DWSRF/ARRA Summary

• Florida’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Program will receive approximately $88 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for drinking water infrastructure construction projects.

• To be eligible under ARRA, projects must secure a place on the DWSRF priority list, meet the DWSRF program’s basic funding criteria, and be “shovel-ready” such that they can be under construction before February 17, 2010.

• The first step in applying for funds is to submit a Request for Inclusion (RFI) form on the DWSRF priority list form.

• Under ARRA, all DWSRF program requirements remain in effect, but we will expedite the process to the maximum extent possible. All Planning Requirements and Readiness to Proceed Requirements must be met before a project can be placed on the priority list for funding.

• Projects will be ranked in priority score order and funds will be allocated up to the “segment cap” of approximately $4 million per project sponsor until the funds are exhausted. (The segment cap is the maximum amount of money any project sponsor can receive in a given year in order to give all sponsors of ready projects a fair opportunity to secure financing.) See Section 62 552.650 of the DWSRF rule for information on the priority system.

• A priority list adoption hearing has been scheduled for May 13, 2009. All readiness to proceed requirements must be met by April 29, 2009 to qualify for the priority list at that hearing.

• If all ARRA funds are not obligated at that hearing, additional hearings will be scheduled as needed to obligate the remaining funds.

• Under ARRA, 50% of the funds, or about $44 million, must be subsidized more than the SRF’s normal low interest rates in order to target financially disadvantaged communities. The Congressional record states, “… the Conferees expect the States to target, as much as possible, the additional subsidized monies to communities that could not otherwise afford an SRF loan.” DEP will award “principal forgiveness” loans to qualifying projects meeting the criteria defining disadvantaged status for the DWSRF program in existing Florida law, section 403.8532(6)(a), Florida Statutes:

The department shall use funds specifically appropriated to award principal forgiveness loans under this section to assist financially disadvantaged communities in correcting public health risks in their drinking water systems. For purposes of this section, the term "financially disadvantaged community" means a municipality, county or agency with a median household income of less than the statewide average as reported in the most recently available decennial census.

Forgiving the repayment of the principal amount of a loan is the equivalent of a grant and has the benefit of not imposing additional federal requirements on the loan recipient that would be associated with a formal “grant.”

• All projects funded under ARRA must comply with the following additional federal requirements:

• Disadvantaged Business Enterprise: Disadvantaged Business Enterprise requirements must be met for all ARRA projects. The standard DEP supplementary conditions for construction and equipment include these requirements and must be incorporated into the bid documents. Also see the Six Good Faith Efforts.

• Davis Bacon wage rate provisions: Additional supplementary conditions must be incorporated into all bid documents. These conditions require the submission of certified payrolls documenting that the weekly payrolls meet the prevailing wage rate requirements.

• Buy American procurement: Contractors must certify that all manufactured goods meet the Buy American requirements or a waiver must be obtained. We have created a sample certification form that may be used as a guide.

• The ARRA also has strict guidelines for timely construction: 100% of the funds allocated to Florida must effectively be under construction by February 17, 2010. Loan agreements awarded with ARRA money (resulting from the May 13, 2009 hearing) will include a deadline of October 1, 2009 for awarding construction contracts. Loan amounts will be adjusted to the amount under contract as of October 1, 2009. If no construction contracts have been awarded, the loan agreement will be annulled so the funds may be made available to other project sponsors that can move forward.

• Funds recaptured as a result of the October 1st deadline will be allocated to the first qualifying project(s) that were not previously funded. If no such projects are available, loans for projects that have been incompletely funded will be increased.

• If you have questions, please contact Paul Brandl (Paul.Brandl@dep.state.fl.us) at (850) 245-8373. DEP staff stands ready to help you understand everything you need to know about pursuing SRF funding.