# Deployment and Implementation of the Preservation Information Exchange (PIX) Application
**AGENCY:**
Rural Housing Service, USDA.
**ACTION:**
Notice; Announcement of PIX System.
**SUMMARY:**
The Rural Housing Service (RHS) announces the deployment and implementation of the PIX System. PIX is a web-based automated system that will allow interested non-profit organizations and public bodies to register to receive e-mail notification of all relevant prepayment requests and potential sales to non-profits or public bodies of Section 515 Rural Rental Housing (RRH) properties.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
For general information, applicants may contact Cynthia Reese-Foxworth, Senior Loan Officer, Office of Rental Housing Preservation, RHS, USDA, Stop 0782, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250, telephone (202) 720-1940 (voice) (This is not a toll free number.) or Anita Kapoor, Program Analyst, Program Support Staff, RHS, USDA, Stop 0782, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250, telephone (202) 690-1337 (voice) (This is not a toll free number.) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD-Federal Information Relay Service).
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
**Programs Affected**
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers for the programs impacted by this action are: 10.415, Rural Rental Housing Loans and 10427, Rural Rental Assistance Payments.
**Discussion of Announcement**
**Authority**
Section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1485) provides RHS with the authority to provide written notice of the offer of a sale or a request to prepay an RHS loan to interested non-profit organizations and to any appropriate State and local agencies.
**Accessing the PIX Web Site**
State and Servicing Offices will refer all interested non-profit organizations and public bodies to register for participation in preserving low-income housing by accessing *https://pix.sc.egov.usda.gov.* Once interested non-profit organizations and public bodies register, Office of Rental Housing Preservation (ORHP) will activate their registration by sending an e-mail with their user ID and password. A link that provides instructions for navigating PIX can be found on the Web site listed above.
**External Users**
Access to the Web site is restricted to non-profit organizations and public bodies. The purpose of PIX purpose is to replace paper listings of interested non-profit organizations and public bodies formerly maintained by Agency staff. PIX will also eliminate the need for program borrowers to notify non-profit organizations and public bodies of the potential sale of their property. Non-profit organizations and public bodies of each prepayment request received by RHS and of the potential sale of RRH properties. Instead non-profit organizations and public bodies can access PIX at anytime in order to identify prepayment requests and potential sales. The ORHP will use PIX to establish a database of interested non-profit organizations and public bodies to assist in the preservation of valuable low-income housing stock in rural America.
Dated: June 26, 2006.
David J. Villano,
Acting Administrator, Rural Housing Service.