Prequalification

OHCS will prequalify developers, co-developers, and development consultants to expedite the funding process.

This is not a project review. Prequalification looks at portfolio performance, developer experience, and good legal standing of applicants and partners. This is a necessary task when submitting an Oregon Centralized Application and can be completed at any time. It is not required to complete Intake but will be required before an applicant submits a full application during Impact Assessment. Organizations will update their prequalification form through a registry. Applicants will need to be prequalified by OHCS as part of the ORCA process before submitting a full application during Impact Assessment. 

Organizations will update their prequalification form through a registry. 

Prequalification reviews the following elements:

• Portfolio performance: Information on project challenges and challenges throughout the application process. This helps OHCS understand to better support developers and their projects. Problems with existing properties in the portfolio need to be addressed before the developer can be prequalified. To meet this standard, no more than 25% of projects in the developer’s portfolio may have a current OHCS Risk Rating of 50 or higher.
  
• Developer experience: Development experience will be assessed by evaluating the number of projects an organization has successfully developed in Oregon with public funding. This will also include evaluating any fundamental organizational changes in key leadership or other critical development positions.
• Legal good standing: The OHCS developer integrity form will be used to evaluate legal good standing. This document asks questions about moral turpitude, financial standing, and debarment and can be submitted through the Prequalification form. 
  

Responses to the prequalification form may lead OHCS to reach out and require support from an OHCS Technical Advisor or partnership with another prequalified developer or development consultant to be eligible to apply. For example, a developer with limited experience may partner with another developer with more experience. This may result in delays in funding, more detailed requirements for underwriting and architectural review, or other requirements that must be met before a project can move forward.

In the future, additional partners will be required to prequalify. While prequalification ensures organizations are eligible to apply, it does not guarantee project funding. Prequalification will be updated on an annual basis or as development teams for projects change.