FY27_BF_RLF_NOFO_Final_v1.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Applications Due: Thursday, January 21, 2027

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization

FY27 GUIDELINES FOR

BROWNFIELD REVOLVING LOAN

FUND GRANTS

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-05 i

Contents

1. Basic Information

A. Executive Summary B. Key Information C. Key Dates D. Funding Details E. Agency Contact Information

2. Eligibility

A. Eligible Applicants B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

1. Applicant Eligibility

2. Demonstration of Previous RLF Grant Status

3. Description of RLF Boundary(ies)

4. Oversight Structure and Legal Authority to Manage a Revolving Loan Fund

5. Contractors and Named Subrecipients (other than borrowers and site cleanup subgrantees) . 9

C. Cost Sharing

3. Program Description

A. Purpose, Priorities, and Activities

1. Purpose

2. Eligible Uses of Grant Funds

3. Ineligible Uses of Grant Funds

4. Measuring Environmental Results: Anticipated Outputs/Outcomes

5. Leveraging

B. Program Goals and Objectives C. Statutory Authority D. Funding Type

4. Application Contents and Format

A. Application Forms (Submission Checklist) B. Application Information Sheet C. Narrative Criteria Outline D. Applicants Using Contractors and/or Subrecipients

5. Submission Requirements and Deadlines

A. Submission Dates and Times B. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM.gov) C. Submission Instructions D. Technical Issues with Submission E. Intergovernmental Review

6. Application Review Information

A. Responsiveness Review B. Narrative Criteria Responses and Review Criteria ii

1. PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION AND PLANS FOR REVITALIZATION

2. COMMUNITY NEED AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

3. TASK DESCRIPTIONS, COST ESTIMATES, AND MEASURING PROGRESS

4. PROGRAMMATIC CAPABILITY AND PAST PERFORMANCE

C. Review and Selection Process

1. Other Evaluation Factors

D. Risk Review

7. Award Notices

8. Post-Award Requirements and Administration

A. Administrative and National Policy Requirements B. Reporting C. Subaward and Executive Compensation Reporting D. Brownfield Programmatic Requirements E. Build America, Buy America

9. Other Information

A. Additional Provisions for Applicants

1. Basic Information U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)

FY27 GUIDELINES FOR BROWNFIELD REVOLVING LOAN FUND GRANTS

Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant Application Resources

A. Executive Summary This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to capitalize a revolving loan fund (RLF) to provide loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. Eligible entities include government organizations, Federally recognized Tribes, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

Please see Section 2.A. for the complete list of eligible entities.

Applications must meet all threshold eligibility criteria in Section 2.B. and the 20% cost share requirement in Section 2.C. to be considered eligible to receive an RLF Grant.

RLF programs provide loans and subgrants to eligible entities to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites contaminated with hazardous substances1 and/or petroleum.2 EPA will determine site eligibility after the award of the grant throughout the project period, prior to expending grant funds at any site. Sites where hazardous substances and petroleum contamination are distinguishable must meet eligibility requirements for both contaminants. See Section 3.A.1. for RLF Grant features and Section 3.A.2. on the requirement to use 50% or more of the total award amount (EPA funds plus the applicant’s cost share) to provide loans and associated eligible programmatic costs.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires applicants to provide a 20% cost share of the federal funds for RLF Grants. For example, a $1,000,000 RLF Grant awarded by EPA will require the recipient to provide a $200,000 cost share. The cost share, which may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services, must be for eligible and allowable costs under the grant, as described in the grant regulations at 2 CFR § 200.306. See Section 2.C. for details.

Only eligible entities that do not have, or are not a part of (i.e., a non-lead coalition member), an open cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF at the time of application may apply for funding under this

1 Hazardous substance sites eligible for funding are those sites with the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, sites that are contaminated with controlled substances, or that are mine-scarred lands. For more information, please refer to the FY27 Brownfields Frequently Asked Questions.

2 Petroleum sites eligible for funding are those sites that meet the definition set forth in CERCLA § 101(39)(D)(ii)(II), as further described in Section 1.3.2. in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k).

B. Key Information Opportunity Number:

EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-05

Assistance Listing:

66.818

Announcement Type:

Initial

Funding Available:

$10,000,000

Number of Awards:

Approximately 10 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.306 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/information-sites-eligible-brownfields-funding-under-cercla-ss-104k solicitation. An “open” cooperative agreement is one in which the Period of performance, as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, has not yet ended. The period of performance is specified in EPA’s initial or amended “Notice of Award.”

