§690h Operational Assistance Grants

Summary

The Administrator can give grants to Renewable Fuel Capital Investment companies to help run smaller businesses they already fund or plan to fund. Grants can last up to 10 years. Each grant is the smaller of 10 percent of the resources the company raised under section 690c(d)(2) or $1,000,000. If there is not enough money available, the Administrator will cut grants proportionally. If a company is only conditionally approved and asks for a grant, the Administrator must give it, but the company must repay the grant if it does not reach a final participation agreement (subject to federal law). If the company later gets final approval, the earlier grant is subtracted from its total operational assistance, and no such conditional grant can exceed $100,000. The Administrator may also make extra (supplemental) grants to those companies and to other authorized entities to provide more help to small businesses. The Administrator may require the recipient to match a supplemental grant with its own cash or in-kind contribution equal to the grant. None of the money from these grants may be used for the company’s overhead or general administrative costs.