To enter into a cooperative agreement for these funds, the applicant must:

(a) Be a State Agency as defined in §4285.3 of this subpart;

(b) Have the financial, legal, administrative, and actual capacity to assume and carry out the responsibilities imposed by the Agreement. To meet the requirement of actual capacity it must either:

(1) Have necessary background and experience with proven ability to perform responsibly in the field of economic, business management, or other needed research area; or

(2) Have the necessary administrative and supervisory controls in place to assure an agreed upon contracting organization has the proven ability to perform responsibly in the field of economic, business management, or other needed research area;

(c) Legally obligate itself to administer cooperative agreement funds, provide adequate accounting of the expenditure of such funds, and comply with the cooperative agreement;

(d) Provide at least 50 percent of the funds necessary to conduct the research from non-federal funds; and

(e) Agree to conduct proposed research related to cooperatives and agricultural marketing.