Grant recipients with an open Brownfields RLF cooperative agreement may request additional funding to capitalize their RLF program through EPA’s annual, non-competitive, supplemental funding process.

Additional information on the timing, requirements, and procedures for supplemental funding requests will be available on EPA’s Brownfields RLF Website.

Please carefully review Section 4.D. of these guidelines, Section IV.E. “Coalitions, Contracts, and Subawards” of EPA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Clauses, and Section D. in the FY27 Brownfields Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to ensure that contractors (including individual consultants) are procured in compliance with the fair and open competition requirements. Also, carefully review the EPA Subaward Policy and Subaward Frequent Questions for establishing and managing subawards.

A checklist of mandatory documents is in Section 4.A.

For the purposes of this NOFO, the term “grant” refers to the cooperative agreement that EPA will award to a successful applicant.

C. Key Dates November 12, 2026 2:00 pm ET National Outreach Webinar

January 21, 2027 11:59 pm ET Application Submission Deadline

June 2027 Anticipated Notification of Selection

September 2027 Anticipated Award Notification

D. Funding Details It is anticipated that up to 10 awards will be made under this announcement. The amount of funding is expected to be $10,000,000, depending on Agency funding levels, the quality of applications received, agency priorities, and other applicable considerations. Awards funded under this opportunity are expected to have a 5-year project period. Applicants may apply for up to $1,000,000 of EPA funds. (Note, applicants may also request an amount that is less than $1,000,000.) Funding estimates are approximations that are subject to change.

EPA reserves the right to:

• make additional awards under this funding announcement consistent with Agency policy and guidance if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than 6 months after the original selection decisions.

• to make no awards under the funding opportunity.

• partially fund applications by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If a project is partially funded, it will be done in a manner that maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

• incrementally fund applications based on funding availability and/or satisfactory performance.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-revolving-loan-fund-rlf-grants https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/marc-grant-application-resources

• adjust funding levels for priorities, set-asides, or other types of funding categories.

• increase or decrease (including decreasing to zero) the total number and amount of awards under each funding category or change the ratio of assistance agreements it awards among the funding categories.

The actual award amounts and number of projects awarded may differ from the estimated amounts.

E. Agency Contact Information Further information, if needed, may be obtained from the EPA contact(s) indicated below.

Technical Contact: Elyse Salinas, brownfields@epa.gov

Eligibility Contact: See Regional Contacts below

Electronic Submissions Contact: Grants.gov, 1-800-518-4726, support@grants.gov

Regional Contact(s): EPA Region 1 (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) Dorrie Paar, Paar.Dorrie@epa.gov, (617) 918-1432 EPA Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI) Patrick Peck, Peck.Patrick@epa.gov, (212) 637-4421 EPA Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV) Anthony Geiger, Geiger.Anthony@epa.gov, (215) 814-3367 EPA Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN) Sid Patel, patel.siddhartha@epa.gov, (404) 562-9640 EPA Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI) Ashley Green, Green.Ashley@epa.gov, (312) 886-6054 EPA Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX) Marsha Lay, Lay.Marsha@epa.gov, (214) 665-7562 EPA Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE) Jennifer Morris, R7_Brownfields@epa.gov, (913) 551-7341 EPA Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY) Curt Jeffries, Jeffries.Curtis@epa.gov, (303) 312-7007 EPA Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, Pacific Island Territories) Daniel Moher, moher.daniel@epa.gov, (415) 972-3210 EPA Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA) Terri Griffith, Griffith.Terri@epa.gov, (206) 553-8511

2. Eligibility Applications must meet all requirements in this section, including the submission of responses to the Section 2.B. threshold eligibility criteria, to be considered eligible. Applicants should direct eligibility questions to the Regional Contact in Section 1.E. well in advance of the application deadline.

A. Eligible Applicants Only these types of organizations may apply for an RLF Grant. Organization types are consistent with definitions at CERCLA § 104(k)(1) and 2 CFR § 200.1. Note, entities that currently have, or are a part of (i.e., a non-lead coalition member), an open cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF at the time of application are not eligible to apply for an RLF Grant in FY27.

mailto:brownfields@epa.gov mailto:support@grants.gov mailto:Paar.Dorrie@epa.gov mailto:Peck.Patrick@epa.gov mailto:Geiger.Anthony@epa.gov mailto:patel.siddhartha@epa.gov mailto:Green.Ashley@epa.gov mailto:Lay.Marsha@epa.gov mailto:R7_Brownfields@epa.gov mailto:Jeffries.Curtis@epa.gov mailto:moher.daniel@epa.gov mailto:Griffith.Terri@epa.gov https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1

• General Purpose Unit of Local Government. Local government means a county, borough, municipality, city, town, township, parish, local public authority (including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937), school district, special district, intrastate district, council of governments (whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law), and any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-, regional, or intra-State or local government.

