§ 386.10 Threshold criteria.

(a) To be eligible to receive Federal credit assistance under this part, a project shall meet the following threshold criteria:

(1) The project and prospective borrower shall be creditworthy.

(2) A project shall have eligible project costs that are reasonably anticipated to equal or exceed $20 million.

(3) A Federal credit instrument:

(i) Shall be repayable, in whole or in part, from State or local taxes, user fees, or other dedicated revenue sources that also secure the senior project obligations of the project;

(ii) Shall include a rate covenant, coverage requirement, or similar security feature supporting the project obligations; and

(iii) May have a lien on revenues subject to any lien securing project obligations.

(4) In the case of a project that is undertaken by an entity that is not a State or local government or an agency or instrumentality of a State or local government, or a Tribal government or consortium of Tribal governments, the project that the entity is undertaking shall be publicly sponsored.

(5) The prospective borrower shall have developed an operations and maintenance plan that identifies adequate revenues to operate, maintain, and repair the project during its useful life. If the borrower is a State infrastructure financing authority, it shall have ensured and will ensure that its borrowers have a plan for the eligible projects they are undertaking that identifies adequate revenues to operate, maintain and repair such projects during the useful life of such projects. The requirement in this paragraph (a)(5) may be met through the development of a written plan or a financial model.

(b) With respect to paragraph (a)(3) of this section, the Secretary may accept general obligation pledges or general corporate promissory pledges and will determine the acceptability of other pledges and forms of collateral as dedicated revenue sources on a case-by-case basis. The Secretary shall not accept a pledge of Federal funds, regardless of source, as security for the Federal credit instrument.

(c) The provision at 33 U.S.C. 3907(c) provides that nothing in section 3907(c) (which includes eligibility requirements and selection criteria for projects and entities receiving WIFIA assistance) is intended to supersede the applicability of other requirements of Federal law, including regulations.