The B&I program guarantees rural business credit — and its regulation prescribes the feasibility analysis in more detail than any other federal lending program.
The Business & Industry Guaranteed Loan Program exists to pull commercial credit into rural markets the private structure underserves, and the guarantee is reserved for quality loans — the regulation states plainly that it is not intended for marginal or substandard credits. The feasibility study is how a projection-based rural project demonstrates it belongs in the first category.
Unlike the SBA’s principles-based approach, 7 CFR Part 5001 prescribes the analysis: five feasibility dimensions — economic, market, technical, financial, and management — with Appendix A to Subpart D enumerating the individual factors a compliant study must address. Wert-Berater structures B&I studies factor by factor, with a compliance matrix mapping each enumerated requirement to the section that satisfies it, because the National Office reviews against the list and an unaddressed factor is a returned study.
Three issues recur. Rural eligibility is checked too late — the property must sit in an eligible area, and the program’s definitions reward verification before the study is commissioned, not after. The technical dimension is under-evidenced — processing and manufacturing projects, which the program favors, need contractor capability, equipment condition, and commissioning schedules demonstrated rather than asserted. And the capital stack is presented without reconciliation — B&I deals routinely layer guaranteed debt over sponsor equity and sometimes grants, and the study must tie every source to every use.
Wert-Berater has prepared 817 USDA studies reviewed in agency financing since 1998, including B&I engagements from $1 million rural businesses to a $38,110,000 sugar refinery restoration. Standard delivery runs 10 to 15 business days from complete project data.
President, Wert-Berater, Inc. — independent feasibility study consultants since 1998. More than 4,000 feasibility studies completed across all 50 states and internationally, evaluating $40.2 billion in project value for SBA, USDA, EB-5, conventional, and institutional financing decisions. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and agency in every engagement.
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Schedule a ConversationIndependent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements, $40.2 billion in evaluated project value. Standard delivery in 10 to 15 business days. Fiduciary duty to the lender and agency.