
1807.401(d) and 12 CFR 1807.402, and as further set forth in the
Assistance Agreement.
1. The Assistance Agreement will set forth certain required terms
and conditions of the CMF Award, which will include, but not be limited
to:
(a) The amount of the award;
(b) The approved uses of the award;
(c) The approved Service Area in which the award may be used.
Applicants selected for a CMF Award will be allowed to use up to 15% of
the award amount outside of their approved Service Area at their
discretion. Moreover, they will be able to reinvest Program Income from
the CMF Award anywhere in the United States, including the U.S.
territories.
(d) Performance goals and measures;
(e) Reinvestment requirements for Program Income; and
(f) Reporting requirements for all Recipients.
2. Prior to executing the Assistance Agreement, the CDFI Fund may,
in its discretion, allow Recipients to request changes to the Service
Area of the Award and certain performance goals and measures. The CDFI
Fund, in its sole determination, may approve or reject these requested
changes or propose other modifications, including a reduction in the
Award amount. The CDFI Fund will only approve performance goals and
measures or Service Area changes if it determines that such requested
changes do not undermine the competitive process upon which the CMF
Award determination was made. The CDFI Fund may also, in its
discretion, provide Recipients the opportunity to add states to their
Service Area in order to serve states not already covered in the Award
pool and to further HERA's goal that the CMF serve geographically
diverse areas of every state. The CDFI Fund may also, in its
discretion, provide Recipients the opportunity to add states to its
approved Service Area in order to serve geographies for which: (i) The
President issued a ``major disaster declaration,'' and (ii) the major
disaster declaration makes such geographies eligible for both
``individual and public assistance.'' The major disaster declaration
must be made after the publication date of this NOFA and prior to the
execution of the Recipient's Assistance Agreement. In these cases, the
CDFI Fund may allow a Recipient to exceed the maximum 15 state Service
Area, if applicable. Any modifications agreed upon prior to the
execution of the Assistance Agreement will become a condition of the
Award.
3. The Assistance Agreement shall provide that, prior to any
determination by the CDFI Fund that a Recipient has failed to comply
substantially with the Act, the CMF Interim Rule, or the environmental
quality regulations, the CDFI Fund shall provide the Recipient with
reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard. If the Recipient fails
to comply substantially with the Assistance Agreement, the CDFI Fund
may:
(a) Require changes in the performance goals set forth in the
Assistance Agreement;
(b) Reduce or terminate the CMF Award; or
(c) Require repayment of any CMF Award that has been distributed to
the Recipient.
4. The Assistance Agreement shall also provide that, if the CDFI
Fund determines noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the
Assistance Agreement on the part of the Recipient, the CDFI Fund may:
(a) Bar the Recipient from reapplying for any assistance from the
CDFI Fund; or
(b) Take such other actions as the CDFI Fund deems appropriate or
as set forth in the Assistance Agreement.
5. In addition to entering into an Assistance Agreement, each
Applicant selected to receive a CMF Award must furnish to the CDFI Fund
a certificate of good standing from the jurisdiction in which it was
formed. The CDFI Fund may, in its sole discretion or in lieu of
[[Page 50787]]
a certificate of good standing, also require the Applicant to furnish
an opinion from its legal counsel, the content of which may be further
specified in the Assistance Agreement, and which, among other matters,
opines that:
(a) The Recipient is duly formed and in good standing in the
jurisdiction in which it was formed and the jurisdiction(s) in which it
transacts business;
(b) The Recipient has the authority to enter into the Assistance
Agreement and undertake the activities that are specified therein;
(c) The Recipient has no pending or threatened litigation that
would materially affect its ability to enter into and carry out the
activities specified in the Assistance Agreement;
(d) The Recipient is not in default of its articles of
incorporation or formation, bylaws or operating agreements, other
organizational or establishing documents, or any agreements with the
Federal government;
(e) The CMF affordability restrictions that are to be imposed by
deed restrictions, covenants running with the land, or other CDFI Fund
approved mechanisms that are recordable and enforceable under the laws
of the State and locality where the Recipient will undertake its CMF
activities;
(f) If applicable, the Recipient is exempt from Federal Income
taxation pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
(g) If applicable, the Recipient is designated as a nonprofit or
not for profit entity under the laws of the organization's State of
formation.
