Rural DevelopmentARRA Recipient Reporting

Best Practices discussion for reporting Loan/Grant combinations

WebinarJanuary 26, 2011

Introduction Speakers

Rachel Beattie, Team lead, Recipient Reporting, Rural Development, USDA

Tyson Whitney and Fransi Dunagan, Transparency and Accountability Reporting Division, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, USDA

Format for Webinar

20 minutes of presentation

Remaining 40 minutes for questions

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Agenda

Review RD memo dated 1/12/2011 regarding ARRA Recipient

Reporting Loan and/or Grant Reporting Policy

Best practices

Summary

Questions & Answers

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Highlights of loan/grant reporting memo

The memo was prompted by calls to formalize RD’s unique ARRA loan/grant combination reporting

Reduces reporting burden to both the recipient and to the States/Programs

Formalizes Agency policy

Highlights of memo:

Loan portion of award may be submitted as “Final report” once the award meets certain conditions

• Narrative field for loan award must reference Grant award (include award ID) and indicate that the project is continuing under the other award (and possibly other funding)

Grant portion may continue to be reported on in FR.gov

• Narrative field should reference loan award (and possibly other funding)

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The key is to provide transparency to both OMB and to the public

(via Recovery.gov) on the status of the project

Best practices for reporting on loan/grant combination awards

Concern: Loan award portion of project award has been fully expended, but Grant award portion is still active and may have no funds invoiced or expended

Recipient is unsure how to report project status for both awards and does not want the continued burden to report on the loan award

Best practice: Report Loan award portion as final report and Grant award portion according to overall project status

• Loan award portion should be reported as final report, with reference in the narrative of the associated Grant award ID for the project

• Grant award portion should indicate the full project status, regardless of ARRA funds expensed, etc.

• Indicate in the remaining Grant award narrative description (quarterly activities narrative) the activities performed in the quarter by the prime and sub recipients, referencing other ARRA award IDs which are part of the particular project. If applicable, mention other funding

• Ensure report reflects project status on award for entire project, regardless of ARRA funds expended on award

• The Office of the Chief Financial Officer for USDA (OCFO) has told us that recipients should use the narrative spaces to explain any reporting that may show a flag to OMB, but which can be fully explained.

Prose tool may continue to show a “flag” in the Status column, which the State can ignore after performing the due diligence review

The key is to maintain transparency on the entire project, referring to the award as a part of the overall project

The recipient should feel free to rely on the narrative areas (when there are status flags, use the quarterly description of activities area) to explain any potential areas where OMB or the public may cause question.

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Best practices for reporting on loan/grant combination awards (con’t)

Concern: Prose tool flags award for “Status” and Agency user has verified that report is correct

Status flags are based on a formula looking at award value, funds expended, and project status reported; flags when something falls out of the suggested OMB guideline

Best practice: Ensure report reflects project status on award for entire project, regardless of ARRA funds expended on award

• If Loan award portion is final report, project status should be “Fully complete” with reference in the narrative of the associated Grant award ID for the project

• Grant award portion should indicate the full project status, regardless of ARRA funds expensed, etc.

• Indicate in the remaining Grant award narrative description (quarterly activities narrative) the activities performed in the quarter by the prime and sub recipients, referencing other ARRA award IDs which are part of the particular project. If applicable, mention other funding

• The Office of the Chief Financial Officer for USDA (OCFO) has told us that recipients should use the narrative spaces to explain any reporting that may show a flag to OMB, but which can be fully explained

Prose tool may continue to show a “flag” in the Status column, which the State may ignore after performing the due diligence review of the report

The key is to maintain transparency on the entire project, referring to the award as a part of the overall project

The recipient should feel free to rely on the narrative areas (when there are status flags, use the quarterly description of activities area) to explain any potential areas where OMB or the public may cause question.

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Summary

Continue to review the reports for loan/grant combination project awards

We’re starting to see these situations arise more and more as ARRA recipients are progressing towards over 50% or more of project completion

Use the Prose tool as a “guide” to highlight potential issues with reported data

After due diligence review from the Agency user and ensuring that the recipient complies with narrative requirements for full transparency, you can ignore the flag in that column

Don’t feel the need to “clear” the flag from the Prose tool. Flags are “cleared” only with material changes to the recipient report (award value, funds expended, project status) and there may not be a need to change any of those on a report

Reach out to our Recipient Reporting team should you have additional questions

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Recipient Reporting points of contact

Recipient Reporting Team, USDA Rural Development

Rachel Beattie, Booz Allen Hamilton, rachel.beattie@wdc.usda.gov

Will Davis, Booz Allen Hamilton, william.davis3@wdc.usda.gov

Scott Siler, Booz Allen Hamilton, siler_scott@bah.com

For Broadband program, Joseph Sorresso in Broadband National office

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Questions and Answers

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Recipient Reporting Schedule and significant milestones

January Reporting timeline:

January 16-29: Agency Review Period

January 30 (Sunday): Data is published on Recovery.gov

February 2: Continuous Quality Assurance (QA) Begins

Continuous QA timeline:

February 2 – February 21: Continuous QA – Period 1

February 22: OMB Review

February 23: Data from Period 1 published on Recovery.gov

February 22 – March 7: Continuous QA – Period 2

March 8: OMB Review

March 9: Data from Period 2 published on Recovery.gov

March 8 – March 21: Continuous QA – Period 3 (ends at 11:59 PM ET)

March 22: OMB Review

March 23: Data from Period 3 published on Recovery.gov

10*From FederalReporting.gov homepage