DFC-001 - Supporting Statement

DFC-001A; DFC-001B

OMB-3015-0004

Application for Finance; Application for Direct Equity Investment

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR APPROVAL

1. Justification

1. Legal authority for this information collection is found in the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (the “BUILD Act”), Public Law 115-254. DFC-001A Application for Finance is the principal document used by DFC to determine the proposed transaction’s eligibility for debt financing and collects information for financial underwriting analysis. DFC-001B Application for Direct Equity Investment collects information for direct equity applications.

2. The information collected is used by DFC officers and analysts to determine if the transaction is eligible for the product requested and whether it meets required underwriting or investment criteria.

3. This form is completed with the use of a web-based application. This provides a secure and efficient means for applicants to transmit the required information to the agency.

3. The information collected is not duplicated elsewhere. The information is not already available in any other electronic form and would not be requested by another federal agency or lending institution since it is applicable solely to DFC’s programs.

3. DFC’s applicants include large and small businesses and entrepreneurs. The same questions are asked of all applicants. The complexity of the answers will depend upon the nature of the entity for which DFC support is being requested.

3. Without a form to collect the information, the amount of staff time needed to gather the requisite information would be significantly greater and would result in multiple requests for information from program users. This would reduce the amount of time that could be devoted to working with applicants/clients and analysis and underwriting, thereby reducing the productivity and administrative efficiency of the DFC’s programs.

3. No special circumstances exist that require the information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines of the Paperwork Reduction Act and OMB's implementing regulations.

3. The first Federal Register Notice was published on May 18, 2022 (87 FR 30209). The agency did not receive any public comments. The second Federal Register Notice was published on July 22, 2022 (87FR 43799).

3. No payments and gifts are offered to respondents.

3. Applicant information provided in the DFC-001A and DFC-001B is deemed designated as “confidential commercial information” in accordance with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations at 22 C.F.R. Part 706, and will be treated as such to the extent permitted by applicable law.

3. Not applicable. None of the questions on this form are of a sensitive nature.

3. The estimated burden of collecting this information is as follows:

320 respondents

x 1 per respondent

=320 total annual responses

x (1.5 hours per average respondent)

=480 respondent hours

x $75/hour for personnel, record-keeping, overhead

$36,000 total cost to respondents

3. The estimated annualized cost to respondents is as follows:

   1. Total capital and start-up costs: $0

   2. Total operation and maintenance costs: $0.

All costs associated with the form are part of the normal cost of doing business. Since all submissions will be electronic and stored on DFC’s secure servers, there will be no postage or storage costs.

3. The estimated annualized cost to the Federal government is as follows:

320	respondents per year
x 1	per respondent
320	total annual responses
x 1	average hours to review one response
320	total federal hours
x $60.49	GS-14/1 (DCB) hourly wage
$19,356.80	total cost to the Federal government

3. The total number of respondents has increased.

3. Not applicable. Information provided in the application is not published.

3. Not applicable. The OMB expiration date will be printed on each form.

3. Not applicable. No exceptions are being requested on the certification statement.

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