oppCDFI-2018-CMF-cfda21.011-instructions.pdf

BILLING CODE: 4810-70-P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Funding Opportunities: Capital Magnet Fund; 2018 Funding Round

Funding Opportunity Title: Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) inviting Applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Funding Round of the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF).

Announcement Type: Announcement of funding opportunity.

Funding Opportunity Number: CDFI-2018-CMF.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 21.011.

Dates:

Table 1. FY 2018 Capital Magnet Fund Funding Round Critical Deadlines for Applicants

Description Deadline Time (Eastern Time-

ET)

Submission Method

OMB Standard Form (SF)-424 Mandatory form

August 20, 11:59 p.m. ET Electronically via Grants.gov

Create AMIS Account (if Applicant doesn’t have one)

August 27, 11:59 p.m. ET Electronically via Awards Management Information System

(AMIS)

Last day to contact Capital Magnet Fund Staff

September 13, 5:00 p.m. ET Service Request via AMIS or CDFI Fund Helpdesk: 202-653-

0421 or cmf@cdfi.treas.gov CMF Application and Required Attachments

September 17, 5:00 p.m. ET Electronically via AMIS

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 C.F.R. Part

1807) as amended February 8, 2016 (the CMF Interim Rule), this NOFA, the CDFI Fund’s environmental quality regulation (12 C.F.R. 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 C.F.R. Part 200; 78 FR 78590) (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. Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI

Fund has awarded approximately $3 billion to CDFIs, community development and affordable housing organizations, and financial institutions through the CMF, Community Development

Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program), the Native American CDFI Assistance Program

(NACA Program), the Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program), and the Financial

Education and Counseling Pilot Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated more than

$54 billion in tax credit allocation authority through the New Markets Tax Credit Program

(NMTC Program) and has issued $1.4 billion in guarantees through the CDFI Bond Guarantee

Program.

C. Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal

Awards (2 C.F.R. Part 200): 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 the risks to the program posed by each applicant, and each applicant’s merits and eligibility. 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

2018 funding round: (i) Applications where at least 20 percent of all rental Affordable Housing units that will be financed and/or supported with FY 2018 CMF Awards are targeted to Very

Low-Income Families and/or at least 20 percent of all Homeownership Affordable Housing units that will be financed and/or supported with FY 2018 CMF Awards are targeted to Low-Income

Families; and (ii) 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 states not included in the Service Areas of Recipients in the past two CMF rounds (FY 2016 and

FY 2017): Iowa, Maine, North Dakota and Wyoming as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Finally, the CDFI Fund seeks to fund highly qualified Applications proposing to serve areas “most impacted and distressed” resulting from a major disaster declared in 2017 as identified by the Department of Housing and

Urban Development (HUD) and published in the Federal Register (83 FR 5844).

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 approximately $142.9 million in grants for the CMF FY 2018 round under this NOFA. HERA prohibits the CDFI Fund from obligating more than 15 percent of the aggregate available in CMF Awards to any Applicant, its

Subsidiaries and Affiliates in the same funding round. Affiliated entities are not allowed to apply separately under this NOFA. To provide an example of the size of awards in past CMF rounds, the CDFI Fund notes that in the FY 2017 CMF round, the statutory cap was $18 million, but the largest amount awarded was $7.5 million, while the average award was $3 million. Moreover, given administrative and compliance responsibilities for Recipients, the CDFI Fund will not accept Applications for the FY 2018 round that request less than $500,000, and will not provide awards below $500,000 to any CMF Award Recipient for the FY 2018 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. An Applicant may receive only one

Award through the FY 2018 CMF Round.

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 C.F.R. 1807.301. CMF

Awards cannot be “passed through” to third-party entities, whether Affiliates, Subsidiaries, or others, to undertake the eligible activities set forth in 12 C.F.R. 1807.301, without the prior written approval of the CDFI Fund.