6. Closing and Payment of the Award: Pursuant to the Assistance
Agreement, there will be an initial closing at which point the
Assistance Agreement and related documents will be properly executed
and delivered, and a Payment of the CMF Award is made. Recipients of
CMF FY 2021 Awards will have the option to choose Payment of the Award
in a single, lump sum payment or in two payment tranches, each no more
than one year apart, and as set forth in the Assistance Agreement. If
the Applicant is electing to receive Payment in two tranches, the first
Payment amount will be based on the Applicant's estimated amount of the
Award that will be Committed in the first year, though the first
Payment amount can be modified at the Recipients request prior to
closing the Assistance Agreement. The date of Payment will affect the
required date of Commitment of the Award, two years subsequent to each
Payment, but will not affect or change any other performance goal or
requirement set forth in the Assistance Agreement, including the
requirement that all Projects must achieve Project Completion within
five years of the effective date of the Assistance Agreement.
Following the initial closing of the Assistance Agreement, there
may be subsequent closings involving additional award Payments. Any
documentation in addition to the Assistance Agreement that is connected
with such subsequent closings and Payments shall be properly executed
and timely delivered by the Recipient to the CDFI Fund.
D. Paperwork Reduction Act: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35), an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection
of information, and an individual is not required to respond to a
collection of information, unless it displays a valid OMB control
number. If applicable, the CDFI Fund may inform Applicants that they do
not need to provide certain Application information otherwise required.
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Capital Magnet Fund
Application has been assigned the following control number: 1559-0036.
E. Reporting: The CDFI Fund will require each Recipient that
receives a CMF Award through this NOFA to account for and report to the
CDFI Fund on the use of the CMF Award. This will require Recipients to
establish administrative controls, subject to the Uniform
Administrative Requirements and other applicable OMB guidance. The CDFI
Fund will collect information from each such Recipient on its use of
the CMF Award annually, following Payment and more often if deemed
appropriate by the CDFI Fund in its sole discretion. The CDFI Fund will
provide guidance to Recipients outlining the format and content of the
information required to be provided to describe how the funds were
used.
The CDFI Fund may collect information from each Recipient
including, but not limited to, an annual report with the components
listed in Table 8:
Table 8--Reporting Requirements \5\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Criteria Description
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Single Audit (if applicable). A non-profit Recipient must complete an
annual Single Audit pursuant to the
Uniform Requirements (2 CFR 200.501) if
it expends $750,000 or more in Federal
awards in its fiscal year, or such other
dollar threshold established by OMB
pursuant to 2 CFR 200.501. If a Single
Audit is required, it must be submitted
electronically to the Federal Audit
Clearinghouse (FAC) (see 2 CFR Subpart F-
Audit Requirements in the Uniform
Requirements) and optionally through
AMIS.
Financial Statement Audit.... For-profit and nonprofit Recipients must
submit a Financial Statement Audit (FSA)
report in AMIS, along with the
Recipient's statement of financial
condition audited or reviewed by an
independent certified public accountant.
Performance Report........... The Recipient must submit a performance
report not less than annually, which is
a progress report on the Recipient's use
of the CMF Award towards meeting its
performance goals, Affordable Housing
outcomes, and the Recipient's overall
performance. The CMF Performance Report
covers the Announcement Date through the
Investment Period for the CMF Award and
the ten-year Affordability Period for
each Project. The Investment Period
shall mean the period beginning with the
Effective Date of the Assistance
Agreement and ending not earlier than
the fifth year anniversary of the
Effective Date, or as otherwise
established in the Assistance Agreement.
The Affordability Period shall mean, for
each Project, the period beginning on
the date when the Project is placed into
service and consisting of the full ten
consecutive years thereafter, or as
otherwise established in the Assistance
Agreement.
If the Recipient fails to meet a
performance goal or reporting
requirements, it must submit an
explanation of noncompliance via AMIS.
[[Page 50788]]
Environmental Review......... The Recipient shall submit the
Environmental Review Notification Report
each time the Recipient identifies a new
proposed CMF project for which (i) a
categorical exclusion does not apply and/
or (ii) the Recipient determines that
the proposed project does involve
actions that normally require an
Environmental Impact Statement, as
described in 12 CFR Part 1815. The
Environmental Review Notification Report
must be submitted to the CDFI Fund no
later than one hundred eighty (180) days
prior to the date that the funds are
Committed to a Project.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is information, which if
lost, compromised, or disclosed without authorization, could result in
substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an
individual. Although Applicants are required to enter addresses of
homes and other properties in AMIS, Applicants should not include the
following PII for the individuals who received the financial products
or services in AMIS or in the supporting documentation (i.e., name of
the individual, Social Security Number, driver's license or state
identification number, passport number, Alien Registration Number,
etc.). This information should be redacted from all supporting
documentation (if applicable).
