(a) Certification borrowers shall appoint three certification officials. These appointments shall be subject to RUS approval.

(1) The “Certifying Officer” shall be an officer or employee of the borrower who is authorized to execute binding agreements. This officer shall sign all contracts, amendments, closeout documents and the certification on RUS Form 158, Certification of Contract or Force Account Proposal Approval, and RUS Form 159, Summary of Completed Construction.

(2) The “Construction Certifier” shall be an experienced telephone engineer who is either licensed in the state where the inspection will be performed, or is a borrower's staff engineer who meets the requirements of the “employee in charge” of force account engineering as described in subpart B of this part. RUS may determine that it will accept the certification only for matters within the staff engineer's area of specialization. In such cases the position of “Construction Certifier” shall be filled by more than one engineer. This official is responsible for certifying that the construction complies with all technical and code requirements.

(3) The “Certification Coordinator” shall administer the certification program and serve as the official point of contact for RUS. The certifying officer or construction certifier may also serve as the certification coordinator.

(b) Certification borrowers, shall submit and obtain RUS approval of a work plan before construction and related engineering begin.

(1) The work plan shall provide a description of the proposed construction and methods of purchasing in such detail as to enable RUS to monitor the construction program to ensure to its satisfaction that loan purposes are accomplished in an organized construction program.

(2) The work plan shall include the following:

(i) The names and qualifications of the proposed certification officials defined in § 1753.94(a).

(ii) A listing of the proposed work projects to accomplish the loan purposes showing the estimated cost, method of performing the construction, and the proposed commencement and completion dates for each work project. The proposed work projects shall be summarized on RUS Form 157, Construction Work Plan and Cost Distribution, or a form providing essentially the same information.

(iii) The proposed source of funds for meeting cost overruns if the total estimated cost of work projects exceeds the loan budget.

(iv) A statement signed by the borrower's certification officials and the GFR that the work plan is accurate and complete.

(c) Under the certification program, the borrower shall follow all standard RUS postloan engineering and construction procedures except that the approvals shown in § 1753.93(a) will be made by certification officials rather than RUS. The approvals noted in § 1753.93(a)(1), (4) and (5) will be reported immediately to RUS using RUS Form 158. Approval of closeouts, § 1753.93(a) (6) and (7), will be reported immediately on RUS Form 159.

(d) As the construction program progresses, the certification borrower shall request, by letter, RUS approval of any significant changes in work plan schedules and budgets and in certification officials.