1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Rural Infrastructure Development and Partnerships Act . 2. Rural partnerships office (a) Establishment There is established in the Department of Agriculture a Rural Partnerships Office (in this section referred to as the Office ). (b) Head of office The Office shall be headed by a Director appointed by the President. (c) Direct reporting to Secretary of Agriculture The Director shall report directly to the Secretary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the Secretary ). (d) Duties The Secretary, through the Rural Partnerships Office, shall do the following: (1) Rural partners program Establish and run a program to provide technical assistance to improve delivery, financing, operations, and maintenance of rural infrastructure, as follows: (A) Through a competitive process, select not more than 5 organizations to serve as on-call providers of on-site technical assistance to rural communities. (B) Solicit applications from rural communities for technical assistance with infrastructure planning, asset management, life-cycle accounting, project delivery, financing, regional coordination, and project oversight. (C) Require an application for technical assistance from the program to include only a statement of the type of assistance requested, and of how the applicant believes the assistance would improve rural infrastructure, and any other information necessary to demonstrate the ability of the rural community to participate in the program. (D) Involve the Rural Liaison in each relevant Federal agency in the review of each application for technical assistance from the program. (E) Assign a technical assistance team to each applicant for technical assistance from the program whose application is approved by the Secretary, which shall provide the assistance for a period of not more than 2 years, with the goal that technical assistance personnel will be on-site in the rural community for a significant portion of that period, and require the team to submit to the