• Land Clearance Authority or another quasi-governmental entity that operates under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a General Purpose Unit of Local Government.

• Government Entity Created by State Legislature.

• Regional Council established under governmental authority or group of General Purpose Units of

Local Government established under Federal, State, or local law (e.g., councils of governments) to function as a single legal entity with authority to enter into binding agreements with the Federal Government.

• Redevelopment Agency that is chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a State.

• State.3

• Federally recognized Indian Tribe4 other than in Alaska. (The exclusion of Tribes from Alaska, with the exception of the Metlakatla Indian Community as noted below, from Brownfields Grant eligibility is statutory at CERCLA § 104(k)(1). Intertribal Consortia, comprised of eligible Indian Tribes, are eligible for funding in accordance with EPA’s policy for funding intertribal consortia published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2002, at 67 Fed. Reg. 67181. This policy also may be obtained from your Regional Brownfields Contact listed in Section 1.E.)

• Alaska Native Regional Corporation and Alaska Native Village Corporation as those terms are defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 and following) and the Metlakatla Indian Community. For more information, please refer to the FY27 FAQs.

• Nonprofit organization described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)) and exempt from taxation under 501(a) of that title.

• Limited liability corporation in which all managing members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC.

• Limited partnership in which all general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under 501(a) of the IRC.

• Qualified community development entity as defined in section 45D(c)(1) of the IRC.

Note, individuals, for-profit organizations, and nonprofit organizations that are not tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) are ineligible to receive Brownfields RLF Grants. Organizations exempt from taxation

3 As defined in CERCLA § 101(27), the definition of State for purposes of the Brownfields Program “include[s] the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other territory or possession over which the United States has jurisdiction.”

4 There are currently 575 federally recognized Tribes, and there are many names that these sovereign nations use to describe their culture, history, and geography, including Tribe, Village, Nation, Band, and Pueblo. For the purpose of these guidelines, the EPA Brownfields Program uses “Tribe” and “Tribal Nation” as all-encompassing terms.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200/section-200.1#p-200.1(State) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1#p-200.1(Indian%20Tribe) https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section9604&num=0&edition=prelim https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t26/s501/ https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t26/s501/ under section 501(c)(4) of the IRC may be eligible for a Brownfields RLF Grant if they also qualify as an eligible entity type listed above and demonstrate that they do not lobby the Federal government.5

B. Threshold Eligibility Criteria Applications must meet the following threshold eligibility criteria to be considered eligible to receive an RLF Grant under this NOFO. The information you submit will be used by EPA solely to make eligibility determinations for Brownfield Grants and is not legally binding for other purposes, including federal, State, or Tribal enforcement actions. Only those applications that pass all the threshold eligibility criteria will be evaluated against the review criteria in Section 6.B. of this announcement.

EPA staff will respond to questions regarding threshold eligibility criteria, administrative issues related to the submission of the application, and requests for clarification about this announcement. For purposes of the threshold eligibility review, an EPA Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program representative, if necessary, may seek clarification of applicant information that is included in the application and/or consider information from other sources, including EPA files. Such communications shall not be used to correct application deficiencies or material omissions, materially alter the application or project proposed, or discuss changes to the applicant’s responses to any review or selection criteria.

To maintain the integrity of the competition process, EPA staff cannot meet with individual applicants to discuss draft applications, provide informal comments on draft applications, or provide advice to applicants on how to respond to the Narrative Criteria Responses. EPA’s limitations on staff involvement with grant applicants are described in EPA’s Policy for Competition of Assistance Agreements.

i. Number of Applications EPA will Accept:

a. Entities that are applying for an FY27 RLF Grant under this NOFO may not also apply for an

FY27 Brownfields Cleanup Grant.

b. RLF Coalition members may not be non-lead members of other RLF Coalition applications, nor submit an RLF Grant application as an individual applicant under this NOFO. A coalition member wishing to apply as part of a different RLF Coalition or as an individual applicant must withdraw from the coalition.

c. Applicants may not submit multiple applications (i.e., submit applications for different projects) under this NOFO. EPA considers departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the same State or city governments to be the same applicant if they are directly supervised or controlled by the same elected/appointed executive (even if they have different Unique Entity Identifier numbers). For example, a corporation formed under State or local law to perform redevelopment activities on behalf of or in support of a local government that is primarily staffed by employees of that local government will be considered an agency or instrumentality of that local government. These eligibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis since State and local laws vary. For Tribes, EPA defers to the Tribe’s interpretation of a department, agency, or instrumentality being the same or a separate entity.

