RCAP Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA - April 2018

1. Rural Community Assistance PartnershipAnnual ConferenceNew Orleans, LAApril 2018

2. Outline Our Program ePER Basics Demo Additional Topics Partnerships

3. More than just beef…

4. USDA – Rural Development Rural Development includes: • Housing • Rural businesses • Hospitals, fire stations, etc. • Electric, Broadband • And Water

5. Financial Assistance • RD financial assistance: • $215 Billion portfolio across programs • Equal to the nation’s 14th largest bank • Local delivery • 47 State offices and Area Offices • Most employees live and work in rural America

6. Rural Utilities Service: Infrastructure & Services for Rural America • 80 years serving rural America • Eligibility • Serving cities, towns, and rural areas of 10,000 or less • Municipalities, private non-profit, and Native American entities • Federal program delivered locally in rural areas • Built on strong partnerships

8. RUS – Water & Environmental Programs (WEP) • Where WEP comes in… • Building capacity: technical assistance and training grants • Grants (tribes, household water wells) • Predevelopment: PPG & Search Grants • Access to affordable infrastructure for small systems: low-interest rate loans (2-3%) at 40 year repayment terms. • Local delivery of program- Our employees live and work in the communities they serve

9. Various Programs • Native American/Colonias • Rural and Native Alaskan Villages • Technical Assistance and Training Programs • Solid Waste Management • Household Water Well Systems • Revolving Loan Funds • Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants (ECWAG) • Regional Economic Development (RCED and REAP) • Special Evaluation Assistance for Rural Communities & Households (SEARCH) • Predevelopment Planning Grants (PPG) • Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grants

10. Technical Assistance - Solid Waste Management Grants • Provide funding for organizations that provide technical assistance or training to reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources in rural areas (10k or less); and • Improve planning and management of solid waste sites in rural areas. Eligible Applicants include: public bodies, private non-profits, academic institutions, federally and state recognized Native American Tribes

11. Technical Assistance- Technical Assistance and Training (TAT) Grants • Identify and evaluate solutions to water and waste problems in rural areas (10k or less); • Assist applicants in preparing applications for water and waste disposal loans and grants; and • Assist associations in improving the operation and maintenance of existing water and waste facilities in rural areas. Eligible Applicants include: private non-profits (e.g. USET, NRWA, RCAP, etc.)

12. Technical Assistance- Workshop In a Box: Sustainable Management of Rural and Small Systems • Sustainable Rural and Small Utility Management Initiative • Part of an MOA signed between RD and EPA • Helps rural and small water and wastewater systems provide sustainable services to communities • RD and EPA continue to work with partners such as Rural Community Assistance Corporation to host and facilitate workshops around the country • In FY 2016, over 100 workshops in each state, including HI and PR

13. Small/Rural Water and Waste Infrastructure Needs • The United States has over 52,000 small and rural water systems*. • The need for water and waste infrastructure in the United States is estimated at more than $1 trillion over the next 25 years. • Rural areas rely on RUS to finance water & waste infrastructure improvements. • Small population w/ fewer to share cost of infrastructure deployment creates disproportionately higher rates/costs. • Current application backlog is more than $3 B.

14. Application Assistance: Electronic Application RD Apply • Launch of online filing through RD Apply – September 2015 • Live demos and registration at more than 40 rural water conferences • 1,000+ registered to use RD Apply • 600+ applications filed online

15. Application Assistance: Electronic Preliminary Engineering Report e-PER • Web-based application for engineers to use to write PERs • Interactive system steps engineers through the PER development process based on 2013 Interagency Template • Is compatible w/ RD Apply

16. Application Assistance: Environmental Requirements • New consolidated RD environmental regulation 7 CFR part 1970—April 1, 2016 • Streamlined environmental processes – shorten and simplify reviews as evidenced by increased projects funded • Continuing to develop efficiencies to support new regulation

17. Why we do what we do…

18. 97% of the nation’s 156,000 public water systems are small systems serving 10,000 or fewer people EPA and USDA are the largest federal funders of small systems. Combined annual budget is less than $4 billion $600 billion in cost projected in 20 years for small systems Unique Challenges to Small System/Rural Water Infrastructure

