Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 785 - Oklahoma Water Resources Board › Chapter 50 - Financial Assistance › Subchapter 8 - Rural Economic Action Plan (Reap) Grant Program Requirements and Procedures › Section 785:50-8-6 - Disbursement of funds

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a)
Action following Board approval and prior to disbursement of
										funding.
(1)
Notification of approval.
Upon approval of
										a REAP grant application, the Board shall furnish to the applicant a written notice of grant approval. The
										notice shall advise the applicant that the grant application has been formally and officially approved by the
										Board and that the grant funds approved shall be made available to the applicant by the Board for such
										purposes and upon such other terms and conditions as the Board may require.
(2)
Bid filing.
Within ninety (90) days following the date of
										the written notice of approval, the applicant shall file with the Board an acceptable bid for completion of
										the proposed project. Where determined necessary and appropriate, the Board or its staff may permit
										additional time to file such a bid; provided, notwithstanding any approval of additional time, if such a bid
										is not filed within one (1) year following the date of Board approval of the application, then the Board's
										approval shall expire and no funds shall be released provided however, if an acceptable bid for completion
										has not been filed due to circumstances that lay outside the applicant's control, the applicant may request,
										and the Board may approve or deny, a one-time extension of time not to exceed six months to file an
										acceptable bid. Provided further, in the event of such expiration the applicant may file a new application
										which shall be subject to due consideration on its own merits.
(3)
Additional conditions prior to disbursement of grant
										funds.
(A) Applicant shall establish, in such manner as is
										acceptable to the Board or its staff, a special and separate federally insured account in and through which
										the grant proceeds shall be administered and accounted for by the applicant.
(B) Unless otherwise provided and approved by the Board, applicant shall
										submit to the Board all plans, specifications and engineering reports, for the project for staff approval,
										all of which shall be complete and in sufficient detail as would be required for submission of the project to
										a contractor for bidding or contracting the project. If not previously provided, applicant shall provide
										Board with a written and verified statement setting forth:
(i) the amount
										of funds necessary for release and disbursement at closing which funds are needed for initial commencement of
										the project, and
(ii) information reflecting the reasonable
										availability of and/or a commitment from all other revenue or funding sources needed to finance and complete
										the project.
(C) Applicant and Board, and all other
										necessary parties, shall have executed all necessary and incidental instruments and documents, including but
										not limited to a grant agreement.
(4)
Board
										action on request for increase in approved amount.
If prior to disbursement of the grant monies to the
										applicant, the project bids exceed the engineer's estimates or it otherwise develops that the REAP grant
										amount approved by the Board, when combined with any other sources of funding, will be insufficient to
										complete the approved project, then the applicant may file a written request:
(A) to amend the scope of the approved project in a manner consistent with
										(a)(5) of this Section; or
(B) decline funding and withdraw its
										application for the current fiscal year and request that the Board reconsider the application with an
										increased REAP grant amount during the following fiscal year. The request for an increased REAP grant amount
										shall be treated as a new application on its own merits; provided, the original application shall not be
										counted for purposes of the previous grant assistance portion of the priority point determination.
(5)
Board action on request for change in scope of
										approved project.
If prior to disbursement of the grant monies to the applicant, it develops that the
										applicant wishes to change the scope of the project from that approved by the Board, then the applicant may
										file a written request for approval of such a change. If the Board staff determines that the change is
										reasonably and in all material aspects within the scope of the project description approved by the Board,
										then the staff shall be authorized to approve such requested change. If the Board staff determines that the
										change is not in all material respects within the scope of the project description approved by the Board,
										then such a request shall be presented to the Board for action. Provided, however, the Board shall not
										approve a change in scope of project if the change, if considered as part of the original application, would
										have resulted in a lower priority point determination on the application.