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 and awards/allocations from other

CDFI Fund programs to finance and/or support activities in the same property unless the CMF

Award dollars are used to finance/support a different “phase” of development than what is funded by other CDFI Fund program awards/allocations. The separate phases of development financing are considered to be: 1) predevelopment; 2) acquisition; 3) site work (preconstruction);

4) construction/rehabilitation; 5) permanent financing; or 6) bridge financing between two or more phases. If the Recipient has received multiple CMF Awards, these awards are not subject to this phasing restriction and may be combined in the same Project phase. The term “Recipient” includes the CMF Award Recipient and any Affiliates.

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 CMF Award and an award/allocation from another CDFI Fund program (e.g., down payment assistance funded from

CMF dollars 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, as further set forth in the Assistance Agreement. While the

Recipient’s other CMF Awards may be used to finance/support the same property, each award must separately meet the program requirements as outlined in the applicable Assistance

Agreement and the CMF Interim Rule (12 C.F.R. Part 1807); the same units and Leveraged

Costs may not be counted towards meeting the programmatic requirements for more than one

CMF Award. The term “Recipient” includes the CMF Award Recipient and any Affiliates.

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 2018 CMF Round to begin in early 2019. The period of performance for each CMF Award begins with the date that the CDFI Fund announces the Recipients of FY 2018

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 C.F.R. 1807.401(d) and 12

C.F.R. 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 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 percent of a

CMF Award may be used for Economic Development Activities. For the FY 2018 CMF Round, the CDFI Fund will allow all Recipients to use up to 5 percent 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 C.F.R. 1807.104. Table

2 indicates the criteria that each entity type 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 C.F.R. 1805.201 and as verified in the CDFI’s AMIS account as of the date of this NOFA; and

• Has not been notified 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 that its certification has been terminated.

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 C.F.R. 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 thirty-three and one-third percent of its total assets are dedicated to the development or management of affordable housing.

Application type and submission method through Grants.gov and Awards Management

• Each Applicant must submit the required Application documents listed in Table 4.

Table 2. Applicant Eligibility Requirements 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.

• All Applicants must submit the required documents in two locations: 1) Grants.gov and 2) AMIS.

o Grants.gov: Applicants must submit the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Standard Form (SF) 424 Mandatory (Application for Federal Assistance) form.

o AMIS: Applicants must submit all other required Application materials.

o All Applicants must register in the Grants.gov and AMIS systems to submit an Application successfully. The CDFI Fund strongly encourages Applicants to register as early as possible to meet the deadlines in Table 1.

• Grants.gov and the SF-424 Mandatory form:

o Grants.gov is a common website for federal agencies to post discretionary funding opportunities and for grantees to find and apply to them.

o 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.

o Because the SF-424 is part of the Application, if the SF- 424 is not accepted by Grants.gov, the CDFI Fund will not review any materials submitted in AMIS and the Application will be deemed ineligible.

o The SF-424 must be submitted under the FY 2018 CMF Funding Opportunity Number.

• AMIS:

o 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.

o Applicants are only allowed one Capital Magnet Fund Application submission in AMIS.

Employer Identification Number (EIN)

• Each Applicant must have a unique EIN assigned by the Internal Revenue Service.

• The CDFI Fund will reject an Application submitted with the EIN of a parent or Affiliate organization.

• The EIN of the Applicant organization in AMIS must match the EIN on the SF-424 submitted through Grants.gov.

DUNS number • Pursuant to OMB guidance (68 FR 38402), each 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 organization.

• The DUNS number of the Applicant in AMIS must match the

DUNS number on the SF-424 submitted through Grants.gov.

System for Award Management (SAM)

• Each Applicant must have an 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 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.

AMIS Account • Each Applicant 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 must be included as a “user” 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 Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity Statutes, Regulations, and Executive Orders

• 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 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.); and Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency.

Debarment Check • The CDFI Fund will conduct a debarment check and will not consider an Application if the Applicant is delinquent on any Federal debt or otherwise ineligible to receive a Federal award.

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.

Insured CDFI - Insured Credit Union and Insured Depository Institution

• To be eligible for an Award, each Insured Depository Institution Applicant must have a CAMELS/CAMEL rating (rating for banks and credit unions, respectively), by its Federal regulator of at least “3.”

• Organizations with CAMELS/CAMEL 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 Insured Depository 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.

