§ 548-f. Administration. 1. Responsibilities of the department. a. Unless otherwise prescribed, the department or its designee shall be responsible for the administration of the provisions of this article.

b. In consultation with the committee, the department shall develop and disseminate a request for proposals on a statewide basis, provided however that during state fiscal year nineteen hundred ninety-ninety-one, the committee may limit the locations for dissemination of such request for proposals based on relevant demographic data and such other factors as may be determined by the committee. Not less than thirty days prior to dissemination of such requests for proposals in such state fiscal year, the department shall notify the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly of such proposed locations and the criteria for selection.

c. Not less than thirty days prior to approving an application pursuant to the provisions of this article, the committee, through the department, shall notify the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly of its intent to approve a project. Such notification shall identify the recipient and state the proposed location, the estimated project cost and a brief description of the project. Upon completion of its review of an application and not less than thirty days after the notification as provide for in this paragraph, the committee shall approve or disapprove such application and the department shall notify the applicant of its decision.

d. The commissioner of the department and the other members of the committee shall enter into such agreements as shall be necessary to delineate their respective roles regarding the cooperative provision of program funding and technical assistance, and the review and monitoring of projects.

e. The department shall provide assistance to approved projects to develop an evaluation methodology appropriate to the goals and objectives of the projects.

2. Neighborhood based initiatives unified contract. a. The department shall enter into a neighborhood based initiatives unified contract with each applicant approved by the committee. The provisions of such contract shall include, but not be limited to: a description of project services and activities, the action plan, the allowable project costs, the specific sources of funds that will support the approved costs, including state funds, local funds, other governmental funds, and all nongovernmental funds or revenues that are proposed to be used in support of all project costs, and the allocation of costs by funding source.

b. The form of the neighborhood based initiatives unified contract shall be developed in consultation with the division of the budget and the department of audit and control.

3. The comptroller is authorized pursuant to a certificate of allocation submitted by the division of the budget to interchange or transfer from appropriations made to the agencies of the committee or any other appropriation, as appropriate, such amounts as may be required to fulfill the obligations of the state pursuant to neighborhood based initiatives unified contracts to the department for payment of such obligations. The division of the budget shall provide the chairmen of the senate finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee with quarterly reports of all interchanges and transfers which occur pursuant to this subdivision.

4. Allowable costs for each project shall include, but not be limited to costs reasonably incurred for:

a. preparation of the action plan required in section five hundred forty-eight-c of this article;

b. services as approved in the project application;

c. evaluation of the approved project;

d. administration, provided however in every case, the support of administrative costs pursuant to the contract shall be not more than the maximum percentage authorized for each source of funding or the total maximum dollars allowed for administrative costs for each funding source; and

e. minor renovations to existing structures, except that in no case shall the state support of such costs exceed either twenty-five percent of the project contract or fifty percent of the total renovation costs, whichever is less.

5. Funding made available through the contract shall not be used to supplant local or other funds.

6. Not more than forty percent of funds appropriated and made avail- able specifically for neighborhood based initiatives shall be used for any single project.