§ 59.70 Award of grants.

(a) The Secretary, during the fiscal year for which a priority list is made under this part, will: (1) Award a grant for each application that has been approved under § 59.20, that is sufficiently high on the priority list so that funding is available for the application, that meets the additional application requirements in § 59.60, and that meets all other requirements under this part for obtaining a grant, or (2) Conditionally approve a grant for a project for which a State has submitted an application that substantially meets the requirements of this part if the State representative requests conditional approval and provides written assurance that the State will meet all requirements for a grant not later than 180 calendar days after the date of conditional approval. If a State that has obtained conditional approval for a project does not meet all of the requirements within 180 calendar days after the date of conditional approval, the Secretary will rescind the conditional approval and the project will be ineligible for a grant in the fiscal year in which the State failed to fully complete the application. The funds that were conditionally obligated for the project will be deobligated. (b) As a condition of receiving a grant, a State must make sufficient funds available for the project for which the grant is requested so that such project may proceed upon approval of the grant without further action required by the State (such as subsequent issuance of bonds) to make such funds available for such purpose. To meet this criteria, the State must provide to VA a letter from an authorized State budget official certifying that the State funds are, or will be, available for the project, so that if VA awards the grant, the project may proceed without further State action to make such funds available (such as further action to issue bonds). If the certification is based on an Act authorizing the project and making available the State's matching funds for the project, a copy of the Act must be submitted with the certification. To be eligible for inclusion in priority group 1 under this part, a State must make such funds available by August 1 of the year prior to the fiscal year for which the grant is requested. To otherwise be eligible for a grant and grant funds based on inclusion on the priority list in other than priority group 1, a State must make such funds available by July 1 of the fiscal year for which the grant is requested. (c) As a condition of receiving a grant, the State representative and the Secretary will sign three originals of the Memorandum of Agreement documents (one for the State and two for VA). A sample is in § 59.170.