1470.20—Application for contracts and selecting offers from applicants.
(a) Submission of contract applications.
Applicants may submit an application to enroll all of their eligible land into CSP on a continuous basis.
(b) Stewardship threshold requirement.
To be eligible to participate in CSP, an applicant must submit to the designated conservationist for approval, a contract application that:
(1)
Indicates the applicant's conservation activities, at the time of application, are meeting the stewardship threshold for at least one resource concern;
(2)
Would, at a minimum, meet or exceed the stewardship threshold for at least one priority resource concern in addition to the resource concern described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section by the end of the conservation stewardship contract by:
(ii)
Improving, maintaining, and managing conservation activities present on the agricultural operation at the time the contract application is accepted by NRCS;
(4)
If the applicant is applying for on-farm research and demonstration activities or for pilot testing, describes the nature of the research, demonstration, or pilot testing in a manner consistent with design protocols and application procedures established by NRCS.
(c) Evaluation of contract applications.
NRCS will conduct one or more ranking periods each fiscal year.
(1)
To the extent practicable, one ranking period will occur in the first quarter of the fiscal year;
(2)
In evaluating CSP applications, the State Conservationist or designated conservationist will rank applications based on the following factors, using the CMT, to the maximum extent practicable:
(i)
Level of conservation treatment on all applicable priority resource concerns at the time of application,
(ii)
Degree to which the proposed conservation treatment on applicable priority resource concerns effectively increases conservation performance,
(iii)
Number of applicable priority resource concerns proposed to be treated to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract, and
(iv)
Extent to which other resource concerns, in addition to priority resource concerns, will be addressed to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract period;
(3)
In the event that application ranking scores from (2) above are similar, the application that represents the least cost to the program will be given higher priority; and
(4)
The State Conservationist or designated conservationist may not assign a higher priority to any application because the applicant is willing to accept a lower payment than the applicant would otherwise be eligible to receive.
(d) Weighting of ranking factors.
To the extent the CSP objective of additional conservation is not being achieved, as determined by the Chief, NRCS will adjust the weighting of ranking factors in order to place emphasis on increasing net conservation benefits.
(e) State and local priorities.
The Chief may develop and use additional criteria for evaluating applications that are determined necessary to ensure that national, State, and local conservation priorities are effectively addressed.
(1)
NIPF will compete in ranking pools separate from agricultural land. An applicant with both NIPF and agricultural land will have the options to submit:
(2)
An applicant with an agricultural operation or NIPF component of the operation that crosses ranking pool boundaries will make application and be ranked in the ranking pool where the largest acreage portion of their operation occurs.
(3)
Within each State or established ranking pool, the State Conservationist will address conservation access for certain farmers or ranchers, including:
(g) Application pre-approval.
The State Conservationist or designated conservationist will make application pre-approval determinations during established ranking periods based on eligibility and ranking score.
(h) Field verification.
NRCS will conduct onsite field verification prior to obligation of contract funding to substantiate the accuracy of the information provided by pre-approved applicants during the application process.