[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR80.15]

[Page 712-713]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
          Subtitle A--Office of the Secretary of Transportation
 
PART 80_CREDIT ASSISTANCE FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  80.15  Selection criteria.

    (a) The Secretary shall assign weights as indicated to the following 
eight selection criteria in evaluating and selecting among eligible 
projects to receive credit assistance:

[[Page 713]]

    (1) The extent to which the project is nationally or regionally 
significant, in terms of generating economic benefits, supporting 
international commerce, or otherwise enhancing the national 
transportation system (20 percent);
    (2) The creditworthiness of the project, including a determination 
by the Secretary that any financing for the project has appropriate 
security features, such as a rate covenant, to ensure repayment (12.5 
percent);
    (3) The extent to which such assistance would foster innovative 
public-private partnerships and attract private debt or equity 
investment (20 percent);
    (4) The likelihood that such assistance would enable the project to 
proceed at an earlier date than the project would otherwise be able to 
proceed (12.5 percent);
    (5) The extent to which the project uses new technologies, including 
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), that enhance the efficiency of 
the project (5 percent);
    (6) The amount of budget authority required to fund the Federal 
credit instrument made available (5 percent);
    (7) The extent to which the project helps maintain or protect the 
environment (20 percent); and
    (8) The extent to which such assistance would reduce the 
contribution of Federal grant assistance to the project (5 percent).
    (b) In addition, 23 U.S.C. 182(b)(2)(B) conditions a project's 
approval for credit assistance on receipt of a preliminary rating 
opinion letter indicating that the project's senior debt obligations 
have the potential to attain an investment-grade rating.
    (c) The Secretary may also give preference to applications for loan 
guarantees rather than other forms of Federal credit assistance. This 
preference is consistent with Federal policy that, when Federal credit 
assistance is necessary to meet a Federal objective, loan guarantees 
should be favored over direct loans, unless attaining the Federal 
objective requires a subsidy, as defined by the Federal Credit Reform 
Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), deeper than can be provided by a 
loan guarantee.

[64 FR 29750, June 2, 1999, as amended at 65 FR 44940, July 19, 2000]