[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 11]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR1753.80]

[Page 406-407]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER XVII--RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 1753--TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart I--Minor Construction
 
Sec. 1753.80  Minor construction procedure.

    (a) If the borrower performs minor construction financed with loan 
funds, the borrower's regular work order procedure shall be used to 
administer construction activities that may be performed entirely by a 
contractor under Form 773 contract, by work order, or jointly by work 
order and one or more contractors under Form 773 contracts.
    (b) RUS financing under Form 773 contracts dated in the same 
calendar year is limited to the following amounts for the following 
discrete categories of minor construction. The date of the Form 773 
contract is the date the Form 773 contract is executed.
    (1) For outside plant construction, the limit is $500,000 or ten per 
cent (10%) of the borrower's previous calendar year's outside plant 
total construction, whichever is greater.
    (2) For central office equipment, the limit is $500,000.
    (3) For special equipment and buildings, the limit is $250,000 in 
each category.
    (c) A single minor construction project may be a discrete element of 
a somewhat larger overall project, such as the provision and 
installation of a standby power generator or heating/air conditioning 
equipment in connection with a building modification or expansion 
project or the splicing on a major cable placement project. It cannot be 
a portion, by dividing into smaller segments, of a discrete major 
construction project, such as the placement of a continuous cable 
facility.
    (d) RUS approval must be obtained in advance for minor construction 
unless all of the following conditions are met:
    (1) RUS has approved the engineering design.
    (2) All standard RUS procedures are followed, including use of new 
materials listed in the List of Materials for Use on Telephone Systems 
of RUS Borrowers (Bul. 344-2) and the application of RUS construction 
practices. (See Sec. 1753.6)
    (3) The Standard Form 773 contract is used without modification.
    (e) The borrower shall determine the scope of each proposed 
construction project and decide how it will be constructed. A work 
project number shall be assigned to which all charges for that project 
are referenced.
    (f) The borrower shall maintain accounting and plant records 
sufficient to document the cost and location of all construction and to 
support loan fund advances and disbursements.
    (g) Normally the borrower will finance minor construction with 
general funds and obtain reimbursement with loan funds when construction 
is completed and executed Form 771 has been submitted to RUS. If a 
borrower satisfies RUS of its inability to finance the construction 
temporarily with general funds, RUS may establish, on a case by case 
basis, a work order fund for specific construction projects. The work 
order fund will be closed upon receipt of an FRS and the executed Forms 
771

[[Page 407]]

for the specific projects for which the work order fund was established.
    (h) RUS will advance funds to finance minor construction work 
projects only if all necessary documents, including an FRS and 
supporting data covering the project, are received within one year of 
the date construction of the project is completed.

[55 FR 3573, Feb. 2, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 39397, Sept. 27, 1990, 
and amended at 59 FR 43718, Aug. 25, 1994; 64 FR 16612, Apr. 6, 1999]