(a) The purpose of the Third Party Request for Administrative
Deficiency (RFAD) process is to allow an unrelated person or entity
to bring new, material information about an Application to staff's
attention. Such Person may request staff to consider whether a matter
in an Application in which the Person has no involvement should be
the subject of an Administrative Deficiency. While an Administrative
Deficiency may be issued as the result of an RFAD, not all RFADs will
result in an Administrative Deficiency being issued.
(b) Staff will consider each RFAD received and proceed
as it deems appropriate under the applicable rules including, if the
Application in question has a noncompetitive score relative to other
Applications in the same Set-Aside or subregion or will not be eligible
for an award through the award recommendation methodology as outlined
in §11.6(3) of this chapter (related to Competitive HTC Allocation
Process), not reviewing the matter further.
(c) If the assertion(s) in the RFAD describe matters
that are part of the Application review process, and the RFAD does
not contain information not present in the Application, staff will
not review or act on it.
(d) The RFAD and any testimony presented to the Board
regarding the result of an RFAD may not be used to appeal staff decisions
regarding competing Applications (§2306.6715(b)). Any RFAD that
questions a staff decision regarding staff's scoring of an Application
filed by another Applicant will be disregarded.
(e) Requestors must provide, at the time of filing
the request all information that the requestor offers in support of
the deficiency. A copy of the request and supporting information must
be provided by the requestor directly to the Applicant at the same
time it is provided to the Department. Requestors must provide sufficient
credible evidence that, if confirmed, would substantiate the deficiency
request. Assertions not accompanied by supporting documentation susceptible
to confirmation will not be considered. An RFAD that expresses the
requestor's opinion will not be considered.
(f) Staff shall provide to the Board a written report
summarizing each third party request for administrative deficiency
and the manner in which it was addressed. Interested persons may provide
testimony on this report before the Board takes any formal action
to accept the report. When the Board receives a report on the disposition
of RFADs it may, for any staff disposition contained in the report,
change the conclusion if it believes the change is necessary to bring
the result into compliance with applicable laws and rules as construed
by the Board; or if based on public testimony, it believes staff's
conclusion should be revisited, it may remand the RFAD to staff for
further consideration, which may result in a reaffirmation, reversal,
or modification.
(g) The results of a RFAD may not be appealed by the
requestor, and testimony to the Board arguing staff's determination
will not be considered unless the requestor can show that staff failed
to follow the applicable rule.
(h) A scoring notice or termination notice that results
from a RFAD may be appealed by the Applicant as further described
in §11.902 of this chapter, relating to Appeals Process.
(i) Information received after the RFAD deadline will
not be considered by staff or presented to the Board unless the information
is of such a matter as to warrant a termination notice.
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