B. Prior Recipients and/or Allocatees: Applicants must be aware that success in a prior round of any of the CDFI Fund’s programs is not indicative of success under this NOFA. Prior Recipients and/or Allocatees under any CDFI Fund program are eligible to apply under this NOFA, except as noted in Table 3:

Table 3. Eligibility Requirements for Applicants which are Prior Award/Allocation Recipients

Criteria Description

Pending resolution of noncompliance

• The CDFI Fund will consider an Application submitted by an Applicant that has pending noncompliance issues if the CDFI Fund has not yet made a final compliance determination.

Noncompliance status • The CDFI Fund will not consider an Application submitted by an Applicant that has a previously executed award agreement(s) if, as of the date of the NOFA, (i) the CDFI Fund has made a determination that such entity is noncompliant with a previously executed agreement and (ii) 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.

• The CDFI Fund will not consider any Applicant that has defaulted on a CDFI Fund program loan within five years of the AMIS Application deadline.

C. Contacting the CDFI Fund: Accordingly, 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. All outstanding reporting and compliance questions should be directed to the Office of Certification, Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation help desk by AMIS Service Requests or by telephone at (202) 653-0421; except in the case of Capital Magnet Fund reporting and compliance questions, which should be directed to the Capital Magnet Fund help desk by completing a Service Request through the Awards Management Information System using

“CMF – Compliance” as the Service Request type. Alternatively, the public can contact Capital

Magnet Fund staff via e-mail at CMF@cdfi.treas.gov. The CDFI Fund will not respond to

Applicants’ reporting, compliance, or disbursement telephone calls or e-mail inquiries that are received after 5:00 p.m. ET on September 13, 2018 until after the Application deadline. The

CDFI Fund will respond to technical issues related to AMIS Accounts through 5:00 p.m. ET on

September 17, 2018, 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:

1. Entities that Submit Applications Together with Affiliates: As part of the Application review process, the CDFI Fund considers whether Applicants are Affiliates, as such term is defined in

12 C.F.R.1807.104. If an Applicant and its Affiliate(s) wish to submit Applications, they must do so through one of the Affiliated entities, in one Application; an Applicant and its Affiliates may not submit separate Applications. If Affiliates submit multiple or separate Applications, 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.

Furthermore, an Applicant that receives an award in this CMF round may not become an

Affiliate of another Applicant that receives an award in this CMF round at any time after the submission of a CMF Application under this NOFA. This requirement will also be a term and condition of the Assistance Agreement (see additional Application guidance materials on the

CDFI Fund’s website at http://www.cdfifund.gov/cmf for more details).

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 the

Grants.gov and the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf. Applicants may request a paper version of any Application material by contacting the CDFI Fund Help Desk by e-mail 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 2018 CMF Round.

Applicants must submit all required documents for the Application to be deemed complete. 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, including any Single Audit filed with the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, if the Applicant was required to have a Single Audit completed (most recent 2 fiscal years)

PDF in AMIS Required for all Applicants

Table 4. Funding Application Documents

Application Document Submission Format Required?

Any management letters related to the audited financial statements (most recent 2 fiscal years)

PDF in AMIS Required for all Applicants

State Charter, Articles of Incorporation, 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.

PDF in AMIS Required only for Applicants that are not Certified CDFIs

A certification demonstrating tax exempt status from the IRS. For Applicants that are governmental instrumentalities only, and as long as all other eligibility requirements are met, the CDFI Fund will accept a legal opinion from counsel, in form and substance acceptable to the CDFI Fund, opining that the Applicant is exempt from federal taxation.

PDF in AMIS Required only for Applicants that are not Certified CDFIs

Articles of incorporation, by-laws or other documents demonstrating that the Applicant has a principal purpose of managing or developing affordable housing.

