USDA Community Facilities feasibility studies, financial feasibility analysis and business plans for public bodies, Tribes and nonprofits financing an essential rural facility through a lender with a USDA guarantee — scoped to the report form your file actually needs.
The USDA Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program works through eligible lenders to finance essential community facilities in eligible rural areas. USDA guarantees the lender’s loan to an eligible public body, federally recognized Tribe or nonprofit organization for a facility operated on a nonprofit basis. A USDA Community Facilities feasibility study or financial feasibility report is how the file shows the facility can carry its debt.
A one-minute overview of how financial feasibility evidence works in a Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan file. It explains that the form of report depends on project circumstances, how Wert-Berater supports feasibility and operating-plan work, and that the lender and USDA keep their own decisions.
Firm-wide engagement figures are distinct from project-specific findings and their stated source periods.
USDA's Community Facilities guarantee supports eligible lenders financing essential rural facilities for qualifying public bodies, Tribes, and nonprofits. Projects include healthcare, public safety, education, and community services, not ordinary commercial expansion or rental housing. Financial feasibility evidence is required. Depending on circumstances, an analysis may suffice; other cases require a qualified provider's study with examination opinion. Wert-Berater helps scope feasibility work and develop service-demand evidence, budgets, projections, and operating plans, without issuing examination opinions. We are independent of USDA and lenders. Your lender underwrites; USDA decides. Approval and financing are not guaranteed.
USDA describes rural areas generally as places of 50,000 residents or fewer, subject to the program’s boundaries and exclusions. Typical projects include healthcare, fire and public safety, educational, cultural and community service facilities and specified public infrastructure; funds may support constructing, enlarging, extending or improving a facility, and certain refinancing. USDA’s program page excludes owner-occupied or rental housing and inherently commercial enterprises. This page covers the guaranteed program only; Community Facilities direct loans and grants are separate authorities, and we scope those separately.
The rule requires a financial feasibility report from a qualified person or firm acceptable to USDA. Its form depends on the file:
| Route | When it applies (summary of 5001.304) | Where we fit |
|---|---|---|
| Financial feasibility analysis — para. (a) | Permitted if any stated condition applies, such as a guaranteed loan of $25 million or less to an existing facility; sufficient general-obligation or tax-backed revenue for debt service; or audited statements showing ability to pay existing and new debt service over the last three years. It may be prepared by the lender, or the lender’s credit evaluation may serve if it contains the required elements. | We can prepare or support the analysis — service area, demand, operating projections, coverage and sensitivities — for the lender’s review and use. |
| Financial feasibility study with examination opinion — para. (b) | Required for guaranteed loans that do not qualify under paragraph (a); prepared under AICPA attestation standards. | Only a duly qualified CPA can issue the examination opinion. Wert-Berater does not issue attestation opinions; we prepare underlying market and projection work where the CPA engagement allows, and coordinate with the CPA firm. |
| Additional project feasibility study — para. (a)(4) | Required for a guaranteed loan over $1 million to a new entity or an entity undertaking a new activity, prepared by an independent qualified consultant acceptable to USDA, with USDA-set scope. At $1 million or less, USDA may require one where the lender analysis, business plan or project information is insufficient. | Where USDA accepts us as the consultant, we prepare the study to the scope USDA sets. A project study does not replace the financial report requirement. |
Not every project or loan amount automatically requires a full independent feasibility study. Requirements depend on project circumstances and should be confirmed with your lender and USDA Rural Development before anything is commissioned.
