Page 17: of Marine News Magazine (March 2021)

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the grant is provided. This allows the and coastal ports, and to issue a No- Program under the FY 2021 Appro- recipient to use its own funds to get tice of Funding Opportunity for the priations Act.

an initial phase or stage of a project under way if the completion of that portion of the project would still be useful even if the grant application was not approved.

Second, the recipient’s share can be in the form of a loan agreement, a commitment from investors, cash on the recipient’s balance sheet, or other contributions that are acceptable to

MARAD. This re? ects the practical reality that the grant recipient’s share might be coming through some form of ? nancing, but with the lender, in- vestor, or other ? nancing source being unwilling actually to disburse funds until the grant application is approved.

Third, the NDAA amendments speci? cally provide that MARAD may not require as a condition of issuing a grant that the grant recipient obtain direct ownership of either a facility or equipment to be procured using the grant funds, or that any equipment procured with the grant funds be new.

The ? rst provision allows for the fre- quently used method of lease ? nanc- ing, in which title to the facility or equipment is held by the leasing sub- sidiary of a ? nancial institution, with the grant recipient having possession and use of the facility or equipment.

The second provision re? ects the practical reality that, especially for smaller ports, previously used equip- ment might be what they can afford while still meeting their needs.

It now remains for MARAD to provide procedures and forms to im- plement the changes that have been made in the Port Infrastructure De- velopment Program for smaller inland www.marinelink.com MN 17|