RBDG is the programme people most often misread. The applicant is never the business being helped: it is a public body, a tribe or a non-profit that uses the grant to develop small and emerging businesses in a rural area. Understanding that distinction, and the split between opportunity and enterprise projects, decides whether an application is eligible at all.
7 CFR 4280.416 limits eligible applicants to a Public Body or Government Entity, an Indian Tribe, or a non-profit entity. A private business benefits from the project but does not apply for the grant.
Two project types (7 CFR 4280.417). Business opportunity projects identify and analyse business opportunities — including feasibility and business plan studies — provide technical assistance, establish business support centres, conduct economic development planning, and run leadership or training centres. Business enterprise projects finance or develop small and emerging businesses directly: land and building development, construction and modernisation, working capital, revolving loan funds, distance learning networks, technical assistance including feasibility studies and business plans, and improving rural passenger transportation.
Unless a Notice of Solicitation of Applications says otherwise, the Agency sets aside 10 percent of the appropriation for business opportunity type grants, and may reallocate it to enterprise grants if demand is insufficient.
Grants may be made only where the application demonstrates a need for the project, includes a basis for determining success or failure, and sets out how that will be assessed (7 CFR 4280.417(c)). The written narrative required by 7 CFR 4280.427 has to explain:
Business opportunity projects additionally have to be consistent with local and area-wide strategic plans for economic development.
7 CFR 4280.435 lists the scoring criteria. In summary:
| Leveraging | The proportion of total funding the grant represents, and whether it funds a critical element of a larger programme. |
|---|---|
| Community status | Trauma from a natural disaster, economic distress from job losses, long-term poverty, and population decline. |
| Population and income | The size of the community and the median household income of the project area. |
| Unemployment | The unemployment rate in the project area. |
| Applicant experience | Experience in the type of activity proposed. |
| Jobs | Jobs created or supported relative to the size of the grant request. |
| Size of request | Scored in tiers — less than $100,000, $100,000 to $200,000, and more than $200,000 but not more than $500,000 — with smaller requests favoured. |
| Administrative costs | Points for not requesting administrative or indirect costs. |
| Discretionary points | Up to 50, assigned by the State Director or the Administrator. |
The scoring rewards precision. “Jobs created or supported” is scored against the grant request, so an unsupported jobs number is not merely optimistic — it is the number the award is measured against afterwards.
Both project types can fund feasibility studies and business plans as the activity itself — an economic development authority commissioning a study for a prospective employer, for instance. Where that is the project, the quality of the study is the deliverable, and the scoring criteria on need, jobs and coordination are exactly what a well-built market and economic analysis answers.
We prepare that work: see grant and incentive feasibility studies and independent market reports.
Last reviewed September 2026. Criteria are quoted from the current text of 7 CFR part 4280 subpart E.
Independent market, feasibility and economic impact analysis for public bodies and non-profits. Fixed fee quoted in one business day.
Schedule a Qualification Zoom All USDA grantsLegal disclosure. Wert-Berater, Inc. offices are mailing addresses only. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the firm has elected to work remotely; its office locations receive mail and are not staffed for visitors or in-person meetings. Headquarters mailing address: 1968 South Coast Hwy, Ste 2382, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.
Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.