19. Challenges for Rural Communities • High poverty • Remoteness and sparse settlement • Low population base • Outmigration • Challenges with Financial, Technical , and Management Capacity • Potentially duplicative application requirements

20. Why partnering and collaborating makes sense…

21. What is a Partnership? “A collaborative relationship between entities to work toward shared objectives through a mutually agreed division of labor.” (World Bank, Partnerships Group)

22. Questions to ask? • What are stakeholders needs/objectives? • What makes each of us unique and/or similar? • Where do we complement one another to: • Share resources? • Combine resources? • Divide resources? • Is this a win-win situation? • What are the respective entities’ responsibilities? • What are the channels for continued communication? • What are the measures of success? • What are subsequent/future partnership opportunities?

23. Communication Shared interest/objective/goal Build on existing partnerships Leverage resources Continued, purposeful and frequent communication Develop metrics to document success and share best practices Factors for success

24. Opportunities for collaboration to help small systems and rural communities

25. Helping provide outreach on… • Various types of funding available specifically to small systems and rural communities • Joint Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) • American Iron and Steel (AIS) • Streamlined Environmental Review Guidance

26. Specific example: ePER

27. 2015 GAO Report Highlighted that rural communities faced duplicative application requirements when applying to multiple state or federal program for infrastructure funding, increasing the cost and time needed to complete each application process.

28. Interagency Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) Template • Agencies response to GAO report. • 2012 MOU signed by EPA, USDA, HUD, IHS and other state entities and agreed to a unified approach and a baseline set of engineering requirements needed to appropriately scope a project. • Intent was to streamline the requirements and lessen the burden of duplicative requirement amongst various funding sources.

29. Background The New Frontier: ePER • PER Interagency Template developed in 2013 • PER Template is in RUS Bulletin 1780-2 • RD implementing streamlining measures: • RD Apply – Online application system (2015) • ePER – Web based system for PER development – AVAILABLE NOW!

30. What is ePER? The New Frontier: ePER • Web-based application for consulting engineers to write Preliminary Engineering Reports (PERs) • Interactive system steps engineers through the PER • Secure portal protects engineer’s work • Generates PERs in PDF and XML data format • Latest innovation in the application process

31. Built In Features The New Frontier: ePER • Follows PER outline of Interagency Template (RUS Bulletin 1780-2) • Service area mapping tool • Population projection • Life cycle cost analysis (pre-populated formula) • Automatic completion of costs once alternative is selected

32. The New Frontier: ePER How does it work?

33. Landing Page for ePER

34. To Create a New Report, click on the “Add New PER” button.

35. A Report Questionnaire will appear. Answers to this Questionnaire affect what is needed to complete a Report.

36. After finishing the Report Questionnaire, you can click on the Interview Tab to see, and change any answers as needed.

37. The Engineer, Engineering Firm, and Client Tabs collect all the necessary contact information for the PER.

40. Every page has a Preview option to verify the Output is as expected.

41. The Location subtab has the Service Area information where Engineers can Draw/Upload/Edit their Existing and Proposed Service Areas.

42. The Census Data will generate Population Trends utilizing 1990-2010 data to display Annual Growth and extrapolate 2020-2050 Populations.

43. Tabs and subtabs follow RUS Bulletin 1780-2 interagency template format.

44. After all Alternatives have been scored, the Engineer then can select the Alternative they propose to move forward with.

45. The Summary/Complete Tab shows Report Status.

46. Table of Contents from a Sample ePER

47. Benefits of the ePER The New Frontier: ePER • SECURE: Only the consulting engineers or their designees can access the reports • INTERACTIVE:ePER prompts users for information, minimizing the time and effort involved in completing reports • COMPATIBLE: The ePER system is compatible with the RD Apply online application system • FLEXIBLE: Reports are generated in PDF and XML for easy submission to USDA and other Federal/state funding agencies

48. What’s next? The New Frontier: ePER • On-going beta testing by State Engineers and consulting engineers. • Large scale training effort in FY18. • Implement some additional improvements based on beta testing. • Integration with RD Apply.

49. Demonstration

50. Live Demo • Population Projection Tool • Service Area Mapping Tool, • Alternatives Section • Operations & Maintenance • Project Costs