Each Recipient is responsible for the timely and complete
submission of the annual reporting documents. The CDFI Fund will use
such information to monitor each Recipient's compliance with the
requirements set forth in the Assistance Agreement and to assess the
impact of the CMF. The CDFI Fund reserves the right, in its sole
discretion, to modify these reporting requirements if it determines it
to be appropriate and necessary; however, such reporting requirements
will be modified only after notice to Recipients.
F. Financial Management and Accounting: The CDFI Fund will require
Recipients to maintain financial management and accounting systems that
comply with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions
of the CMF Award. These systems must be sufficient to permit the
preparation of reports required by general and program specific terms
and conditions, including the tracing of funds to a level of
expenditures adequate to establish that such funds have been used in
accordance with the Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and
conditions of the CMF Award.
The cost principles used by Recipients must be consistent with
Federal cost principles, must support the accumulation of costs as
required by the principles, and must provide for adequate documentation
to support costs charged to the CMF Award. In addition, the CDFI Fund
will require Recipients to: Maintain effective internal controls;
comply with applicable statutes and regulations, the Assistance
Agreement, and related guidance; evaluate and monitor compliance; take
action when not in compliance; and safeguard personally identifiable
information.
VII. Agency Contacts
A. Availability: The CDFI Fund will respond to questions and
provide support concerning this NOFA and the Application between the
hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, starting on the date of the
publication of this NOFA until the close of business on the third
business day preceding the Application deadline. The CDFI Fund will not
respond to questions or provide support concerning the Application that
are received after 5:00 p.m. ET on said date, until after the
Application deadline. CDFI Fund IT support will be available until 5:00
p.m. ET on date of the Application deadline. Applications and other
information regarding the CDFI Fund and its programs may be obtained
from the CDFI Fund's website at https://www.cdfifund.gov/cmf. The CDFI
Fund will post on its website responses to questions of general
applicability regarding the CMF.
B. The CDFI Fund's Contact Information is Listed in Table 9
Table 9--Contact Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telephone
Type of question Preferred method number (not Email addresses
toll free)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CMF..................................... Submit a Service Request 202-653-0421 [email protected].
in AMIS.
CDFI Certification...................... Submit a Service Request 202-653-0423 [email protected]
in AMIS.
Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation.... Submit a Service Request 202-653-0423 [email protected]
in AMIS.
Information Technology Support.......... Submit a Service Request 202-653-0422 [email protected].
in AMIS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The preferred method of contact is to submit a Service Request
within AMIS. For a CMF Application question, select ``Capital Magnet
Fund'' for the program. For a CDFI Certification question, select
``Certification.'' For a Compliance question, select ``Compliance &
Reporting.'' For Information Technology, select ``Technical Issues.''
Failure to select the appropriate program for the Service Request could
result in delays in responding to your question.
C. Communication with the CDFI Fund: The CDFI Fund will use AMIS to
communicate with Applicants and Recipients, using the contact
information maintained in their respective AMIS accounts. Therefore,
the Recipient and any Subsidiaries, signatories, and Affiliates must
maintain accurate contact information (including contact persons and
Authorized Representatives, email addresses, fax numbers, phone
numbers, and office addresses) in its AMIS account(s). For more
information about AMIS please see the Help documents posted at https://amis.cdfifund.gov/s/Training.
D. Civil Rights and Diversity: Any person who is eligible to
receive benefits or services from the CDFI Fund or Recipients under any
of its programs is entitled to those benefits or services without being
subject to prohibited discrimination. The Department of the Treasury's
Office of Civil Rights and Diversity enforces various Federal statutes
and regulations that prohibit discrimination in financially assisted
and conducted programs and activities of the CDFI Fund. If a person
believes that s/he has been subjected to discrimination and/or reprisal
because of membership in a protected group, s/he may file a complaint
with: Associate Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of Civil Rights,
and Diversity, 1500
[[Page 50789]]
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20220 or (202) 622-1160 (not a
toll-free number).
E. Statutory and National Policy Requirements: The CDFI Fund will
manage and administer the Federal award in a manner so as to ensure
that Federal funding is expended and associated programs are
implemented in full accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Federal Law,
statutory, and public policy requirements: Including, but not limited
to, those protecting free speech, religious liberty, public welfare,
the environment, and prohibiting discrimination.
VIII. Other Information
None.
Authority: Public Law 110-289. 12 U.S.C. 4701, 12 CFR part 1805, 12
CFR part 1807, 12 CFR part 1815, 12 U.S.C. 4502.
Jodie L. Harris,
Director, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
[FR Doc. 2021-19598 Filed 9-9-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-70-P