PDF in AMIS Required only for Applicants that are not Certified CDFIs

The CDFI Fund has a sequential, two-step process that requires the submission of Application documents in separate systems and on separate deadlines. The SF-424 form must be submitted through Grants.gov and all other Application documents through the AMIS portal. The CDFI

Fund will not accept Applications via e-mail, 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 5. Only the Authorized Representative 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 sufficient time to resolve any submission problems. 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:

http://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 with SAM, 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. The SAM registration process can take a month or longer to complete. A signed notarized letter identifying the authorized Entity Administrator for the entity associated with the DUNS number is required by SAM before the registration will be activated. This requirement is applicable to new entities registering in SAM, as well as existing entities with registrations being updated or renewed in SAM. Applicants cannot register in SAM without both an EIN and DUNS number. Applicants that have previously completed the

SAM registration process must verify that their SAM accounts are current and active. Each

Applicant must continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application under consideration 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 its Application by the

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.

Table 5. Grants.gov Registration Timeline Summary

Step Agency Estimated Minimum Time to complete

Obtain a DUNS number Dun & Bradstreet One Week* Register in SAM.gov System for Award Management (SAM) One Month* 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 2018 CMF Funding Round:

Table 6. FY 2018 CMF Deadlines for Applicants

Document Deadline Time – Eastern Time (ET)

Submission Method

SF-424 Mandatory form

August 20, 2018 11:59 pm ET Electronically via Grants.gov

Create AMIS Account (if the Applicant does not already have one)

August 27, 2018 11:59 pm ET Electronically via

AMIS

CMF Application and Required Attachments

September 17, 5:00 pm ET Electronically via

AMIS

2. Confirmation of Application Submission in Grants.gov and AMIS: Applicants are required to submit the OMB SF-424 Mandatory Form through the Grants.gov system, under the FY 2018

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 the SF-424 is not successfully accepted 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 early as possible in the Grants.gov portal, given submission problems may impact the ability to submit a complete Application.

(a) Grants.gov Submission Information: Each Applicant will receive an initial e-mail from

Grants.gov immediately after submitting the SF-424, confirming that the submission has entered the Grants.gov system. This e-mail will contain a tracking number for the submitted SF-424.

Within 48 hours, the Applicant will receive a second e-mail which will indicate if the submitted

SF-424 was either successfully validated or rejected with errors. However, Applicants should not rely on the e-mail 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 e-mail 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. If using 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 and 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 Application submissions.

Prior to submission, each Application in AMIS must be signed by an Authorized Representative.

An Authorized Representative is an officer, or other individual, who has the actual 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 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 the Authorized Representative or Application point of contact, listed in the Application, 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 or attempt to negotiate the terms of an award.

3. Multiple Application Submissions: Applicants are only permitted to submit one complete

Application. However, the CDFI Fund does not control Grants.gov, which does allow for multiple application submissions. Thus, 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. Applicants can only submit one Application through

AMIS.

4. Late Submission: The CDFI Fund will not accept an Application submitted after the applicable Grants.gov or AMIS Application deadline, 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. In the event of a government administrative or technological error causing delay, the Applicant must submit a request for acceptance of late Application submission and include documentation of the error no later than two business days after the applicable

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 via Service Request in AMIS with the subject line of “FY2018 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 C.F.R.

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 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.

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 two parts of the review process, the

Quantitative Assessment and External Review, the Applications will be grouped into two categories: (1) financing entities and (2) housing developers/managers. Certified CDFIs will be categorized as financing entities. Nonprofit Organizations will select whether they are primarily financing entities or housing developers/managers. These two groups will be evaluated on the criteria listed in this section. The CDFI Fund may elect to use a different criteria where appropriate, in order to evaluate the financial health, capacity, and strategies of these distinct entity types. In general, these differences are noted in this section and the Application.

1. Quantitative Assessment: Each complete and eligible Application will receive a numeric score based on the responses to quantitative questions in the Application. Applications may receive a score of up to 100 points based on the following factors outlined in Table 7.

