(c) Equipment grants.

1. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the amount of an equipment grant may not exceed 50 percent of the cost of the special research equipment or other equipment acquired using funds from the grant.
2. (2) Waiver. The Secretary may waive all or part of the matching requirement under paragraph (c)(1) of this section in the case of a college, university, or research foundation maintained by a college or university that ranks in the lowest 1/3 of such colleges, universities, and research foundations on the basis of Federal research funds received, if the equipment to be acquired using funds from the grant costs not more than $25,000, and has multiple uses within a single project or is usable in more than 1 project.

(d) Applied research grants. As a condition of making a grant for applied research, the Secretary shall require the funding of the grant to be matched with equal matching funds from a non-Federal source if the grant is for applied research that is:

1. (1) Commodity-specific; and
2. (2) Not of national scope.