Form RD 400-4 Assurance Agreement: Filing, Duration, and Compliance

Form RD 400-4 is the one-page Assurance Agreement every applicant for USDA Rural Development funding must sign before a loan, grant, or cooperative agreement moves forward. Your signature commits the organization to run the funded program without discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or age, and to accept recordkeeping and inspection duties that can last for decades. The form is short. Getting it wrong will stall your entire application.

Where to Get the Current Version

Use Form RD 400-4 (Rev. 08-22), updated by Rural Development in December 2023. The fillable PDF is on the Rural Development website.¹ If you want a paper copy or someone to walk you through it, your nearest Rural Development service center can help; the agency keeps a state-by-state locator online.²

What to Fill In

Most of the page is preprinted legal text. You only complete a handful of fields, but each one has to match your other application documents exactly.

Recipient name: the full legal name of your organization as it appears on your Articles of Incorporation, partnership agreement, or other formation documents. A mismatch with your tax records or other application forms triggers a deficiency notice.
Address: the physical address of your principal office or the site where the funded activity will take place.
Signature and date: an official with legal authority to bind the organization, typically a board president, CEO, or authorized officer. The form includes space for an attestation signature and an official seal if your entity uses one.
Titles: both the signing official and the attesting party print their titles beneath their signatures.

Read the preprinted text before you sign. Your signature acknowledges obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d), which bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs;³ Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), which prohibits excluding people with disabilities and may require physical or policy changes to your facilities at your own expense; and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101).¹ The form also incorporates implementing regulations at 7 CFR Part 15 and 7 CFR 1901, Subpart E.

The Disclosure Section Applicants Overlook

Items 6 and 7 impose two separate duties, and this is where applications commonly go wrong.

The three-year lookback: if anyone has accused your organization of discrimination based on race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency), sex, age, disability, religion, or familial status within the past three years, you must list every proceeding, pending or completed, along with the outcome and copies of any settlement agreements.¹

The forward-looking duty: if any court or administrative agency later finds that you discriminated, or if you settle a case alleging discrimination, you must send a copy of the complaint and findings to the Rural Development Office of Civil Rights.¹

Pull this information together before you sit down with the form. Searching old board minutes, legal files, and insurance records for complaints, including ones that went nowhere, takes time. Omitting a known complaint creates a much bigger problem than disclosing one that was resolved favorably.

How to Submit It

The signed RD 400-4 goes into your broader application package. It is not filed on its own.

For a Rural Utilities Service loan or grant, upload the form through the RD Apply online portal, which handles document attachments, signed certifications, and status tracking.⁴ For Rural Housing Service or Rural Business-Cooperative Service programs, RD Apply is not currently available; submit your package directly to your local or state Rural Development office.²

Agency staff confirm the form is present, correctly signed, and consistent with the rest of your application before substantive review begins. A missing signature or a name that doesn’t match your other documents gets you a deficiency notice. Keep a signed copy in your own records. You will need it during future compliance reviews and audits.

How Long the Agreement Lasts

The obligations do not end when the last disbursement clears. The form sets three separate timelines depending on what the money paid for:

Real property (land, buildings, structures): the agreement binds you for as long as the property is used for the funded purpose or a similar one, or for as long as you retain ownership or possession, whichever is longer. For a water system or community facility, that can mean decades.
Personal property (equipment, vehicles): the agreement lasts as long as you own or possess the item.
All other assistance: the agreement runs until the last disbursement of funds under the loan or grant.

If you sell, lease, or otherwise transfer the funded property, the new owner inherits your obligations. Any transfer must be made expressly subject to the assurance agreement, and the transferee must assume the same duties.¹ Leaving that language out of a sale or lease doesn’t release you; it just means you may still be on the hook.

What You Have to Keep Doing After Signing

Signing is not a one-time event. Several continuing duties kick in immediately, and Rural Development can check any of them at any time.

Records and Inspections

Keep records showing your program serves participants without discrimination, and submit compliance reports when the agency requests them. Authorized USDA employees can inspect your books, records, accounts, and facilities during normal business hours to verify compliance.⁵ Blocking an inspection or failing to produce records is itself a violation.

Public Notice

You must make the nondiscrimination protections visible to the people you serve. Display the USDA “And Justice for All” poster (Form AD-475A) prominently at every facility where participants or customers can see it, printed at 11 by 17 inches so the text is readable.⁶ Public-facing materials, including brochures, websites, and application forms, should carry the USDA nondiscrimination statement, which closes with “USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.”⁷

What Happens If You Violate the Agreement

Rural Development does not jump to penalties. Under 7 CFR 15.8, the agency first tries to resolve the issue informally and give you a chance to fix it voluntarily.⁵ If that fails, two enforcement routes open up.

The first is termination of assistance. After a formal hearing and an express finding of noncompliance on the record, the agency can suspend, terminate, or refuse to continue your federal financial assistance. The cutoff applies only to the specific program where the violation occurred, not automatically to everything you receive from USDA.⁸

The second is referral to the Department of Justice with a recommendation that the government sue to enforce its rights, including enforcing the assurance agreement itself as a binding contract.⁵

Anyone who believes your program discriminated against them can file a written complaint with USDA or the relevant agency within 180 days of the alleged discrimination.⁵ That complaint starts the review process, and your signed RD 400-4 is the document proving you accepted these standards as a condition of the money. Recipients who take the obligations seriously from day one rarely see enforcement proceedings. The ones who treat the form as a formality sometimes learn it is a contract with teeth.

1
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. USDA Form RD 400-4 – Assurance Agreement
2
Rural Development. Find Your Local Service Center
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
4
Rural Development. RD Apply
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eCFR. 7 CFR Part 15 – Nondiscrimination
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USDA. And Justice For All
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USDA. Non-Discrimination Statement
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GovInfo. 42 USC 2000d-1