Key Definitions · CWIFP Portal

Applicant means the entity submitting the application for CWIFP credit assistance. Only prospective borrowers that are invited to submit a CWIFP application and have paid the non-refundable application deposit become applicants. The following entities are eligible to receive credit assistance: a corporation, a partnership, a joint venture, a trust, a State, or local government, a tribal government or consortium of tribal governments, and a State infrastructure financing authority.
Credit agreement means a contractual agreement (or agreements) between USACE and a borrower (and the lender, if applicable) establishing the terms and conditions, rules, and requirements of a secured loan or loan guarantee.
Credit assistance means a secured loan or loan guarantee under 33 U.S.C. § 3908.
Economically disadvantaged refers to a community that meets one of the following criteria:
1. low-income (the area has a per capita income of 80 percent or less of the national average),
2. unemployment rate above national average (the area has an unemployment rate that is, for the most recent 24-month period for which data are available, at least 1 percent greater than the national average unemployment rate),
3. Indian country as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1151 or in the proximity of an Alaska Native Village,
4. U.S. Territories, or
5. identified as disadvantaged by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (developed by the Council on Environmental Quality and currently available at https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov).
Eligible project costs means the amounts, which are paid by, or for the account of, a borrower in connection with a project, including the cost of:
1. Development-phase activities, including planning, feasibility analysis (including any related analysis necessary to carry out an eligible project), revenue forecasting, environmental review, permitting, preliminary engineering and design work, and other pre-construction activities.
2. Construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and replacement activities.
3. Acquisition of real property or an interest in real property (including water rights, land relating to the project, and improvements to land), environmental mitigation, construction contingencies, and acquisition of equipment; and
4. Capitalized interest necessary to meet market requirements, reasonably required reserve funds, capital issuance expenses, and other carrying costs during construction. Capitalized interest on the Federal credit instrument is not an eligible project cost.
Federal credit instrument means a secured loan or loan guarantee authorized to be made available under 33 U.S.C. 3901-3914 with respect to a project.
Investment‐grade rating means a rating category of BBB minus, Baa3, bbb minus, BBB (low), or higher assigned by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) to project obligations offered into the capital markets.
Iron and steel products means the following products made primarily of iron or steel: lined or unlined pipes and fittings, manhole covers and other municipal castings, hydrants, tanks, flanges, pipe clamps and restraints, valves, structural steel, reinforced precast concrete, and construction materials.
Nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) means a credit rating agency identified and registered by the Office of Credit Ratings in the Securities and Exchange Commission under 15 U.S.C. 78c.
Project or Water Resources Infrastructure Project means:
1. Safety projects to maintain, upgrade, and repair dams (including dam removal) identified in the National Inventory of Dams with a primary owner type of State, local government, public utility, or private; and which meets the statutory requirements of Title 1, Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, meet the criteria outlined in 85 FR 39189 (see Division D of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Pub. L. 116-94)).
2. Any project that meets the criteria in the preceding paragraph must also be a project for flood damage reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction, aquatic environmental restoration, coastal or inland harbor navigation improvement, or inland and intracoastal waterways navigation improvement that the Secretary determines is technically sound, economically justified, and environmentally acceptable, including –
  1. A project to reduce flood damage;
  2. A project to restore aquatic ecosystems;
  3. A project to improve the inland and intracoastal waterways navigation system of the United States; and
  4. A project to improve navigation of a coastal inland harbor of the United States, including channel deepening and construction of associated general navigation features.
3. Acquisition of real property or an interest in real property, given that the associated costs are for the purposes noted in items (1) and (2) above –
  1. If the acquisition is integral to a project eligible for CWIFP credit assistance; or
  2. Pursuant to an existing plan that, in the judgment of the Secretary, would mitigate the environmental impacts of water resources infrastructure projects otherwise eligible for CWIFP credit assistance.
4. A combination of projects secured by a common security pledge, each of which is eligible for CWIFP credit assistance, for which an eligible entity, or a combination of eligible entities, submits a single application.
Prospective borrower means an eligible entity seeking credit assistance.
Public entity means:
1. a State, or local Governmental entity, agency, or instrumentality; or
2. a Tribal Government or consortium of Tribal Governments.
Publicly sponsored means the applicant can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that it has consulted with the affected State, local or Tribal Government in which the project is located, or is otherwise affected by the project, and that such government supports the proposed project. Support can be shown by a certified letter signed by the approving municipal department or similar agency, mayor or other similar designated authority, local ordinance, or any other means by which local government approval can be evidenced.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Army, see Section 2 of Pub. L. 113–121, set out as a note under Section 2201 of 33 U.S.C. §§ 3901‐3914.
Small community means a community of not more than 25,000 individuals.
State means any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States.
State infrastructure financing authority means the State entity established or designated by the Governor of a State to receive a capitalization grant provided by, or otherwise carry out the requirements of, title VI of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381 et. seq.) or Section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12).
Term sheet means a contractual agreement between USACE and the borrower (and the lender, if applicable) that sets forth the key business terms and conditions of a Federal credit instrument.
Treatment works has the meaning given the term in Section 212 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1292).
WIFIA means the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, as amended.