| Facility type | What usually drives the analysis |
|---|---|
| Hospitals, medical clinics and healthcare facilities | Service-line volumes, payer mix, reimbursement exposure, provider recruitment and out-migration of care |
| Senior-care facilities | Age- and income-qualified demand, competing supply, occupancy ramp and staffing |
| Educational facilities | Enrollment history and projections, per-pupil or tuition revenue and capacity |
| Public buildings and public safety facilities | Service coverage, levy or appropriation history and capacity of current facilities |
| Community centers and nonprofit facilities | Program use, membership or fee revenue, contributions and grant dependence |
| Essential rural community infrastructure | Users served, rate structure and rate-setting authority |
Every model we deliver is an active, linked workbook — no hard-coded outputs — with a written assumption schedule a lender or USDA reviewer can trace line by line. The core set is:
| Statement or test | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Projected income statements | Revenue built from volume and price drivers; operating costs built from staffing, inputs, utilities, insurance and maintenance. |
| Projected balance sheets | Assets, liabilities and equity through construction, ramp-up and stabilized operations, reconciled to the cash flow. |
| Projected cash flows | Operating, investing and financing cash, working capital and reserves. |
| Sources and uses | Total project cost reconciled to every proposed funding source, including the lender loan and the borrower's contribution. |
| Debt-service analysis | Coverage on the actual proposed loan structure, year by year. |
| Sensitivity and scenario analysis | The two or three variables that actually move the outcome, stressed individually and together, with break-even points stated. |
Where the lender or USDA asks for a business or operating plan — or where the file simply needs one to make the projections credible — we prepare it from the same assumptions as the feasibility work:
Not sure which report form applies to your facility? Send us the loan size, entity type and revenue sources and we will map the 5001.304 route with you and your lender.
Your lender originates, underwrites and services the loan and prepares its credit evaluation. USDA determines eligibility and whether to issue a guarantee. A qualified CPA issues any required examination opinion. We produce well-supported feasibility evidence and a coherent plan; we do not provide underwriting, legal opinions, appraisals or approval.
It is the analysis showing that an essential rural facility can be operated and its guaranteed loan repaid. Under 7 CFR 5001.304 this takes the form of a financial feasibility report — an analysis or a study with examination opinion — and, in some cases, an additional project feasibility study.
A financial feasibility report is required for guaranteed loans, but its form depends on the file. An additional independent project feasibility study is required for a guaranteed loan over $1 million to a new entity or new activity, and USDA may require one in other cases where information is insufficient. Confirm with your lender and USDA.
A qualified person or firm acceptable to USDA. A financial feasibility analysis may be prepared by the lender in qualifying cases; an examination-opinion study is issued by a qualified CPA; an additional project study is prepared by an independent qualified consultant acceptable to USDA. Wert-Berater does not issue CPA opinions.
Typically project need, service area and demographics, demand, historical operations, revenue and expense assumptions, capital costs, sources and uses, projections, debt-service analysis, sensitivities, management and risks. USDA sets the scope where it requires a project study.
Linked projected income statements, balance sheets and cash flows covering construction and stabilized operations, with debt-service coverage and sensitivity tests on the proposed loan structure, and a written assumption schedule.
USDA lists examples such as healthcare, fire and public safety, educational, cultural and community service facilities and specified public infrastructure, operated on a nonprofit basis in eligible rural areas. Housing and inherently commercial enterprises are excluded. USDA determines eligibility.
Yes, eligible nonprofit organizations are among the borrowers USDA lists, along with public bodies and federally recognized Tribes.
Yes. We routinely work alongside the lender’s credit team, align our model with its analysis and answer reviewer questions, while the lender keeps its underwriting responsibility.
It depends on the report form, the facility type and how complete your data is. We set out a schedule in the written proposal after reviewing your materials.
No. This page covers the guaranteed program under 7 CFR Part 5001. Direct loans and grants are separate authorities with their own rules.
Page updated . Confirm current program requirements and application instructions with USDA and your lender.
Program facts on this page are drawn from USDA Rural Development pages and the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Program terms, notices and application windows change; the current official text and your lender’s instructions govern.
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Analytical continuity
Use the completed study as a documented baseline for future performance.
The analytical relationship does not have to end when the feasibility study is delivered. Wert-Berater can continue monitoring the asset against the original underwriting assumptions, updating market conditions, testing coverage, identifying performance variances and maintaining a recurring analytical record.
Legal 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.
Thousands of real estate, business, and machinery appraisal and litigation assignments.