5 The Lobbying Disclosure Act (2 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq.) provides requirements for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-order-57005a1-epas-policy-competition-assistance-agreements

If the same applicant exceeds the number or type of applications allowable, EPA will contact the applicant to determine which application(s) to withdraw from the competition. In the absence of application withdrawal, EPA will accept the first application received in Grants.gov and deem all other applications submitted by that applicant ineligible.

If an applicant submits the same application multiple times, unless told otherwise by the applicant, EPA will review the most recently received application in Grants.gov.

ii. Ineligible Activities: If an application is submitted that includes any ineligible tasks or activities, that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

iii. Substantial Compliance: Applications must substantially comply with the submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section 4 of this announcement or they will be rejected. See Section 4.A. for the application submission checklist.

iv. Risk Review: Applications from entities that are excluded from participation in Federal Assistance programs at the time of selection will be deemed ineligible for funding. To determine this, EPA will check SAM.gov for suspended or debarred entities that apply for this funding opportunity as per 2 CFR § 200.206(d).

For applications from entities that are not suspended or debarred at the time of selection, EPA will conduct a risk review as per Section 6.D. of the NOFO after the selection process and before awards are made.

v. RLF Coalition Grants:

An RLF Coalition is comprised of one “lead” eligible entity that partners with one or more non-lead eligible entities. The lead eligible entity is the applicant that submits an application on behalf of the non-lead coalition members. The RLF Coalition may request funding up to $1,000,000 to address brownfield sites with hazardous substances and/or petroleum contamination.

If selected, the lead entity will be the point of contact for the other non-lead coalition members.

The lead entity will be the grant recipient and must administer the grant, and be accountable to EPA for effectively carrying out the scope of work and the proper financial management of the grant.

Please note that once the lead entity submits the application, it becomes the applicant, and the non-lead coalition members may not substitute another eligible entity as the lead entity after the deadline for submitting applications has passed. Additionally, the non-lead coalition members may not be substituted after the deadline for submitting applications has passed. If the application is selected for funding, the lead member must partner with the other non-lead coalition members that were named in the application.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) documenting the coalition’s site selection process must be in place prior to the expenditure and draw down of any funds that are awarded. The coalition https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200/section-200.206#p-200.206(d) members should identify and establish relationships necessary to achieve the project’s goal. A process for successful execution of the project’s goal, including a description and role of each coalition member, should be established along with the MOA. The purpose of the MOA is for coalition members to agree internally on the distribution of funds and the mechanisms for implementing the cleanup work.

vi. Required Eligibility Documentation: Responses to each item below and Section 2.C. Cost

Sharing are required and must be included in the application submitted to EPA. Threshold eligibility criteria responses and documentation do not have a page limit.

1. Applicant Eligibility

a. From the list of eligible entities in Section 2.A., Eligible Applicants, indicate your applicant type (and the applicant type for each coalition member, if applicable) and provide information that demonstrates how you (and each non-lead coalition member, if applicable) are an eligible entity for an RLF Grant.

• For entities that are villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States, affirm that the organization is eligible for funding.

• For government entities other than villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States, attach documentation of your eligibility (e.g., resolutions, statutes, etc.).

• For Intertribal consortia, attach documentation that meets the requirements in 40 CFR §

35.504(a) and (c). All members of the Intertribal consortium must authorize the submission of an application.

• For nonprofit organizations, or organizations comprised of nonprofit organizations, provide documentation as an attachment to the Narrative Criteria Responses demonstrating tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC.

• For qualified community development entities, provide documentation as an attachment to the Narrative Criteria Responses certifying the organization’s status.

b. All applicants: Indicate if your organization (and the non-lead coalition members’ organizations, if applicable) is exempt from Federal taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the IRC. Note, villages, towns, cities, counties, Tribes, or States should respond N/A. All other entities must indicate yes or no.

• If yes, indicate if your organization (and the non-lead coalition members’ organizations, if applicable) lobbies the Federal government. Note, if a 501(c)(4) organization lobbies the Federal government, the organization is ineligible for an EPA Brownfields Grant.

