§ 331.21 - What information must operators or providers submit in their applications for reimbursement?

(a) You must submit the Application Form for Reimbursement under Section 185 of Public Law 109-115 (“Application Form”), located in the appendix to this part, along with the profit and loss statements, forecasts, or other financial documents (collectively “supporting financial documents”) generated as a routine matter for the purposes of managing your business, and relied upon in completing your application.

(b) To the extent that your calculation of revenues, expenses and incomes are based on monthly records, you must adjust your calculation, on a pro-rata basis, to conform to the eligibility period. For example, if you utilize a monthly financial record to prepare a calculation of your September 2001 revenues, you should apportion your results for the period between September 11 and September 30, 2001.

(c) If multiple forecasts were prepared for the same period, you must utilize the one most recently approved, prior to September 11, 2001, so long as it is otherwise objective and reliable.

(d) If you provided information to the Department as part of its study entitled Estimated Financial Losses to Selected General Aviation Entities in the Washington, DC Area (Oct. 2005) (“2005 General Aviation Study”), you should not simply reiterate the same data provided to the Department at that time; you must provide the most current information that is available to you. If you do reiterate that same data provided to the Department for the 2005 General Aviation Study, the basis for your estimates must be verifiable from the supporting financial documents that you submit with your application.

(e) Failure to include all required information will delay consideration of your application by the Department and may result in a rejection. You have the burden to document and substantiate your claim; the Department will provide reimbursement only if it is satisfied that payment is fully supported.

(f) If, prior to September 11, 2001, you did not prepare a forecast covering the entire eligible reimbursement period, or if the forecast you completed is not relevant to the information required by this part, you may submit an “after-the-fact” estimate of the amount that you would have reasonably expected to accrue as adjusted income had the airport at which you are or were an operator or provider not closed. “After-the-fact” estimates must consider items particular to your business, including labor agreements and the terms of contracts in place at the time of the eligible reimbursement period, short-term or long-term budget documents, documents submitted in support of applications for loans or lines-of-credit, and other similar documents. You must explain the methodology that you used when preparing your reconstructed forecast.

(g) You must certify that the information on the application in the appendix to this part and all of the supporting financial documents that you are submitting is true and accurate under penalty of law and that you acknowledge that falsification of information may result in prosecution and the imposition of a fine and/or imprisonment.

(h) You must retain all materials you relied upon to establish your claim for losses.

(i) You must provide mitigating expenses, lobbying expenses incurred to promote reimbursement for losses after the terrorist attacks or enact Section 185 of the Act, and special expenses, as well as extraordinary adjustments, as instructed in the appendix to this part.

(j) If you need professional accounting services to assist in the preparation of your application, you may claim reimbursement for 80% of the actual amount you paid for such services, up to a maximum reimbursement of $2,000. You may claim reimbursement only for professional services; your own time in applying for reimbursement is not reimbursable. Any claim for professional accounting services must be accompanied with appropriate documentation as to the nature and extent of services performed, the amount billed, and payment. Employment or use of such professional services does not relieve you of the responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the application.

(k) If you believe that the release of financial information provided to the Department in support of your application would cause you substantial harm if released by the Department to the public upon an appropriately made request, you may request that the Department hold portions of your application as confidential. Your request must specify the portions of your application that should be held by the Department as confidential, and you must provide an explanation as to how the release of such information would cause you substantial harm.