Step 1: State Revolving Fund - Planning and Preliminary Engineering

Financing

Loan funding for facilities planning is available through the CWSRF loan program and DWSRF Water Planning Loan program.  All projects requesting funding need to fill out a priority list application form. From the pool of applicants, the Water Investment Division develops a Priority List to identify eligible projects and funding is projected for the next five years.  

Once a project is listed, the municipality is encouraged to solicit qualified engineering consultants for planning work.  After selection, the municipality and engineer then develop a draft service agreement and planning budget. Once the budget is formulated, the municipality can apply for a Step 1 Planning loan by completing a loan application. Loan application submission is now online! Visit https://anronline.vermont.gov/ to get started.

The engineer submits the draft engineering services agreement for review via ANROnline. Both SRF programs require use of the EJCDC Engineering Services Agreement Contract documents version E-500 from 2014.  CWSRF & DWSRF have additional edits required for additional federal cross cutters and state required grant language. See Guidance Document 39 (Pending).

Use the USDA Rural Development RUS Bulletin 1780-26 Exhibit C to make edits for federal funding requirement, conformance to these documents is necessary if future funding will be sought from USDA RD.  Municipalities that do not qualify for USDA RD can develop a modified EJCDC template.  Plan for additional time for legal review for a modified contract.

Engineering/Environmental Consulting

Step 1 Engineering begins by the Consultant documenting existing facilities, assessing condition, identifying applicable standards and regulations, and noting deficiencies.  The Consultant then evaluates the feasibility of each alternative for correcting the deficiencies, but is also aware that if no practicable alternative exists, the no-action alternative may be appropriate for evaluation purposes.  The alternatives analysis includes preliminary cost estimates and a preliminary assessment of potential environmental impacts.  The Consultant then recommends a preferred option and develops an itemized cost estimate and performs a life-cycle cost analysis.  The deliverable for Step 1 is a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) detailing the above.

As the PER is developed, the Consultant and town are to hold meetings at the 30%, 60%, and 90% completion stages, in accordance with the loan agreement. The meetings should include town staff, the Authorized Representative, the system operator, the Consultant, and the Design Section engineer and/or Drinking Water engineer.  (Smaller projects may have fewer meetings, and larger projects may have more.)

For Clean Water loans, Step 1 Engineering concludes with the PER Acceptance Letter.  

Facilities Planning – Bonding

After receiving Facilities Planning Approval, as described above, the municipality is recommended to secure a positive bond vote to collateralize the project loan.  The bonding process includes, drafting authorization language, holding an informational hearing, and conducting a vote.  After voting is concluded, the municipality then submits a legal opinion confirming that the bond is valid for purposes of the project.  Bonding is recommended at the conclusion of Step I, but is required before Step 3.

Submittal Timelines

Please allow additional time beyond 45 days for review of engineering submittals.  We are experiencing a very high volume of project document reviews.  Please make sure that your submittals are clear, complete, and have had internal QA/QC performed.  Additionally, pdf files from AutoCAD need to be printed to pdf without the layers showing up in the pdf comments. 

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