• If yes, but your organization (and the non-lead coalition members’ organizations, if applicable) does not lobby the Federal government, attach a legal opinion that states https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR7560dab1b022383/section-35.504 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-35/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFR7560dab1b022383/section-35.504 that the organization does not engage in lobbying activities.6 Note, organizations with 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status that do not lobby the Federal government must also qualify as an entity type listed in Section 2.A. to be eligible for an RLF Grant.

The non-lead coalition members may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with the lead member (for example, a county and the redevelopment authority of the same county), except for coalitions in which the State is the lead and one of the non-lead members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a State legislature through a charter or another official action.

A non-lead member may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with another non-lead member in the same coalition. The non-lead members must be separate legal entities. For example, the following may not be members of the same coalition:

1. Different departments within the same unit of government;

2. A unit of government and an affiliated nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC that the city controls; or

3. Affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations (e.g., nonprofit organizations that have the same board of directors or staff). This does not preclude separately incorporated chapters of a national nonprofit organization from being non-lead members of coalitions in different geographic areas. For example, an organization that is a national nonprofit could have local chapters that are separately incorporated and have their own board of directors and staff. Local chapter “A” conducts programming in the State of “Y.” Local chapter “B” conducts programming in the State of “Z.” Both chapters may be non-lead members of different FY27 RLF Coalition Grant applications.

RLF Coalitions:

• Each non-lead coalition member must submit a signed letter to the grant applicant (the lead coalition member) in which they agree to be part of the coalition. An active Memorandum of Agreement that includes a description and role of each coalition member may serve in place of the individual non-lead coalition members’ letters.

Include the document(s), as an attachment, in your application. Documentation that is not included with the application will render that non-lead member ineligible from participating in the coalition, and potentially render the entire application ineligible if there is less than one non-lead member.

2. Demonstration of Previous RLF Grant Status

Affirm that the applicant has not had, or been a part of, a cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF in the past.

Entities with an open cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF are not eligible to apply for funding under this solicitation. If the applicant has previously been either a recipient of a Brownfields RLF cooperative agreement or a non-lead member of a coalition that obtained RLF funding, provide the grant number and closeout date for the RLF cooperative agreement(s).

6 The Lobbying Disclosure Act (2 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq.) provides requirements for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government.

3. Description of RLF Boundary(ies) EPA awards RLF Grants to clean up sites that are located within the geographic boundary(ies) of the RLF’s operation as defined in the application. This does not preclude applicants from targeting developers in communities or areas outside the RLF boundary(ies) in their marketing outreach, as long as the loans and subgrants are for cleaning up sites within the boundary(ies) as defined in the application. Applicants must provide a description of the boundary(ies) of their RLF operation (e.g., the city limits of The City of ABC). EPA recommends that applicants choose as large a boundary(ies) as is legally allowable since recipients cannot easily expand their RLF boundary(ies) after selection and award. For example, some regional organizations may operate their RLF within their entire State boundary, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations may operate their RLF without regard to jurisdictional boundaries that are applicable to governmental recipients.

Provide a description of the RLF’s geographic boundary(ies). Note: For RLF Coalitions, the lead applicant must have the governmental authority over non-lead coalition members (i.e., encompassing jurisdictions), and/or program capacity to ensure adequate program performance of non-lead coalition members, borrowers, and/or subgrantees, if warranted.

4. Oversight Structure and Legal Authority to Manage a Revolving Loan Fund RLF Grant recipients will be required to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and ensure that the cleanup project protects human health and the environment.

a. Describe how you will ensure adequate oversight of the cleanup at sites. Indicate whether you plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a State or Tribal response program. If you do not plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a State or Tribal response program, or an appropriate state or Tribal response program is not available, you will be required to consult with EPA to ensure cleanups are protective of human health and the environment. Therefore, if you do not plan to require loan or subgrant recipients to enroll in a State or Tribal response program, provide a description of the technical expertise you have to conduct, manage, and oversee the cleanups and/or whether you plan to acquire additional technical expertise. See Section 2.B.6. and Section 4.D. for requirements related to obtaining additional technical expertise via a contract or subaward.

b. Provide a legal opinion from your counsel that cites the relevant State law(s) or local ordinance(s) to demonstrate:

i. you have legal authority to access and secure sites in the event of an emergency or default of a loan agreement or non-performance under a subgrant; and

ii. you have legal authority to perform the actions necessary to manage a revolving loan fund. At a minimum, legal authority must include the ability to hold funds, make loans, enter into loan agreements, and collect repayments.

Attach your counsel’s legal opinion.

