Field trials.

CFR · 2024-01-01 · US · Title 7

(a) Except as covered in Bulletin 345-3, no loan funds shall be advanced for any product if any item to be included in the project is not included in the “List of Materials Acceptable for Use on Telephone Systems of RUS Borrowers,” RUS Bulletin 344-2. When new items of materials or equipment are considered for acceptance by RUS or when a previously accepted item has been subjected to such major modifications that its suitability cannot be determined based on laboratory data and/or field experience, a field trial shall be required if RUS so determines. This field trial consists of limited field installations of the materials or equipment in closely monitored situations designed to determine, to RUS's satisfaction, their operational effectiveness under actual field conditions. Field trials are to be used only as a means for determining, to RUS's satisfaction, the operational effectiveness of a new or revised product under actual field conditions. Both the manufacturer and borrower are responsible for assuring that the field trial is carried out and that the required information on the product's performance is received by RUS in a timely manner. The use of materials or equipment derived from new inventions or concepts untried within the telephone industry is defined as “an experiment” and shall be handled as a special case using procedures considered appropriate by RUS to meet the individual experiment. (b) To qualify for a field trial, the new and improved materials and equipme

official document · source cfr-2024 · id 7:§ 1755.3