Applicants and grantees must match SBA funding as follows:

Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, applicants and grantees must match Federal assistance with funds from sources other than the Federal Government in an amount not less than 50 percent of the grant amount awarded each year. Sources such as fees, grants, gifts, income from loan sources, and in-kind resources of a grant recipient from non-Federal public or private sources may be used to comply with the matching funds requirement;

Grantees receiving funds in option years as described in § 119.7(b) through (c) are subject to the matching requirements of this section.

Applicants or grantees with severe constraints on available sources of matching funds may request that the Administrator or designee reduce or eliminate the matching requirements. Any reductions or eliminations must not exceed 10 percent of the aggregate of all PRIME grant funds made available by SBA in any fiscal year. By requesting a waiver, the applicant is implying that, but for the waiver, the proposed programming will not be possible at the levels requested.

An applicant may request a waiver of the matching fund requirement by submitting a written request with its application for funding. The request must justify, and evidence, the need for a waiver. As evidence, the request must include, but is not limited to:

The cause and extent of the constraints on the historical and projected ability to raise matching funds as demonstrated by financial statements and letters of rejection from previous funders and potential new funding sources;

Evidence of efforts to raise match specific to the subject application, including negative responses, and

Based on those efforts, a list of any matching funds expected for the PRIME grant.

Subject to § 119.12 (a) through (d), applications will be evaluated on merit before being matched with cost proposals. Any organization requesting a waiver of matching funds, therefore, will not be rejected solely on the basis of such a request.

Applications will be ranked, within their respective categories, from the most to least qualified. The best qualified applicants in each category will be selected whether or not a waiver is requested until the availability of waivers is exhausted.