5. Contractors and Named Subrecipients (other than borrowers and site cleanup subgrantees)

Provide information about contractors and named subrecipient eligibility as described below.

Applicants that plan to use contractors and/or subrecipients in their application or the subsequent award should review Section 4.D. to ensure they comply with all applicable competitive procurement and/or subaward requirements.

• Contractors.

State, territory,7 Tribal, and eligible Tribal entity applicants must disclose whether they have already selected/hired a contractor that will be compensated with EPA funds made available under this NOFO and whether they followed the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds.8 If such policies and procedures do not exist, the applicant must also respond to the requirements below.

Applicants (other than State, territory, Tribal, and eligible Tribal entity applicants that followed the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds) must disclose whether they have already selected a contractor that will be compensated with EPA funds made available under this NOFO and the procurement procedures that were followed to hire the contractor(s). If a contractor(s) has been selected prior to submitting the application to EPA (including when a contractor(s) has been selected under a “dual procurement process” for both grant proposal writing and grant implementation services), applicants must describe:

- information on where and when the solicitation document (e.g., Request for Proposals/Request for Qualifications) was posted;

- the length of time the RFP/RFQ was advertised;

- the number of firms solicited and the number of offers received and considered; and

- the name(s) of the firm(s) the applicant entered into contract(s) with.

Provide a copy of (or link to) the solicitation document(s) and the signed executed contract(s).

Alternatively, state ‘n/a’ or ‘not applicable’ if a contractor has not been procured at the time of application submission.

• Named Subrecipients.

The following threshold eligibility requirement does not apply to subrecipients (borrowers and subgrantees) that will receive cleanup funding for specific brownfield sites. EPA will determine the eligibility for named borrowers and subgrantees if the RLF Grant application is selected for funding.

7 As defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, the definition of State for purposes of federal procurement standards applicable to the Brownfields Program “means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any agency or instrumentality thereof exclusive of local governments.”

8 Consistent with 2 CFR § 200.317, State and Tribal applicants (including eligible Tribal entities) must follow the same policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-federal funds, as well as the requirements in 2 CFR §§200.321, 200.322, 200.323, and 200.327 and 40 CFR Part 33. If such policies and procedures do not exist, then the federal procurement standards at 2 CFR §§ 200.318 through 200.327 apply and must be followed.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d/section-200.317 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.321 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.321 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.322 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.323 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.327 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/part-33 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d?toc=1

All applicants, describe how the named subrecipient is eligible for a subaward (e.g., is a nonprofit organization or unit of government). Alternatively, state ‘n/a’ or ‘not applicable’ if a subrecipient is not named at the time of application submission.

Failure to provide the requested information will result in rejection of the application. EPA staff may contact the applicant to clarify issues or obtain additional information before making a final eligibility determination.

Please see Section 6 for additional information on threshold eligibility review.

C. Cost Sharing RLF Grant applicants must demonstrate in their application how they will meet the 20% cost share requirement to be considered eligible. Selected recipients must comply with 2 CFR § 200.306 when meeting a cost share requirement.

The cost share is calculated as 20% of the total federal RLF Grant funds awarded. For example, if EPA awards you $1,000,000 of federal RLF Grant funds, you must provide a cost share of an additional $200,000. The cost share may be in the form of a contribution of money, labor, material, or services from a non-federal source. If the cost share is in the form of a contribution of labor, material, or other services, it must be incurred for an eligible and allowable expense under the grant and not for ineligible expenses. Eligible and allowable expenses may include administrative costs borne by the recipient or a third-party to meet its cost share obligation; including indirect costs, subject to the 5% limit on administrative costs. Costs incurred before EPA notifies the applicant of selection are generally not allowable to meet the cost share. See the FY27 FAQs for more information on the cost share requirement.

As provided in 2 CFR § 200.1, voluntary committed cost sharing is when an applicant voluntarily proposes to legally commit to provide costs or contributions to support the project when a cost share is not required. Voluntary cost share above the required 20% cost share will not be accepted under this competition.

RLF Grant applicants may petition EPA to waive the cost share requirement if meeting a cost share will place an undue hardship. EPA will consider hardship waiver requests submitted with the application on a case-by-case basis and intends to approve such requests on an extremely limited basis. EPA will only consider hardship waiver requests at the time of application. Applicants must include the cost share in the budget even if applying for a cost share waiver. If the applicant is successful and the cost share waiver is approved, it will be removed in pre-award negotiation.