Table 7. Quantitative Assessment Factors Section Points Assessment Criteria

Business and Leveraging Strategy

40 • Private leverage multiplier

• Reasonableness of projected activities based on track record

• Applicant-level leverage multiplier

• Whether the Application is proposing to serve Iowa, Maine, North Dakota, Wyoming the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa or Puerto Rico

Community Impact

35 • Percent of rental housing units targeted to Very Low-Income (VLI) or below (50 percent of AMI or below)

• Percent of Homeownership units targeted to Low-Income (LI) or below (80 percent of AMI or below)

• Relevant track record of financing and/or supporting units targeted to VLI or LI families

• Commitment to only finance Economic Development Activities in Low-Income Areas (if proposing Economic Development Activities)

• Percent of housing units to be financed and/or supported in Areas of Economic Distress

Organizational Capacity

25 • Capitalization

• Operating Performance

• Liquidity

• Audit Results

Within the Business and Leveraging Strategy Section of the Quantitative Assessment, an

Applicant will generally score more favorably to the extent it: proposes to leverage a higher multiplier of private capital (up to 10 times the amount of the CMF Award); has a volume of projected activities supported by its track record; and is proposing to leverage some portion of capital at the Applicant-level. An Applicant will also score slightly more favorably if it is proposing to serve Iowa, Maine, North Dakota, Wyoming, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the

Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa or Puerto Rico.

Within the Community Impact Section, an Applicant will generally score more favorably to the extent that it commits to one or more of the following: financing and/or supporting a higher percentage of rental housing units targeted to Very Low-Income Families (if proposing to use

CMF for rental housing), and/or financing and/or supporting a higher percentage of

Homeownership units targeted to Low-Income Families (if proposing to use CMF for

Homeownership). The Applicant will also score more favorably to the extent that it commits to:

financing and/or supporting Economic Development Activities in Low-Income Areas only (if proposing to use CMF for Economic Developments Activities), and financing and/or supporting a higher percentage of units located in Areas of Economic Distress. Areas of Economic Distress are census tracts: (a) where at least 20 percent of households that are Very Low-Income (50 percent of AMI or below) spend more than half of their income on housing; or (b) where the unemployment rate is at least 1.5 times the national average; or (c) that are Low-Income Housing

Tax Credit Qualified Census Tracts; or (d) where greater than 20 percent of households have incomes below the poverty rate and the rental vacancy rate is at least 10 percent; or (e) where greater than 20 percent of the households have incomes below the poverty rate and the homeownership vacancy rate is at least 10 percent; or (f) are Underserved Rural Areas as defined in the CMF Interim Rule (as amended February 8, 2016; 12 C.F.R. Part 1807).

Within the Financial Health section, Applicants will generally score more favorably to the extent that their 3-year financial data indicate, among other things, the following: strong capitalization;

strong operating performance; strong liquidity; and that the Applicant has not had any negative findings (e.g. opinion other than unqualified; a “going concern paragraph;” repeat findings of reportable conditions; material weaknesses in internal control) in any of the three most recently completed annual audits, including its Single Audit, if applicable.

Once the quantitative score is determined, Applicants in each of the two categories (financing entities and housing developers/managers) will be ranked in descending order based on their quantitative review score. The top 80 percent of Applications in each category will be forwarded to the next level of review: External Review. The CDFI Fund reserves the right to forward additional Applications to the External Review phase in order to ensure that a diversity of geographies (including different states as well as Metropolitan and Rural Areas) are served by the Applicants reviewed in the External Review phase. The CDFI Fund also reserves the right to forward all Applicants to the External Review phase, regardless of Quantitative Assessment score, if fewer than 140 CMF Applications are received.

2. External Review: Applications that advance from the Quantitative Assessment 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 a background 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, consisting of either financing entity Applicants or housing developer/manager Applicants, to review. 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 will result in the Application being awarded up to 100 total points by each reviewer. 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). An Applicant’s final External Review score will be a composite based on the external reviewers’ evaluation and Quantitative Assessment factors.

The majority of the score will be based on the external reviewers’ evaluation.

(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 its proposed

Service Area 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 track record; (iv) the role CMF plays 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 reviewer 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 strategy and activities will result in more favorable financing rates and terms; (iii) demonstrates that its projected activities are achievable based on the Applicant’s strategy and track record; (iv) describes a clear process for locating projects and proposes activities that have a clear need for

CMF financing; (v) has a credible pipeline of projects; (vi) has a clear strategy for and track record of leveraging private capital; and…