Direct loans shall be in the form of a cost-of-money loan except as detailed in § 1738.152.

(a) Direct cost-of-money loans shall bear interest at a rate equal to the cost of borrowing to the Department of Treasury for obligations of comparable maturity unless the project qualifies for a reduced interest rate as detailed in § 1738.102. The applicable interest rate will be set at the time of each advance.

(b) The interest rate for Applicants receiving payment assistance or Substantially Underserved Trust Areas (SUTA) consideration will be set at the time of the Award.

Terms and conditions of the loan and loan/grant combinations are set forth in a mortgage, note, and loan contract. Samples of the mortgage, note, and loan contract can be found on the Agency's website.

(a) Unless requested to be shorter by the Applicant, loans must be repaid with interest within a period that, rounded to the nearest whole year, is equal to the expected composite economic life of the assets to be financed, as determined by the Agency based upon acceptable depreciation rates. Expected composite economic life means the weighted average economic life of all classes of facilities necessary to complete construction of the broadband facilities plus 3 years.

(b) Principal payments for each advance are amortized over the remaining term of the loan and are due monthly. Principal payments will be deferred until 3 years after the date of the first advance of loan funds. Interest begins accruing when the first advance of loan funding is made and interest payments are due monthly, with no deferral period.

(c) Awardees are required to carry fidelity bond coverage. Generally, this amount will be 15 percent of the loan or loan/grant combination Award amount, not to exceed $5 million. The Agency may reduce the percentage required if it determines that the amount is not commensurate with the risk involved.

(a) The broadband loan or loan/grant combination must be secured by the assets purchased with the loan or loan/grant combination funds, as well as all other assets of the Applicant and any other cosigner of the Award documents except as allowed under section 601(h)(2) of the RE Act. With respect to loan/grant combinations, all grant assets must also be covered by a security interest in favor of the Government for the average composite economic life of all project assets financed with assistance, regardless of whether the loan is paid off before the maturity date. Additionally, the sale of all such grant assets shall be governed by 2 CFR part 200, regardless of the entity type of the Awardee.

(b) The Agency must be given an exclusive first lien, in form and substance satisfactory to the Agency, on all of the Applicant's property and revenues and such additional security as the Agency may require. The Agency may share its first lien position with another lender on a pari passu, prorated basis if security arrangements are acceptable to the Agency.

(c) Unless otherwise designated by the Agency, all property purchased with loan and loan/grant combination funds must be owned by the Applicant.

(d) In the case of loan and loan/grant combinations that include financing of facilities that do not constitute self-contained operating systems, the Applicant shall furnish assurance, satisfactory to the Agency, that continuous and efficient service that meets the broadband build-out requirements as noted in § 1738.55 will be rendered.

(e) The Agency will require adequate financial, investment, operational, reporting, and managerial controls in the Award documents.

RUS loan and grant advances are made at the request of the Awardee according to the procedures stipulated in the Award documents. For loan and loan/grant combination Awards, all non-RUS funds must be expended first, followed by loan funds and then grant funds, except for RUS approved development costs. Grant funds for eligible development costs, if any, will be used only on the first advance request.

Awardees shall use in connection with the expenditure of loan and grant funds only such unmanufactured articles, materials, and supplies, as have been mined or produced in the United States or in any eligible country, and only such manufactured articles, materials, and supplies as have been manufactured in the United States or in any eligible country, substantially all from articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or manufactured, as the case may be, in the United States or in any eligible country. For purposes of this section, an “eligible country” is any country that applies with respect to the United States an agreement ensuring reciprocal access for United States products and services and United States suppliers to the markets of that country, as determined by the United States Trade Representative. The Buy American regulations may be found at, and any requests for waiver must be submitted pursuant to, 7 CFR part 1787.