Insular Territory applicants: The cost share requirement is waived for any RLF Grant projects located in U.S. Territories. This is consistent with the Omnibus Territories Act of 1977, which authorizes Departments and Agencies to award grants to Insular Territories, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, without a cost share requirement. Requests for waivers from the cost share requirement are not required for projects located within U.S. Territories.

a. Describe how you will meet the required cost share, including the sources of the funding or services, as required for this RLF Grant.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.306 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/frequently-asked-questions-about-multipurpose-assessment-rlf-and-cleanup-grants https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=3e88d9d4557754bcb781241135d934ae&mc=true&node=se2.1.200_11&rgn=div8

b. Applicants requesting a hardship waiver of the entire cost share, or a portion of the cost share, must attach a justification for the waiver request, up to two pages, titled “Hardship Waiver Request.” The justification should include whether the proposed project(s) could still proceed if the cost share waiver was not approved and relevant data such as:

• unemployment rate;

• per capita income;

• data demonstrating substantial out-migration or population loss;

• data demonstrating underemployment, that is, employment of workers at less than full-time or at less skilled tasks than their training or abilities permit;

• local natural or other major disasters or emergencies;

• information regarding extraordinary depletion of natural resources;

• closure or restructuring of industrial firms and negative effects of changing trade patterns;

• whether you are located in a President-declared disaster area (declared within 18 months of the submission date for your application); and/or

• whether you have exhausted effective taxing (for governmental entities only) and borrowing capacity.

Where available, applicants must supply data derived from the most recent American Community Survey (“ACS”) published by the U.S. Census Bureau. In cases where such data are not available, applicants may provide data from other sources (including data available from the Census Bureau and the Bureaus of Economic Analysis, Labor Statistics, Indian Affairs, or other federal sources). In cases where no federal data is available, applicants may submit the most recent data available through their State, Tribal, or local government. Cite all sources for data provided.

Successful applicants will be notified at the time of the grant announcement if their cost share waiver request was approved. Approval of a cost share waiver does not increase the amount of funding that will be provided by EPA in the grant award. Rather, approval of the cost share waiver will relieve the selected applicant of the responsibility for providing the cost share amount for the grant award.

3. Program Description A. Purpose, Priorities, and Activities

1. Purpose EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program provides funds to empower States, Tribal Nations, communities, and nonprofit organizations to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites.

A brownfield site is defined in CERCLA § 101(39) as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, contaminant, controlled substance, petroleum, or petroleum product, or is mine-scarred land.9

9 The Understanding Brownfields Fact Sheet Series is available at www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields.

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/understanding-brownfields

A critical part of EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program is to ensure that residents living in communities historically affected by economic disinvestment, health disparities, and environmental contamination have an opportunity to benefit from brownfields redevelopment. EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program is committed to helping communities revitalize brownfield properties, mitigate potential health risks, and restore economic vitality.

As described in Section 6 of this announcement, applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant demonstrates: a vision for the cleanup, reuse, and redevelopment of brownfield sites and a strategy for leveraging resources to help accomplish the vision; the environmental, social, health, and economic needs and benefits of the target area(s); strong community engagement;

reasonable costs, eligible tasks, and appropriate use of grant funding; the capacity for managing and successfully implementing the cooperative agreement; and other factors.

For examples of grant project accomplishments across the country, please see the EPA Brownfield Grant Recipients Success Stories.

Some features of the RLF Grants are:

• RLF programs are designed to operate for many years (possibly decades) and as such, they require long-term resource commitments by the RLF Grant recipients and ongoing reporting to EPA, even after the RLF Grants are closed.

• Recipients need to have a strong understanding of real estate financing principles and approaches, including loan underwriting, loan servicing, and credit analysis.

• Recipients need to have the ability to market the RLF program on an ongoing basis during the performance period of the grant and after the closeout of the RLF Grant.

• Recipients must commit to properly manage funds and program income generated by their RLF program in perpetuity, unless they terminate their Closeout Agreement (COA) and return any remaining program income to EPA. Program income for the RLF shall be defined as the gross income received by the recipient, directly generated by the cooperative agreement award, or earned while the cooperative agreement and/or COA are in effect. Program income includes principal repayments, interest earned on outstanding loan principal, interest earned on accounts holding RLF program income not needed for immediate lending, all loan fees and loan-related charges received from borrowers, and other income generated from RLF operations, including proceeds from the sale, collection, or liquidations of assets acquired through defaults of loans.

o The majority of program income is generated from the repayments of loans issued by the RLF program.

o Advances of cooperative agreement funds and program income must be held in an interest-bearing account. Interest earned on program income is considered additional program income.

o Loan repayment terms can be short- or long-term, i.e., a few years to decades; hence, the program income can be generated over several years.

o Program income must be used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement, including the COA. EPA prefers that the program income be used for future loans.

