WIFIA PROGRAM The WIFIA program accelerates investment in our nation's water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program was established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014. WIFIA APPPLICATION PROCESS The information below outlines the steps required to close a loan with the WIFIA program. 1. Pre-Application 3. Application Evaluation 4. Negotiation 5. Approval 7. Post-Closing Up to 1 year 1-3 months 2-6 months 1-3 months Life of loan Average Time = 7 months 2. Application Submission 6. Closing STEP 1: PRE-APPLICATION • A WIFIA transaction team is assigned to your project. The team will include an underwriter who is your primary point of contact and who will lead the WIFIA program's overall efforts, an engineer, and an attorney. This team will work with you pre- and post- application submission to ensure a successful WIFIA loan closing. • The WIFIA transaction team schedules an introductory call and regular check-in calls to discuss the project, explain the WIFIA application process, and answer your questions. STEP 2: APPLICATION SUBMISSION • Your organization must submit a complete application form, including a preliminary rating opinion letter and the application fee, to the WIFIA program based on the timeframe outlined in your invitation to apply. STEP 3: APPLICATION EVALUATION • After receiving a complete application, the WIFIA transaction team conducts financial, technical, and environmental reviews of the project, the borrower, and the borrower's financing framework. The program may hire outside legal, technical, and financial advisors to support this process. • During the financial review, the WIFIA transaction team evaluates the risk to the government to lending to your organization with the requested loan structure and contemplates potential mitigants to bring the risks to an acceptable level. Since EPA will likely hold the loan to its maturity, the WIFIA program needs to consider risks that could emerge throughout the repayment term. To do this, the team reviews the detailed information provided, undertakes quantitative analysis using a financial model, and develops its own internal risk rating. • For the technical review, a WIFIA engineer analyzes the project and the system condition to determine if there are major technical risks that could impact the project or the pledged revenue stream. • In its environmental review, WIFIA staff conducts a NEPA assessment to consider the project's environmental impacts and evaluates of the project's compliance with Federal requirements. E-MAIL: wifia@epa.gov WEBSITE: www.epa.gov/wifia SIGN-UP: Join our email list at https://tinyurl.com/wifianews ------- STEP 4: NEGOTIATION • Negotiation is an iterative process between your organization and the WIFIA program. • The WIFIA transaction team proposes terms and conditions for the loan considering your requests in the application, its evaluation of potential risks through the life of the loan, and WIFIA program requirements, like certain reporting requirements and the delivery of credit rating letters. • Your organization should consider its ability to accept the WIFIA program's proposed terms. You may respond with a counterproposal explaining what preferred or needed changes to the terms. • The WIFIA program will work with you to develop highly customized terms for your organization's needs. However, extensive negotiation could slow the process and result in a later closing date and a higher credit processing fee. STEP 5: APPROVAL • The WIFIA transaction team prepares and presents materials about technical, credit, and legal aspects of the loan agreement and project to recommend it for approval. • The materials are provided to the WIFIA Credit Council, composed of credit experts from across the Federal government, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and EPA's Office of General Counsel and Office of Water management. These approval bodies may raise additional questions which require your clarification. • Once these entities have approved the loan, the EPA administrator approves the project by signing the term sheet and loan agreement. • Concurrent to the EPA approval process, your organization should complete its approval process. STEP 6: CLOSING • Upon mutual agreement that the conditions precedent to closing have been met and the closing package is satisfactory, both your organization and the WIFIA program agree to release their signature packages and execute the loan agreement. • The interest rate for your loan is set on the day of closing based on the State and Local Government Securities (SLGS) rate plus one basis point for the weighted average life of the loan. The WIFIA transaction team and your organization finalize the debt service schedule using this interest rate. • The loan agreement is the binding legal document that allows your organization to receive WIFIA financing. STEP 7: POST-CLOSING • Once the loan is closed, the loan is transferred to the WIFIA portfolio team for disbursement, repayment, project monitoring, and compliance verification activities. • Your organization must pay the credit processing fee which reimburses the financial, technical, and legal advisory fees incurred by EPA during application evaluation and negotiation. • Additionally, your organization must pay annual loan servicing fees for the life of the loan. Application Fee: - $100,000 for large communities - $25,000 for small communities - Due with application submission - Credited to credit processing fee Credit Processing Fee: - Reimburses EPA for its financial, technical, and legal advisory costs - Estimated range of $100,000 - $300,000 - Due upon execution of loan Servicing Fee - $10,000 - $26,000 annually during construction -Estimated $7,800 annually after project substantial completion -Due annually after the loan closes ------- |