Notification of Funding for Credit Assistance Under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program

In the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, signed by the President on December 27, 2020, Congress provided $54.5 million in budget authority for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA) program to cover the subsidy required to provide a much larger amount of credit assistance. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) estimates that this budget authority may provide approximately $5.5 billion in credit assistance and may finance approximately $11 billion in water infrastructure investment. The purpose of this NOFA is to solicit letters of interest (LOIs) from prospective borrowers seeking credit assistance from EPA. EPA will evaluate and select proposed projects described in the LOIs using the selection criteria established in statute and regulation, and further described in this NOFA as well as the WIFIA program handbook. This NOFA establishes relative weights that will be used in the current LOI submittal period for the selection criteria, explains budgetary scoring factors to determine budgetary scoring compliance, and outlines the process that prospective borrowers should follow to be considered for WIFIA credit assistance. In addition, EPA reserves the right to make additional awards using FY 2021 appropriated funding or available carry-over resources, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding is available after the original selections are made. This could include holding a subsequent selection round.