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success-stories https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success-stories o Program income may be retained and used after the end of the cooperative agreement in accordance with the recipients’ COA. Termination of the cooperative agreement occurs when all payments from EPA have been received and all cleanup activities funded by the cooperative agreement are complete.

o Program income is governed by 2 CFR §§ 200.307 and 1500.8.

• The award of an RLF Grant is contingent upon the recipient signing and returning the COA to the EPA Project Officer no later than 30 days after award. This COA is based on the FY22 RLF COA template. EPA reserves the right to renegotiate the terms of this RLF COA every five years, in conjunction with the template change (e.g., the earliest next change will be in FY27). If the recipient agrees to continue to operate the RLF under a COA past FY27, the recipient shall work with EPA’s Project Officer to update to the latest COA template. Otherwise, the Project Officer and recipient will negotiate a mutually acceptable disposition of unused program income, and an Authorized EPA Official (e.g., Award Official or Grants Management Officer) will modify the COA accordingly. The FY22 RLF COA Template and a fact sheet describing it are available under “RLF Closeout Resources” on the Brownfields Program website.

2. Eligible Uses of Grant Funds Revolving loan funds are used to provide no-interest or low-interest loans for eligible brownfield cleanups, subgrants for cleanups, and other eligible programmatic costs necessary to manage the RLF.

An RLF Grant recipient must use 50% or more of the total award amount (EPA funds plus the applicant’s cost share) to provide loans for the cleanup of eligible brownfield sites and associated eligible programmatic costs. The remaining EPA funding may be used for eligible programmatic costs, including issuing and managing subgrants to clean up eligible brownfield sites.

An RLF Grant recipient may discount loans, also referred to as the practice of forgiving a portion of loan principal. For an individual loan, the amount of principal discounted may be any percentage of the total loan amount up to 50%, provided that the total amount of the principal forgiven for that loan shall not exceed $500,000 per site. Eligible entities and nonprofit organizations described in Section 2.A. are eligible for discounted loans. Private, for-profit entities are not eligible for discounted loans. In addition, a discounted loan shall not be used in combination with a subgrant at the same site. The discounted portion of a loan applies toward the subgrant limit described in the previous paragraph.

RLF Grant recipients may not subgrant or provide a discounted loan to themselves (i.e., to clean up a site the RLF recipient itself owns even if the site is owned by another agency within the same unit of government). Unlike intra-governmental loans, intra-governmental subgrants and intra-governmental discounted loans are not allowed under the RLF program. For example, if the RLF recipient is a city, then it cannot subgrant to its city development agency that is subject to the same elected or appointed (i.e., a city manager) chief executive’s direct supervision and control. However, if the city redevelopment agency is a separate legal entity that is not subject to the chief executive’s direct supervision and control, it may be eligible. These eligibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis since state and local laws vary widely. However, the RLF Grant recipient may subgrant to other non-lead coalition members if EPA awards an RLF Coalition Grant.

Subgrants are limited to $500,000 per site. Entities receiving RLF subgrants must own the subject site throughout the period of performance of the subgrant, but borrowers are not subject to the same requirement. An RLF Grant recipient cannot make a loan or a subgrant to a party that may be found to be potentially liable for the contamination at the brownfield site, per CERCLA § 107, and the borrower or https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/section-200.307 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-B/chapter-XV/part-1500/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFRafb95c49532a236/section-1500.8 https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-revolving-loan-fund-rlf-grants subgrantee may not be affiliated with a potentially liable person as described in CERCLA §§ 101(40) and 107(q)(1)(A)(ii). In addition, the RLF Grant recipient may not make a loan or subgrant to clean up a site for which the recipient (or a non-lead coalition member in the case of RLF Coalition Grants) is potentially liable under CERCLA § 107.

Participant Support Costs Participant support costs, as defined in 2 CFR § 200.1, are allowable under RLF Grants. Examples of potentially allowable participant support costs include stipends for attendees at community meetings, attendee travel to community meetings, or childcare expenses to encourage attendance at community meetings. Please refer to the FY27 FAQs for additional details on the use of participant support costs.

In their project descriptions, applicants should describe the process they will follow for determining the amounts of allowable stipends, procedures for accounting for participant support cost payments (including receipts), and procedures for documenting that…