(a) Form SF–424, ‘‘Application for Federal Assistance.’’ Form SF–424 in an original and one copy must be submitted by the applicant to the District Director. It will be used to establish communication between the applicant and RHS, determine the applicant’s eligibility, determine how well the project can compete with similar applications from other organizations and eliminate any proposals which have little or no chance for Federal funding before applicants incur significant expenditures for preparing an application. In addition, the following information will be attached to and become a part of the preapplication: